Life of Agony - You can't take your eyes off this band!

*****

Life of Agony play their best ever set!

Graspop Festival

Life of Agony ***** (Main Stage 2) were the band to watch at this year’s Graspop festival. Mina Caputo’s (Formerly Keith Caputo) stage presence was immense. Her movement and command on stage sent energy levels in the crowd soaring, and Joey Z was awesome.  

Mina opened with ‘River Runs Red’ a true classic and one of Life of Agony’s most popular songs.  If you are not already a fan of this band, this song will open up a new world.  The band flowed straight into ‘This Time’, which is one of my personal favourites.  Both songs epitomise the band’s trademark hardcore and metal groove sound.

Their set was full of drama and surprise.  The crowd surfing became intense and unacceptably dangerous early on. During the third song in, ‘Bad Seed’, a man in a wheelchair was haphazardly thrust into the pit. Mina demonstrated the instincts of a true Rock legend as she paused to go down to greet the shaken wheelchair bound fan and check he was ok. It was a genuinely human moment, but the cameras ate it up - it was pure grist for the media    

It’s getting predictable for bands to indulge the crowd, but it was still awesome when Mina came down to the edge of the barriers afterwards and sung ‘Love to let you Down’ from the photo pit. The crowd reciprocates this kind of love from the artist, but like to trample on each other to reach out and touch that shining star. It is a little ironic, so I love it that it always seems to be Joey Z’s job to bait the crowd and encourage the pits to open up, while this love-fest is in play.

The whole feast of human emotion gets put on show. He plays the part of the devil to contrast with Mina’s angel. ‘Love to let you Down’ was a high point of the show, not only because the crowd got to get a bit intimate with Mina, but Joey Z showed off his prowess on his Les Paul, pulling off those pulverizing riffs with style – still my favourite guitar.

'Lost at 22, Weeds' and 'My Eyes' were also high points in the show for Joey Z. Once again he seemed to be the counterpoint to Mina as he pounded on his axe with passion and the angst of agony written on his face, in contrast to Mina’s liberated, effortless, effervescence. The play of expressions playing across Joey’s face was reminiscent of how Mina used to be, before the reunion and the sex change. 

Alan Robert on bass and Sal Abruscato on the drums acted as their fulcrum, balancing out Mina and Joey’s polaric energy. Alan Robert is big part of the creative genius of Life of Agony, and is the primary song writer, but he is not as expressive on the stage.  His performance is strong but stoic.          

It’s all about the music baby!  Well that just ain’t so is it? Bands, of all genres have an image to maintain, and the power of having a brand is now commonly understood. I am the first to say that the aesthetic, stagecraft, and showmanship of the band count.

But within that is a trap of conformist oppression.  Identity is more fluid than many of us like to admit.  There are still people out there who view the world through a very narrow and judgmental prism of inherited prejudice, and what I find to be a particularly curious moral stance, which has no roots in compassion and acceptance.  

The level of conservative attitudes and machismo posturing, in Metal remains at odds to its antiestablishment roots, and its easy going position on dress.  It is ok to rage against the machine, but you still need to act like a bloke, get drunk and live it big. Suicide and self-harm, is still a huge taboo, yet the stats for the UK suggest suicide is the biggest cause of male deaths for those aged 20 - 45.

One of the reasons for this is thought to be the pressure on men to confirm to a hyper masculine stereotype.  I think this is why we are talking about Mina’s transition from male to female four years after she publicly announced she was transgender and was going to have a sex change. It has generated far more conversation than the bands second reunion in 2014. It shows how far we have come, that most of the conversation has been positive and supportive. 

Something has freed up within this artist. Everything is coming out into the open now, which is why I am not tiptoeing around the sex change. I feel that Mina is now without pretence. There is immense power in being your authentic self. This is the first time I have seen Mina perform as a woman, and she sounds better than ever. She has won my admiration in coming out. 

Nina’s charisma is equivalent to Mick Jagger, Kurt Cobain and Tina Turner. I would not have previously have said that of Keith. This really is the truest expression of this artist and this adds something to the music. It doesn’t get better than this and when the set ends with 'Underground', a song with pure Hardcore attitude and the bands friends singing the backing you know you have seen a performance that will go down in Metal history.

Check Out! a Video interview with Mina Caputo from Graspop Below...