Jez Higgins

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Post-GDFAF: Apocalyptica at The Academy

Clearly I'm in recovery now as, while delayed again by Daniel's swimming, I arrived while the support band was still on. I don't know who they were, they didn't say, and I didn't bother to find out as they were entirely unremarkable, playing straightforward goth-rock of the type favoured by The Sisters of Mercy. Based on the singer's accent, I think they were German. That, and they couldn't help slipping in a couple of Scorpions' riffs.

I'm clearly going through a bit of a gimmick phase at the moment. Apocalyptica, as you might guess from the name, are a heavy rock band. A heavy rock band consisting of, you might not guess, four cellos and drums. Like The Ukulele Orchestra and Modified Toy Orchestra, they are simultaneously deadly serious musicians and fully aware of and able to exploit the inherent silliness of their proposition. They can really rock, loud and heavy, as on their own Harmageddon or when they cover Sepultura's Refuse/Resist. They're also terrific fun, blasting out a ridiculously fast version of In the Hall of the Mountain King, or conducting Enter Sandman as a big audience singalong.

As someone who long ago acknowledged that I dance like a Dad at a wedding (because ... you can fill in the rest), I had a terrific time. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, even the overenthusiastic lad who charged the stage while the roadies were setting up and so got himself chucked out before the band even came on. The band, particularly, really had a good time. They seemed thrilled by the turn out - while the place was by no means packed, the gig had originally been booked in the somewhat smaller Academy 2 - twice as many here as when they played their home town of Helsinki. In fairness to Helsinki, I feel I should note that it's only half the size of Birmingham. (Damn, I just can't help myself sometimes.) Touchingly, I thought, they all shook hands with each other at the end of the gig, before applauding the crowd. Finally, perhaps to remind us of their classical training, they stood in line and bowed. Rock!


And that's Post-GDFAF. I managed three outings during GDFAF fortnight, and then four in the shadow. That's the kind of result you wanted, isn't it Pete? Russ?


Tagged gdfaf


Jez Higgins

Freelance software grandad
software created
extended or repaired

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Older posts are available in the archive or through tags.

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