Lacuna Coil: Riverside Newcastle Gig

When Lacuna Coil announced that they were doing a world tour in support of their Delirium album, I got on to there site and checked out what dates they were doing in the UK, thats when I noticed that they where playing Newcastle Upon Tyne, at The Riverside on the 14th of November. When I made my way to Newcastle, and got to the venue, there was a massive queue waiting to get into the Riverside.

When I eventually got into the Riverside, and inside the place was pretty packed and people were still coming in after Genus Ordinis Dei started.

Lacuna Coil was supported by Genus Ordinis Dei and Forever Still.

Genus Ordinis Dei, they are a metal band from Italy. Now bearing in mind that I haven’t heard of this band before. When they came on stage they came on to some Gregorian style music and they came onto the stage with cowls, which made me think OK this band has caught my attention, now lets see what you got, so bring it on. Well when they started, I thought Damn these are pretty good, and this is just the first song. As they progressed through their 30 minute set, it became clear to me that this band is pretty good, usually sometimes support bands who are on first sometimes suck bollocks through a straw, but NOT this band, Genus Ordinis Dei are really good, to the point that I want to see and hear more from this band. About half way through their set, I looked at the crowd in the venue, and I could see that they were warming to the band and the band responded as they were getting the crowd involved. When they were closed their set, they had earned some new fans (myself included) from this very hard Geordie crowd.

Forever Still was up next, and what a band they are. Now I saw Forever Still back in April when Robert (co-editor of PMM) recommended them to me as they did a tour of the UK, and he said that they were playing Trillians in Newcastle, so I said to him that I would go and check them out, and I am glad that he recommended Forever Still to me, as I am a huge fan of theirs since that first gig at Trillians.

Since that first gig, I have been following Forever Still closely, and when they announced that they were to sign to Nuclear Blast Records I was like Hell yeah they deserve this, they’ve worked their collective asses off to get to this point. When Lacuna Coil announced that they were touring with the Delirium album around world, I kept a close eye on what dates they were going to do in the UK. When they did announce the dates for the UK leg of the tour and noticed that they were supported by Forever Still, I had to go, not only for Lacuna Coil but for Forever Still.

In between Genus Ordinis Dei and Forever Still’s sets there was a 15 minute breakdown and set up of both bands equipment. Whilst this was happening I was watch what they were doing, I noticed that there was to sound desks, one that was in the middle of venue – which was the main mixing desk – and one on the stage which – I assume was a secondary one, where all the instruments are relayed from to the main desk – and I noticed that they were have some technical difficulties with the Maja’s mic and with bass,  but they managed to sort it out just in time.

When they started their set I was so enthralled by them I was in a trance, and they were just as good, in fact, they got better in the last 7 months since I saw them the first time back in April. As they went through their set list, they done Miss Madness, Scars, Alone, Save Me and others.

As they were going through the songs they were getting the crowd involved and they were loving it. But the only downside this brilliant set was that the bass guitar kept cutting out and I though that the bassist was going to pull the sound guys head off, luckily the guy managed to sort it out.

As they finished their set, they said that they will be at the merch stall at the back of the venue if people want to have a chat, so I made my way the merch stall and Maja was there and I bought their album Tied Down, and the lady who was running the stall asked if I wanted it signed and I said Yes, and Maja gratefully signed it, and we started talking about that i saw the band up at Trillians back in April, and since then I had been a fan of theirs, and she was so thankful that I went to see them 7 months back, I came to see them again, and I thought I was pushing my luck when I asked if it was OK to get a Photo with her, but she said Yes, I would to get a photo with you. Maja is such a nice person.

Lacuna Coil was up next, I didn’t see the set up and I was only half listening to the quick sound check that they did as I was talking to Maja.

Now Lacuna Coil is one of the bands that I really wanted to see again, the last time saw them was 5 years ago, when I saw them twice in two days, once in Sheffield on the 4th of November and again on the 5th in Birmingham.

Lacuna Coil are an amazing band. They know how to put on a show. When they started they did some tracks from their new album such as Delirium, Blood, Tears, Dust, and others, and some classic tracks Enjoy The Silence, and Heaven’s A Lie just to name but a few.

The highlight of there set was when they done the tracks Heaven’s A Lie, Enjoy The Silence and Delirium, they got the myself and crowd going, as we all started to sing along to the songs.

Another highlight of the night was when Andreas tried to do the Geordie accent when he said “Wye Aye Man”, it was funny as hell as he has an Italian accent, but it was sort of a fail, as it sounded strange to me, as I am from Sunderland (Newcastle is the next city north of Sunderland).

Anyways, as they rapped up the gig, they did an encore and done three tracks, one of them was Delirium which is brilliant live.

Well, I am glad that I made it to the gig, as it was an amazing night, I got to see three brilliant bands and I got to meet Maja.

I would give Genus Ordinis Dei 4.5 out 5, need to hear more from them to give them a full 5 star rating.

I would give Forever Still 5 out of 5, If I could give them more I would as they are brilliant band and are really friendly.

I would give Lacuna Coil 5 out of 5, what more can I saw about LC, apart from go see them if you get the chance, you will not regret it.

Project Metal Music

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