GAY FOR GOJIRA
Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 3:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
I love Gojira. I love them the way Mel Gibson loved that lady he killed all those people for in Braveheart. I love them the way Mel Gibson loved that lady he killed all those people for in Lethal Weapon 2. I love them the way Mel Gibson loved that lady he killed all those people for in Mad Max. I love them the way Mel Gibson loved the son he killed all those people for in The Patriot. I love Gojira the way Mel Gibson hates the Jews.
I haven’t really written a show review in awhile, and the reason is, I haven’t felt motivated to. I’ve seen some good shows these past months, and Scion was certainly assloads of fun, but nothing has really knocked my socks off in a long time… until now.
Only two words can really articulate how we felt about the French metallers first-ever NYC headlining gig, which took place last night: “holy” and “shit.” Watching this band just absolutely murder it for an hour and fifteen minutes gave me chills the same way, say, a great Tool show gives me chills; Gojira live are that fucking good.
The band played songs from all four of their albums – yes, even 2001’s Terra Incognita was represented – and their musicianship is almost unreal in its power and precision. With a bare minimum of between-song banter, Joe Duplantier leads the group with the stage presence of a giant; when he’s not obligated to be near a mic for vocal duties, he often lifts his guitar and runs around the stage as though John Williams’ theme from Superman were playing in his head. And that might come across as totally silly, if Duplantier did not seem to indeed be some kind of superman. He and co-guitarist Christian Andreu often finger tap in perfect unison, and have re-claimed the technique from the mindless Van Halen-wanna bes, making it an actual effect to benefit actual songs; they’ve made an old trick seem new again.
Meanwhile, I think bassist Jean-Michel Labadie needs to be tested for epilepsy. Seriously, the guy headbangs as though he were actively trying to violently shake his head free from his shoulders, like he wants his skull to detach and fly off into the crowd. And he does that pretty much all the time. He scores extra points for his synchronized headbanging with Andreu; they do it in a way that seems natural, not overly choreographed, as though they really do just happen to be headbanging at the same moments during the same songs in the same style of headbang. Too often these days it feels like bassists get lost amongst guitar heroics and lead singer dramatics, but Labadie is an honest to God stage presence in and of himself.
Then there’s drummer Mario Duplantier. HOLY CRAP. This man is a god. A FUCKING GOD. He played a drum solo. Drum solos feel increasingly rare these days, and for good reason. Generally, as a rule, I’d say if you’re a drummer and your name isn’t Mike Portnoy or Danny Carey, you probably should not take a drum solo. Too many drummers either get caught up in just playing really, really fast without showing any sense of structure or giving the crowd any reason to give a fuck, or they go too far in the other direction, playing simplistic, uninvolving drek. Mario Duplantier played a perfect combination of the technical and melodic – seriously, his solo could pretty much have been a song unto itself – and the guy plays his fucking guts out. AND THEN HE PLAYS SOME MORE. And he never fucks up, he never slows down, he never shows signs of exhaustion. I have never been, and will never be, in such good shape.
The band played all ten boner-inducing minutes of “The Art of Dying” and an abridged version of the title track from The Way of All Flesh. Then they walked off-stage – but the house lights didn’t come up. “I never thought I’d say this, but I hope they play an encore,” I said to Vince. “I was just thinking the same thing!” Vince exclaimed in reply. Given that we fucking hate encores, this is a true feat.
The band did return, of course, and tore through a bone-crushingly good rendition of “Vacuity” that elicited the biggest pit of the night. When they were finally done for good, all I could think was that I wanted to see them play some more. If Gojira come anywhere near your town, make it a priority to go check them out. You will not be disappointed.
-AR
Good, aren’t they?
Very good. I saw them open for Lamb of God, Trivium, and Machine Head a few years back before ‘From Mars To Sirius’ got them some good recognition, and they pretty much stole the show. I need to see this band live again soon and see how they’ve developed since.
When they played in London earlier this year, it was literally GOJIRAMAZING. Just a 500 person venue, the place went ape.
THE FUCKING BEST SHOW
i need to see this band live, and, lol/good review
They were awesome last night. Quite a LIGHT show too…damn.
Great review. The Way of All flesh is an amazing record, and these guys are great
Drum solos really are rare aren’t they…
I’ve only seen one and I don’t think it was planned. Axenrot belted one out after being screamed at to play one, and I must say, it was fucking awesome… It was the most impressive thing I’ve heard from him.
What about they way Mel Gibson loved Jesus Christ when he made a torture porn movie about beating the shit out of him? That’s the best kind of love.
Good one,sir
Gojira is pretty much number one on my list of bands i wanna go fuckin see more than anything.
Agreed man, watched the guys open for In Flames and they stole the show.
I couldn’t agree more! Go see this guys, they are amazing live!! I got my tix for thr Key club show in hollywood later this month and I can’t fucking wait!! Finally a headline show with a set thats longer then 30 mins! I’m gonna get my french groove on! THIS GUYS ARE TRULY METAL FOR THE SOUL!
Damn… now I want to see them live… badly
Going to this show on Sunday. How were Car Bomb?
Car Bomb were pretty good. Really heavy, cool guitar and bass tones and when their drum and lights went out they just told jokes and jammed until everything got fixed. Someone shouted for them to play Pink Floyd, so the bassist started playing Money, the drummer joined in and then the vocalist did this hilarious voice! Cool dudes, fun time!
i want to run out on the street and profess my love for this band
Since you guys mentioned Gojira on the top albums of 2008, they have gone straight up riff by riff into my favs bands, the way of all flesh a fucking awesome album probably one of best Ive heard. I cant imagine why the fuck they would be bad live.
I was there too, and it was an excellent show. It was my second time seeing Gojira and they did not disappoint. They are extremely tight live and have a powerful stage presence.
p.s. – The review mentioned that they played material from all of their albums, but I don’t remember hearing anything from “The Link”
Saw them on Radio Rebellion a couple years back, they absolutely destroyed.
i was at that show last night and i was right in front of joe! fucking greatest band i have ever seen live and it was worth only getting 3 hours of sleep for :)
If I had written a review for this show, it would have come out word for word the same way Axle wrote it. I saw them in Philly (for the 3rd time) and got to meet them prior to the show by chance, shook Joe’s hand and my man-crush got worse. My buddies and I were front row-against the fence-tangling my hair with Joe during some intense headbanging sessions while screaming the words of his own songs back in his face! Epic. Youtube “Gojira Live” for any supporting evidence!
I saw them at Jaxx in Springfield, VA on the first night of this tour and they kicked ass. Great review.
This will be my 4th time seeing Gojira, 2nd as a fan of theirs. I can’t wait to see them headline, I’m still amazed by the show they put on opening for In Flames last November!
Top 5 band in metal right now. Saw them open for Job for A Cowboy and Behemoth and they were by far the best band. Unreal live. Axl hit it on the head how good they really are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXn1wIsttpg
Meh. Tried listening to their shit again, same thing. Just sounds generic to me. Hearing someone play something boring really, really well just doesn’t do it for me.
I don’t get this Gojira shit. They are fucking boring in the same way that Chimaira is boring. They should just become one big boring band and name themselves Gomaira or Chijira, then you can blow your load all on one band instead of dividing it between two.
Gojira is bullshit hippie crap.
I’m sorry for you.
Cause Gojira is fucking awesome.
JUST
PLAIN
FUCKING
AWESOME.
No he’s right. theyr’e bullshit hippy crap.
And French.
And very very gay.
I am so pissed they’re coming through SF on a Thursday evening. I want to see them again SOOOOOO BAD
Dude. They’re playing at Slim’s. Have you been there? IT IS FUCKING TINY.
They are going to destroy that place. It’s easy to get to and you’ll be out
of there by midnight.
Do yourself a favor and make that show.
I saw Gojira for the 1st time opening for In Flames in Vancouver… totally blew me away.
I’m gay for Gorod, the other kick ass band from France. I can’t wait for that new album in August!
Being gay must be a French thing…
It was only a matter of time before some French-bashing rednecks started posting. Go back to your trailers, douchebags.
I’m curious – have you ever actually been to France, or studied their history at all? They are the whiniest bunch of motherfuckers out there, and they’re snobs (without reason) to boot. Ok, bashing a band because of where they’re from is pretty stupid, but there are plenty of good reasons to hate the fuck out of the French, collectively. Not really a good reason to dislike a band, though.
And yes, I’ve been there, speak the language, and have studied their history (at least their military history) pretty well, so I don’t fall under the Schlitz-swilling, cousin-fucking trailer-dwelling redneck category.
everyone is snobs everywhere. I mean, jesus christ, theres people on this site that get in spewing arguments over personal opinion. Thats the way it is. Were all snobs.
“but there are plenty of good reasons to hate the fuck out of the French”
replace French with Americans, of whatever country suits you…
Hating one nation’s inhabitants is just retarded IMO…
Seeing them in LA I cant wait!
If it weren’t for me seeing Carcass, Alestorm, Landmine Marathon, The Haunted, and Paganfest this spring, then I probably would have gone to this tour.
Nothing is more pleasing to see a band this good live come out and be humble and so appreciative of the fans. It was refreshing. The show was phenomenal. Gojira projects everything that a metal band should be, and has definitely raised the bar for live shows for me from here on out.
I have wore the fuck out of The Way of All Flesh. Gojiria has been an inspiration to me a guitar player. Every time I listen to them, I immediately wish that i had my guitar with me. Hell, I love Gojiria like Republicans loved that dude named war.
funny you should mention the gay thing, because im gonna see this tour at a venue called ‘richards on richards’.
lol !
I just saw them in Worcester last Saturday. Holy fuck tits ass.
Along with Mark Rizzo, Car Bomb, and the Chariot, they kicked shit into your ass and back out again.
Plus i think Byron Davis was there. And Jens Kidman.
They encored with Vacuity too.
GOJIRAMAZING!
Damn right!
I love this band. By far my favorite band right now and has been for a while. God i hope they come down south to Florida.
Fuck Yeah! Saw them in San Francisco…still blown a fucking way!…Gojira BITCH!