Live Review: Seether, Ragdoll

A diverse crowd to say the least makes its way to Capitol early to pack out the prime positions, and everyone seems to be in high spirits with some early booze lubricating the crowd aplenty before Ragdoll take to the stage.

The local three-piece don’t particularly set a foot wrong and sections of the crowd thoroughly enjoy their tunes Here Today and Astray. While guitarist Leon Todd smashes his way through the full lead sections of various tracks, their lack of rhythm guitar to fill sections makes their performance feel hollow and forced. They reclaim face with current single, Rewind Your Mind, albeit the final song of the set.

It doesn’t take long for the slow-burn intro of No Jesus Christ to echo out through the room, dipped in pale green, as Seether appear in a flurry of strobe lights. It may have only been three short years since their last visit but the band remain steadfast in their approach with vocalist Shaun Morgan screaming at the crowd as he stomps in the chugging riff of Gasoline, met with a synchronised sea of fists in the air.

There’s little that can detract from a band in a prime live showing like this, the borrowed riff of Little Peggy March placed in Same Damn Life winds the crowd up perfectly, and while the oversaturation of 2004 breakthrough single, Broken, may still be present in some, it doesn’t stop the entire floor from pulling their mobile phones out and hitting record.

Seether’s strength live is their energetic post-grunge aggression, the angsty Morgan gritting his teeth through every track yet still managing to engage with each person in the room to the point where a solo rendition of The Gift is just about flooring to experience. Weary, heaving bodies begin to amass after thrashing about for close on two hours against the barrier, and by the final rise of a fumbled Sepultura cover in Refuse/Resist, both the band and patrons alike are sweaty and smiling like idiots from a show that broke expectations.