Frenzal Rhomb at Shellshocked
Frenzal Rhomb's contribution to Youth Week 1997 was to play at the "Shellshocked" festival. It was a combination of a group of young bands who really just wanted the satisfaction of saying "we played with Frenzal Rhomb". Anyway, I arrived with my friends at about 7pm, still a few hours before Frenzal were due to show up. I didn't find the bands playing too exciting, so we just had to sit and wait for Frenzal. The first guy to appear was Jay. He was wearing a big, red mosh hat which almost covered his eyes, and I wouldn't have recognised him if he didn't have those big long, cool dreads. Anyway, it was planned that some guy from the council was to speak before Frenzal began playing. He tried, but he was not popular. Everyone was shouting FRENZAL! FRENZAL! I'm not sure if he got through his speech or not, but he eventually left the stage and the guys came out. First was the guy who tests Lindsay's guitar. Every now and then one of them would walk onto the stage to the cheers of the fasst-growing crowd. It's amazing how many people turn up at a free concert.
Soon everything was ready. By now Jay had taken off his hat, and everything was ready.
The first song was one of my favourites, "Genius." The mosh was huge and energetic (Frenzal always have a sick mosh). The energy kept going with "Run", "Disappointment", "Parasite", and "Not So Tough Now". This got us into the mood for the big one, "Punch In The Face", which had one of the best moshes of the night. By now everyone was well and truly involved, and Jay began to talk. Due to my state of mind a the time, I don't remember everything he said, although I do remember a payout on Lindsay. He said something like "This guy has been in our band a few months and already he thinks he owns the world." Jay also used his favourite call which he uses at every concert. He says "Yeah, whoever threw that shoe up, throw the other one up 'cause there in my size." It was funny the first time. He also found a wallet beside him on stage, and he read out all the information contained within. He also said that whoever owned it could come up and get it after the show. That was really cool cause some bands would tell you to fuck off.
Then they played the songs "Suburban Male", "Urban Myth" "Hate", "Dugadugabowbow" which got us into the mood for the finale, the song everyone wanted to hear, "Uncle Ken". Before this, however, he went into an advertising for the band. He said "Buy a Frenzal Rhomb t-shirt. They're cheap, very funny, and we need the cash."
Then they went to play "Uncle Ken". He said "I never liked your boat shoes...Oh shit we fucked it. We'll have to skip that one. Unkonwn to us at the time he was just provoking us. Everyone shouted, and he continued "...or your white cotton slacks!" It was one of the best moshes I have ever been in. Anyway, after that there was a bit more persuasive advertising "Just a reminder to buy a t-shirt."
However, everyone shouted for a encore. Jay reappeared from behind the stage and said "You're gonna have to shout louder than that if you want us to keep going. Anyway, we did and they reappeared and played "Home and Away" as well as another song which I don't know. Anyway the fun had to stop sometime. My fourth Frenzal concert was just as good as my first, and I'm sure there will be a fifth in the not too distant future.
by Tom Bridge