LIVE(STREAM) REVIEW: Caligula’s Horse @ Live After Lockdown, The Triffid, Brisbane
The lights flicker, the instruments whirr, then we see the entrance of the Australian progressive metal lads from CALIGULA’S HORSE take the stage. But wait? What’s this? You can hear cheering. That’s right! an actual human audience is present for their hometown Brisbane show and its sight is one that many will be very relieved to see. Too long have bands been denied the chance to tour and share their art with the world. The smiles from the band members are amicable and there’s an air of relief emanating from those on stage which carries over into the crowd and as the opening notes of The Tempest hits people’s ears it’s clear that CALIGULA’S HORSE haven’t missed a step throughout their break from the stage lights.
Previous single Slow Violence erupts and has the crowd in a frenzy. The lyrics bellowed back at vocalist Jim Grey, whose banter with the partisan home crowd is witty and hilarious as you’d come to expect from Australians who seem to be universally funny people. It’s great to see a great deal of crowd interaction after such a long time away. He even states that if you wish to see more shows in the future, you should go and get a vaccine that is met with a near-universal agreement.
The rest of the band are also on point, most notably the guitarist Sam Vallen who nails the solos in Dream The Dead and Bloom with ease, while the rhythm section is perfectly in sync throughout. The setlist is a tremendous mix of all their work to date. From the depths of their earlier album, The Tide, The Thief And The Rivers End (All Is Quiet By The Wall) to their latest masterpiece Rise Radiant (Slow Violence, Salt, Valkyrie). It showcases just how far the band have come and how they have improved from album to album.
Fan favourite Marigold gets the crowd pumping and you can see it on stage, that they still love playing the older jams as much as the newer tracks. The prog-followers in the crowd and hardcore fans of the band pretty much know all the words to the blistering venom of spoken word Inertia and The Weapon of the Wall which fires into The Cannons Mouth.
Sadly, for us at home, it seems there were some streaming issues with the show which brings us back down to earth realising we are still at the mercy of the pandemic and today’s technology. While it’s a great short-term substitute for the real thing, it can be hit and miss and even during subsequent viewings the buffering errors were still present and marred the performance to an extent.
Even with this issue, after the final notes of Graves are played you are still in awe of the band’s ability to command a crowd and nail every moment of proggy delight that they have created throughout their career thus far. They aren’t a band that relies on stage theatrics and gimmicks. Their connection to their fans and expertly crafted songs is enough of a reason to be all-in on them going forward if you weren’t already on board.
CALIGULA’S HORSE should not be one of the metal scenes best-kept secrets. Their songwriting and musicianship is always masterful and executed to perfection. They are a band that you need to see in person but a livestream is better than nothing at all right now. With a crowd in place here it’s a promising step in the right direction which will hopefully be followed shortly by the rest of the world.
Rating: 8/10