Heading
back in time to 1994 when I was a mere pup in the 6th grade, Nirvana was
everything and all I listened to UNTIL I stumbled on this record Meantime by a
band called Helmet. This was unlike
anything I had heard during my few years on the planet, it wasn’t grunge, it
wasn’t punk or plain old rock n’ roll, it was all of these things at once.
Needless to say I was hooked. I didn’t get to see them until 1997, and they were
playing with some band called Korn, whom I had never heard of and I remember
thinking at the time, how does this no name band open for Helmet!?
Flash
forward to August 13 2014 on route to see the beloved Helmet for the 5th time
in my life.
I
bought 2 tickets and hoped one of my friends would join me but nope, so I
talked my 24 year old sister into going, hoping to convert her into a fan. I
don’t know if I did, but I know my love and child like excitement to see these
heroes still runs strong in my heart.
We head
to the famous Thompson House (formerly Southgate), the mansion turned venue whose
claim to fame is that John Thompson, the inventor of the Tommy gun lived there
and invented said weapon in this mansion.
The
line up for this event were Ohio locals Bearer Of Bad News, Local H , Helmet
& Filter. I will start by saying I didn’t stay through Filter so I won’t be
touching on them much. My loyalty was to
the rest if the line up so let’s get into it.
First
up we have Dayton, OH based Bearer of
Bad News, who’s blistering set was a perfect match to the line up. With the song they called ‘Got the Least’
being the strong arm of their 30 minute noise fueled set. Think Helmet meets
Quicksand & you have the idea.
Next up
was the surprisingly excellent Local H. This two piece rock duo frankly owned
the room for 45 minutes. I was only a fan in passing in my youth, but after
this show I feel like I missed one hell of a time not seeing them live more.
The band played through a variety of notable songs throughout their career such
as ‘Bound for the Floor’, ‘Alright, Oh Yeah’ & an aggressive noise drenched
cover of Lorde’s ‘Team’. Overall a great solid set from these 90’s rockers.
And now
we will move on, likely the only reason you are reading this review and the
main reason I went to this show to begin with, Helmet. Who’s 45 minutes set
moved through various stages of their career aside from the AmRep material.
While we didn’t hear anything from ‘Strap
It On’ we did get to hear a selection from Monochrome like ‘Brand
New’ & ‘Swallowing Everything’, both were priceless performances but I
would be a liar if I said they were anywhere near as goose bump providing as
the opening few seconds of ‘Wilma’s Rainbow’, the opening track to 1994’s ‘Betty’ which the band is presently
touring in support of.
As a
huge fan of this record and having read that on some of the dates they are
performing ‘Betty’ from
beginning to end, I was ready to hear that but alas that wasn’t the case. Instead, what we got was a selection,
classics like ‘Milquetoast’ ‘Unsung’
& ‘Give It’. For the most part a
good portion of ‘Seeing Eye Dog’
filled any gaps in the set. There were a few funny moments with Page asking the
lighting crew to cut the strobe lights out “That looks cool man but I can’t see
anything I’m 50 years old!” 50 isn’t so
bad if you are still able to throw down a performance like Helmet did in this
riverfront venue.
As
someone who has been a fan for years and seen the band a handful of times, I
cannot say this was their best show & I am certain any old school fans
might have been a tad let down by the lack of Am-Rep era material. Still it was without question a fantastic performance
that did hit most of the high points of their career.
Helmet
held the crowd at bay until the last note and I even saw a fairly Eminem
looking fella booty dancing with some hussy throughout some tunes, so it was an
entertaining night!
Oh yeah
and as mentioned previously Filter headlined this date & all the U.S dates
on this tour.
While
Filter was never my cup of tea per se, they did have a few songs in their
career I enjoyed but they unbeknownst to them opened with what I feel is the
benchmark of shitty songs in their career ‘Trip Like I do’. The crowd had the distinct privilege of
hearing the opening loop to said song for nearly 30 minutes while smoke
machines and lighting were adjusted properly, this is after a 35 minute set up
time between Helmet’s set to Filters. I could go on but only 2 songs in and Richard
had tossed 2 wireless mics on the crowd, visibly complaining to the sound crew
and frankly doing everything in his power to mimic Chino Moreno, which in my
world is blasphemy.
Waffle
House and beer started to sound really good at this point so I grabbed my
clearly unimpressed sister and we headed out.
Moral
of the story Helmet, Local H & Bearer of Bad News = Awesome night
Filter
= Waffle House.
Cheers
Words by:
Stephen T. Barton
