Don’t fuck with the Elfman!

Last year’s September I got the latest BIGELF album Cheat The Gallows and was blown. Shortly after I was allowed to enjoy an admittedly short but awesome BIGELF show on the Progressive Nation Tour. Since then I’m “bigelfed”! ;)
During the interview the LA rockers already promised to come back for a headlining tour in early 2010. No sooner said than done, tourdates got announced and OF COURSE I had to be there! And here we go ;) February, only 4 gigs in Germany and the last one should be the one for me :)

:: pics ::

Cologne, Luxor, a club that is known to me as a state of emergency situation during an over-sold out destructive Mindless Self Indulgence show in 2008. It was really nice to experience this club in normal condition ;) Not nice was my ¾ hr lasting unsuccessfully search for a parking place. Totally unnerved I parked my car where I was at this point hoping it would be still there when I’m back (it actually was ;)).

That Canadian powerhouse :: PRIESTESS :: was supporting this tour I just found out shortly before I left for Cologne. It’s the very first European tour for these guys and I think it was a great opportunity for them to present the brand new album, the sophomore Prior To The Fire, which was released just two days ago. Besides, they musically well match with Bigelf. No wonder that most of the songs came from this new record, mixed up with two from the debut record Hello Master (2005). Seems like that many fans were keen on PRIESTESS and knew their stuff. Feedback was surprisingly good, making the band happy and playing their asses off, which got honored with an unscheduled encore :) Ok, I think the voice of singer/guitarist Mikey Heppner didn’t reach the quality as on CD, also was the played heavy Hard Rock quite unspectacular, but it didn’t derogate mood and atmosphere in any way. Nice warm-up!
Setlist: The Gem, Sideways Attack, Two Kids, Communicating Via-Eyes, Lay Down, Ladykiller, It Baffles The Mind, Lunar, The Firebird, Shred

Short change-over, mellotrons got placed in the middle and finally :: BIGELF :: jumped onto stage, kicking of with The Evils Of Rock & Roll. The venue was now filled till the backside (I guess 250+ people) and in the first row it even became crowded. BIGELF got almost frenetically welcomed, what created smiles on the band member’s faces. Much more they were enthused to see many people wearing freshly bought shirts and zipper. No wonder, merchandise was downright cheap and BIGELF CD's are expensive imports over here. Generally speaking the band was in best mood and Mr Fox much talking… sometimes his head off ;) After song 2 he already told the crowd that this show is the best so far on tour. He also told how surprised they were about all this snow (and that’s just leftovers) and cold and... how he writes songs: “this song I wrote naked at the campfire… playing with myself…”, causing many laughter. He asked the fans who had attended the Progressive Nation tour and who owns the three records: Money Machine, Hex and Cheat The Gallows. Response was many-voiced and made him happy ;) He also tried to compare himself with Johnny Depp (as Madhatter) in Alice In Wonderland, but without much feedback, since the movie didn’t start in Germany yet. But Madhatter was though played ;) It was quite interesting to watch Damon Fox moving between his 2 mellotrons, trying to play synchronic while pushing the wah-wah pedals and twiddling the knobs of the synths on top of the mellotrons. Oh, and he had also to sing and to perform… totally crazy this man! Another short confusion get caused when a string of Ace’ guitar broke at Hydra and Damon just went on instead of starting right from the beginning ;) There were so many funny sayings and stories that’s difficult to repeat them all. But be sure we all had a good laugh. I only can tell you, go and catch them on this tour! Also Money, It's Pure Evil got introduced by a little story, where Damon Fox linked back this song to the beginning of the economy crisis in the USA ;) However, it was really a great show. Approx. 80 minutes of pure BIGELF with songs from all three records and two encores afterwards. Lights sucked badly but at this success I think BIGELF won’t play such small clubs any longer. On the other hand, it was a very familiar and intimate show, which is just great too ;) BIGELF said goodbye till the summer, so I guess we will see them again on a couple of festivals :)
Setlist: The Evils Of Rock & Roll, Neuropsychopathic Eye, Pain Killers, Sunshine Suicide, Disappear, Blackball, Madhatter, Hydra, Money It's Pure Evil/Money Machine // Superstar, Counting Sheep

story & pics © Dajana