by

Rob Jones

Killing Joke is a vibrant and visceral studio and stage experience – and, the era around their first two albums plus the immediate subsequent releases has never been bettered in their tight canon of work that has spread across 43 years.

On a CIA, Cardiff date following Toyah and supporting Billy Idol the furious four tore up the joint with a set that borrowed heavily on those early years from 1979 into the 80’s and on to the 90’s.

I have the October 13, 2003 Killing Joke gig at the long lost (Mount Stuart) MS1 Club, Cardiff as one of the most brutal aural and visual landscapes witnessed. On that electric evening *the audience threw themselves into a moshpit of mayhem as the band battered and bruised every inch of the building with their forceful fire dances.

These durable and diligent kings of chaos create an essential event – and, nearly two decades on from that nuclear night in their company I have returned on several occasions, never to be disappointed – and, this includes a pair of 2022 shows!

The more spacious surroundings of the CIA were a different proposition to the MS1 and the lads had to excite a crowd that was not entirely theirs but it is congratulations as the punters rallied around and bought into an energy that would be difficult to match! These gung ho groovers may be veterans but they have an unparalleled vibrance and vehemence.

Band leader Jaz Coleman is dictator-director and his accomplices provide the ultimate support network to allow their orchestrator to flourish. The enigmatic front man joins original Jokers – Geordie (guitar), Paul Ferguson (drums) and Youth (bass).

These warriors may be described as post punk, dance rock, industrial goth or alt. metal but any label utilised is irrelevant because most importantly Killing Joke are a rhythm revelation! There is no room for weaknesses in either the music or messages – and, as a result it is power, precision and punch.

Big guns w*ere brought in to battle and that provides *an aural arsenal of magnificent momentum, i.e. *: Unspeakable, Wardance, The Fall of Because, Requiem, Butcher, Eighties, Eighties, *

  • Change, Loose Cannon, The Wait, Pssyche, and*
  • Pandemonium.*

*It was a hotter than hell affair at The Tramshed in May but Killing Joke turned the temperature up several more degrees tonight – and, it was just what was needed in the cold of autumn. All that Jaz and more…..