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The evening didn't start off too promisingly, running late due to bus fiasco (sudden change of termination), train fiasco (down to tubes - delays and too full to get on) and secondary bus fiasco (gridlock). Eventually made it to the Royal George to meet up with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
duoinchains, who had helpfully provided the evening's ticket. Quick dinner of pasta salad while duoinchains finished his pint, and then over to the venue.
We'd missed the first band, so have no idea who they were, but had just enough time to visit the merch stand before the second support came on - rejoicing in the wonderfully overblown name Lacrimosa Profundere, they sounded like a slightly heavier version of HIM, with copious "foot-on-the-monitoring" from one of the guitarists. They were good enough, and left after their allotted time to allow the crew to clear the stage for Apocalyptica, revealing four chairs covered in dust-sheets and a drumkit which appeared to be almost entirely made out of a) perspex and b) toms.
The sound-man's CD was suddenly interrupted by The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again (resulting in a number of "Hang on, is this CSI?" mumbles), and then the dustsheets were drawn off the chairs to reveal that the backs were carved into cello-body shapes, with the top half pierced by skeletal eye and nose holes (much like their album cover). And five of them came out - the main three, a stunt cellist (who looked much like David A Stewart, in suit and round black glasses - and mostly just sat and played his cello without the posing of the rest of the band) and the drummer. The main three of Apocalyptica are "gothSpice cellist" (top hat, black hair, tattoos), "lanky Spice cellist" (very tall, blond) and "nu-metal Spice cellist" (shorter, chunkier, cheekbones, slicked-back undercut black hair, daft little beard). All cute in their own ways, though ...
They played a fair mix of stuff - some of their Metallica covers (including Seek and Destroy, Enter Sandman, One and Nothing Else Matters), some of their own compositions (some of which I knew, some I didn't, but whichduoinchains identified as including Bittersweet, Life Burns (featuring a burning cello - or at least a cello with skull cut-outs, internal lighting and a smoke machine), I'm Not Jesus and Last Hope), some classical (hitting a mosh to Hall of the Mountain King is odd¹) and even a cover of Helden (also known as Bowie's Heroes, when not in German). And Rammstein's Seemann as the encore. Without any guest vocalists for the tour, everything was in the "live instrumental" mode, but didn't lose anything for all that - and for many of the songs, the audience was providing the lyrics anyway.
The lighting effects were good, the sound was more than loud, there was the predicted "windmilling hair while playing cello" and I don't think I've ever seen someone lead the crowd's clapping in the classic "clapping over their head" style - while still holding a cello in one of their hands ... The band seemed to realy enjoy themselves, judging by their huge grins.
Apparently they're playing the Forum in March '08. FinnishColleague was very pleased to hear that!
On the way out I bumped intofiredraken and her man, some of the Croydon folk, and cookwitch, who hadn't been at the gig, but was fortuitously passing ...
¹ One of the teenagers I might [cough] have piled into during one of the Metallica covers clapped me on the shoulder at the end of the song and said "You f**king scare the sh*t out of me." I'll take that as a compliment.
duoinchains, who had helpfully provided the evening's ticket. Quick dinner of pasta salad while duoinchains finished his pint, and then over to the venue.We'd missed the first band, so have no idea who they were, but had just enough time to visit the merch stand before the second support came on - rejoicing in the wonderfully overblown name Lacrimosa Profundere, they sounded like a slightly heavier version of HIM, with copious "foot-on-the-monitoring" from one of the guitarists. They were good enough, and left after their allotted time to allow the crew to clear the stage for Apocalyptica, revealing four chairs covered in dust-sheets and a drumkit which appeared to be almost entirely made out of a) perspex and b) toms.
The sound-man's CD was suddenly interrupted by The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again (resulting in a number of "Hang on, is this CSI?" mumbles), and then the dustsheets were drawn off the chairs to reveal that the backs were carved into cello-body shapes, with the top half pierced by skeletal eye and nose holes (much like their album cover). And five of them came out - the main three, a stunt cellist (who looked much like David A Stewart, in suit and round black glasses - and mostly just sat and played his cello without the posing of the rest of the band) and the drummer. The main three of Apocalyptica are "goth
They played a fair mix of stuff - some of their Metallica covers (including Seek and Destroy, Enter Sandman, One and Nothing Else Matters), some of their own compositions (some of which I knew, some I didn't, but which
duoinchains identified as including Bittersweet, Life Burns (featuring a burning cello - or at least a cello with skull cut-outs, internal lighting and a smoke machine), I'm Not Jesus and Last Hope), some classical (hitting a mosh to Hall of the Mountain King is odd¹) and even a cover of Helden (also known as Bowie's Heroes, when not in German). And Rammstein's Seemann as the encore. Without any guest vocalists for the tour, everything was in the "live instrumental" mode, but didn't lose anything for all that - and for many of the songs, the audience was providing the lyrics anyway.The lighting effects were good, the sound was more than loud, there was the predicted "windmilling hair while playing cello" and I don't think I've ever seen someone lead the crowd's clapping in the classic "clapping over their head" style - while still holding a cello in one of their hands ... The band seemed to realy enjoy themselves, judging by their huge grins.
Apparently they're playing the Forum in March '08. FinnishColleague was very pleased to hear that!
On the way out I bumped into
firedraken and her man, some of the Croydon folk, and cookwitch, who hadn't been at the gig, but was fortuitously passing ... ¹ One of the teenagers I might [cough] have piled into during one of the Metallica covers clapped me on the shoulder at the end of the song and said "You f**king scare the sh*t out of me." I'll take that as a compliment.
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Bugsy also got mentioned in K's description, but more in the context of "They took a tune from Bugsy Malone and made it s**t." [grin]