Venue: The Masque, Liverpool, UK
Line-Up: Otargos, Deströyer 666, Watain
Promoter: Whiplash
Great black metal gig held in Liverpool city centre last night. I got there just in time to see Deströyer 666 (already on stage as I walked in), with lots of fist pumping and happily angry Scousers running about the place and thrashing out. Even saw a couple of fights brewing (including one that was right down by the stage-side crash barrier a blonde girl tearing some guys hair out of his head). And this all before the headline act had even set foot on stage.
WATAIN's show may not be as well known to some, mainly because they probably don't get to air their set-up fully at every venue (partly due to health and safety concerns). After all, it's not every band who have a couple of 10 foot-tall burning crosses on stage during their show. I found this especially surprising in a basement venue such as the one they were playing in Liverpool tonight. Surprising yet awesome!
The WATAIN set included a fair amount of material from their latest record, Lawless Darkness. A few songs I recognised from it ("Malfeitor", "Reaping Death" and more). They also played "Sworn To The Dark" and "Devil's Blood" from the Casus Luciferi record. They left the stage only once, coming back on to play a Bathory cover - Sacrifice I think.
The main memory of this show, for me, was that it was the first time I have ever got a suntan at a gig at midnight. This was thanks to the two 15-foot high flamethrowers that WATAIN had on either side of the stage! They only sparked these bad boys up towards the end of their show, during Reaping Death (I think)... there was no warning for the crowd before this happened, none that I heard about anyway! The first that I knew of the flamethrower stunt was a sudden burst of heat (the basement venue was already hot to begin with!) and 90% of the crowd saying "WHOA!" in unison.
I'm quite glad that I had got a few good photos early on during the WATAIN show and retired to the back of the hall to watch the rest of the set from behind the sound desk area. Because the flamethrower to stage-left was directly below where I'd been stood taking photos of the bassist. Otherwise I wouldn't be sat here typing out a review, I'd be laid-up in the Liverpool Royal Hospital's burns unit.
Very fucking memorable show!
No comments:
Post a Comment