HIM Tour - April 2006
As I approached the Brixton Academy the queue didn't look to bad, but on closer inspection I realised that it actually wrapped itself round the building, and was pretty close to reaching the starting point again. Once the queue started moving it took well over an hour to get in, and by the time I did the support act had already started their set.
Anathema were both vocally and musically clear and the seemed to be getting a good reception from the crowd. Part way through their set they introduced a female vocalist onto the stage, who had on of the most powerful voices I'd heard in a long time, she never missed a note and remained consistent throughout her short stay on stage, sadly she only performed two songs, but to be honest she could do a hell of a lot better than this band. After she had left the stage things seemed to go down hill for Anathema, their songs didn't seem up to the same quality of their previous tracks, and the crowd weren't responding so well, although I have to mention their drummer, he was spot on, he never missed a beat and probably gave more to the performance than anyone else on stage.
After a forty-five minute wait and countless chants of HIM! HIM! HIM! The band finally appeared on stage to deafening screams and cheers, and launched straight into Soul On Fire, which for the last few times I have seen HIM the have opened with. The second track was Wings Of A Butterfly, which really whipped the crowd into a frenzy, they sounded really good vocally and musically, but after a few tracks Ville's mic seemed to be cutting in and out, which he obviously noticed too, as the mic was promptly thrown to the floor, and while they roadie was trying to get him a new microphone, Ville had already stolen Mige's and plugged it into his amp and sent the roadie off stage. Which then lead to a joke about slicing him up with a razorblade on the lead up to Razorblade Kiss, a track which along with other classic HIM tracks seemed wasted on this crowd, only a handful of people were dancing and singing along, where as newer material got everyone moving. Although it was nice to see that somethings never change; Gas's Motorhead t-shirt, Linde's constant walking in circles, Mige's interesting dance moves and Burton rocking out behind the keyboard. While performing Poison Girl Ville introduced each member of the band individually and they all played short solo pieces, with Linde getting the biggest cheer, but I'd like to get a special mention to Burton, who hardly got any cheers from the crowd, but without him the band would not sound the same.
I must admit I was slightly disappointed when HIM went of stage, not because the gig was over but because the lights stayed down so there was obviously going to be an encore, what's wrong with that? I hear you ask, well HIM have never done encores, Ville Valo used to moan about them and say how stupid they were because you always know the band are coming to come back, and that it was commercial rubbish, so that's exactly what this was. Buried Alive by Love was the first track the played during their encore, and for some reason during this Ville decided to smack himself round the head with his mic, that and his stroppiness earlier can only mean one thing... he's been spending too much time with Bam. Next came Solitary Man, or woman, as it was that night, and finally the paid homage to Black Sabbath by covering one of their tracks.
Overall it was a good gig, apart from the few technically problems with the mic, the band sounded good throughout, they had a consistent level of energy and there was plenty of interaction with the crowd.