Last nite was the first of the 3 Skinny Puppy shows I am seeing in CA. It did not disappoint. The Henry Fonda Theatre is a nice venue with very good sound, my only complaint was the extreme feeling up they did on me when they were frisking me on the way in the door. I’ll give them this credit though, they didn’t make people take the chains off their wallet, which is something those morons at Jam Productions back in Chicago always make people do. I never understood their paranoia about wallet chains. I have never once seen anyone use it as a weapon! Anyway, I was pleased at least that these people had at least that good sense.
Now on to the show. The sound at this venue was far better than the sound at The Vic. They played their normal main set. I noticed they had less monitors on stage than before but I think it is due to the smaller stage at the venue. They were pretty tight for the most part, but not as tight as the 2nd Chicago show. Ogre did use a bit more effects on his vocals in some spots which was nice. Cevin also did some cool transitions between songs and some weird tweaking of sounds during a few numbers (God’s Gift especially) which came off pretty cool. God’s Gift was the standout number for me that evening, and that is always a treat to hear them play live as it is my favorite song to hear them play. Ogre’s gun finally worked during Neuworld and he shot blood all over himself (and even the crowd a little) during it. I think the new songs are finally starting to grow on me but they still don’t compare to the magic of the older material.
The best surprise of the nite was they did not one, but TWO encores! They did Convulsion and Testure (sans Tron Dog suit, I wonder if they ditched that thing) in the first one and just when I thought that was going to be it, they came back out and did Deep Down Trauma Hounds and Smothered Hope! Smothered Hope sounded amazing too. I left a happy man, tired from a long day of flying, etc, but completey satisfied and looking forward to the next two shows, the first of which is tonite!
