All photos by Karolina E. Piwko.
All was set for the French Progressive Metal band Gojira’s triumphant return to Norway after they visited in the summer as support for Metallica. Back then they played in front of 40.000 people but this time they performed at a much smaller and more intimate club venue. Parkteatret Scene, in the heart of Oslo, is an old cinema from 1907 now functioning mainly as a concert venue with a capacity of 500. The venue is in its original shape, although the stage has undergone a complete rebuild so that it meets the standard of sound reflection in European concert venues. The venue was completely sold out and the crowd was in for a real treat.
As Gojira were touring in support of their latest release L’Enfant Sauvage, which was released June 26th through Roadrunner Records, you would expect the setlist to contain lots of songs from that album. This was not the case. Four songs off the new album were played and many would say that’s a sufficient number. Not because the new album is bad in any way, on the contrary, but it’s wise to mix in a few new songs with the older ones. The setlist was varied and contained songs off of all their five albums. And even though many weren’t familiar with the band’s first two albums, Terra Incognita (2001) and The Link (2003), the songs blended in nicely and the energy was still the same both onstage and in the crowd.
The band is tight as hell and perform with such precision that it’s almost scary. Especially drummer Mario Duplantier who rocks out behind the kit like there’s no tomorrow and still plays with the precision of a metronome. It’s impressive to say the least. Vocalist/guitarist Joe Duplantier is also great at keeping the energy level in the crowd to a maximum. He interacts with the crowd between the songs and seems very grateful towards the people that showed up. He is what a great front man should be and this also made sure that everyone in the crowd had a good time, no matter if they were in the mosh pit or in the back enjoying a beer with the show.
In the middle of the set the band went offstage while Joe remained playing a riff. While this was going on, Mario came up to the front of the stage and jumped into the crowd. He was carried around for a while before the security hauled him back in and he repositioned himself behind the drum kit once more. After the show both he and Joe gave the term “crowd surfing” a new meaning as they threw themselves into the crowd with a surfboard.
It’s perhaps a bit weird to play a new song as the only song in the encore but for Gojira it works. L’Enfant Sauvage is their best received album commercially to date and people know the songs from this album better than the old stuff. That being said the highlights were arguably “Flying Whales,” “Backbone,” (both off From Mars to Sirius, 2005) “Oroborus” and “Vacuity” (both off The Way of All Flesh, 2008).
Gojira is a band that delivers the goods and then some. They have so much energy onstage and this really affects the crowd. If you have a chance to go see them on tour; DO IT!
Setlist
Explosia / Flying Whales / Backbone / The Heaviest Matter of the Universe / L’Enfant Sauvage / The Art of Dying / Wisdom Comes / Toxic Garbage Island / Oroborus / Clone / The Axe / Vacuity / Encore: The Gift of Guilt
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