Hailed by Bodega as one of the gigs of the year, Newcastle rockers Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs wreaked havoc at the sold-out venue last week, churning out doom-metal riffs to total appreciation from the audience. It was not one to be missed…
Plenty of expectation surrounded this gig, and I'm sure plenty of heavy rock fans across the area had this date marked in their calendars. When the event was announced, it came as a shock and delighted many people, especially as this date wasn’t a part of their formal tour. With Bodega the destination for Pigs, instantaneously the mind began to realise the cosy nature of the venue and how this band would take the roof off. Last time out, the band headlined Rock City while touring Viscerals, their third studio album under Rocket Recordings, a brutal album that had plenty of critical acclaim and drew comparisons to legends like Electric Wizard and Black Sabbath.
The beginning of 2023 saw Pigs release their fourth studio album, Land of Sleeper. Continuing their experimentation of sound and pushing doom-metal and acid-rock further, the album is a crowning achievement of their career so far. The band bounces back and forward between thick-uncompromising riffs like The Weatherman where howls and chants dominate the first half before the band joins in unison to produce a sound reminiscent of a kick in the teeth. The fast-paced Mr Medicine is completely succinct, it is full to the brim with powerful bass licks and deafening guitar tones, the medicine anyone needs when seeing a metal band live.
Pigs were supported by the Canadian-British electro-punk band Shelf Lives, who made a positive impression on the crowd. Their electrifying set showcased hardcore punk, electronica and sometimes pop with the duo bouncing around the stage creating the perfect atmosphere in the lead-up to the main event. They are worthy of a hardcore-punk comparison to Jockstrap, and if you like abrasive, floor-filling punk anthems – Shelf Lives could be your new favourite band.
The moment had finally arrived for the quintet, fronted by Matthew Baty in his Stone Cold Steve Austin Vest and wrestling shorts, he jumped and dived around the stage non-stop throughout the first track Mr Medicine. A sea of head-banging started to warm the packed audience who tried to reciprocate the energy emitting from the stage, before Baty joined in the headbanging himself.
Accompanying the band were skyscrapers of amplifiers stacked on top of each other, as if they were competing to be the loudest. And how they were needed, creating a sound so visceral and explosive for the tracks Reducer and Big Rig, which both had thunderous breakdowns pouring from Adam Sykes and Sam Grant’s guitars.
Baty snarled words through his gritted teeth into the microphone which he held personal to his chest, producing the vocals to match Terror’s Pillow. He leaned over the stage, preaching to the moshing crowd with sweat bouncing off his skin and radiating the heat produced by those who converged in the pit.
Pigs did enjoy a few gags with the crowd throughout the set, firstly asking if the “music was loud enough” to which they joked “If it got any louder it deafens us,” before Baty began rambling how Bono was actually Robin Hood and The Edge was one of his merry men, which the crowd sniggled at.
Although the tracks from Land of Sleeper sound sharper and more distinct than what preceded them on the first three albums, they play them live with an unmatched intensity and rawness that has become scarce nowadays. Playing The Bodega allowed for intimate performance space. Probably as personal as seeing Pigs live will get in fact. Their muddy, dystopian tones have a barrage of noise that could fill ten Bodegas and those lucky few walking out will know Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs gave it everything. They are certainly the band that every metal and rock fan needs.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs performed at The Bodega on 20 October 2023.
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