Gig Reviews: Kyuss Lives!- Manchester Academy 5 April 2011

by AdamTogether

It’s been almost 15 years since Kyuss broke up. At the time they were pioneers of the stoner rock scene with a small but dedicated following of space cadets journeying into the desert to see their now legendary generator shows. Since their break up in 1995 they have gained a huge cult following as a generation of rabid music lovers discovered their classic albums such as Blues for the Red Sun and And The Circus Leaves Town.

One thing that has been on everyone’s mind since then is “Will Kyuss ever re-unite?” Rumours of a reunion have popped up every couple of years or so and every time the adoring fans have been left disappointed when they turn out to be unfounded. But then in late 2010, it happened: John Garcia, Nick Oliveri, and Brant Bjork announced that with the help of hired hand Bruno Fevery on six string duties, they would be touring in 2011 under the moniker Kyuss Lives!

It’s no surprise then that there is more than a little excitement in the air at tonight’s packed out gig at Manchester Academy (not to mention the sweet smell of a certain herb, which is appropriate seeing as Kyuss pretty much invented the genre known as “Stoner Rock”). It’s what we’ve all been waiting for for the last 15 years, and it’s happening tonight!

Some fans may have been disappointed by the absence of a certain ginger superstar, but from the moment the three remaining founder members strut onto the stage Josh Homme is hardly missed, and with the opening notes of Gardenia the whole place goes absolutely bat-shit mental.

It can been said that the loose production on some of Kyuss’ albums let them down but live, songs like One Inch Man and Freedom Run sound absolutely massive, each monolithic riff sounding like it could pound mountains to dust. The songs were written to be big and loud enough to be heard across vast deserts, so in a medium size capacity like The Academy it seems like every bowel troubling, bass-heavy note is going to blow the roof off. The rollicking riff-rolling Thumb is crushingly heavy and the roar from the crowd when its opening notes fizz out of the speakers almost rivals the band for noise levels.

The players themselves are on fine form. The notorious hell raiser Nick Oliveri prowls the stage with his rumbling, thundering bass slung low, although he seems a lot more calm and collected, seemingly letting the music do the talking rather than his reputation, and he keeps his clothes on throughout the whole set! John Garcia’s voice sounds better than it ever did on record and he is clearly loving every minute of this show as he grinds against the mic stand. Brant Bjork, pounding the drums hard and loose looks like John Bonham incarnate, bandana and all. Although Bruno Favery will never be able to replace Josh Homme, he does a fine job of emulating his playing style, almost note perfectly.

The band thunder through a set of classics pulled from their three standout albums, Blues from the Red Sun, Sky Valley and …And The Circus Leaves Town, with barely a breath between songs. There’s no time for banter here tonight. The crowd came here to hear Kyuss songs live and that’s what they’ve going to get, so they cram as many of their best ones into the one and a half our set as possible. It’s absolutely relentless.

They let up the onslaught during Whitewater as it slows to a bluesy Jam, which gives the crowd a chance to catch their breath before they pummel us again with a gargantuan El Rodeo and fierce, white hot rendition of set closer 100 Degrees.

When the band come back on for their encour of Allen’s Wrench and all time crowd favourite Green Machine, which contains one of the heaviest riffs known to man, everyone in the room is drenched in sweat and is obviously dying to get to the bar, but no one dares miss one minute of this show as it might be years before they decide to do a tour like this again. By the end everyone is knackered, but one thing is clear: we have all just witnessed something very special indeed.