Live Review: Karnivool w/ Fait @ The Triffid

If you were at The Triffid for Karnivool, let’s just share a moment of appreciation for how amazing these guys are live. The prog rockers, as usual, weren’t a single note short of amazing. The night had a mix of music from ‘Themata’ through to some unreleased material, and the energy ranged from quiet awe through to prosthetic leg moshing (we’ll get to that soon).

Perth musician Fait was the opener for the night. An instrumental artist specialising in atmospheric post-rock, she suited the Karnivool crowd perfectly and the venue was packed just twenty minutes into her set. The audience seemed curious about her sound and once people joined the crowd, their eyes and ears were glued to her.

Fait left the audience hyped up and clamouring for Karnivool, and as the stage was set up and the lights dimmed the crowd went nuts. Just as the suspense became unbearable, the quintet ran on to the stage, wasting no time in giving people what they wanted.

Karnivool usually start their sets with Goliath, and it’s not hard to see why when you’re watching them live. It’s a failsafe crowd pleaser that took everyone’s energy from 0 to 100 (well, 80 to 100) in a single note. As they started the song you could feel every ounce of energy pouring into their instruments and echoing through the venue. As the spine-tingling breakdown in the last section ended the song, fans erupted into cheers and cries of “F*ck yeah!”.

And just one song in, Karnivool played a new one. All It Takes is from their upcoming album and fans absorbed every single chord, rocking from side to side and watching their idols in awe. It was a mix between soft and heavy, with ambient reverberated instrumentation and emotional build ups. If the new track is anything to go by, we’re in for another banger album form this prog quintet.

Classics Simple Boy and Set Fire To The Hive were highlights of the night and proved that Karnivool fans are some of the most dedicated out there. Everyone in the room was singing along with frontman Ian Kenny, and one awesome dude even took his prosthetic leg off and moshed with it! The crowd looked like a swarm of bees frantically climbing over each other. Anyone who’s seen Karnivool live knows Kenny’s the Peter Garrett of prog (in an amazing way), and this was where his dancing became really good.

At then end of Hive, the band had a quick chat with the crowd. “So we’re writin’ a record…these songs are a work in progress. How does the song go again?” said Kenny as the guys joked around before launching into a piece full of ambient breaths, soft guitar plucks, lots of reverb, and a staggered drum beat that let the instruments and vocals build over it. In classic Karnivool style the song was heavy, emotional, and amazing to hear. We later found out it was called Animation, and after an intermission of We Are they played another newbie appropriately named Reanimation. It definitely sounded like the follow-up to Animation, an ambient prog prodigy.

All I Know turned into mass karaoke party as Kenny let the audience take over with the epic lyrics “Say it once more/say it again / That this is the end of all I know”. The roof was shaking and the air was trembling. The quintet finished the song by saying, “Can we have a moment of appreciation for how f*cking cool this venue is?”. I have to agree that for a reimagined air hangar, the acoustics were brilliant.

The energy refused to die down through the set, and Deadman and Roquefort had people moshing insanely hard again. Themata was a song that everyone saw coming and I think I spotted the prosthetic leg again…I can’t say for sure though as the crowd was a beautiful jumping mess. The lights then went out and the band walked off stage, but fans weren’t going to accept that. About five different chants along the lines of “Come back!” echoed through The Triffid.

Of course they did come back, and they finished with a bang. First smashed out Aeons and then gave us the epic ending that they usually go for, New Day. Every chord was larger-than-life to say the least. There was a halo of light behind the boys as sweat dripped from their silhouettes, a sign of a gig well done.

As they finished their finale and gracefully left the stage they left us with “Thank you Brisbane, you’re f*ckin’ beautiful!”. Fans instantly poured out after the show to scramble over what was left at the merch counter and exchange “how awesome was that!” conversations with randoms over a well earned cigarette.

This is now the third Karnivool gig I’ve been to and there’s three things they’ve always delivered: they’re super tight, their energy is incredible, and they’re just all-round awesome guys that have a real passion for what they do. As far as I’m concerned, Karnivool once again cemented themselves as Australian rock royalty. If you haven’t seen these guys live yet you need to do yourself a massive favour and buy tickets on their next tour, you definitely won’t regret it!

Check out our Photo Gallery HERE and read our interview with Karnivool’s Mark Hosking HERE

Karnivool ‘Reanimation’ Tour

WED 29 JUNE
The Wool Exchange, Geelong
THU 30 JUNE
The Croxton, Melbourne
FRI 1 JULY
The Croxton, Melbourne
SAT 2 JULY
The University, Hobart
TUE 8 NOV
Metro City, Perth
THU 10 NOV
The Barton, Adelaide
FRI 11 NOV
Festival Hall, Melbourne
SAT 12 NOV
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
SUN 13 NOV
Riverstage, Brisbane

Get tickets HERE