Soulfly, Birmingham Academy, England, 3rd February 2006

We left Milton Keynes at about 4.30 to make our way to Birmingham. At this time we were running quite late, as the doors for the gig were opening at 6.00 and we were setting off in the rush-hour traffic - all thanks to my friend James, who wasn't ready when we arrived at his house to pick him up!

When we finally set off the journey took about an hour and a half, so we arrived in Birmingham at our friend's house at around 6.00. We dropped our stuff off, had a couple of beers and then made our way into the town. By the time we got to the Academy at about 7.30 there was no queue at all, everbody was already inside. We went through and were pleased to see that the gig had been moved to the main room instead of the smaller room upstairs. We got another beer straight away and then caught the end of Skindred. During the break we sunk a few more beers, then assumed a decent position to watch the show. At about 8.00, the intro DARK AGES started and the crowd went mental! Joe appeared behind the kit and soon after the Max, Bobby and Mark followed and ploughed straight into BABYLON - which saw the place go crazy. Next up was to PROPHECY (with a sampled intro) which created a really cool atmosphere - one of my favourite songs of the night. After DOWNSTROY, SEEK 'N' STRIKE and LIVING SACRIFICE, the first Sepultura cover was played - ROOTS BLOODY ROOTS, which as always, everyone went crazy to - the whole place was moving.



Now the whole set went up a gear, with some faster songs. Next was I AND I from Dark Ages, a truly brilliant song live - Joey's drumming was incredible - it's really good to see Soulfly coming up with some faster, heavier material now. This was followed by the intro to JUMPDAFUCKUP which went straight into the magnificient BRING IT - which was so fast it only seemed to last seconds! Next was DEFEAT U one of my favourite tunes from Prophecy. When they played this at Donington Park in 2004 they had the guest vocalist on the verses, but there was no guest vocalist this time. MARS was fantastic, and a highlight of the set, as Mark played the whole acoustic guitar interlude, which made the song last over 8 minutes. This was one of the best moments of the night, as it showed how much of an excellent guitarist Mark is, he was truly amazing - it also gave the crowd the chance to catch their breath, as the place hadn't stopped since the first song! The Sepultura anthem REFUSE/RESIST was to follow, which I'm so glad they played, I had to go and join the pit at this point, I couldn't miss it. Afterwards I managed to get a great position at the front and get some really cool pictures of the band, and a couple of short videos - had a couple of kicks to the head from crowd surfers for my troubles, but it was worth it! EXECUTION STYLE from Prophecy came next another fast song to get the crowd moving, closely followed by ARISE AGAIN (my personal favourite from Dark Ages), LOTM, the beginning of Slayer's finest RAINING BLOOD, and then the incredible PORRADA.



It was time for the trademark DRUM JAM. This gave us a chance to see the capabilities of Joey - he was really impressive. Then the other band members came out with their drums and played for about 5 minutes. Some lucky f**ker in front of me was waved up on stage by Max and went up to join the drum jam. Must have been really cool for him! Ritchie Cavalera joined the stage next for BLEED from the first album (I was suprised that the set was nearly over and this was the only track from the first album that Soulfly had played). Ritchie hung around for TREE OF PAIN and then launched himself into the crowd. This was closely followed by BACK TO THE PRIMITIVE which is always a crowd pleaser, and another chance to see how much of an excelelnt drummer Joey is! Nearing the end of the set now, and Max introduced FRONTLINES - at which point I went back to join my friends who were stood a bit further back.



I could not believe what came next. This was the tenth time I've seen Soulfly and they've never pulled something out of the bag as cool as SYMPTOM OF THE UNIVERSE - a Black Sabbath cover also recorded by Sepultura on the album BLOOD ROOTED. This was easily the best moment of the night for me, as I've been a Sabbath fan and a Sepultura fan for many years. Soulfly played the entire song (I kind of expected them to shorten it) so I was completely stoked. The band then left the stage, but we knew there was something missing... and sure enough they returned for EYE FOR AN EYE as the encore. Excellent.



This was the first time I had been to a gig at the Birmingham Academy, and I thought it was really good, I think I would choose to go here over most London venues, as the place is huge and has plenty of space to move around. Soulfly were amazing on Friday night. I honestly believe this is the best line up the band has had so far, and I really hope Max hangs onto these guys, becuase they are really impressive. I also hope the band continue to write in the style of the Dark Ages album - which I also think is their best yet. My highlight was definitely SYMPTOM OF THE UNIVERSE, I would have liked to have heard BLEAK, NO HOPE = NO FEAR, PREJUDICE (as Benji was around!) and MOSES, but the set was crammed with great material as it was. After the show we were turfed out of the Academy while they prepared for the club night, so at 10.00 we went to the Academy bar next door and began to let the beers flow even more. When the club was ready to start the rest of the night we went back in and we all had a brilliant time - one to remember. All in all the gig was amazing, I can't wait to see if Soulfly join any of the big festivals in the UK this summer - it would be great to see them yet again.



P.S. The setlist above says they played Inner Self and Wasting Away (Nailbomb) but they were not played.

great review man!! they also didnt play downstroy:) i wish they did play that whole set, it woulda been even more awesome.

Hey, thanks for the comments, maybe they didn't play Downstroy, it's funny how it's hard to remember these things!

sick revoiew man

Awesome review, cool pictures from frontline ;] Thank You.

yeah!!!!!!

what a show!!!
i can't wait to march, maybe i have to travel to holand or poland .... :

did they took a fan for all the drum jams?

hey man that was one (sic) review and some pretty damn good pics could you send me some over msn?

have you thought of a career in journalism

Hey guys, thanks for all the positive comments about the review, glad you liked it.

Molotov, next time you are online I can send you a few pics, though the best ones are in this post. I do have a couple of videos that are worth a watch too. A career in journalism... hmmm... doubt it!

Cheers!

nice incite shirt haha

awesome review, must have been one kick ass show!!!cant wait to see them!!!!thanks man