Cavalera’s Return To Roots Tour – Perth, 26 Sep, 2017

Cavalera’s Return To Roots Tour – Perth, 26 Sep, 2017
The Astor Theatre, Perth, Western Australia
Reviewed by Kevin Curran
Photography by Stuart McKay

How important was Sepultura’s Roots album to heavy music?

Back when it was released in 1996, commercial TV shows like Video Hits and Hey Hey, It’s Saturday, due the popularity of Roots Bloody Roots, were forced to play them on prime-time TV – simply unfathomable in today’s musical climate.

A sold out crowd were in attendance to see the Roots Album played in its entirety by one half of the original members of Sepultura: Igor and Max Cavalera, along with more than capable hired guns in Marc Rizzo on lead guitar (Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy) and Tony Campos (Static X , Fear Factory, Soulfly).

A mixup with start times posted online meant we unfortunately didn’t get to see Skindred, but those who did were raving about their brutal, high-energy performance.

Track 1 off Roots is Roots Bloody Roots, which couldn’t have got the gig off to a better start. The Perth crowd on this occasion were hot – I don’t think I’ve seen a Perth crowd get into a gig as much as this one. Max Cavalera at times didn’t even need to sing, as the crowd were in full voice singing & roaring every lyric.

Attitude and Cut Throat followed in quick succession. Hearing this album live you begin to really understand why it was as popular as it was. The choruses are perfect to shout along to and the guitar riffs and double kick drums are brutal and heavy but at the core of the songs they are hooky.

My highlight of the Roots set came from Straighthate, which just epitomises exactly the idea of ‘heavy yet hooky’. Seeing this album played in its entirety was purely awesome, especially as this appears the closest to a Sepultura original line-up tour that will ever happen.

The Cavaleras kept the momentum at full force with very little stoppage in between songs. The guys battered out this monumental album, Max Cavalera showing what a great frontman he is – he isn’t showy, he just knows how to get every person in that crowd behind him by doing what he does, and he clearly loves being on that stage seeing their reaction to him and his bandmates.

Once they had played the whole of Roots, Max let the crowd know he wanted to hear noise for some more, and they obliged, but the encore, to be honest, had me scratching my head a bit.

Instead of playing a couple of back catalogue songs and calling it a night, the brothers came out and played a medley of Refuse Resist and Territory from the Chaos AD record – but not with the full band, just as a duo, which I found odd.

Next it was a cover of Motorhead’s Ace of a spades and a botchy cover of AC DC’s T.N.T., which they obviously put together that day. Bizarrely, they finished off the night by playing Roots Bloody Roots again – though a bit faster than the opening version. To be honest I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone play the same song twice before. Regardless of the ending, this gig was awesome and the Perth crowd loved it. Maybe Chaos AD in its entirety next time, Max and Igor?

Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries