Killing Joke at le Poisson Rouge

Jaz Coleman

As teenagers in 1978, vocalist Jaz Coleman and drummer Paul Ferguson left a band they played in together in London, England, to form Killing Joke. They recruited guitarist Geordie Walker and bassist Youth through a classified advertisement in a British music publication, and after a few recordings achieved limited mainstream success in 1985. The band performed in punk clubs to punk audiences, but the music was decidedly not punk, but rather a vanguard blend of proto-industrial and post-punk with a bit of dark metal power. Killing Joke split in 1996 and reformed in 2002, with several personnel changes in both eras; the original lineup reformed in 2008 and comprises the current lineup. Killing Joke's 15th and most recent album is 2015's Pylon.

Killing Joke's two-year 40th anniversary Laugh at Your Own Peril tour rocketed into New York City with Coleman offering a spoken word engagement, Off on a Tangent, at Berlin, followed by band performances at le Poisson Rouge and Saint Vitus. The concerts featured the addition of keyboardist Roi Robertson, and consisted of songs from throughout the band's history as a retrospective. At le Poisson Rouge, Coleman lurked about the stage, wide-eyed and menacing, singing with a haunting scowl, as Walker's shimmery, reverberating guitar licks and Ferguson's dense, tribal drum patterns ignited the thunderous soundscape. Coleman's howls and shouts emphasized his often doom-and-gloom lyrics with electric intensity, as the musicians latched onto crude grooves rather than build to crescendos or spotlight any individual's proficiency. Killing Joke has refined its crunching, thick-as-a-brick, post-punk sound, and after 40 years is perhaps at the top of its game, except that the band failed to introduce new material. Hopefully the band will move beyond the retrospective stage once the 40th anniversary tour concludes.

Setlist:

1. Tomorrow's World
2. Autonomous Zone
3. In Excelsis
4. The Fall of Because
5. European Super State
6. Eighties
7. Bloodsport
8. Wardance
9. Requiem
10. Tension
11. Total Invasion
12. Loose Cannon
13. Corporate Elect
14. Asteroid
15. The Wait
16. Pssyche

Encore:

1. The Hum
2. The Death and Resurrection Show
3. Pandemonium