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...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - London, Astoria Saturday 3rd February 2001 Fresh, and still hyped up after last nights gig, but I knew I would be coming away disappointed. Tonight was a totally different band and an entirely different type of audience. Crowd surfing, moshing and the normal general big squeeze to get to the front were the order of the day - so it was back to the uncomfortable type of big gig. 'Trail Of Dead stem from the same state as At The Drive In, but preach from a different church. Jason and Conrad swap roles as guitar player, drummer and singer, and, while both are larger than life, it is Jason who indulges in wrecking most of the equipment. They both have forays into the crowd itself while the bemused bouncers look on. Tonight they are tight, loud, bold and put on a good show. The award for the hardest working person tonight has to go to their guitar tech. Running around tuning, repairing, re-plugging in equipment, fixing the mic stand - he has a job for life as long as they keep playing. At the end they did the now customary smashing up of equipment, and then proceeded to throw it all in the audience. I wish that the dates had been changed and I'd got to see Trail Of Dead before ATD-I, as this way I would have been built up slowly - but this weekend nothing could top ATD-I. Tonight was just another gig. I guess it would have worked better at a smaller venue, than the coldness of the Astoria. skippy [photos]

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