John Carpenter Rocks London Over Halloween
David Bronstein
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John Carpenter triumphantly played his first ever live shows in London this week as the horror master served up a ghoulish treat for 4,000 dedicated fans over two horrific nights.
With his wife of 26 years, Sandy King, also in attendance, his first show fell on Halloween itself; and as I interviewed diehard fans in the queue before the show, it was evident what Monday night meant to them. John Burton, who had come from Wales for the show, said it was like his birthday and Christmas rolled into one to see Carpenter live. A few fans had come from France, others from Italy; everyone who is a fan of Carpenter’s work all had the same pull, the same need to see him in person performing his classic songs.
Before Carpenter and his band enter the stage, we hear teaser samples of music from Big Trouble in Little China. The anticipation is at breaking point as the lights dim and each band member takes their position on stage before finally Carpenter, instantly recognizable by his silver streak of hair, pumps his fist out. The band launch into the theme from Escape from New York.
Carpenter is 68, but that doesn’t stop him the whole night dancing to his tunes that the world over fell in love with years back. He points fans out, gives them the thumbs up, and there is a general air of fun about him. Here he is, 42 years into his career, and still feeling the love from his devoted followers.
As a backdrop to the show we have a video screen complete with clips from each movie that the band are currently playing, and the timing is excellent. There are a few nice surprises too. When the theme from They Live begins, Carpenter and each member of the band don black sunglasses in homage to the cult fim. The screen fades to black, and an image of Roddy Piper appears, which evokes screams from the crowd… yes, we still miss him.
The theme from The Fog comes complete with dry ice as the first chilling notes on Carpenter’s keyboard flare up. The dry ice covers the first few rows in its special fog, and it’s something that is well appreciated. But Carpenter doesn’t need gimmicks to shine; he is 100% into his performance, making sure he gives the fans what they want. But it’s important to talk about Carpenter’s band: John Konesky, Scott Seiver and John Spiker are super tight on drums, guitar and bass. Cody Carpenter, John’s son, stands stage right and looks in the zone the whole time. Carpenter’s godson, Daniel Davies, is quite literally a god on guitar. He shines immensely on tracks such as In the Mouth of Madness and Big Trouble in Little China. But it is arguably on Night where Davies comes into his own; he virtually makes his guitar speak as the slow build-up with just a blue light shining on Davies then bursts into life. One could well believe if there was no curfew, Davies could solo for hours on end.
Before Halloween starts off, Carpenter tells the crowd he loves horror movies, and Cody begins the famous opening notes. We are left instantly with a memory of Carpenter, arm raised and a huge roar from the crowd, as Halloween is played on Halloween. It’s a clear “pinch yourself” moment and a time to remind yourself that you may not get the chance to witness this again in person, so you do what you can to just try to take it all in.
Virtual Survivor and Purgatory wrap the night off before we get one final surprise and a blasting piece of nostalgia as Carpenter warns us to drive safely home because Christine may just be out there. And so the theme from Stephen King’s penned hit roars out over the Troxy. And with that we’re all done as the screen title comes up fittingly ‘The End’.
Carpenter’s tour is due to come to a climax on November 9th at the Rex in Paris. After that one suspects that the master of horror will have earned the right, after being on tour since May, to return back to the Hollywood Hills and put his feet up. There he will most probably play video games, watch basketball and here’s hoping plan his next project, which, if it’s anything like his retrospective tour of 2016, will be sure to blow us away once again.
All photos: David Bronstein
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