Review & photos by Rachel Jablonski
Kittie seems to have found their niche. No matter your opinion of the band prior, the Kittie of 2004 has upped their performance both live and with their latest release Until the End. The show at Quad City Live in Davenport, IA was, hands down, the best I have seen the band. Only playing one song, “Charlotte,” from their 1999 album Spit, the band pushed forward performing their new material that seeks to define them as a mature metal band.
The power displayed on stage, with the somehow natural sounding growls of vocalist Morgan Lander and the high energy of bassist Jennifer Arroyo, created a surge of adrenaline and awe from onlookers. The set was very tight even with new guitarist Lisa Marx having been in the band a mere six months. Her stage presence was a little more timid comparatively, but her guitar playing was aggressive despite her rather passive demeanor off stage. Drummer Mercedes Lander radiated positive energy behind her drum kit while meshing with the intense and heavy musical edge. Her drumming looked as if second nature, which I know not to be easy due to my feeble playing attempts. It is clear that each band member radiates their own personality on stage while collectively creating a massive sound.
The crowd picked up on the overwhelming performance of course and loved every minute of it. Some kids were mouthing every word, most displayed machine-like heads bobbing to the furry, and I even heard a girl assert, “I can hang!” to a guy that was trying to keep her from the stage and the pit. The guy shoved her and she was enraged as he refused to leave her alone. Ultimately, the guy was kicked out of the show. That’s right fellows; girls can hang as Kittie actively displayed.
Overall there is in fact only one word to describe the show: METAL. Kittie amazed me with the power of their new material live and the band continues to strengthen the way for women in metal music.
Also playing the show was Crisis. A band having been around since 1993, vocalist Karyn Crisis was in fact the first woman vocalist I ever heard in metal. Anxious to finally see Crisis live, I was anything but disappointed. When Karyn Crisis enters the stage - a tiny, agile, energetic, and obviously long-winded woman - the show begins. Long braids whipping furiously throughout the set with her never ceasing motion, the front woman seems to never run out of energy. Removing her shoes sometime after the first couple songs, revealing duct tape around her arches, her graceful, yet sharp and random movements (however that combination works, but it does) increased among the squeals, growls, and melodies.
Drummer Josh Florian was unable to play on this tour due to an emergency appendectomy slightly before it began. Thus former Crisis drummer Frank Waring III filled in so that the tour could persist for Crisis. Due to Frank not knowing any of the new material from Crisis’ latest release Like Sheep Led to Slaughter, Crisis chose to stick with an old school set consisting totally of songs from prior releases dating way back to ’93 and beyond. The crowd did not seem to mind. The cheers were many. The fast paced songs and high energy musicians seemed to fulfill the crowd. After the set I heard MANY people exclaim loudly as they walked away from the stage things like, “Crisis rules!” “That was awesome!” It was a good thing to hear. I was impressed myself and though I probably would have liked to hear material from the new release live, I was satisfied with the well performed set. And I can’t really complain too much. I was able to hear probably my favorite Crisis track “Nowhere but Lost” from 1996’s Deathshead Extermination.
Kittie and Crisis put on an enjoyable evening with high energy metal music not to be missed live.
Oh yeah, and Otep played too.