Skinny Puppy photos by DJ Brian L
A snowstorm typical of this cruel Boston winter wasn’t enough to prevent the city’s underground from experiencing Skinny Puppy last night at Royale. The Canadian industrial veterans plowed (heh) through 16 songs, complete with strobe-lit stage set-up featuring a live, running count of our nation’s debt, security camera television, and frontman Nivek Ogre slashing up his arm with a small sword (large knife?) during “Warlock.”
He was also drinking some sort of green glowing cocktail later in the show but we don’t know what the hell that was about. We didn’t bother asking the Jennifers behind the main bar at Royale to whip that one up for us in the back.
Though their set was a bit light on the familiar classics — with the exception of a killer one-two of “Deep Down Trauma Hounds” into the aforementioned “Warlock” — Boston was treated to a one-cut encore of 1985 stomper “Assimilate.”
After the song, a dressed-down Ogre (in full evil-as-fuck post-apocalyptic dog-hybrid regalia most of the night) pulled his hand up to his chin, formed the shape of a gun, and pulled the trigger, cocking his head back as he walked off stage.
It was a fitting end to perhaps the live show of the year.
Skinny Puppy set list, 02.15.14 @ Royale
Choralone
illisiT
Village
The Choke
wornin’
plasiCage
Deep Down Trauma Hounds
Worlock
paragUn
Hexonxonx
tsudanama
Pasturn
saLvo
First Aid
Solvent
Assimilate
