The Papa of ALL Roaches

17 April 2009: The Forum, London

“Pa – pa Roach, Pa – pa Roach, Pa – pa Roach”, chant the crowd. Brief pause. Wild screaming. Oops, just a techie. Crowd resume chanting: “Pa – pa Roach, Pa – pa Roach, Pa – pa Roach”. And Finally, Lights … Camera … Action … ROCKSTARS! The Papa of all Roaches manifest on stage to put on an uber-rockstarish performance, oozing the persistent energy of a Roach for a full ninety minutes. The London leg of the American rockers’ tour is a sell out and The Forum in Kentish Town is packed to the max. The openers: Dear Superstar – a big gaping Yawn! Filter – Rage Against The Machine wannabes but okayish on the whole. The headliner: in one word, Fantastic! The concert revolves largely around 2006′s The Paramour Sessions, the band’s fourth major-label album (and fifth album overall), which features a more punk rock sound as opposed to the rap-core thrash hip-hop vibe of debut album Infest. The set list opens with Change Or Die from new album Metamorphosis and proceeds as follows: Broken Home, To Be Loved, Alive (N’ Out Of Control), Forever, Getting Away With Murder, Lifeline, Crash, She Loves Me Not, Time Is Running Out, Hollywood Whore, Dead Cell, Between Angels And Insects, Encore: Scars, I Almost Told You That I Loved You and Last Resort. The songs sung reflect a decade of Papa Roach. A good decade.

The crowd is a weird mix of: emo girls who camped outside The Forum, in the rain, from 7 am on concert day, some old ladies (I have no explanation), parents accompanying their kids, a couple of goths, old-school fans, new-school fans and the usual taggers-on who know nothing about anything. But no matter what song is played, the words are belted out by adoring fans. Celeb-bashing is clearly a favourite past time with the crowd, as suggested by the enthusiastic bellowing of latest release Hollywood Whore, which has caught on quickly. Band and crowd find common ground in their dislike for the Britneys, Poshes and Parises of the world. I was madly excited to hear four songs from Infest. Between Angels And Insects exposes the trappings of materialism and with characteristic Papa Roach attitude tells materialism exactly where to go, “Take my money, take my possession, take my obsession, I don’t need that shit/ Fuck your money, fuck your possession, fuck your obsession, I don’t need that shit/ Money, possession, obsession, I don’t need that shit”. A simple provocative and relevant message in today’s age of Bigger Better Faster. Broken Home, another great song, describes the angst of family relationships, something most people can identify with. The audience is reminded of LoveHateTragedy with the performance of She Loves Me Not and Getting Away With Murder with performances of the title track and Scars.

Vocalist Jacoby Shaddix does not give his voice a break, and it proves well up to the task – from the soulful Forever to the loud and proud anthemic Last Resort, a challenge to perform as last song of the evening. A challenge met and well surpassed with superior vocal ability spiced with the intensity of tangible emotion. The relationship between band and crowd is one of parasitic symbiosis – feeding off one another’s energy and excitement, and magnifying it in an electric performance by the band which is reflected in a charged response from the crowd. It’s all about give and take. At one point, I look down at my camera, look up at the stage again, and … where’s Jacoby? All confused, I managed to locate the man in the gallery amidst a mob of fans. I thought he was going to do a Slipknot and launch from the gallery into the crowd but the singer must have thought it not such a good idea to crush his fans, who I am sure would have made every effort to catch him, wrap him up and take **cough** steal him home.

So bring on Download! I can’t wait to catch up with the American rockers in June for another spectacular performance.

[See Clink Music Magazine for more live concert reviews.]

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