After a decade, Filter is back playing live music to Australians, baby!
While Filter made fans wait seven years for 'The Algorithm' album, released in 2023, the wait to catch the old stuff and new stuff being played live has been absolute torture and a bucket list item for us Aussie fans.Despite the number of shows clashing around Brisbane tonight (7 April), Filter has drawn a large crowd to The Triffid. First things first though. Not one to knock a good time of dirty, hard rock back, I'm keen for Napier's Black Smoke Trigger (BST) tunes in the flesh.
BST are the only support tonight and they take to the stage and start ladling their opening song 'The Way I'm Wired' into our ears.
Josh 'Baldrick' Rasmussen (vocals) seizes the attention of punters by showcasing his full-bodied rocker crooning. Striding the stage with an assured posturing in his wife-pleaser singlet (yes, Gen Z's have renamed the white singlet) Baldrick draws us into their groove.
Black Smoke Trigger - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Flanking him are Charlie Wallace (guitar) and Dan Fulton (bass). As they move through songs 'You Can Have It All' and 'Proof Of Life', it's evident these two on axes each possess a talent for their respective instruments.
'Blindfolds And Rattlesnakes' is familiar to fans in the crowd as they sing-along. Baldrick encourages the rest of us to get in on the choral act with many obligingly doing so. Baldrick introduces Josh Te Maro on drums, who also hits the mic with his pipes from his kit with great harmony for backing vocals.
'Perfect Torture' momentarily shifts the mood in the room. It's a slow-burning ballad with big vocals by Baldrick – the crowd nodding heads and swaying hips in time to the music, taking it all in.
Black Smoke Trigger - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Punters give a cheer when Baldrick takes the time to tell us how it's great to be here tonight. He asks the crowd to check out the video to their next song 'The Way Down'. Spoiler alert, I've seen this fun clip that not only immortalises the banger visually, but it also does this for the Auckland Sky Tower (the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere) and if you watch closely, another BST video ('Perfect Torture') and other easter eggs are hidden in the clip.
Wallace, who has been demonstrating his riff lord skills confirming his status as such all night, is really turning it on bringing his standout solo work next level now. His fingers dance across the fretboard during 'Caught In The Undertow'; this has to be my favourite live song of the night so far.
Apparently I speak too soon. 'K.M.T.L' is the final song of the set and it takes the trophy for top song of the set – I am loving this live. It's got a little Foo Fighters essence in its arrangement with a mad rhythm going off in the back end. This contagious groove is layered with Baldrick's bolstered vocals and Wallace's ferocious guitar chops.
Quickly the stage is prepped for the headliners and the lights are dimmed right down. A smoky haze fills the stage. Fans begin roaring as they see Tosh Peterson (drums) creeping onstage to take a seat on his stool with drum sticks in hand.
Jonathan Radtke (guitar) and Bobby Miller (bass) receive a louder welcoming roar as their silhouettes emerge as they take their places either side of the absent frontman's mic and iPad stand.
Filter - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Energy is now building in the room to a point there is an invisible electrical charge in the air. Punters around me are smiling and the welcoming committee goes nuts at the arrival of Filter's heart and voice, Richard Patrick (vocals).
Patrick swaggers with purpose on to the stage, capturing our attention and greetings are raucously vocalised. In a hooded jacket and sunglasses, we really can't see much of him but boy can we hear that distinct and delicious voice that is giving me shivers.
From the album 'Amalgamut', the industrial rockers give us 'You Walk Away' as their choice of opener for the night. Patrick's silhouette shows him wielding the mic stand with his signature moves and stances. It's like the '90s or '00s can be tasted in the air even as they move to newer releases 'The Drowning' and 'For The Beaten' from 'The Algorithm' album.
These songs just vibe the earlier coveted albums. This new record certainly has the goods. From the album 'The Sun Comes Out Tonight' we get 'What Do You Say'.
Fan favourite '(Can't You) Trip Like I Do' – their collaboration with The Crystal Method – brings heightened nostalgia feels to the room as we sing so loud we can be heard alongside the band. Talking nostalgia, out of nowhere images from the 'Spawn' movie flash before my eyes.
Filter - image © Clea-marie Thorne
'Obliteration' is next, followed by 'The Take' before we are asked if we are feeling good. Of course, we are but then bam! We are feeling great as 'Jurassitol' has us going wild and more so for Patrick's formidable gritty vocals with those lines towards the end of the song: "When will you learn? I'm not your boy!" hurtling at us full force from the pit of his gut. The audible vibrations sound like they are being shredded by invisible razors lodged in his throat. Bloody brutal and we love it!
The band are playing pretty tight for the most part and Patrick's vocals are on-point, strong and full of emotion. Taking time for dialogue, Patrick tells us: "I want to take this opportunity to thank Black Smoke Trigger for opening up the show tonight."
We cheer and then he's asking us to give thanks to "some of the best people" he has ever known – his team covering the roles such as Front Of House, Lights and Electronics on this tour. We give thanks as commanded and it is well deserved.
He then announces: "We are going to play our biggest hit song ever," and before he can tell us that "this song is called 'Take A Picture', it's one from 'Title Of Record'," we roar in bliss for this mellow tune. We know it, we love it and quite frankly we are losing our sh.t.
Calling for our hands in the air, we obey the frontman and whole heartedly join in to sing-along to this timeless banger. I am sensing an awe and reverence for Patrick and the band right now. There are such strong feels swirling around that it is giving me tingles down my spine.
I also love how he changes up the lyrics at the end to reflect the passing of time – from "Hey dad! What do you think about your son now?" to "Hey son! What you think about your dad now?" The cycle of life right?
Putting a little more fun into our night, Patrick calls for some crowd surfers yet also shows consideration of his fans by suggesting the light folk do the surfing. Patrick introduces 'Captain Bligh' and we raise our voices to its cool chorus; crowd surfers have miraculously appeared!
This takes the pit moshers into a newfound frenzy and Radtke is well and truly hotted up now and putting on a show. It's like he has been chomping for this part of their set.
We keep up the energy to match the band's output and the Filter choir chime in some more during 'Thoughts And Prayers'. Peterson may only be in his early 20s, but he is going at it hammer and tongs tonight and seems to fit in well with the band, being the newest recruit.
Filter - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Removing his sunglasses and strapping on a guitar for 'Dose', Patrick is showing us his level of stamina. Adding the extra guitar is giving up a crunchier sound that is enriching our experience, not to mention we are getting to see more of our frontman's face.
Patrick has not only kept his vocal cords in pristine condition, externally he is looking healthy as and can rightfully boast aging bloody well if he so chooses. Better than some of us here tonight, even after abusing his body with substances for a couple of decades!
We relish the solid sounds of 'It's Gonna Kill Me' as Patrick attacks his mic with forceful pipes. This is backed up with an unsurprising "f... Donald Trump!" dedication by way of 'American Cliché' that is lapped up by boisterous fans chiming in.
Not to let the momentum stop, the aggressive and furious pulse of 'So I Quit' has the moshers in the middle of floor frenetic. Patrick lets us know we don't need to go through the encore ritual as he announces we are getting three more songs on top of the 16 glorious Filter songs we have feasted upon.
At least he introduced the band including calling himself 'Dick' then retracting the statement as a lame joke before stating his name properly and confirming his use of drugs for 21 years of his life leading the band in to 'Drug Boy'.
'Welcome To The Fold' is the penultimate song and if I could peel my eyes away from the stage I'd get myself a nice, cold beer to celebrate hearing this live once more. Brilliant song, executed perfectly to my imperfect ear lugs and I am lost in the moment.
Filter - image © Clea-marie Thorne
I hear a familiar, deep ominous bass groove impeccably executed by Miller who has been dishing it out slick and thick all night. This is the intro to the song that made me fall in love with Filter. Despite the lyrics being written about the public suicide of Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer, many people initially pre-empted it was about Cobain; its melody and hooks make it a resilient ear worm once heard.
Not to let this live moment escape the makings of a unified memory for the band and fans, we are all joining together, drawing from the last of our energy reserves. We sing loudly: "That's why I say, 'Hey man, nice shot'. Good shot, man. That's why I say, 'Hey man, nice shot'. What a good shot, man."
Patrick responds to those lines sung by himself and his fan choir with his unmistakeable scream kept in reserve for us at the bottom of his belly. Goosebumps on top of goosebumps litter my skin as I hear his voice, above ours, releasing the lines "A man has gun. Hey man, have fun. Nice shot," like a man possessed and as heavy duty as it comes.
Fans stay in place for the final notes and smiles stretch across the room. Filter take a moment to get photos to capture themselves with the crowd and hand out mementoes to fans in the front.
I leave satiated and elated with joy from my live Filter fix. I also leave with that magical ear worm once again burrowed in my head and changing up my own lyrics to, 'Hey man, nice show!"
Although without the need to rhyme – I'd rephrase that to a more truthful statement that screams: "What an EPIC show Filter!"
More photos from the concert.
