01.06.2012 Delain

Atak, Enschede (Netherlands)

(Pentax K-5 with Tamron SP AF 17-50mm 2.8 XR Di II LD Asp IF and Sigma AF 50-150mm 2.8 EX DC APO HSM II)

The day before the Dutch band Delain finally released after long worries their new album and now a not very small amount of people were waiting for them at the Atak Enschede to also hear these songs. Unfortunately the venue was not sold out but that did not do any harm to the atmosphere. Unfortunately this was realted to a happening right to the beginning of the show which brought sweat to the artists brows. Right after the intro first drummer Sander Zoer, keyboarder Martijn Westerholt, bassist Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije and guitarist Bas Maas entered the stage. Bas Maas normally is the guitarist of Doro but he replaced the regular guitarist on some of the tour gigs as he is with other projects additionally on tour. Shortly afterwards Chalotte Wessels stormed onto the stage and directly started with the first song of their new album "Mother Machine". But after only a few sounds nothing could be heared of guitars and keyboard. Also frantically corrections on the wiring during the song did not change anything and so Martijn finally put the band off and interrupted the song. Immediately the technicians started looking for the error whilst Charlotte, Sander and Otto first only could watch them without being able to do anything else shrugging one's shoulder. Charlotte was hoping that it would hopefully continue very soon and they were getting the technics right when some out of the audience shouted: "Otherwise continue acoustically!". Following that request bassist Otto and drummer Sander grinning from one ear to the other started to improvise before after a short time guitarist Bas with a working guitar joined them. Highlight of the short jam session was the point when Otto suddenly intonated "Seven Nation Army" of The White Stripes, Charlotte joined him and the whole audience was loudly singing along. From that point in time really everybody was on working temperature and Charlotte declared exhilarated that this should be an inherent part of each Delain concert.
Shortly afterwards also Martijn's keyboard could be heared again and finally the concert could really begin. Mainly there were of course songs of the new album like the name-giving "We Are The Others", "Virtue And Vice" or "Babylon". But also the first two albums should not go short whereas bassist Otto was taking over the parts of guest singer Marco Hietala at "Sever" and "Control The Storm". The compilation was very well chosen and really all in the audience were participating non-stop. Especially impressive was a little girs that completely enthused appeared several times at the front of the stage. Charlotte was deeply impressed by that: "So, I was not that young when being at my first concert!". Except the quiet "See Me In Shadow" there was permanently something going on on stage and so finally with "Not Enough" the last song of their regular set appeared. But Charlotte announced to the loudly complaining audience that they, just like title says it, would for sure not already have seen enough of Delain.
So, quite quickly all were standing back on stage to repeat the opener "Mother Machine" but this time without any issues and in full length. The evening was finally round off by "The Gathering". Band and audience were after a roughly 105 minutes taking concert completely satisfied and so for many of them the way led to the merchandising booth to directly buy the yesterday released CD. For me Delain is live a fascinating band that got better with each concert I have seen of them. Were the first two ones quite poor and were getting me to the point that I thought of never watching Delain live again the turn-around came with their great show at Wacken and this evening did even outpace that one by far. On the one hand Charlotte improved her voice during the years significantly and also how the shows are made got a lot better. However this had been a very simple show without pyros or other special effects (OK, the two times occuring gas fountains I do not count). This evening really the music was at the fore what is at most bands not always the case. So it really is worth watching this band live. For me this could be the case twice this year. On the one hand they will be at the Wacken Open Air again (but I am not sure weather I will be able to watch them related to the schedule) and on the other hand they will be guest in Oktober at the Metal Female Voices Fest X where I will watch them for sure. I am already now looking forward whether they can keep the level as high as seen this evening.