Live Review

Crowbar – Academy, Manchester

• 31st Jan 2011

The first thing that greets you at the entrance to the academy is the merch stand, manned by Matt Brunson, guitarist for Crowbar. He’s not there for a gimmick purposes, to help sell t-shirts, he’s manning the stand because that’s one of the jobs he’s doing on tour. Such is the old school, stripped down mentality of Crowbars current tour.
There are no big night-liners, no entourage. Indeed when they are on the stage there is no massive backdrops, fireworks, gigantic drum risers or fire breathing dragons, you are simply going to get a band, personal and in your face-without any distractions.

“It’s been exactly six years since we were last here” Kirk Windstein informs the academy crowd promoting the soon to be released Crowbar album ‘Sever the wicked’-“…we may be old but were still the heaviest…” he adds.

Tonight there is no real security between the fans and stage, literally you could lean on the stage and shake hands with the band-which is exactly what many of the gathered fans take the opportunity to do when Crowbar take the stage; not in the ‘Touch someone famous’ mentality- there is no celebrity feel here-more a ‘Shake hands with someone you both respect and admire’.
Just after the opening ‘High rate extinction’ that’s exactly what people take the chance to do, the band taken aback by the response.

Tonight’s all about sludge riffs and heavy grooves, and the fans-pleasing to see are of all ages with a massive array of t-shirts of new and old bands-realize early on that they are in for a beating. “If you don’t know this, you probably shouldn’t be here” Kirk interjects before crushing any naysayers and doubters that they hold the heavy crown with Crowbar anthem ‘All I had (I gave)’

Every song is played with a frightening intensity, as if every note must cause pain in order for it to be sincere, and is balanced after every song as the entire band are smiling, clearly pleased to be playing music from a new album. Pleased to be playing to such a fervent crowd, hell, just to be playing this style of music.

“Let’s get serious again” Kirk announces before returning to the set. There’s a balance of old and new Crowbar favourites tonight, their second self titled album gets a more than welcome airing along with the opening song and the excellent, planet destroying ‘I have failed’.

Crowbar have cornered the ability to write slow low end riff’s, cornered them and beaten them into some of the heaviest ever to be committed to record. The crowd at the front still manage to pit and cause significant damage to each other, but front to back there is the inescapable feeling to move your head accompanied with that frown and look that can only be gained when the sound is so heavy it almost falls through the floor. This is one of the heaviest gigs, in terms of bass and feel that this writer has been to.

There are no long solo’s, no individual big set pieces, it’s instead all about locking, and locking tight with Kirk,Matt , Pat & Tommy providing a foil to play and harmonize with each other. ‘I am forever’ just being the most complete example of heavy music played well.
New material from the ‘Sever the wicked hand’ album comes in the shape of ‘Cemetery angels’ which not only fits with previous work, particularly ‘’Broken glass’s ‘Burn your world’ & ‘Conquering’, but establishes just how hungry and relevant Crowbar are.

Always the sign of a good gig, as the set comes to a close there’s a genuine feeling it has gone too fast, many taking this chance to shake hands, hug and thank the band for clearly giving them music that have weathered trends and stayed unwaveringly resolute to a sound and content. At one point Kirk leans way out into the crowd to hug a fan, a real feeling of family, that were all the same, that the music’s premise is one that applies to anyone trying to get through life.