The last time HELMET were in Manchester was during the "Betty" tour way back in 1994, in this same venue. Back then, they were the pinnacle of stripped-down metal efficiency, battering the audience with their patented no-frills approach, the band members stubbornly anonymous in a further strategy designed to foreground the fearsome precision of the music.
Tonight, however, frontman Page Hamilton is in unexpectedly loquacious mood, chatting at length between songs about male-female audience ratios, internet porn, the geographical origins of Led Zeppelin and the possible existence of a Helmet Street in Manchester. In contrast to his previous anonymity, tonight, he explains, he is feeling a little giddy due to coming off a course of heavy pain killers, the cold-turkey effects turning him close to being a spoken word act rather than the solemn riff-guru of old.
A decade on, his stage demeanour isn’t the only thing that’s changed about the band either, and his OTT Wrestling MC-style band introductions are necessary because none of the new band were present last time around. Former Rob Zombie man John Tempesta lays down a beat-perfect interpretation of the departed John Stanier’s awesome drum template, guitarist Chris Traynor follows Hamilton’s ordinary Joe chic, while bassist Frank Bello takes centre stage in a Tasmanian Devil-like performance, racing about, putting his foot up the drum riser, shaking his shaggy mane of hair about and, every thirty seconds or so, running to the front of the stage and screaming ‘come on!’ to the crowd. Whether he even realises that he’s actually not in Anthrax anymore is a matter for some discussion
|
Collectively then, though they’ve lost members they’ve lost none of their precision with a riff and the performance is technically superb. The set isn’t particularly audience-friendly, drawing heavily on new album "Size Matters" (as yet only available on expensive import) and original swansong "Aftertaste" (a good album, which limped out as the band were in their death throes and was barely promoted over here).
This leaves adherents to the band’s classic releases "In The Meantime" and "Betty" feeling a little left out, and it isn’t really until well past the halfway point when the likes of "Ironhead" and "Milquetoast" finally appear that any kind of pit forms.
Still, to hear these songs live again is a thrill indeed, but where it leaves Hamilton and co in the long run is a question which remains to be resolved. On tonight’s showing both band and audience have the desire for more.
|
