Lamb of God @ Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton – Tuesday 13th August 2013
It’s the middle of the British Summer, so it’s cool with spots of rain and a sky full of black clouds. It could be a sign of more inclement weather or a warning that Lamb of God are playing Wolverhampton tonight.
Arriving late, I miss all bar the last song of tonight’s support, Sylosis, but they receive a rapturous ovation, so I’ll have to check out their stuff later. The venue it’s fair to say is full, and hot, very hot, and this is 20 minutes before the headline act.
Billed as “Only UK date 2013” the gig sold out fairly quickly, and it’s no surprise as this is a small venue for Lamb of God, and they’ve not graced Wolverhampton for several years. So, house lights down, strobing lights and the instantly recognisable drum solo of ‘Desolation’, straight into ‘Ghost Walking’. The volume is huge, and the stage looks overcrowded, with a backline that looks like it’s off a stage twice the size and has been shoe-horned into the tiny Wulfrun. The speakers so high in fact that the back drop logo can hardly be seen, and centre stage is Chris Adler behind his colossal drum kit.
Lead singer Randy Blythe bounces constantly around the stage, and acknowledges the recent legalities he’s been embroiled in, but handles this sensitively by stating “he was a fan of the band, it was a tragedy so you look after each other tonight”.
“It’s been maybe seven years since we played here, but we’ve just done Bloodstock and said to people hey, we’re off to Wolverhampton next”. This shouldn’t really surprise anyone, because locally biased I might be, but the Wulfrun (and bigger Civic) are the best venues in the Midlands, and to scoop Lamb of God playing their only ‘indoor’ gig this year in the UK isn’t that surprising to be fair, but the marketing of ‘only UK date’ isn’t technically true after Bloodstock, not that it matters.
So for the best part of an hour we are treated to full force power, ‘Ruin’ a particular stand-out, “we played this last time we were here with Devildriver”. During the “11th Hour” Blythe unveils a Union Jack and places this over the bass drums, where it stays throughout the rest of the gig.
The crowd is wild, wanting more, and special mention to a young lad on top of his Dad’s shoulder throughout the gig, playing air drums, I just hope he had some ear plugs in as at times we were topping 96 decibels (yes I did check)
A four song encore, ending with ‘Redneck’ and finally ‘Black Label’.
Brilliant gig, excellent setlist and immense sound, and the good news is for those of you who missed out (and you really did miss out) Lamb of God return to the UK for more dates in January 2014, sadly no Wolverhampton date but Birmingham is included.
Setlist:
Desolation
Ghost walking
Walk with me in hell
Set to fail
Ruin
Now you’ve got something to die for
11th hour
The undertow
Omerta
Contractor
In your words
Laid to rest
Redneck
Black label
Review by Glenn Raybone
Photographs by Steve Gerrard