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It was crazy with the amount of good gigs on tonight in town. We had Cradle Of Filth with Rotting Christ and God Seed, The Prodigy, The Wonderstuff and Pop Will Eat Itself and some people I know had even chosen to go and see Status Quo! This was the one that I had plumped for as the support are one of my favourite bands of their ilk and I had not seen Epica for ages. After having the opportunity to grab an interview with Marcela from Stream Of Passion and watching their powerful sound check it was time for the proper show, it meant sharing with a lot of others but we can’t have it all really can we?

It was all about the masculine presence as the band flexed muscles and powered into ‘Lost’ and its heavy mark was met by head banging from both band and audience. Sultry and beguiling saw the entrance of Mexican singer Marcela Bovio. What an impact she made immediately and had us transfixed in her spell. The song has lilting and French sounding nuances about its quieter moments and they really sparkled but the impact of the heavy parts crushed. Following it up with early song ‘Passion’ with its tempestuous weaving charge had its fiery touch flowing through the crowd and putting everyone in a great mood. To say it all sounded immense was actually selling it short for once. Both bands tonight announced that this would be their last concerts ever getting gasps of shock from the crowd. Playing the end of the world jibe worked well and if it is a case of being the last show we catch at least we will have gone out on a high note. Stream Of Passion had ‘Collide’ for the occasion and the chunky riffs pounded away giving us plenty to bounce around to. Dreadlocks flailed about from bassist Johan who used the stage to advantage doing some leaps in the air whilst hitting his groove on numbers like ‘My Leader.’ There were a couple of unexpected surprises in the set and having just two bands on tonight was perfect allowing SoP to have a good length (although not long enough) set. ‘Out In The Real World’ is a beautiful and classic song from the debut album and even though Radiohead are not a band I would ever listen to they absolutely nailed their cover of ‘Street Spirit’ and had everyone singing along like they were at a stadium show.  All good things have to come a conclusion and ‘The Endless Night’ brought things to be with a flourish, the end of which saw the audience pretty much bring the house down with cheering. As this was the last date the band took a bow and hopefully they will be back next time as well deserving headliners.

It was no easy task to follow that but of course there is no underestimating Dutch comrades Epica. Perhaps the reason that SoP had such dark lighting was explained as now it along with everything else was turned up to the max. At least it made getting photos a damn sight easier. I have to admit that I found myself somewhat out of depth by last Epica album ‘Requiem For The Indifferent’ due mainly by the sheer length and dedication it took to listen to and a pre-show refresher did not really change this. Still as soon as they took the stage this was somewhat irrelevant due to the strong and consummate showmanship of the group and their singer. We started at that album with its intro ‘Karma’ taking us into fantasy land with its blockbuster etched vibe. As ‘Monopoly On Truth’ took over and the full strength of the band unleashed was felt it pretty much bowled us over. Still it took us further as the siren call from singer Simone Simons was fully felt, luckily the bar optics just about survived. Mark Jansen’s harsh vocals were nice and gravid too and really made their presence felt.

A much needed beer was grabbed after taking pics and looking at the stage from further back it looked spectacular a bit like a spaceship waiting to take off, the sound was equally forceful and crushing and the words ‘top of their game’ certainly needed to be noted. I really thought that Simone’s microphone stand added to the aesthetics of the show it looked so alien but accentuated her performance and beauty perfectly. As for the band themselves again they took every opportunity to act like lads and postured together and gave their instruments a good work out. Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how damn metal a band like this can be but as they battered down the hatches at the start of ‘Martyr Of The Free World’ giving Simone time to catch a breather it all comes flooding back. For Serenade Of Self Destruction we started with just keyboards and vocals with the stage bathed in blood red before the orchestration piled in. It was all incredibly epic but listening to it again I was struck by the fact that songs here had no real hooks and definition. There is perhaps too much going on to make them memorable unlike the support band whose songs once heard, are impossible to forget. It’s just an observation and I am sure many here would have disagreed and it did not ruin my enjoyment or anything at all. Perhaps if I had the chance to have listened to the album ten or twenty times it might have been different but for me these fireworks exploded but quickly fizzled out.

Something older in this case ‘The Obsessive Devotion’ was needed and quickly hit the mark with hair on stage going in all directions and strobes and pomposity on overload. As Simone took a break the guys got mischievous on their own throwing some rather well known riffs into the equation cheekily. We were taken right back to The Phantom Agony for ‘Cry For The Moon’ and this was made all the more special with Marcela joining in on both violin and vocals. People certainly knew the words for this one myself included although I did somewhat restrain myself. That is more than could be said for the entire band, a drum solo, my word, rock stars we are then! Good excuse to go for a pint.  This was time to just get caught up in ‘The Phantom Agony’ itself and the encore which included ‘Storm The Sorrow’ and complete with props up to a certain deceased civilisation who we may or may not be joining ‘Consign To Oblivion’

So all in all an excellent show and one that really delivered the goods on all fronts. I expect the 100 VIP ticket holders, who got goody bags, meet and greet and early entrance had one of the best nights of the year but for the rest of us it did not fall very short either.

Stream Of Passion interview coming soon.

Review and photos © Pete Woods