Alright, so with the lack of discussion in this thread, I hope you guys don't mind if I post my concert experiences here, similar to how Cram posts his YouTube videos. I could reasonably do it in the band threads, but as I have a lot of concerts for this year (by my standards), I would prefer to keep it in one thread, and creating a new thread just for that certainly seems idiotic. The premise is that I post my thoughts of the experience at the same night I was at the concert, so I still remember lots of details and I'm still high (or low) on the whole gig atmosphere.
If this doesn't belong in this thread, simply delete this post and I'll repost this in Delain thread.
Delain (headliner) with Last Union (support) at Izvestiya Hall, Moscow, Russia - Feb 16th, 2019The PremiseWhile all the responsible and irresponsible people made their New Year resolutions, which—and I'm not trying to mock anyone, except myself—are usually include losing weight, hitting the gym, deal with your internal problems, make the relationship with your significant other better, I made one New Year resolution for myself. You see, in 2018 the amount of concerts I went to was ridiculously low, perhaps two or three, and I wanted to fix it this year. Not only that, but since 2016—which is pretty much everyone stopped attending concerts with me, either because I was insufferable (which I don't think I was, and I asked), or because my friends started to settle down, had kids, grew older, their backs are aching, concerts aren't that fun anymore, you know—since 2016, I don't remember a single concert I put any effort in. I always would arrive right before the beginning, settle down near the bar, grab a beer and watch the distant silhouettes of my favourite artists bounce back and forth, left and right on the scene. This year, I decided to change that.
So my stupid New Year resolution was, basically, to attempt to get to the first row at every GA concert I'm attending this year, if the concert day doesn't interfere with work (in which case it's simply not possible). I wasn't even sure if that was doable, but today was my first playtest, so to speak. Today, Delain—whose music I discovered about two years ago and missed their last concert in Moscow—were playing on Saturday in my city, and I wasn't about to miss it. Besides, my vacation to Hamburg is about to begin, and this was a good way to get back into the concert mood, as the last concert I visited was iamthemorning, all seated, in a proper theatre, autumn 2018 if I remember correctly.
As stupid as my resolution sounds, it absolutely worked, because I had a blast today.
The VenueThere are a few venues in Moscow that dare to host metal concerts, and I pretty much visited all of them—except you never know, because they keep being shut down (mostly because of the fire safety issues, which in our country means that you didn't give enough money to the fire safety inspector), and sometimes new venues arise and older ones crumble, but this time, the venue was the one I've never visited, and as I researched it, it mostly hosted some of the very popular artists of non-metal scene. So that was surprising. It was also quite near the center of the town, which made it convenient to get to.
Now, the venue itself wasn't much—and I didn't get the chance to really see it, as I rushed to the first row and after the show I just exhaustedly slumped against the scene for a few minutes; but its tactical position was excellent: there was a McDonalds nearby, so in case you needed to use a toilet—and after four and a half hours on a street in winter you probably need to—it was there, and if you also wanted to have a beer, there was this little shop on the corner which had it (I didn't find it until I left the venue), and if you drank a few beers and needed to pee, hey, there's a McDonalds nearby.
I was, I think, ~10th in line, and I arrived 4,5 hours before the doors were to be opened, and I used the McDonalds trick once, and then the doors were opened and I ran—well, technically, first I went through the security check, and then I got rid of my coat, and then I ran—past the merchandise stand to the scene, where the best places right in front of the mic were already taken. Well, I settled down a few places to the right, directly against the guitar player space.
The ShowFirst we had Last Union as an opener, a female-fronted progressive metal band from Italy. They played a forty-minutes long set, and the problem is, the sound was horrible. I'm not a sound guy, so I wouldn't know what exactly was wrong, but you couldn't hear the singer at all, and all you could hear were bass, drums and rhythm guitars. Good thing that I brought my earplugs, I thought, but even after I plugged them in, I still struggled to hear the singer in about half of the moments. They seemed tight, and the songs seemed good enough—I'm not exactly familiar with the songs, although I checked out their latest album called Twelve because JLB was on it (more on that later)—so if it wasn't for the sound, it would've been a better opener than we usually get. Mostly, opening bands at Russian gigs suck, but sometimes you strike gold with them. So here are, of course, some godlike quality photos from my phone:
The crowd received Last Union well, but you could feel they were pumped for Delain. The local fan club also prepared a little thing to surprise the band—they were handing out pieces of red cloth to everyone in the first few rows with instructions to tie them around your wrist and then pull them off and wave them during a certain section of Masters of Destiny, which we successfully did. Delain opened with Go Away, then played Masters of Destiny and from the front row you could tell by the look on the band's faces that they were at least a little bit surprised and honored as we started waving those pieces of red cloth like we were mad. Charlotte mentioned it right after the song, and I love little things like that—they always make for an interesting experience both for the fans and the band.
The setlist was heavily Moonbathers-oriented, with two new songs from Hunter's Moon and some of the older material. The Human Contradiction was featured a bit with two or three songs, and of course there were some setlist staples like We Are the Others. Charlotte dominated the stage, which, for me—as it was my first time seeing Delain live—came as a surprise; she has fantastic stage presence. The sound was improved a lot compared to the Last Union: it wasn't overwhelmingly loud, you could hear Charlotte just fine, and I ended up ditching my earplugs during Go Away, the very first song of the set. As the set was drawing to a close—after a half-assed attempt of an encore, where the band was off stage for like 30 seconds, just enough for Charlotte and Otto to shrug off their jackets—jumping and headbanging to the chorus of We Are the Others, I found myself to be absolutely exhausted and brimming with joy and happiness.
I also should note how the crowd was engaged during the whole show. Was it Charlotte's work, or was it just the fact that Delain is loved in Russia, I don't know, but I can only name a few shows where the crowd was as enthusiastic as they were here, which are probably Sabaton and Powerwolf in Moscow (both bands have a huge fanbase here) and Edguy in Koln, which I was lucky to see during my vacation in 2017 (the crowd knew and sang every fucking song). We were really loud today, and while it has become a routine (and probably always was) for the band to say "hey, you are a brilliant, fantastic audience!", and while it's probably was the same fake thing today, somehow for me it felt that this time we deserved it. Maybe it's just the magic of the whole concert experience returning to me after a really dry year. That doesn't make it less enjoyable, though.
The AftermathThe band did their final bow, left, and we were left standing there, sweaty, tired and delighted. I wandered over to the bar to grab an overpriced beer as I wanted something to wet my throat with after 100 minutes of screaming and singing, and then we started to slowly leave the venue, as apparently there was another concert there that night, so the security began ushering us towards the exit. That was when I noticed the Last Union guitar player (the one with salt-and-pepper hair, I sadly don't know his name) standing there absolutely alone, which was weird enough, so I approached him for a quick conversation before security could force me out of the building. In the true nature of DTF, I asked him about JLB.
Well, first I complimented him on the show and on their last album, and then I asked him about JLB's involvement on the album. This is probably old news for everyone here, and someone probably covered it in some interviews, but hey, there goes. He admitted he didn't speak English too well (so basically he's like me), but he said the whole thing with JLB started with the band e-mailing him, being huge fans of his work in DT, and it went on and on for a year or more (I guess they were messaging back and forth to set the date, or perhaps JLB just took a year to respond? He was a bit unclear on that point and I didn't ask further), and JLB listened to the material Last Union sent him and liked it, so he agreed. I also asked if they were expecting JLB to agree or if they were surprised this actually went through and happened, and he said it was totally the latter. At this point people noticed the guy and ran to take pictures with him, so I wished him and the band all the best and went to grab my coat back.
This was a hell of a way to start my concert year, because, honestly, the sheer energy during Delain's set was incredible. As it was finished, I was utterly exhausted, thirsty and aching in a few places, and even as I type it now, I'm pretty sure tomorrow my throat, my legs and my back are going to feel the ramifications of this night (and I know, I'm only 25, so shut up fogey folks
). Hopefully I didn't catch a cold standing for 4,5 hours in the wind before the venue entrance. But even as it is, it was worth it. This gig reminded me why I love music so much, and why I loved going to see my favourite bands so much, and as this year goes on, I fondly look at the stack of tickets on my desk, and wonder what kind of magic will those bands pull out of their sleeves on their shows—because they'll have to work hard to top Delain. This was a fantastic experience.
Next up if anyone's interested in these kind of posts: Steven Wilson's show in Hamburg on Feb 20th
Topic: Your concerts for 2019 (Read 30379 times)
