OFF: Monster Magnet - Tokyo 8/8

[Dave Greenhalgh]

I haven't seen Monster magnet before so this gig was a bit
of an experiment.  Thankfully, On Air East is bigger than
the West version where Gong played a few weeks ago.  Still
only a five or six hundred capacity venue, though,  so it
was all pretty intimate.

Got to admit that the first half or so wasn't my bag.  Maybe
I'm getting old (too old for the mosh pit, for sure) but
tongue wagging guitarists don't do it for me these days :-)
And maybe I'm getting cynical but the heavy metal poodle (or
hairstyle with a bass as Manami described him) _did_ look
funny!  I don't think I was alone in not getting the first
half of the show.  the mosh pit was bouncing, sure,  but it
wasn't until Dopes to Infinity appeared that the
crowd-surfing began and things started to rock.  Up till
then it seemed MM were trying too hard.  Maybe because they
were headlining after coming bottom of the bill the day
before with Marylin Manson and Megadeth (amongst others - I
can't comment, I didn't go.)  It was maybe because the show
started at 6pm (this being Tokyo and all) which is hardly
the traditional moment for this kind of gig.

Whatever, after DtI things got moving and it was nice to see
a Theremin being abused for assorted swirly noises on the
intro to Brainstorm.  Lots of stuff from the new album, of
course,  and no extended jams in Tab style, mores the pity.
Perhaps the USA contingent can comment whether MM gigs are
normally so slick and tight and evidently rehearsed or do
they let rip a bit more at home?  Did they tailor the set
for the local taste, which is definitely on the heavy side?

The encore was a number that may have been called I will
Deny You, but probably wasn't (it's not on the albums I've
got!) followed by Kick Out the Jams which was the highlight
song of the set.  All done by 7:45.

--
Dave Greenhalgh


ICQ#33513470