Live Review: Evil Scarecrow - The Mill, Digbeth
19th March 2022
Support: Towers
Words & Photos: Damian John
After originally having to postpone their Spring '22 tour, Evil Scarecrow are finally back out on the road and the dojo as it would soon become apparent causing mischief at every opportunity. Tonight I catch them on the third stop of their tour supported by the Nottingham based Towers who are the only other act performing this evening thanks to a bit of an earlier curfew due to the venue hosting a club night after the show. It is a Saturday after all.
Despite the somewhat thin crowd to start, Towers don't let this dampen their spirit and jump feet first into their performance. Frontwoman Holly put all of her character points into charisma; captivatingly pulling people closer to the front when she wasn’t jumping around the stage. I get the impression that Towers would benefit with a bit more space as they seem a bit cramped, unable to properly let rip and unleash their full potential. Regardless they put on a great show finishing with 'Fire inside me', I would have loved to have heard a few more tracks by them.
Surrounded by blasts of smoke and adorned in multicoloured lights, Evil Scarecrow makes an explosive entrance. That is after frontman Doctor Hell gets acquainted with the front row fist bumping everyone he can reach.
Evil Scarecrow's first handful of tracks are all your typical heavy metal affair; chunky riffs, solid drums, occasional guitar solos, all the usual stuff. All that goes out the window at track five, 'Master of the Dojo', a giant inflatable ninja now resides on stage and a member of the audience has been given a 10 foot long set of chopsticks. The point of the chopsticks? To grab a fly and win a DVD of course!
All hell breaks loose when the giant unicorn is unleashed onto the crowd. Bouncing from left to right, I thought I'd pretty much seen it all but the Brummie crowd does not disappoint as one concert goer is thrust to the sky atop of the unicorn and enjoys a brief few moments soaring before a security guard pulls him down with a smile. 'Ashes' gets those jazz hands flying, leading perfectly into 'Space Dementia' featuring Megadeth's very own Dave Mustaine who introduces us to the anti-gravity button.
There's so much going on at any given time; from dancing robots, eight foot tall drumming monsters and UFOs flying above the crowd. There's no doubt that Evil Scarecrow put a lot of time and effort into their stage show, it lies somewhere between what Alice Cooper and Gwar achieve, though it was nice to walk out not covered in fake blood unlike the last time I caught Gwar.
Evil Scarecrow aren’t just another gimmick comedy band. They can carry a tune, their music can hold its own, their stage show is simply another string to their bow but there were a few moments where if you ignore the giant unicorns and outfits there wasn’t really a lot going on musically. In the moment however that doesn’t matter because you’re generally too busy gazing in awe at the giant robot carrying an alien.
They close their set with the fan favourite 'Crabulon' which sees the audience doing their best crab impressions, scuttling from one side to another. The Brummie crowd have been on point all evening clinging onto Doctor Hell’s every word, it's comforting to see everyone packed up the front enjoying themselves and letting go. So tonight may not have featured the heaviest songs in the world, the most technical or even the most melodic but that wasn't what the show was about. It was about having a good time and a bloody good laugh, something Evil Scarecrow achieved with ease.
All photo credits: Damian John Photo
