Saturday 18/10/03, Killing Joke @ Leadmill, Sheffield

Is it legal to say 80’s Industrial Metal in this day and age? Killing Joke seem to think so and to be honest,  they are not the type of group you would entirely want to mess with on a dark night! The fact of the matter is, that although they may have formed over 20 years ago and gone through the usual rock n' roll run of break ups and reunions, their sound is still startlingly refreshing. Today’s bands either holler down the microphone or sing some form of poppy punk hilarity that eventually begins to grate, so it was great to hear something different for once.

Despite an overly long introduction that left most of the crowd thinking ‘wtf?’ Killing Joke walked on stage looking characteristically awe inspiring and their performance did little to destroy this initial impression. A certain respect has to be given to a band that - after being around for so long with an impressive back catalogue to boot - can have the confidence to walk on stage, a few of them wearing make up, a few dressed up and play nothing old (ie: - for the fans). A few boos were heard at the end of the gig because they did not play their most famous tracks, but this faith in the new material should be commended, especially when its clear that they have not gone the same way as many other ‘older’ acts and tried to conform to what's popular. Killing Joke were, and still are, 'originals' that set the standards a lot of the current crop of  metal and rock bands have only really tried to live up to.