Pacifier
supported by Grinspoon and Paselode at The Parthenon November 8th 2002
Tonight is a night I am never going to forget. I saw a band I haven’t seen live in 2 years play, to their home town crowd. ladies and gentlemen, Pacifier (aka shihad)
I have scars down my arms, and a little blood from further up, and a bruise forming on my shoulder, and I have no doubt one will appear on my face in the next 24 hours, that prove tonights show had Pacifier on the best form Wellington has ever seen them.
I have never in my life seen this band rock so much, and the crowd… were awesome… every song was a sing along, even bitter, and their tribute to speed metal, Metallica’s ” king nothing”…hehehhee….
The set started out with “Comfort me”, the first time i heard this song I hated it, after tonight, I can’t get enough of it. It pretty much blew the roof from the opening chords. “Bullitproof” had the whole crowd jumping for the sky. Hell, my feet didn’t touch the ground once during the song.
An acoustic “Run” was the highlight of the night for me, Jon on stage alone, somewhere near the middle of the set, guitar in hand, crowd at a stand still for the first time that night, all singing with him.. with their lighters in the air… Cheesy, but a perfect moment. Just before that, “Pacifier” the bands namesake and the song that I pretty much fell in love with the last album because of. It sounded to me at least, quite different to the album version, which was nice, but somewhat unsettling.
The new album’s tracks, “Walls” and “Home” were highlights too… but “Home Again” i think was the crowd favourite. Its certainly something when Jon Toogood is singing those lyrics…
it’s been a day of tiny triumphs
it’s been a week spent in despair
you can’t send it down a phone line
i do my best, but i’m not there
and you know that he means every word, because the person that song is to, is right there, and he actually is home again.
In the encore they played “Bitter” to a hot audience response, its really great to see them perform something old from their back cataloug, considering the majority of the nights songs had been from their latest release “Pacifier”.
The last song of the night, in the encore was “Trademark”, an arse kicking way to finish the night. I have never seen a band so happy to perform, and a crowd so eager to show them that they love them too.