Black Celebration turned into a Night Eternal
ROTTING CHRIST SETLIST
666
dub-sag-ta-ke
Fire, God and Fear
Kata ton Demona Eautou
Apage Satana
Dies Irae
The Forest of N’Gai
Societas Satanas
Cine iubeşte şi lasă
In Yumen-Xibalba
Grandis Spiritus Diavolos
Non Serviam
Due to organisational problems regarding travelling and arriving on time the foreseen running order was rearranged at almost last minute, so the foreseen time for Rotting Christ was 22.20, and for Moonspell: 23:45. The concert of Silver Dust was cancelled due to border crossing delays, which was a shame as we rarely get a chance to see similar genre bands. All of us forgave the delays instantly upon very kind and empathetic apology from Moonspell, although many of us work or have obligations to children and family which have been disrupted somewhat by the very late concert. Or almost all of us, as I have read some very angry posts which is understandable taking into consideration that some people travelled to Zagreb to see the show and could not come as it would be too expensive to change travelling plans at the last moment. But, all things aside, this wasn’t by any chance the fault of the band by hopefully one more lesson learnt for the organisers and other parties involved in logistics of the tour.
Finally, the await was worth wile and the Rotting Christ opened the show with “666” in a nearly sold out venue. Without any doubt Rotting Christ is one of the most awaited band of all the bands we had a chance to see this year in Croatia. Their ability to engage with the audience and lit the whole place on fire is unprecedented as a living soul that entered a concert venue could not stay cold blooded. The band easily engaged the metalheads in a wall of death and numerous moshpits even though the space was crowded and hardly could be filled with and more fans. The set list included the unavoidable hymns of the band such as “Apage Satana” “Grandis Spiritus” “Diavolos Non Serviam”, but I have personally reached pure ecstasy as the first beats of the “In Yumen-Xibalba” could be heard as the song itself is pure perfection and captures the essence of the magic experience Rotting Christ have to offer.
Musically they were great as I must admit that it was somewhat strange seeing them in a small club as we already got used on their live performances at festivals, out of which the one at Metaldays stands out. But I think that tonight audience was privileged to experience a club- like concert in a smaller concert hall from such a great band as the atmosphere was steaming and boiling and the fans certainly felt closer to the band. It was very interesting to experience the blending of traditional Greek melodies into their usual musical expression in a live performance and we must admit it sounds strangely unusually fun.
I was amazed and impressed to hear that the all the vocals: including lead and the back up vocals from the sounded pure and perfectly rehearsed, as usually that is the weak point of similar bands that sometimes use over-production features but end up with a not so good live performance of the lead singer who can’t fulfil the expectations the audience has after listening to their tracks.
So, to put it shortly:
great, perfect and we love you guys!!
It was a pure pleasure to see that the band has fulfilled all the great expectations we had from them as their performances are on the top of “must see shows”.
MOONSPELL SETLIST
Em Nome Do Medo
1755
In Tremor Dei
Opium
Awake
Night Eternal
Breathe (Until We Are No More)
Everything Invaded
Evento
Mephisto
Vampiria
Ataegina
Alma Mater
Todos os santos
Full Moon Madness
The hardest thing ever is staying objective and not let my feelings cloud my judgement. We really appreciate Moonspell, but the hardest question of the evening was: Who are your favourite tonight? And Moonspell could easily be the star of every concert night but performing after Rotting Christ puts them in a position to give an excellent show after the audience has been blown away by the first band of the evening. But nevertheless, Moonspell has and extensive army of fans and their spell they put over the crowd present can’t be diminished significantly by any outside influence.
Of course that the Moonspell did not present any less that expected and the faithful followers had all the reasons to be satisfied, but the danger into going into comparisons was evident as Rotting Christ left a strong and long-lasting impression.
The songs that predominantly took over the setlist were the ones from the “1755” and “Irreligius” albums which is understandable as the band has already promoted the album “Extinct” previously to Croatian audience three years ago.
The band has succeeded to carry us into their dark and mystical world through exceptional interpretations of the beloved hits, out of which the “Night Eternal” and “Vampiria” warned up the atmosphere and got the audience to the point of felling pure satisfaction and nothing else. All the problems, including the one how to wake up in the morning and face another horrific day vanished instantly. And that was the moment of pure magic Moonspell possess and have succeeded to satisfy even the expectations of die-hard critics and non-believers.
No one could have an objection as the band also played: beautiful “Breathe (Until We Are No More)”, phenomenal “Alma Mater” and “Full Moon Madness” for the closure as the last song. The audience was successfully being held in the state of bliss and the band had exceptional abilities to engage with the audience and get them to sing along or force out the last atoms of strength in headbanging, jumping and dancing. Of course, the atmosphere was unprecedented due to a performance in a small club where the band-audience contact is more close and intimate.
The overall conclusion was: that we hardly ever leave any concert without even some slight regret or objection, usually in terms of not hearing a favourite song or the concert being too short or too many of the news songs were included. But this concert was the first in my lifetime that left me speechless and without any objections, we had to chance to hear the most and the best bands have to offer.
