And we're off. If all things go as planned, car doesn't pack in, I find my way around London, and manage to do the trip to Bradford from Wales in a near record time on Tuesday, this is the first of 6 on the latest Human Waste Tour. As with the Tura tour, they're support, but the main band I'm there to see, so not much mention of headliners Coal Chamber I'm afraid.
But first, before we get even to HWP, respect to whoever played the warm up tape, as lo, for the first time in the UK, System of a Down were given an airing, with the track War? from the last demo. And mighty fine it sounds on a proper PA. We will fight the heathens
So, mere weeks after the Tura Satana jaunt, Human Waste roll into town again. And it would seem that a sizeable number of people who got their first taster at that gig want more. From the start of opener Shine, the first of many surfers is over the barrier within seconds. I don't know if it's crowds that feed off bands or bands that feed of crowds, probably a combination of both, but tonight it happened.
The set is pretty much the same as on the Tura tour, with some exceptions, which we'll get to, but this time, although people may not know the material yet, they know a good thing when they see and hear it. Get With It, Slide, Drowned are all rattled off. Aimee gets up onto the barrier, almost toppling into the security guard below her, to which she apologises. I used to be a gymnast she teases leanging over the front. The chant of tits out goes up, which is a real shame. There's more to this band than that, but still, Aimee does get Scott to show his tits, with threats of Jeff showing a bit more, but er, I don't think Jeff was too impressed, and we should move on, as the band did, to the song about getting fucked, not penetration though and Exit Wound blasts out. After thanks to Coal Chamber, we get She Gives, from the b-side of the Powerstrip single, and this is followed by the single itself, complete still with the Men Without Hats rap. When Aimee asked how many people had bought the single, a sizeable shout went up. We can still then live in hope that it might dent the charts on the weekend.
More teasing of parts of the flesh goes on between crowd and Aimee and Aimee and crowd, along with more songs. Drugstore and Disease finish things off. It's a triumph if you ask me. I think that they got a better reception than Coal Chamber. Sure, there were more there for Coal Chamber, but there seemed more activity for HWP. It won't be long before they sell this place out themselves though. Mark my words. The fliers and stickers were snapped up anyway, even if people might have just been humouring me in taking them.
Coal Chamber themselves gave a good performance. Starting with Oddity and Bradley, they basically covered pretty much the entirety of the album. Unspoiled, Clock, My Frustration, they all sound good, and the crowd laps up the chance to join in the chants to the songs. Dez came across as being quite a humble guy between songs, and genuinely happy with the reception for the band on their return to the UK.
The stage itself is adorned with toys, recreating as best as possible, the album cover, with drapes on the sides, covered with phrases, I guess making up some kind of poem. The band also play a new song, Anxiety, which sounded pretty good on first listen, and of course Big Truck gets a Big Reception. Sorry, too easy. Meegs introduces the final track of the night, which is of course Loco, and then it's over.