Note: Both the photos and reviews for the two Children Of Bodom Sydney gigs on the 1st and 2nd October are DIFFERENT. The first paragraph is the only thing that's common in both.

When I learned Children Of Bodom were headed to Australia, it wasn't exactly a life-defining moment for me but I admit I was really looking forward to finally seeing the Finish fivesome live. After all, it's taken them 8 years to make it to Australia which is a long wait in anyone's books. Upon hearing of the tour I also expected the Sydney show would be held somewhere such as the roundhouse (2000 capacity) but, apparently not. It was booked at the Gaelic Club, with a measly 850 (or less) capacity and suffice to say the first (and then, only) show (scheduled on NRL Grand Finals Night, Sunday October 2nd, 2005) sold out in a matter of days. Later, a second show was added a day earlier (Saturday October 1st, 2005) and the tickets disappeared just as quickly. The reason for this, is that Children Of Bodom are one of those Metal bands whose music transcends the conventional boundaries defautly erected simply by result of being Metal. Instead of being out of reach of those who wouldn't consider themselves metalheads, COB are one of those bands whose appeal is almost universal amongst fans of most forms of alternative music.

There was quite a line-up outside the venue when I arrived. Doors opened at 8pm and no sooner had the last of the people who'd been waiting entering the building than Western Australia's Pathogen took to the stage. As mentioned, Pathogen were the primary reason I had made the trip both nights (not to say that I wasn't looking forward to Children Of Bodom). To my complete surprise, instead of mumblings of "Who?", "Whats their name?", "Have you heard them?", "Can't Children Of Bodom just play?", "What's a support?" a rowdy bunch alongside me in the front row were chanting for Pathogen. As the set got underway, a very energetic, and receptive crowd really got into the set, many banging-head for the sake of this great new band they were hearing, while an impressive number of fellow Pathogen fans were in sync with every riff, kick and vocal. Tracks played included 'Identity Theft', 'Beyond Repent', 'Bleeding Eye' and a few other songs lifted from the album. As fantastic as they sound on album ('Bloodline' being one of the strongest and tightest Aussie Metal releases I've heard in years), Pathogen were just as good live. Full of energy, lapping up every bit of crowd response and putting on a stellar show.

Pathogen it seems, were not expecting anything close to the reception they got in Sydney, they left the stage to massive cheers and later sold through a massive chunk of the merchandise allocated to the entire tour (in just the first night). Here's hoping that they'll go down as well tomorrow, and be back in Sydney as headliners some time very soon.


Then came the wait (complete with quite a bit of shithouse music) for Children Of Bodom to get down to business - playing the very first show of their 'Are You Dead Yet?' world tour. There was a strong sense of anticipation in the venue as crew checked mics, guitars, drums, lights and sound. It wasn't too long before the intro sample began playing and the guys made their way out to a roaring crowd. Years of experience shone through with a very concise, controlled, entertaining an energetic set, which was (in order):

Hate Me
Choke Hold
Silent Night, Bodom Night
Bodom After Midnight
Six Pounder
Angels Don't Kill
Are You Dead Yet?
Needled 24-7
Deadnight Warrior
Follow The Reaper
Bodom Beach Terror
In Your Face
Everytime I Die
Hate Crew Deathroll
Downfall

There were flamboyant solos including some uber-melodic moments where Alexi and Janna stood side-by-side for some dual instrumental wankery, a little rock star water-spitting, though very little alcohol consumption. Obligatory "Fuck yeah!"'s to the crowd were frequent and the pit, although tame, was hot and sweaty, and went nuts when a couple of favourites were played.

Alexi admitted early on in the night to not realising the new album was out in Australia and made sure fans were aware only a select few songs would be played from it. I was a little disappointed at the seemingly shot set (even if it was 15 songs, it just seemed like an encore of 3 songs was needed to round it off. If all of the tracks were played off CD it would have lasted exactly 61 minutes). The lack of my personal favourite track 'Lake Bodom' was surprising, and I was infinitely puzzled as to why punters simply exited the venue almost instantly after the stage was vacated. What happened to an encore chant? It's not like transport was a problem. The night wound up before 11:30pm. I've heard COB are notorious for dismissing requests for more, but surely it was worth a shot..

At the end of the day (or night, as it were), Children Of Bodom put on a very strong show, definitely value for money and were well worth seeing. Pathogen, for my money, blew them off the stage but remember, they were my primary reason for heading to the gig.

Those who are headed to the second show tonight (like myself), and anyone planning on catching the 'Are You Dead Yet?" world tour are in for a treat.

For your convenience, you can download zip packs containing ALL of our pictures below in .ZIP packs. We have 59 Children Of Bodom images and 51 photos of Pathogen.

Children_Of_Bodom_and_Pathogen_01-10-2005.zip (6.4mb - right-click 'save target as') - All photos
Children_Of_Bodom_01-10-2005.zip (3.5mb - right-click 'save target as') - Children Of Bodom only
Pathogen_Supporting_Children_Of_Bodom_01-10-2005.zip (2.8mb - right-click 'save target as') - Pathogen only

We also have a combined video from both bands, both nights that runs almost 14 minutes. The video includes the first performance of 'Lake Bodom' from Children Of Bodom for a long time. Right click here and 'Save Target As' (32.46Mb). You will need Quicktime to play to .mov file. The video and sound vary in quality from bad to very bad. This video remains property of www.PyroMusic.net and is not to be edited in any way. That includes the file name.

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