LIVE REVIEW

Converge @ The Knitting Factory, Hollywood, Ca. - Murderfest Day 1

By: Gian Erguiza - May, 2008

Outspoken frontman J.Bannon from Converge, starts the show with a big ‘Hello, we’re Converge,’ and pummels straight into it. By the middle of their set, the crowd had grown into one big massive pit with people getting crushed up front and conjuring summer saults from the stage. At this time, I experienced all there is to experience from a Converge show: Mayhem, camaraderie and honest musicianship.

After seeing the Red Chord deliver one spellbinding, awesome performance, my friend and I were ready for our first Converge show. I’ve heard a lot about this band and it’s live performance and it was time for me to get my 2 cents in and review it for myself.

Noticing the crowd that had surmised from the other rooms and a steady flow of people walking in, Converge had a packed crowd, waiting in the wings to explode. I also couldn’t help but think about how cool it was that all these Converge fans were showing their support by sporting the band’s tees. They sure made an impression.

As soon as Converge stepped up onstage, they let loose with teeth. They wasted no time in delivering their goods and boy did the crowd love it. Frontman J.Bannon gave his usual crazy exorcist like performance jumping and perusing through the stage like a freaked-out madman on crack screaming his brains out. This was an impressive showing from Converge. As I referred before, this was my first Converge show and I was pretty blown away by their performance. They had a different sound altogether and used dissonant sounds to fill the otherwise empty void in between songs. Very smart. They went through a barrage of different songs from different albums showing no mercy along the way. I couldn't get over the fact that J.Bannon was beaming with energy like a possessed madman rummaging through the crowd for interaction, promoting self-respect, running up and down the stage and terrorizing our minds. Some of the song highlights from the night included "No Heroes," "The Saddest Day," and "Plagues" which sounded godzilla-like or some sort of superhero theme song, was absolutely awesome.

At first I couldn’t hear Mr. J.Bannon but after coming up front, he was clear a day. His spirit shined through his performance. Guitar player,Kurt, sporting a Fender Jaguar, unusual for a metal band, made good sense of his signature sound by resonating sounds and bleeding out distortions like I've never heard from a metal band before. Bass player,Nate, also doing double duty on back up vocals, held it steady and thumped the shit out of that bass. Drummer,Ben, pumped the pain and was nothing short of perfected drumming. The vocals on the other hand I had to warm up to but after 3 songs, he was killing it as well. They had a good set with a pummeling performance. I’d like to see Converge again as I believe that I’m becoming a bigger fan, especially after seeing them deliver a mind bending performance. They were fucking brutal!

I Email to Friend I Print