Children of Bodom, Vicar Street Dublin (11/6/08) Review

Children of Bodom first came to Irish Shores under the Unholy Alliance II tour in the Point back in 2006. Although the gig was excellent, any die hard fans would have to wait for their return as a headline act before they could truly experience a proper Bodom show. Thankfully that time came on Wednesday night when Children of Bodom performed their first ever headlining show in Ireland. The show took place in Vicar Street, Dublin. Vicar Street used to be practically reserved for stand up comedy only but lack of decent venues in the city centre has led to it being utilized as a live music venue also in recent years. The venue itself was quite nice but the carpeting on the standing floor was a bit annoying for moshing, jumping and just general shoving around. The gig was all ages thankfully so I didn't have to worry about trying to bypass the bouncers for once.

I arrived at Vicar Street, rather drunk mind you, just as the Welsh support act Anterior were finishing up (good timing eh?). Since I didn't see much I can't really comment on the support but even with 'familiar' riffs, I doubt they were many people's cup of tea. Everyone was there for Bodom. The turn out was a tiny bit disappointing and the gig itself didn't actually sell out. I suspect this had something to do with the current state exams taking place and the fact the gig was taking place midweek. Let me just say that the rule about drink staying in the heavily restricted bar was complete bollicks. Although I can see why they wouldn't want to ruin their lovely carpet, it's practically religious for some people to enjoy their favorite band live with a plastic cup of beer in one hand. The venue lost out on a lot of sales that night because of this. The stage setup wasn't too fancy and consisted of a simple 'Children of Bodom' background. The keyboard and drum kit shared the back of the stage, each being placed slightly off centre.

Practically bang on schedule, after the Evil Dead II soundtrack intro, Children of Bodom walked on stage and launched into the classic 'Sixpounder'. The set was practically perfect in my eyes. Thankfully they didn't focus too heavily on their new album and only picked four songs to play including the title track 'Blooddrunk'. The band were much more on form (and possibly even drunker!) than they were back in 2006 and delivered a practically flawless performance. All of Alexi's solos were top notch and his on stage ramblings were predictably filled with all variations of the word 'fuck'. The sound wasn't great to be entirely honest but then again, sound is rarely perfect.

The only odd problem I found was that the crowd were a bit too 'static'. Apart from the one constant moshpit in the middle, there wasn't much movement in the crowd after the first two or three songs. This was even the evident case in the front where I was shocked to actually have space to stand and not get knocked halfway across the venue floor every two minutes! Considering it was a heavy metal gig, there wasn't even that much crowd surfing. Maybe it had something to do with the venue not being entirely full, it being midweek or the lack of alcohol from the bar but all in all there wasn't as much atmosphere in the crowd as I had hoped. But I'm nit picking here, the gig overall was fantastic. The real problem was - it was over too fast!

Come just a little after 10:30, every metal head was released back onto the streets of Dublin to consume even more alcohol and discuss the events of the night. There are already in fact rumours of Bodom returning sometime next year on a full and proper headlinging 'Blooddrunk' tour. I think I say with absolute certainty that after their performance on Wednesday, they will be very welcome back to Ireland to kick some ass all over again.

Setlist
Sixpounder
Hellhounds On My Trail
Silent Night, Bodom Night
Follow The Reaper
Living Dead Beat
In Your Face
Banned From Heaven
Needled 24/7
Hate Me
One Day You Will Cry
Mask of Sanity
Angels Don't Kill
Blooddrunk
Hate Crew Deathtoll
Downfall