Note: Both the photos and reviews for the two Children Of Bodom Sydney gigs on the 1st and 2nd October are DIFFERENT. The first paragraph is the only thing that's common in both.

When I learned Children Of Bodom were headed to Australia, it wasn't exactly a life-defining moment for me but I admit I was really looking forward to finally seeing the Finish fivesome live. After all, it's taken them 8 years to make it to Australia which is a long wait in anyone's books. Upon hearing of the tour I also expected the Sydney show would be held somewhere such as the roundhouse (2000 capacity) but, apparently not. It was booked at the Gaelic Club, with a measly 850 (or less) capacity and suffice to say the first (and then, only) show (scheduled on NRL Grand Finals Night, Sunday October 2nd, 2005) sold out in a matter of days. Later, a second show was added a day earlier (Saturday October 1st, 2005) and the tickets disappeared just as quickly. The reason for this, is that Children Of Bodom are one of those Metal bands whose music transcends the conventional boundaries defautly erected simply by result of being Metal. Instead of being out of reach of those who wouldn't consider themselves metalheads, COB are one of those bands whose appeal is almost universal amongst fans of most forms of alternative music.

Torn between watching the NRL grand final (which, to everyone's delight, was won by the Sydney Tigers) at the pub next door and standing in line waiting to be let in, in addition to a little learning-from-last-night care of the venue, the sold-out crowd of diehard Children Of Bodom fans got in to the venue a lot earlier and smoother tonight, and I will say it right off the bat. The fans who were in first, and bought tickets to this, the first-announced Children Of Bodom show got the best deal and superior show.

As Pathogen prepared for their set screams and chants fluctuated from the pit as heads poked out from behind the backstage curtain and at 8:40pm they made their entrance to roars and cheers and got straight into their set. Once again it seemed the crowd really loved what they heard (rightfully so) and the set was similar in length to that of the night before, but did contain a few different tracks. Tonight the crowd of punters were a little more restrained but equally as impressed.

Just after the stroke of 10:00pm Children Of Bodom's intro music began playing and the crowd let rip. As soon as the Fins took to the stage as expected, a very vocal Gaelic Club worked their vocal pipes. The roar only grew as 'Hate Crew' was unleashed and I began to get feelings of Deja Vous.

As I mentioned in my review of the show last night, Children Of Bodom were energetic, professional, tight and enthusiastic, and tonight was no different. Truth be told, they may have been even more into the show this time around. They certainly got a pleasant introduction to Aussie crowds last night and lapped up every minute tonight.

I was disappointed that last night's set was void of 'Lake Bodom' (even if the band haven't played the track for some time) but thank fuck - it was played tonight and it got one hell of a reaction. The full set (in order), to the best of my recollection was:

Silent Night, Bodom Night
Hate Me
Choke Hold
Bodom After Midnight
Six Pounder
Angels Don't Kill
Are You Dead Yet?
Lake Bodom
Needled 24-7
Children of Bodom
Bodom Beach Terror
In Your Face
Hate Cew Deathroll
Everytime I Die
Downfall

Late in the set an Alexi-encouraged "Janne's a fag" chant arose, and resulted in a delightful and very welcome keyboard solo (pity he didn't give any solo material a thrash). I've gotta say the audience wasn't complete crazy tonight, but I'll blame the steep beer prices rather than a lack of enthusiasm. As was the case 24 hours earlier, by 11:25pm it was all over and a very, very satisfied audience filed out for the trek home.

The tigers won, Children Of Bodom and Pathogen were great and tomorrow (well, today as of a few hours ago) is a public holiday. What more could you want?

For your convenience, you can download zip packs containing ALL the pictures we took below in .ZIP packs. We have 47 Children Of Bodom images and 48 Pathogen photos.

Children_Of_Bodom_and_Pathogen_02-10-2005.zip (4.1mb - right-click 'save target as') - All photos
Children_Of_Bodom_02-10-2005.zip (1.6mb - right-click 'save target as') - Children Of Bodom only
Pathogen_Supporting_Children_Of_Bodom_02-10-2005.zip (2.5mb - right-click 'save target as') - Pathogen only

We also have a combined video from both bands, both nights that runs almost 14 minutes. The video includes the first performance of 'Lake Bodom' from Children Of Bodom for a long time. Right click here and 'Save Target As' (32.46Mb). You will need Quicktime to play to .mov file. The video and sound vary in quality from bad to very bad. This video remains property of www.PyroMusic.net and is not to be edited in any way. That includes the file name.

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