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ANATHEMA, Liverpool’s finest dark metal band headed out to tour Europe once more to promote their latest material A Natural Disaster. It has become some kind of habit I’ve grown fond of to catch them at least once a year. As I happily live at a place I have the opportunity to witness the band in different live performances with different sets in different countries. Music setlists and a wide variety of fans that made each concert audience flare exclusive. No matter if in Belgium (Vosselaar -> Live review), Netherlands (Hardenberg -> Live review), UK (London) or Germany. Once again they ventured to stop in Bochum, but this time at the Matrix. The Tube was crowded, as usual. Not bad for catching an ANATHEMA show! Despite all the prophecies of doom the band still has a huge loyal fan base...

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:: BURIED TIME ~ Supporting local act from Bochum was the Goth Rock band BURIED TIME I haven’t known before. Not surprising because the band has only been together since 1998 and had just released a demo and 2 EP’s which I haven’t yet heard except for the first time tonight as the opening act for Anathema. BURIED TIME didn’t get a warm welcome due to the fact that most of the audience was there to see Anathema. BURIED TIME gave everything they got, despite the responses from the ongoers. The group did a good performance, dishing a half hour of melodic sounds that one can call melancholy gothic music. BURIED TIME’s music did not grab my attention, but seeing that the band gave there best, the audience was lukewarm in the applause department, but some of the local fans cheered. Well, it was still a good chance for them being exposed to a bigger audience.
Setlist: Cage Of Blindness, Fading Future, See My Fall, Eta Carinae, The Same, Hypernovae, Wings, Request For Silence

:: ANATHEMA ~ After the backline was changed ANATHEMA kicked off their set with some sound problems that made singer Vincent Cavanagh angry and sometimes gave him a morose mien. But then the Scousers rocked out and quickly had the audience in their grip. Almost right from the first tune the audience was singing along every song and thus created this special goose-flesh atmosphere that makes a show like that very special. All the energy and enthusiasm the band was giving, the crowd gave back and the other way round. ANATHEMA kicked off with Balance and Closer from the latest release A Natural Disaster. Followed by a blend of the last three albums as well as the all time faves Angelica and Fragile Dreams that made the fans freak out. For the very first time Lee Douglas (female singer and the drummer’s sister) was partaking in the tour and came on stage for three songs, namely Parisienne Moonlight, Temporary Peace and A Natural Disaster. During the after-show interview she told me that the tour is a great and interesting experience, meeting all these people, but that she had some problems with her voice, probably ‘coz of smoking, and she didn’t like the chaos in the tourbus ;) Well, the Cavanagh brothers were well-rehearsed and played their songs with a damn rockin’ attitude as they did in the past, and the fans seem to like this style on stage. Surely the three brothers give a special charisma to the band, so that drummer John and key wiz Lez almost blend into the background. But what is the band without them? Anyway, the band got more enthusiastic reactions than the band expected. You could see the surprise on their faces. Needless to say how much the band is able to captivate the listener with their melancholy-draped harmonies. I even found myself lost in thoughts, forgetting to take photos. It is also worth mentioning how the band was dealing with the fans, especially after the show. Always friendly, talking to the fans, everybody who wanted got his autograph or his photo. That’s the way it should be!

All things considered it was another great ANATHEMA show, filled with emotion and a great atmosphere. After the show opinions differed as to the sound. I was squeezed so close to the stage that I was already behind the speakers. So I can’t say how the sound was in the tube in general. It was loud, yeah ;) By the way: it is an interesting experience to crawl between the feet of the audience after I had dropped one of my films… ;)
The one and only stale smack came up with the unexpected meeting with Caroline Traitler - once co-founder of the NH magazine. After a friendly “Hello” on my part she did not want to have to do anything with me, because "she really has problems with this magazine”, what kind she never revealed. It seems honesty and integrity is not her affair. What poor show Dragonlady…
Well, who cares? It could not ruin the evening. I have met friends I haven’t seen for a long time and met new ones - (special greetings to Kerstin Roeßler, photographer from Legacy magazine, who had to go back to Bavaria afterwards. Hope you went home well.) Great show, great evening!