Sefany Jones Reviews Superjoint Ritual Live in Hollywood
By
Sefany Jones,
Contributing Editor
Monday, September 1, 2003 @ 11:06 AM
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Superjoint Ritual came to the House of Blues last night in Hollywood and tore through that place like shrapnel ripping through your flesh. The floor was one writhing, violent moshpit, save for those helplessly pinned against the front barricade, as one body after the next flew overhead landing at the base of Phillip Anselmo’s mighty alter.
SJR brutally assaulted our ears with an equal amount of songs from both Use Once and Destroy and A Lethal Dose of American Hatred. Alright I’ll admit, Phil talks A LOT in between songs… but he seemed to be in a great mood, and almost shocked at the intense response he was getting from the Los Angeles crowd. He repeatedly thanked the audience and kept asking for the house lights to be turned up. It’s so unusual for an artist to talk to the crowd, and make you feel almost as if they know you and they’re speaking to you directly. That’s what Phil does. He gets right to the edge of the stage and gets right in your face. He would go out of his way to reach over and slap the hand of crowd-surfer dumped on the floor below him. He invited people to try to come up on stage, and told the security crew not to mess with anyone who got up on stage. Yeah, I know, he’s done that for a long time, even back in the Pantera days… but it doesn’t come off as a schtick – he seems so genuine about it.
Another thing he seems genuine about is that Superjoint is his love and passion… I think the audience went through 5 or 6 “SU-PER-JOINT!” chants, where the band would kick in a rhythm and Phil would thump the mic against his chest – textbook “Hail Hitler” uniformity. He’d stare across the sweaty, pummeled masses with an expression of a proud, beaming father.
Between “Personal Insult” and what Phil called “A Heathen’s War,” which is actually titled “Stealing A Page Or Two From Armed And Radical Pagans,” he called for Strapping Young Lad’s Gene Hoglan to come on stage, and Phil led the audience into a round of “Happy Birthday” for the drummer. (Strapping Young Lad supported this show and Full Blown Chaos opened.) The funniest part was when Gene took the stage... who should be toting a birthday cake behind him, but none other than our very own Crazy Craig! Phil leaned over to Craig and asked, “Is this a smashing cake?” to which Gene quickly shook his head “No!” as his sister made it special for him. And if you’ve ever seen Gene, he isn’t the kind of guy who’d waste a drop of cake! This was also SYL’s last night with SJR on this tour. I’m not sure who will continue on with Superjoint.
In summary, this show was absolutely and brutally sick – all that you could expect from a metal show. It was surprising they didn’t play their current single, “Destruction of a Person,” but they did play what Phil jokingly referred to as their radio-friendly single, “Permanently.” I could’ve used a few more songs, but what they played was choice! Oh, and for anyone who thinks that Hank III is just a country boy, I dare you to even fathom banging your head like that motherfucker! I’ve haven’t seen a head spin like that since The Exorcist!
Although I was authorized for a photo pass, it wasn’t there when I checked in. Sorry – next time I’ll get some killer ones when Superjoint comes back on Danzig’s Blackest of the Black tour this fall.
Superjoint’s set list:
Fuck Your Enemy
Waiting For the Turning Point
The Alcoholik
Dress Like a Target
4 Songs
Ozena
Personal Insult
Stealing A Page Or Two From Armed And Radical Pagans
It Takes No Guts
Permanently
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