Well end of an era, tonight was billed as the last ever Cathedral show, the final curtain for one of our most established UK acts who have been dooming us proudly since way back in 1989. I would be hard pushed to count the amount of times I have seen them over the years, it’s probably somewhere in the 20 plus mark and they are a firm favourite of many. Before the show, walking past the venue, we bumped into one person who had flown from Italy to catch them for the last time. But is it the last time? Well I am always cynical as death aside, they always come back; hell some do not even let death stop them. I do not believe Cathedral will never play again, although I know Lee Dorian has other plans at the moment but the temptation to come back is always too hard to resist. Look at groups like Ministry and Immortal for example. A break of a few years never did them any harm and on return they get to headline the big festivals rather than play second fiddle. Cathedral are releasing a new album in 2012 and that’s it. I don’t believe it for a second but we shall see.

First are the support acts, a couple of which I have inadvertently caught many a times and one that has, as mentioned earlier, come back and indeed not even let death stop them doing so. Gentleman’s Pistols have not had any members gunned down that we know of and do not go about things half cocked. They may look like a bunch of scruffy hipsters but they rock hard and although many are still in local drinking establishments, they get those through the door quickly in the mood. Blazing away with a tumultuous bass heavy mix that literally deafens us, there’s a touch of the zeppelin in the heavy lead lined armoury here. Hell they even have a song called Sherman Tank and although they look like they should be on an anti war protest in the 70’s making love rather than war there is no denying the firepower behind songs like this. With some upbeat funky riffing and wailing vocals their set flew by and it seemed the pistols had shot off the stage almost just after they started. No doubt they will be rocking the rafters again when they open for Orange Goblin later this month.

A real blast from the past, Comus were meant to be supporting next but the singer is apparently ill in hospital. However an equally aging group were found to replace them called Cressida who were originally progging their craft in 1968. With a founding member dying in 2010 and years of inactivity the remaining three members got back together recently and had played a one off comeback gig just the night before in London. Well I guess it was a no-brainer for them to extend the run and do another show here tonight and give this crowd a few golden oldies from a time before many were born. One of the most prolific aspects of their sound was definitely the unmistakable pompous parp of the Hammond organ and it drove the songs along. The singer mentioned they had played the night before to “a lot of old people” before announcing a song from the first album. Although this was a bit too far out for my liking I could certainly appreciate it. The bass player looked completely weighed down by his instrument and did a great job and on the whole the music was quite sedate in a real bygone sort of fashion. I am guessing that anyone here who really had wanted to see Comus would have been suitably pleased with this addition to the bill and it certainly was interesting catching Cressida. Wonder what Cathedral will look like when they play at their age?

The Grand Magus machine rolls into action and the Swedish trio put the balls back into the show and wake anyone up who had nodded off in the corner straight away. They are dynamic on stage and thankfully have the lighting to match, which makes it nice for us taking photos at the front. They come out like they are the headliners and throw themselves straight into things, perfect to get the by now much busier venue pumped up by songs like ‘Kingslayer’ for the main event. By the time they pile into ‘Hammer Of The North’ with its anthem like bravado and rafter hitting vocals we are all in their grip and singing along. I have heard most of the group’s albums but do not own any and could quite honestly have taken or left them but the sheer amount of times I have seen GM now they have really won me over and whilst I am not going to run out and buy their back catalogue, there is no denying that Grand Magus are a great, solid live act. I doubt anyone here would have denied that fact either. JB and Fox really take over the stage front, trading vocals and riffs and striking poses and despite the large space they have at their disposal they utilise it and do things with a swaggering dynamic that’s impossible to ignore. We bowed to their ‘Iron Will’ clapped and head-banged along. Grand Magus were everything a main support band should be, perfect choice.

I missed Cathedral last year when they played their 20th anniversary show with their debut ‘Forest Of Equilibrium’ album in its entirety. Apparently they put on quite a spectacle but tonight it was all about playing the classics and some of the newer songs without any extra carnival on the side lines. Everyone probably had a set list in their head of the songs they wanted to hear for the last time and I was instantly hitting pay-dirt as ‘Vampire Sun,’ a firm favourite bounced out the speakers. With Leo Smee having already flown the coop it was down to Scott Carlson of Death Breath and Repulsion infamy to play the bass and again the sound from this is thick and pulverising, rumbling straight through us. With him on stage right to the audience and Gaz Jennings on guitar to the left, the centre was left for Lee Dorian to dart around as the group went through picking songs from their history and from the majority of their albums. Another firm favourite for them to play live is ‘Midnight Mountain’ and it had fists being pumped along to the rallying cries and the stomping chorus.

Newer songs have totally grown on us and it seems mad that The Garden album is already 6 years old and we are still looking on it as recent. North Berwick Witch Trials gives us a bloody history lesson and the even more recent prog heavy ‘Funeral Of Dream’ plays around with us proffering trip laden heady delights which have us wondering just what direction that swansong album is going to go in. The lighting is full on for the show and that’s probably just as well as apart from Lee moving around a bit the rest of the group are quite static. Looking and moving around the venue there is space and it does not look like the show is a sell out but we can see that quite a few people are looking down from the balcony, so it is a relief that they had not tried to ram us all downstairs, packed in like sardines.

The songs keep on coming, and we were taken through tales of cosmic funerals and melancholy emperors. The one number I would have liked and didn’t get was Night Of The Seagulls but hell you cannot have it all and the light and airy ‘Corpsecycle’ was probably a better choice for cheering everyone up anyway. As we went towards the end and were urged to ‘Ride’ once more and shake our Utopian Blasters’ I perversely decided to forgo the inevitable last song and miss the deluge of escaping masses. It was pretty obvious that they were going to end with Hopkins as Cathedral nearly always do but a thought entered my head telling me to give it a miss and catch it next time around. It might take a few years but it will be played again! Hope I don’t end up eating my words.

Review & Photos © Pete Woods