Patrick's Review
This is the third time the Florida band have played in a Black Veil gig in Leeds (although
the first time in this venue, usually playing in Josephs Well), and there is an air of
expectancy amoung the sell out crowd here in the sweltering heat of the first floor
room of the Alephi Hotel for something a bit special.
When they first played in Leeds in 2001, it was only to a handfull of people (me
amoungst them I might add) most of whom had never heard the band as anything
more than a name. All were suitably blown away by the musical ability of the quartet
and the sheer stage presence of the front man, Rogue (especially impressive when you
discover on, talking to him after the show, that he is infact very shy). News quickly
spread leading to a much better attended return the following year, and have become
one of the most popular bands in the dark alternative scene at the moment.
As well as the excitement, there is a vague air of confusion, as it is infact rather early in
the evening as the concert is on the same night as “The Wendyhouse“ which is a very
large Goth/Alternative night in Leeds, so it's being run so as people can attend both.
Big sheets of black plastic have been used to cover the windows to stop the light
coming in, although this has added to what I imagine would have already been the
uncomfortable heat.
Not many people had turned up in time for Screaming Banshee Aircrew, which was a
shame, as they put on an energetic and amusing performance, good songs that are
well exicuted with plenty of humour thrown in for good measure. A well ballenced set
with everything from a cover of New Model Army's 51st State too a SBAised version of
What Shall We Do With The Drunken Salior, along with some great tunes of there own.
I hadn't meant to be at the very front for the gig, but as I was walking back from
chatting with the people on the door round the corner to where my friends were stood
(the room in the Adelphi is an L shaped room with the stage in the corner so as to be
seen from both sides, although is lined up to go down one of them with all the
speakers on one side), and suddenly found myself at in the front row as Chris
(Keyboards), Stacy (Guitar) Rachel (Keyboards and Violin) and the dancers (a new
addition to the Leeds gigs as the stage in the previous venue has been too narrow for
them) came onto stage.
Having said I was in the “front row“ this being a Crüxshadows concert, this didn't mean
anything really as almost predictably, the band started up with no sign of lead singer
Rogue from somewhere behind me from his Madonnaesque headset microphone came
the intro, some lines of greek mythology telling the tale of Hera, Aphrodite and Athena
so some choreographed stage antics by Rachel and the dancers. Then came the
opening refrain from there first song, Resist/r from the Wishfire album, which set the
tone for an energetic performance, mainly based around this album, and tracks from it's
follow up Ethernaut which will be out in the autumn.
Following Resist came the new single Winterborn, which was well recieved, although
unknown by the crowd, since it is currently only avalible at gigs and thus had only been
heard by the few devoted fans who had been to more than one gig. This was then
followed more tracks from Wishfire and other new tracks, intersperced with more
spoken word passages of greek myth and legend. The only older track in the main set
was a haunting violin solo by Rachel which lead into the english version of Deception.
Despite this, the set was very well recieved, and full of Rogues trademark trips into the
audence (he took a chair with him as there wasn't much in the venue for him to climb
on, I wonder what he'd do in gigs that actually have security and barriers and things).
After introducing the Band and dancers, the usual faux encore thing happened with
going off and coming back on (without dancers). Rogue had a bit of a babble at the
audence about various things such as the new EP (which had actually already sold out
by the time the band got onstage apparently, leaving me feeling slightly guilty as I'd
perchased two copies of it myself) and when the album is coming out and whether we
really wanted another song as they were so tired. Then dragged (although very
willingly) a couple of girls from the front row up onto the stage to replace the dancers
who'd not returned to the stage when the band did. They actually prettier and danced
better than the bands own dancers and looked like they were having a really good
time rather than the bemused sulk. Of course the band finished with what is there
biggest song, Marilyn, My Bitterness which was sung along to by the whole audence.
Rogue then proceded to get a lot more people (myself included) up onto the stage to
dance and had everyone singing and things, a great end to a fabulous concert.
A great time was had by all, and the gig was very well run with much better sound
than most concerts of a similar size (although this has been the case with all the
GOGpromotions/Black Veil events I've attended). The only slight downside had to be
the dancers, who were neither that well coordinated and detracted from Rogue stage
presence (which is immence) nor were they as pretty as the female members of the
band (nor Rogue, who I am assured by many female friends, is stunningly beautifull).
Afterwards, as always, the band were more than happy to sign anything and
everything that was waved at them, with a personal message and to chat to people
about everything and anything.
[The opinions expressed within this review are not necessarily the opinions of the site owner]
If you would like to submit photos, opinions, comments or reviews please email them to me at uk_tour@devotee.co.uk
