MICHALE GRAVES at John Dee (Oslo, Norway)
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
by Jorge Patacas
Michael Emanuel, better known by his stage name Michale Graves, managed to make a name for himself worldwide after joining the legendary Misfits in 1995 when he was only twenty years old. Although his time as vocalist for the New Jersey band finished in 2000, his presence revitalized the band at the time with two studio albums, “American Psycho” (1997) and “Famous Monsters” (1999), which became classics, in addition to the live album “Evillive II” (1998). After that, Graves was involved in different projects including a recent collaboration with the legendary Marky Ramone, as well as releasing solo material.
In this long tour that Graves and his band are doing across the European continent, the vocalist presents some tracks from his solo career as part of the setlist, but the focus is on Misfits, so it was a great opportunity to witness again or see these songs live for the first time, depending on the case. There were people of all ages, from old school fans who are already in their fifties to those who are just turning 20, including some with classic punk aesthetics, but also several guys with metal t-shirts, especially of Black Metal bands.
There were no opening bands on this occasion, so the lights went out around 20:30, and the musicians began to appear on stage, Graves being the last to appear with his traditional make up which was consistent to what would be the performance of that night. They started with “Bedlam” from his album of the same name released in 2016, followed by the Misfits classic, “American Psycho”, with its heavy riffs and catchy chorus that made everyone vibrate.
At one point, there was a flaw in the Graves microphone after he threw the support, so while looking for another, the vocalist began playing with the audience and the band made jokes about the issue, perfectly mastering an unexpected situation. From there, the general atmosphere improved substantially in terms of audience response and also when it comes to the band, especially Graves himself was much more into the show after this technical issue. Later he referred to the weariness of the tour indicating that this was the show number 57, but despite that, he gave it all, and the energy displayed in songs like “Saturday Night”, “Shining” or “Descending Angel” caused a great ovation.
Just a few songs before reaching the end of the performance, the vocalist who is now 44 years old and has three children, spoke again to the audience, this time with a really deep speech about the connection of music and lyrics between people, which transcends a live concert. He also clarified that he would play the rest of the songs instead of making encores, and immediately many Misfits classics were played, including “Scream”, another classic of his golden age with the New Jersey band. Then there was another technical problem, this time with the bass, and there the band’s professionalism to deal with these situations was demonstrated even more by getting to improvise a complete song with lyrics about the technical problem, taking it with a lot of humor. They really know how to carry forward a show despite any circumstances or inconveniences.
The last song was “Dig Up Her Bones” and the audience had the last chance to moshpit and sing along another anthem of the most important Horror Punk band in history. A brilliant show that you shouldn’t miss if you have the opportunity to see it.
SETLIST MICHALE GRAVES
01- Bedlam
02- American Psycho
03- The Forbidden Zone
04- Night of the Living Dead
05- The Beginning of the End
06- When Worlds Collide
07- Saturday Night
08- Pumpkin Head
09- Scarecrow Man
10- Beware
11- Blackbird
12- Teenage Monster
13- Earth vs. Spider
14- 3 Days Til Dawn
15- Dust to Dust
16- Shining
17- Crimson Ghost
18- Helena
19- Descending Angel
20- Crawling Eye
21- Scream
22- Dig Up Her Bones
