PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
First up tonight was Jordan Reyne. Until I arrived at the gig I had no idea if there was going to be a support act – while the Leeds gig had two support bands announced well in advance, there was no such announcement for the London show, and the venue posted the name of one support act the morning of the gig before deleting it within a couple of hours. As a result a large percentage of the crowd won’t have known who the support act was until she introduced herself during her set unless they spotted the small sheet of paper with the stage times as they entered the venue.
Jordan Reyne is a singer and songwriter from New Zealand and took to the stage alone with just an acoustic guitar to play. Her music is hard to categorise but seems to be a blend of folk, gothic and industrial sounds. However you describe it, she certainly seemed to go down well with the Fields of the Nephilim fans (not always an easy crowd to win over). She introduced one song as being about death and added that most of her songs were. With some of the songs the live loops she uses were very prominent and while the overall thing sounded good it did feel slightlyodd. That criticism aside I did enjoy her set and her music and she’s definitely worth a listen if you’re a Nephilim fan. Someone who’s albums I’ll have to check out.
While waiting for the Fields of the Nephilim there was talk backstage that the show may not happen due to illness (these stories were later confirmed), but thankfully Carl McCoy and the rest of the band went ahead with the show as planned.
Fields of the Nephilim don’t play many shows, so when they do, they always feel special, and a sold out venue is almost guaranteed. A great atmosphere is also a certainty, and tonight is no different.
Opening with Shroud (Exordium) the band minus Carl come out and play before Carl McCoy joins them on stage for “Straight to the light”. It’s almost exactly 25 years since I first saw Fields of the Nephilim play live, and tonight feels just as special. If Carl McCoy is ill then there’s little sign of it – he seems his ususal self on stage and there’s nothing in his voice to gve it away either. The first few songs pass through far too fast in a bt of a blur while I focus on taking photos before I pack the camera away and retreat to the back of the venue to watch the rest of the show (with the place this packed the back is the only place I can get to).
The whole show is great – there’s tonnes of smoke as always and that makes the light show look fantastic (it’s just us photographers who hate smoke early on), the sound is great and the crowd are loving it. For me though hearing the introduction to “Preacher Man” is when things started to go from very good to fantastic – it’s one of my favourite songs, and plenty of the crowd agreed judging by peoples reactions. From there things kept getting better – “Psychonaut”, “Moonchild” and “Mourning sun” took us to the end of a superb set. The encore tonight was shorter than the previous night in Leeds – just one song instead of two, presumably due to Carl not being 100%, but what an encore it is – a stunningly good “Last exit for the lost”. A fantastic end to a great night.
Setlist:
Shroud (Exordium)
Straight to the Light
One More Nightmare
From the Fire
Love Under Will
Watchman
Harmonica Man
Preacher Man
Psychonaut
Moonchild
Mourning Sun
Encore:
Last Exit for the Lost
