Gigraphy Review - Body Count, O2 Ritz Manchester, 01/07/2024

By Nic Howells

Body Count was indeed in the house when they hit Manchester Ritz to kick off July. The Merciless tour has been appropriately named based on the rave reviews it’s had through Europe. BC Icon Ice-T said this final few dates being in the UK was by design running up the country from London to Manchester to then finish in Scotland. Here’s how our experience at the UK’s only northern show went:

Slope

The opening band, Slope, oozed energy on stage. They had a great mix of heavy riffs, meaty spells on the drums, and some powerful vocals by Fabio Canini. The setlist featured a who’s who of the Germans top tracks, beginning with standouts ‘Goodbye Mr.Dandy’ & ‘It’s Tickin’. Whilst we are often an advocate for pulling in local acts to support a show, the European flair added something extra in terms of occasion. Being the chosen support by Body Count for their rare UK shows means Slope had to make like one of their tracks on the night as ‘Talk Big’ to impress this crowd. The Monday crowd was a little hard to please in places unless you were from Los Angeles. That said, the four piece definitely maxed their minutes by the time their half hour was up, as they routinely had hands in the sky and feet off the floor by the end of final track ‘Freak Dreams’. As a parting shot, the Germans remind us they’ll be back in our lands with a London show this October. if this leads to more Slope in the UK, we’d be happy to see that again.

Body Count

As mentioned, Body Count in the UK feels like such an occasion. Personally, the long, ominous, thematic intro only works for certain bands. Body Count is one of those bands. Sound effects of police scanners, reports of civil unrest, and conflict sets the scene for the legends as they arrive one by one. Sometimes the simple choice is the best one, as they kick the set off with ‘Body Count’s in the House’, and there’s few places it fits better than as the opener. There’s crowd surfers a plenty, and pity for the front row didn’t really let up as they uncorked a cover of Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’ and ‘Postmortem’. Throughout the first few, Ice is demanding to know “Where’s the motherfucking pit” (while quite humorously breaking the mic stand), during ‘Bowels of The Devil’ and finally ‘There Goes the Neighbourhood’ all as the opening part of the set.

Ice-T introduces the whole band, with particular love for fellow original member Ernie C, and new blood Little Ice. While there’s plenty of cheering for each member, there’s so much to love about the way ‘and I’m motherfucking Ice-T’ sounds. Any feel good moments are turned down somewhat, as the mob’s next track is the still brand new ‘The Purge’, where Ice specifically wants to see people in the house that night to get violent, (for legal reasons we are pretty sure Ice is joking when saying he wishes The Purge was real). Little Ice spends a section of this track down on the barrier with one of the iconic masks on, but it’s quickly scuppered by the number of crowd surfers both on this and ‘Point the Finger’ which is touchingly dedicated to the late, iconic Riley Gale. The group rolled back through the decades also playing 2014’s ‘Manslaughter’ before going old school with ‘Necessary Evil’ from 1994’s Born Dead to a great ovation.

Now Body Count’s entire run is in promotion of upcoming album Merciless, and Ice briefly touches on what fans can expect. Most of the songs are inspired by things they have seen, the latest song is inspired by some folks Ice is pretty fond of, that bring Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Jeffrey Dahmer… you see where this is going. Donning a pair of stockings over his head instead of the signature cap, Body Counts most recent single ‘Psychopath’ is one of the tracks with some more showmanship, with Little Ice going the full nine yards being “murdered” as part of the show between his stints on vocals. The blood smeared shirt was also signed and thrown into the crowd. Anyone with the eBay link, our DM’s are open.

To really contrast the serial killer vibe, Ice-T talks about the main message of Body Count, that being “Fuck Racism”. He attests that “the one that looks the least would drag you out of a burning building”. It’s one of the more poignant moments of the set, and Body Count are living proof of just how much diversity and variety just works in the scene. The poignancy is curtailed slightly to introduce the next track because “when you’re poor ‘No Lives Matter’”, as they then hammer through the 2017 track as well as a cover of The Exploted’s ‘Disorder’ and another from 1994 in ‘Drive By’. There’s a blend of new vs old material all night, as anything off Born Dead or 1992’s self titled album gets such a great reaction, as proven by ‘Voodoo’ going into 2014’s ‘Talk Shit, Get Shot’. This was a real highlight of the night, oftentimes Ice will bring his youngest out on stage but they were unfortunately ill, so he picks the youngest member in the audience, 13 year old Dexter (which we love that the had a serial killer reference for a name). Body Count bring the lad up on stage and perform ‘Talk Shit’ with him and Ice’s eldest daughter, although if we’re honest, I don’t know if young Dexter really knew the lyric until Ice-T and the crowd said it a bunch. The final track of the main set, much to the crowds elation, was ‘Cop Killa’, with Manchester taking the duty of screaming the title each time as well as “Fuck the police” while Little Ice launches himself from the stage and ends up in the pit in the centre.

The group forgo the usual encore routine, instead showing Manchester the brand new Body COunt patented “Virtual Encore”, where the group just turn the lights off and dont leave the stage. Honestly, the easier approach is appreciated. The last couple of tracks are specifically referred to as the afterparty, first of which gets a monumental response in ‘Born Dead’, with them spinning the narrative of the track to briefly discuss today's world and its need for a ceasefire. Again, there’s a level of poignancy with the last BC original track ‘This is Why We Ride’, which although crushingly heavy, Ice talks about various people they’ve lost through the years to street activity, violence, drugs and takes a knee mid song. The chants of “This is Why We Ride” would have been enough on their own to send fans home happy, but their rapped rendition of Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’ wails out into the night with a fantastic solo from Ernie C backs Ice-T thanking Manchester for all their love on this night.

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