KK’s Steel Mill seemed like a bit of an odd choice to me for Lacuna Coil to play at. Don’t get me wrong I love the venue for certain acts, but from everything I had heard about the band, I thought it perhaps wouldn’t have fit their style and stage show. Though it turns out I was too quick to judge, as it seems Lacuna Coil are taking a slightly different approach these days. And the fans by no means seem to mind, as the room was packed out tonight.
Opening the night was Finnish act, known for their Eurovision entry in 2021, Blind Channel. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing these guys twice before, and unfortunately, this may be my last for a while, as the group have just announced that after this tour they will be going on an indefinite hiatus. The set was fairly similar to that I saw earlier this year, in this same venue, but it does mean that it was any less fun. Devoted fans of the support act sang word after word down the front of the pit and matched both singers' high energies. One difference to the set in March was the slight malfunction of the PA system, just as the band were about to take it down a notch with ‘DIE ANOTHER DAY’, this only caused a temporary delay as the band just decided to go ‘A Cappella'.
Soon enough, we are met with tonight's main act, donning boiler suits and back and white face paint, a hefty nod to the classic Nu-Metal vibe. One thing that makes Lacuna Coil stand out from their genre is the contrast between Andrea Ferro’s guttural screams and Cristina Scabbia’s melodic vocals. Ripping straight into ‘Blood, Tears, Dust’, we are thrown straight into the aesthetics of the production, with dramatic lighting, dry ice eruptions and screen visuals. My only complaint is perhaps the drum mix overpowers the vocals slightly, but I’ve found this common with the venue from previous experience and not the band’s crew itself. On a lighter note, amongst the black of the boiler suits and the eery lighting, one may notice Scabbia sporting Marge Simpson socks in full display, not everything has to be all serious of course and seeing little quirks like that makes me enjoy a band more.
Blasting through the set, when it came to ‘Our Time’, the announcement of the song brought in the biggest cheer of the night so far, before heading into a more sentimental part of the set, where Scabbia gave a speech about how playing shows in front of a camera during the pandemic just didn't provide the same sort of energy as a crowd we find ourselves in front of this evening. This beautiful reminder of the power of music was followed by the melancholic track 'Entwined XX', the first of many tracks of the re-recorded 20th-anniversary version of their 2002 album 'Comalies'. A track played from this record that was a personal standout was 'Heaven's a Lie XX'.
Fans were reassured that new music would be on the way on their planned 2025 release 'Sleepless Empire', which would also feature guests such as Ash Costello (New Year's Day) and Randy Blythe (Lamb of God). Fans got an opportunity to witness these new tracks live tonight.
The real highlight of the night though came from their cover of Depeche Mode's 'Enjoy The Silence', where not a single person was silent or still. All in all what a wonderful way to celebrate the band's 30th year together making music. And I don't think it will be the end anytime soon.
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