Delain Koko 1-11-17

First up at a sold out Koko was Swiss 4 piece Cellar Darling who describe their music as "confidently fusing heavy alternative rock with strong folk influences and poetic lyrical tales, creating what you may very well call a New Wave Of Folk Rock".
Well I agree with all that but with a very static stage presence it was a little dull and the quieter moments was like watching paint dry.

Serenity soon blew away any cobwebs we felt with a 7 song set that included 2 from recent release Lionheart which they played and the guitar middle part was taken lock stock and barrel from Gary Moore's Over The Hills And Far Away.

George Neuhauser on vocals has a great stage presence and when joined by Natascha Koch they were very theatrical in their performance together and their 2 voices worked together fantastically well especially on Serenade Of Flames.

Well worth a look at their head lining show at Camden Underworld on the 14th of February. 

Delain were back in the UK after last year's tour in support of the excellent Moonbathers cd with a one off date as part of the 6 date Danse Macabre tour with a guest appearance from Nightwish's Marco Hielta.

With their live dvd being released only last week and a sold out Koko Delain are going from strength to strength and the 100 minute show only added to that.

Here is what they played.

Hands Of Gold
We Are The Others
The Glory And The Scum
Get The Devil Out Of Me
Suckerpunch
Danse Macabre
Scarlet
Here Comes The Vultures
Fire With Fire
Your Body Is A Battleground (Marco Hielta)
Nothing Left (Marco Hielta)
Control The Storm (Marco Hielta)
Sing To Me (Marco Hielta)
The Hurricane
Not Enough
Encores of Mother Machine
Don't Let Go
Scandal ( Queen cover)(Marco Hielta)
The Gathering (Marco Hielta)

I waxed lyrical about last years show with it being one of my favourite gigs of the year and this one too will be right up there the best.

Charlotte Wessels on vocals is turning into a great front woman always asking the crowd for more whether it is clapping,singing,screaming or bouncing up and down.This show was a work out for us all.She also has the voice of an angel and on Scarlet just with Martijn Westerholt on keys as accompaniment  and The Hurricane she shows her range is not only melodic but vast as an ocean.

Timo Somers and Merel Bechtold on guitar are riff supremo's with all solo's short sharp and fiery with the rhythm team of the best name in rock on bass Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije and Ruben Israel on drums rock solid.In fact this was Ruben's last show with the band with some genuine sadness from band and crowd at his departure.He got a huge standing ovation mid set and was the last to leave the stage with me catching a drum stick as he left.Thank you.

Delain songs are built on heavy guitar riffs melded with symphonic keyboards and the bands synchronised head banging fits the bill perfectly.

The whole gig was a highlight we had a bubble machine and streamers after only 2 songs and having We Are The Others at song 2 shows the amount of great material the band now have.Suckerpunch had the whole place jumping with the best chorus of last year sang by all.

Marco Hielta came out for 6 songs in total 2 being in the encore and his vocal stylings fitted in superbly alongside Charlotte's lower tone and all on stage having a ball with huge smiles everywhere.Sing To Me was sang by all and only beaten by last song of the night The Gathering as the whole place went nuts with more bubble and streamers.

Delain are one of the best live bands on the planet and their star only continues to ascend.

Stunning.