Delain + Evergrey + Kobra and the Lotus @ o2 Institute, 8th November, 2016
Tonight we see Delain headlining at the o2 Institute with support from Kobra and the Lotus followed by Evergrey. Each band has their own individual style, taste, sound and talent. The venue is fairly packed for the first support whilst still cold wet and miserable outside, but better than us hugging the wall waiting to get in.
Hard rockers Kobra and the Lotus, from Canada flew here in their spaceship with Kobra wearing a golden space-style two piece and long blonde curly hair. This presents one very pretty lead singer with everyone else dominating that hard rock look, the guitarist fits the bill and the show sees hair flailing everywhere, which is great to see. Kobra tells us “Every time I see the Bull Ring I feel comfortable it’s something familiar it’s good to be here” the performance was well received by fans and included hits such as Trigger Pulse and Gotham which showcase the rhythms and vocal strength.
Swedish rockers Evergrey are the heaviest act of the night and the one that looks like dark heavy rock. Dark lighting and a moody atmosphere though again another great set but short, they played a variety of tracks for us, including Black undertow and King of Errors the crowd respond well and got the place rocking ready for Delain.
Having had a cracking ten years, 2016 has been a big year for Delain with them playing Download Festival where I foolishly missed them due to clashes with other bands. This is the 10th anniversary of their debut album Lucidity and now the launch of their new album Moonbathers.
Opening up with first track Hands of Gold from the new Moonbathers album,followed by Suckerpunch and Glory and the Scum almost in the same order as the album, and on closing Suckerpunch Charlotte “Good evening Birmingham, it is so wonderful to be back here, so many familiar faces and new ones too, welcome everybody” as the crowd cheer. We hear a couple of older favourites now with Get the Devil and Army of Dolls two of my favourites which sounded really, really good.
Charlotte“we’ve got a new album out quite recently it’s called Moonbathers have you heard it yet “<crowd cheer> This ones called Hurricane” as the intro starts very powerful sounding and dominant vocal with heavy guitar rhythm. This is one of their newer tracks and it went smashing through the room.
Antics on stage are present from start to finish with guitarist, Merel and Charolotte heads meeting and staring into each other’s eyes as they sing. This band these are friends performing together and it shows. Guitarist Timo was great to watch with a huge hanging pendant around his neck and energy bouncing around the stage.
The normal set ends on Pristine and finishes with lots of guitar and bass noise. We have a short intro which is followed by Mother Machine, this continues to Don’t let go.
” I do have to ask you guys are you tired <crowd no> “no and you not half as smelly and sweaty as I would like you to be and if I cant smell it from here its no good it’s a problem, what are we gonna do”, <crowd> “More!” , “What?”, “More!”, “what!!!?” , <crowd> “More!!!!” “so did you want more” < yeah!!> just a tiny bit louder <crowd> “More!!!!” crowd clap along and bounce up and down, it’s We are the Others. This is easily the best song in the Delain line up, though they have so many “That looks great you guys, sounded great too”.
It’s rare to be at a gig where one song after another are played so well. Its clear Delain gave their all, the show was amazing, Charlottes voice and personality is so versatile, the fun and the antics on stage makes them a pleasure to watch combined with the musical talent to listen. Definitely in my top gigs of 2016.
HANDS OF GOLD
SUCKERPUNCH
GLORY AND THE SCUM
GET THE DEVIL
PENDULUM
ARMY OF DOLLS
THE HURRICANE
APRIL RAIN
HERE COME THE VULTURES
FIRE WITH FIRE
DANSE MACABRE
SLEEPWALKERS DREAM
THE GATHERING
PRISTINE
Encore
INTRO
MOTHER MACHINE
DON’T LET GO
WE ARE THE OTHERS
Review and Images – Chris Bowley