Monday 30 September 2013

Filter, Melkweg Oude Zaal, 29 August 2013


So I am not going to lie to you, I am not sure I would have ended up at the Melkweg watching these guys if I was left to my own volition. It took a mate to convince me to go, and when I say convince me, I mean he bought me a ticket and told me I was going.


He then started to let me know a bit about the band. It turns out the bands front man had once been the guitarist for a “little known” industrial rock band called “Nine Inch Nails”. Now in the essence of full disclosure I once owned a NIN album and I thought, at the time that it was so bad that I gave it away. And for the record the number of albums that I have thought were so terrible that they were better suited in someone else’s collection rather than my own can be counted on one hand.




So my expectation level for his show was that I was going to have a good evening with a mate and a couple of beers, oh and I would catch some live music even if it was not my first choice I was sure I would have a fun night.

What I didn’t see coming was when you catch a glimpse of a mate who clearly loves a band, and for me I got to see this aspect this night.

Following the support band an army of roadies descended on the stage. This was a collective gaggle of roadies, more than I had seen in a long time. And what did this tell me? Well what it did make me think was that we were in for a more rock show then I had previously anticipated.
My greatest disappointment came when the lead singer unfortunately had a cold on this particular evening. And whilst Filter was never going to be my favorite band of all time it did make me wonder on this night in Amsterdam what they could have been.


From the 11 song set there was at least 3 songs I was genuinely familiar with and for mine the stand out track was “Surprise”. And I want to say they are “rock and Roll” but that’s not right, well not by modern day standards. I was suitably impressed by the bass player who whilst not being the most inspiring figure on stage, hit some seriously enjoyable fat beats. And then there was the drummer. He filled the bill, shirtless, covered in tats and beating the living suitcase out of the skins.

And as for the lead singer, well here was a Chris Cornell-esk sounding lad who loves to stage dive. On top of that he did have a touch of the macabre and when he introduced more than one song it was the pre amble before the track that let you know that this was a song that had a real purpose, a homage if you will and it was not and I repeat just a mindless pop song. (No other song represented this point better than the “Soldier of Misfortune”) And on top of this his demeanour was that of a drug addict (maybe it was just his flu) but a very charismatic entertainer.


What I noticed about Filter was that this band was very eclectic and they are not as much of a cliché or as stereotypical as I expected. Also the crowd got right into them and towards the back-end of the show were in fully participating sing along with the lead singer. This small crowd at the Melkweg really got into it. And I totally enjoyed it.

JV


All photos care of the Melkweg Facebook page - thanks guys!





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