Power Trip Live Review
Venue: The Crowbar, Brisbane, Australia. Friday 21.9.18
So I’ve been banging on to everyone and anyone about Texan Thrashers Power Trip since their debut album of 2013. Then last year, they turned Metal on its head with the awesome follow up ‘Nightmare Logic’. So fucking killer it is, I made it my #1 album of 2017! Reading about their high octane live gigs abroad had me hanging to see them and once I saw recent Japanese gigs locked in, it was clearly obvious that the next trip they should make was to venture south to Australia. On Friday night 21st September Power Trip played their first ever OZ gig at Brisbane’s underground Metal venue, The Crowbar! A sold out show!
From the outset, everyone I ran into prior to the gig was feeling it – there was a decided air of expectation around this gig – Power Trip’s reputation as a powerful, high energy no holds barred live act preceded them. Of course, they delivered.
Kicking off with ‘Soul Sacrifice’ and dropping straight into ‘Executioners Tax’ was the perfect one-two punch and duly sent the packed Crowbar crowd into a frenzy! Now, the great thing about this venue is how close you can get to the band – and the band to the crowd. For a band like Power Trip, that sort of intimacy and connection is extremely important and the Brisbane punters loved front man Riley Gale’s (Negative Approach T-shirt) forays over the monitors to engage with and scream in his fans faces! Needless to say, I was able to grab some great video and photos for this review.
Having locked myself at the front right of the stage I had prime view of my new favourite riff monster in Nick Stewart. Decked out in a Slayer muscle top tonight, the guy is a total beast – he banged all night and ripped out killer riff upon riff along with side kick Blake Ibanez (COC-shirt) whose dive bombing whammy bar solos are a sight to behold. Then there’s the diminutive Chris Whetzel (Dokken UL&K T-shirt) on bass – he pounds and thumps his oversized instrument with killer precision along with drummer Chris Ulsh (Punk T-shirt).
Power Trip are an extremely cohesive unit. Tight as the proverbial, professional as hell in the way they present and engaging with their audience like no other. Riley Gale commands the front of his stage, his vocal delivery just as spiteful and venomous as it is on record. He demanded 100% participation and with that, his band duly fed off the crowd’s energy in return! The temperature in the Crowbar was hot – Riley even called for some flood lights to be turned off such was the heat on stage. Dripping wet, Riley and his band ripped through killer track after track, breaking only for Riley to insist on more crowd participation and introduce the next song. After about an hour of intense murderous thrash, the band finished with ‘Firing Squad’ and ‘Manifest Decimation’ and returned for an encore of ‘Crossbreaker’ – with the crowd completely losing their shit!
Overall, Power Trip Live was exactly what I expected. A brilliant band – one of the most important metal bands on the planet actually – executing their crushing brand of thrash/crossover metal with superb tightness and white hot intensity! Riley was truly appreciate of everyone who turned out for their first ever OZ gig and thanked all involved – the Crowbar crew plus the two warm up acts in locals grind/death act ‘Shackles’ and Hardcore Punk/Metallers ‘Nerve Damage’. Let’s hope it’s not too long before they return. TIP: Do Not Miss!!
Live review and photos by KMaN
SET LIST:
Soul Sacrifice
Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe)
Divine Apprehension
Suffer No Fool
Nightmare Logic
Crucifixation
Firing Squad
Manifest Decimation
Encore:
Crossbreaker
Make sure to check below our full Gallery for some exclusive photos
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