The Gathering
Nighttown, Rotterdam
01/05/03
The Gathering are a strange entity. Over the years they have transformed themselves from old-fashioned death metal, to ethereal doom metal, to electronic, to… well, it's hard to describe the point where they have found themselves. It's a good place to be though.
In fact, The Gathering have much more in common with Sigur Ros, Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor in many respects, but without the ability to make themselves fashionable. It can be difficult for the music press to take you seriously when you spent your earlier incarnations playing Dutch festivals and having 30,000 people headbanging in unison.
It's a shame in a way, but one of the biggest obstacles this band faces seems to be their loyal fan base. They can put stickers on the albums warning that there is more electronic content than would normally be expected, but these people are persistent.
In turn, this makes the Gathering concerts a strange place to be at. There is a guaranteed percentage of goth fans. Then there's the hardy metal fans clad in satanic t-shirts, which is finally topped up by a bunch of misfits from the worlds of electronica and indie rock.
The actual set was mainly slow to mid paced as the band tackled the majority of songs from their recent Souvenirs album as well as the slightly older If Then Else. Song structures are lengthy and complex but vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen commanded the stage and captured the attention of the audience with ease. They are a band of musicians at the top of their game, making interesting music that sounds relevant in the current musical climate.
This leads to the major dilemma of the night. As the main set drew to a close the band finally gave in and rewarded the older fans with up-tempo moments from the Mandylion album. The audience immediately perked up and there was excitement in the room, but was this merely the band giving into peer pressure?
The songs on Souvenirs are as good if not better than older material, but they have a lot of history in the Netherlands and it’s questionable whether they can ever escape that. However, the Gathering deserve an open mind and if you ever have the chance to experience the live show, the song 'Black Light District' alone would make it worthwhile.
Steven McCarron
:: back to top ::