Orange Goblin was one of those bands I had long heard about but never moved on. A few years ago, due in large part to this blog and my Sunday Metal entries, I came across Orange Goblin again and started listening to them. I started with “Time Travelling Blues” and just love that song and that album. I picked up their entire catalog and it’s just so strong. No question TTB and their latest, “A Eulogy for the Damned” are my favorites of theirs, but it’s all good.

I had long been looking to see them live, but had no idea if that would be possible. They’re based out of the UK, so a US tour has to be worth the time and money for them. About a year ago I heard about US tour plans, but only a SXSW showcase show was happening. That wasn’t going to happen for me, and I was fearing it might be my only chance. Often bands play SXSW then consider that their “Austin area appearance” for “this go-round” and that’s that, which sucks because it’s not really indicative of a show given the nature of SXSW. When Orange Goblin announced official US headline tour plans, I was stoked to find out Austin was on the list. No way was I going to miss this show!

Pre-Show Coolness

Possible Complications

Austin is finally exiting summer. The concert was at Red 7, outdoor stage. Given the time of year, I figured it would be perfect weather: in the 70’s, gentle breeze, and just a perfect night for an outdoor show.

Alas, Mother Nature had other plans. 🙂

This past week was abnormally warm, upper 90’s most of the week. Then rain. Friday and Saturday both had bouts of sporadic and very heavy rainfall. So it was warm, extremely humid, and wet. And these thunderstorms were pretty bad, bad enough you could see an outdoor gig getting cancelled. Thankfully that didn’t happen, but the weather wasn’t cooperative as the night wore on.

The other thing that threw a wrench in the works was the Old Pecan Street Festival. Red 7 is located on the north side of Austin’s famous “6th Street District”. Austin, Saturday night, decent weather (in theory), we figured at least the normal 6th Street crowd from the University would be down there. There was no UT football game so that helped, but then there was the Festival. See, Old Pecan Street and the east-end of 6th Street are the same thing, so as soon as I realized the festival was going on, we headed downtown. I had no idea what closures would be like, what parking might be like, and just didn’t feel like wandering all over creation as the night wore on.

But it worked out to be pretty cool.

Downtown Austin

Daughter was my concert buddy tonight. We got downtown and were able to park in the lot I wanted, so that was good. We then went and wandered the festival. Frankly, the festival was a little boring: just lots of vendors selling stuff, fair food, and so on. Meh. Every side street had bands playing tho, which was cool. We listened to a few of them, with one little blues band (with a ripping harmonica player) really catching our interest. But I was really hungry, so I thought I’d introduce Daughter to Hoek’s Death Metal Pizza! To my great disappointment, we got there and they were closed! Argh! (I later found out they had some sort of electrical failure earlier in the day and had to temporarily close until it could be repaired).

But that was OK. I actually wanted to check out this restaurant called Koriente. I heard about it a number of years ago when I was looking for more Korean restaurants in town. I’ll admit, the menu put me off at first because it really isn’t a Korean place… it’s… Korean-esque. No question it’s based upon Korean (and Japanese) food, but you can tell it’s reworked some to cater to possible target clientele. I mean, I’m half-Korean and grew up eating all sorts of Korean home-cooking, so this put me off a bit. But hey, I found out the place is right next door to Red 7 so why not give it a try and see? Glad I did! Food was really good. I can’t go in there thinking I’m having some of mom’s cooking, because it’s not. But if I take it for what it is, it’s pretty damn good. I had a seared Ahi Tuna (rare protein!); good stuff.

You Never Know Who You’ll Meet

Daughter wanted to eat out on the back patio. No problem, as we might as well adjust to the heat and humidity of the evening. The patio backs up to the alleyway that then leads to the outside entrance for Red 7. While finishing up dinner, we heard some soundcheck going on. We finished eating and thought to walk up the alley to see exactly where the entrance was. When we did, we were rewarded with hearing Orange Goblin doing their proper soundcheck! If I remember correctly, they checked with Scorpionica and Some You Win, Some You Lose, but as I write this I honestly don’t remember. Tho we didn’t see the band, it was cool to hear their soundcheck.

We still had an hour to go until the doors opened, so we went back to the Pecan St. Festival and wandered around some more, listened to some more bands, and just enjoyed the evening. Around 8:45 or so we sat down at a small band tent just at the exit to the Red 7 alleyway. One band was breaking down while the next was setting up, but we just wanted to sit for a bit since we’d be standing for a number of hours. Well, while we sat, who should we see emerge from the alley but Orange Goblin! Looks like they were going to get some food and check out the festival. I got right up, walked over to them, welcomed them to Austin and asked for a picture of them with Daughter. They were kind and obliged.

They were super nice guys, and it was kind of them to take a few minutes for the picture.

The Festival was breaking up, so we decided to head into the venue. As we were doing so, one of my co-workers showed up. We’ve been talking about the show on and off at work and I kept encouraging him to come out. I was glad he did! So into the venue we went.

We checked out merch. Daughter bought a Holy Grail yo-yo (they made 150 for each album, she got the “Ride the Void” one), and I was stoked to see they were good yo-yos (Duncan’s) not some cheap merch thing. Very cool!  I got an Orange Goblin t-shirt. Apparently it was a shirt from the last tour, but it was the only one I could get. The current tour shirt is not one I could wear – Wife wouldn’t approve, couldn’t wear it to work, etc.. That’s OK tho, as the shirt I did get was cool, and I was just happy they had it in 2XL. 🙂

The Bands

The Well

The show was opened by a local act called The Well (website, bandcamp). Never heard of them before, but why not, who knows.

I dug them. Heavy, sludgy, doomy, Sabbathy riffs and such. Decent stage presence too. Their vocal approach is different: it’s sung by both the male guitarist and female bassist at the same time. No harmony, just both singing at the same time, same melody lines. It’s unique, but I’m not sure how well it sits with me. I might have to listen to it more to see. Part of me wonders if they’d do better by both sharing vocal duties, but not always at the same time. He sings this song, she sings that song. Maybe some songs together.

Anyways, I thought they were alright and I’ll probably try to listen to more before I make a decision one way or another. But the fact my interest is perked is a good thing.

Lazer/Wulf

Lazer/Wulf was another band I had never heard of. Checked them out online before the show. I did not like what I heard. Put it this way. Take improvisational jazz — not the music itself, but the style, the approach, the noodling, the mentality, and then make it metal. It’s not “jazz metal”, it’s just instrumental metal with this sort of free-form jazz approach. They call themselves an experimental metal band.

Well, I knew from past experience to give things a chance, because often a band’s live performance can win you over. Sure enough, they were impressive.

The music is still not my cup of tea. But the trio are some damn talented musicians. I mean, they were beasts! They worked hard, and are certainly masters of their instrument and craft. I have to give them tons of credit. The drummer was pounding the hell out of his drums. At one point his bass drum came loose and was probably going to walk off the edge of the stage, but someone from the audience went up and moved it back into place, holding it there for the rest of the song! Very cool. When the song ended, he helped them fix the drum so their set could continue (he told me afterwards a screw had come out of the stabilizer leg; he found it, put it back together and away they went).

The set ended abruptly. They were out of time! They said something earlier about improv, so I’m not sure how much of their set was as-recorded and then how much was just on-stage jamming. But they were out of time and just ended the song… apparently mid-stream, but I had no idea. 🙂  Still it was cool how they were so tight as a band.

Seriously. Check this band out. You will like them or you will hate them, and you will respect their talent and ability. But if you can, see them live. I still think their recorded stuff doesn’t really showcase them properly. Trying to stream some of their albums and I just can’t get into it, but I did like them live.

If you are going to see this tour, show up early enough to see these guys.

Holy Grail

Holy Grail is yet another band I hadn’t heard of, until I heard about this tour.

But they were easy for me to get into. Very old school 80’s style thrash/power metal stuff. I mean, check them out… all sorts of fun metal clichés, and their songs are really good too.

Both Daughter and I have become fans of this band. I think she digs them more; we’ll be in the car and I’ll ask what she wants to listen to, and Holy Grail has been her pick as of late. 🙂

We got to meet the guitarists too. Earlier in the night, they walked by us to get a beer at the bar. I asked Daughter if she wanted to go get a picture, so over we went. Super nice guys, very happy to talk to us, and happy to hear about a couple new fans.

Their set was short, but really good. Daughter wanted to be up front, and so there we were, right up against the stage. This is why I like smaller shows like this: you can get right up with the band, you can meet the bands, it’s so much more fun than arena shows.

Holy Grail ripped through their set, and I was quite impressed. I wish I had discovered this guys sooner, because just a few months ago they were headlining in Austin. That would have been fun to see, a longer show. But if all goes well, I’m sure there will be a third album and another tour. We’ll be there!

• Bleeding Stone
• Crosswinds
• Ride the Void
• Requiem
• Dark Passenger
• Call of Valhalla
• My Last Attack

I can’t argue with the setlist. I would have loved it if they played Fight to Kill, but really, this was good for the time they had to play. I did like that they finished with My Last Attack. That song just rips. I love putting on Crisis in Utopia and just cranking up the first 5 songs on that album.

Anyways… Holy Grail finished and it was time for the headliners!

Orange Goblin

Remember when I mentioned the weather?

Well, the rain was starting to come down. Hard.

I expected the crowd to be thin in the beginning of the show, and while more people came as the night wore on, I don’t think the place ever got packed. And as the rain came down, I looked around and well, it looked like the crowd was thinning out. Red 7 didn’t have a cover over the entire area, so if you weren’t right up at the stage, you were getting soaked.

We kept our spot up at the front of the stage, just to the side of Ben Ward and Joe Hoare (who was in a leg brace when we ran into him on the street, but was brace-less during their set and seemed to be moving around well). And not just up front, but under what cover/roof there was.

The band was tight and they kicked our ass. They put together a great set with a little from every album in their catalog. There were so many possible songs one could pick, it had to be tough to create a setlist, but I think they did a great job of representing every album and “era” of the band. I did not feel disappointed. Hell, they played “Time Travelling Blues”, so I was stoked. 🙂

The audience really came alive for OG’s set. Alas, the rain seemed to drive everyone into one of two places. Either people left, or they crammed forward under what little cover their was. I felt bad for the band, looking out and seeing a somewhat empty venue. But it was certainly due to the rain. They sounded understanding, and I can’t blame people for not wanting to be soaked (the rain was coming down hard and heavy). Still…. the die hards stuck it out and that moved what mosh pit there was under what cover their was. So I got banged around a lot, but that’s OK. My job was to “cage” Daughter so she didn’t get crushed or banged up. 🙂

And those of us that remained got a hell of a show. The band was professional and kept playing like they were playing to a house packed with dry fans. 🙂

1. Made of Rats
2. The Filthy & the Feew
3. Acid Trial
4. Time Travelling Blues
5. Saruman’s Wish
6. Some You Win, Some You Lose
7. The Fog
8. The Man Who Invented Time
9. Round Up the Horses
10. Cities of Frost
11. Your World Will Hate This
12. The Come Back (Harvest of Skulls)
13. Scorpionica
14. Quincy the Pigboy (encore)
15. Red Tide Rising (encore)

As you can see, great set. More songs of Eulogy, which makes sense. It did tell me I need to listen to Coup de Grace more.

Thank you, Orange Goblin, for coming and playing. Sorry about the weather (and turnout), but thank you for kicking our asses and making for a great night!