Crowbar, one of the key bands in the New Orleans metal scene, has slowly but surely built up their fan base over a 20 year career. With their 9th studio record due out in February after a five year absence from headlining, they wrangled in a fanatical and impressively-sized audience for an 11pm show on a freezing Sunday night. Prior to the show, I spoke with frontman and songwriter Kirk Windstein - check back here soon for the interview.
Opening bands included Primitive Weapons, A Life Once Lost, and Black Tusk, but it was only once Crowbar’s soundcheck started that fans really began crowding up to the stage. Kirk himself came out to hit a few chords and make sure the sound was as forebodingly despotic as possible, before turning around to face the audience and blasting out opening song Conquering.
Santo’s is a small, dimly lit venue, a perfect stereotype of what a grungy heavy metal club should look like, and last night’s show was a perfect metal experience. Kirk and his bandmates ripped through a howling, crushing setlist with bass so heavy the floor shook, although that might have been the slow, yet violent mosh pits that swarmed during the heavier songs. Watch my video of The Lasting Dose to the left to witness the brutal intensity of Crowbar’s set.
The lack of a photo pit or any security at Santo’s kept things interesting at the front of the crowd, as photographers and their equipment (this Examiner included) fought for space with the die-hard, head-banging, elbow-throwing fans. A brief fight even broke out during High Rate Extinction, the combatants rolling around in the mosh pit throwing punches until pulled apart by their friends.
Throughout the night, Kirk proved to be a compelling, if low key frontman. Other than some gracious thank yous to the crowd for coming out, he let his roaring vocals and muddy, pummeling guitar tones do most of the talking. Crowbar songs tend to come in under the four minute mark, and so even though the band played for less than an hour, they fit in a good dozen songs, including Sever the Wicked Hand, title track of the new record coming out this February.
The night ended with the spacey Planets Collide, followed by an encore of All I Had (I Gave), as vicious and tortured a song as Crowbar has ever written. Fans bashed around gleefully, the smell of pot smoke thick and sweet in the air and the broiling mosh pit consuming virtually the entire open floor as Santo’s Party House shook with downtuned sludge metal.
With Kirk juggling his frontman duties in Crowbar along with his guitar playing roles in Kingdom of Sorrow and New Orleans supergroup Down, last night’s headlining show was a rare treat for the NYC audience, and unbeknown to most, was surreptitiously filmed for inclusion in a music video for Sever the Wicked Hand. So those who threw down at Santo’s last night should be sure to keep an eye out for themselves once the video is released, and those who didn’t make it... they have failed.
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