Speakers, Delft, The Netherlands14th December 2006
The Gathering
The Gathering, starting as a doom metal band, was founded in 1989 by the brothers René and Hans Rutten and Bart Smits. New members joined the band and in 1992, they released their first official album ‘Always’. Not a long time later they encountered the dark side of the music business. New hope arose when a new singer came into the picture, Anneke van Giersbergen. With her, the band released the atmospherical album ‘Mandylion’, followed by ‘Nighttime Birds’. Throughout the following years, their music had changed from dark, heavy riffs to a more melancholic and psychedelic sound. Currently they're doing an extensive clubtour through The Netherlands called the "Homelands Tour" to promote their latest studio album "Home". The band members are: Anneke van Giersbergen (vocals), René Rutten (guitars), Marjolein Kooijman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Frank Boeijen (keyboards, programming) and Hans Rutten (drums, percussion, loops). http://www.gathering.nl/ / http://www.myspace.com/gatheringofficial
Music
I know quite some people who have seen The Gathering perform live in the period Anneke had just joined the band. They were not impressed with this unsteady band and it made them decide never to see this band live again. That's a real shame, because now we're about 10 years further and it's very clear that this band has made a great progression in this period. What I saw tonight was a serious, professional band which was able to keep the attention of the audience from the beginning until the end. Tonight the band played six songs of their new album, starting with "Shortest Day", with a cool guitar solo intro from René. On CD these songs have a pretty quiet character, but for their liveshows they had "pimped" them up with a heavier guitar, bass and drum sound, which were received well by the audience. The rest of the setlist contained a mix of older songs and the encore consisted of two magnificent songs from the album "Mandylion", the melodic headbanger "Eleanor" and the romantic ballad "In Motion #1". The Gathering ended the show with the song Strange Machines, which was not featured on the setlist. Sometimes they play this extra song when there's a positive vibe between the band and the audience,. This vibe was definitely present this evening. Anneke sounded pure and convincing and sang with full emotion. It was a pity her microphone was tuned in somewhat too low, for her vocals are the leading thread through all songs. The backing vocals from Marjolein were also quite hard to hear. In the song "Waking Hour" Anneke sounded almost fragile and sang the high notes so pure, even better than on CD, which left the audience spellbound. This venue, "Speakers", is known for its moderate sound quality, but this time the sound was better than could be expected in here. So thee sound engineers did a pretty good job tonight.
Performance
The Gathering is a band that doesn't need any scrolls and flourishes to keep the audience awake for about one hour and a half. Their music is more important than their performance. But still, of course, the great eye catcher was Anneke, who stood there in the middle in the spotlights. It's wonderful to see how she gets absorbed in the music, which shows of her whole physical and facial expression. During the heavy parts she was moving intensively on stage. During the quiet parts she stood in the middle, close to the microphone, modest with full emotion on her face. She was also the one who made contact with the audience, talking to them inbetween the songs. The other bandmembers kept themselves somewhat more on the background, with serious concentration. At times they suddenly freaked out during the heavy parts. Especially Hans, who forcefully banged his drums with a grim look on his face. The lights were less atmospherical than I had seen during previous concerts from The Gathering, but that was a problem of this venue, which didn't have an extensive package of lights to create a brilliant lightshow. Fortunately this band just doesn't need all this. Even with closed eyes you could enjoy their concert to the fullest extent. Their music, that's what counted most...
The Gathering is a band that doesn't need any scrolls and flourishes to keep the audience awake for about one hour and a half. Their music is more important than their performance. But still, of course, the great eye catcher was Anneke, who stood there in the middle in the spotlights. It's wonderful to see how she gets absorbed in the music, which shows of her whole physical and facial expression. During the heavy parts she was moving intensively on stage. During the quiet parts she stood in the middle, close to the microphone, modest with full emotion on her face. She was also the one who made contact with the audience, talking to them inbetween the songs. The other bandmembers kept themselves somewhat more on the background, with serious concentration. At times they suddenly freaked out during the heavy parts. Especially Hans, who forcefully banged his drums with a grim look on his face. The lights were less atmospherical than I had seen during previous concerts from The Gathering, but that was a problem of this venue, which didn't have an extensive package of lights to create a brilliant lightshow. Fortunately this band just doesn't need all this. Even with closed eyes you could enjoy their concert to the fullest extent. Their music, that's what counted most...
Setlist
01. Shortest Day
02. In Between
03. Liberty Bell
04. Probably
05. Even The Spirits Are Afraid
06. Saturnine
07. Monsters
08. Alone
10. A Noise Severe
11. Box
12. Broken Glass
13. Great Ocean Road
14. Waking Hour
15. Travel
---
16. Eleanor
17. In Motion #1
18. Strange Machines
01. Shortest Day
02. In Between
03. Liberty Bell
04. Probably
05. Even The Spirits Are Afraid
06. Saturnine
07. Monsters
08. Alone
10. A Noise Severe
11. Box
12. Broken Glass
13. Great Ocean Road
14. Waking Hour
15. Travel
---
16. Eleanor
17. In Motion #1
18. Strange Machines
Rating
Music 9
Performance 8
Sound 6
Light 6
Total 8 (7,7)
Photography and copyright: Monica Duffels
{jos_sb_discuss:17}
Comments powered by CComment