Live review: Paradise Lost, Lucifer at TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, 7 October 2015

In the top of the building of TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht is the Pandora-hall and last night Paradise Lost did their show in there in support of their new album The Plague Within.

Inside the building of TivoliVredenburg, after a lot of stairs, I found the Pandora-hall. I looked at the merch of Paradise Lost and their support Lucifer, bought something to drink and got inside. Before tonight, I didn’t see the Pandora-hall from inside. So, when I came in, I immediately saw it was not very big, you could see the stage very good from every point. I was a bit early, so it wasn’t busy, the few lights with the smoke (I think from a machine, since you aren’t allowed to smoke inside) made the atmosphere perfect for an evening like these. It looked like a very foggy, dark place.

Slowly it was getting busy and so it was time for the support act Lucifer. When you would see their vocalist Johanna Sadonis in the clothing she wore tonight, without the music, you would think she comes right out of the 70’s. Lucifer’s music sounds also like 70’s music combined with some fuzz/doom, which make their music some heavy magic rock, as they call it on their Facebook-page. Musically it was simple, not something very new. Vocally, it wasn’t good, it was some singing but almost everything on the same note and totally not understandable. Their performance overall wasn’t that good, as you can read. The lightshow made it a little bit nicer, but it is about the music, right?

So, Lucifer did bring us in a mood, but not the mood needed. Paradise Lost need a different mood.

When Lucifer was done with their set, Paradise Lost would show up after half an hour. Half an hour to change the stage and for me it meant buying another drink and wait for the headliner of this evening. You could see that a lot of people skipped the Lucifer show as in this time the Pandora-hall got a lot busier, which isn’t weird, because it is sold out.

Half an hour later in the now fully packed Pandora-hall, the lights faded out, it got dark, very dark, Paradise Lost came onstage and it was like everybody immediately forgot the Lucifer-show. The guitars started, the drums came in and Nick Holmes started to sing:

No hope in sight
Daylight before them dies
Enshrined the horrified
No hope in sight

So, with No Hope In Sight, Paradise Lost has begun and from that moment the atmosphere was getting better and better. Songs from the new album The Plague Within, like the first song, Beneath Broken Earth and Flesh From Bone are being played tonight. Another song from the new album, Terminal is also being played. Terminal sometimes causes confusion in the audience, because a few times they stop playing it, some people thought it was over, so they applauded, but Paradise Lost went further. This repeated a few times.

Besides some songs from The Plague Within, Paradise Lost played also some older, classic songs like, for example, Gothic, As I Die and Enchantment. In the perfect, very strong show from Paradise Lost, one thing stood out: sometimes, especially during Enchantment, the bass was way too much. It almost sounded like the whole building was falling apart. Luckily, the building still stands and the bass was good most times.

Overall, Paradise Lost played a very nice, strong show.

I bought the tourshirt, got my jacket and took the train on my way to home. Sitting in the train, thinking about what a nice show Paradise Lost played, happy I was there!

Paradise Lost Official Website
Paradise Lost Facebook
Lucifer Facebook

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