Live review: Une Misère at V11, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, August 10th, 2019

Photo by Gerrit Smalbrugge

In June I saw Une Misère perform for the first time. As one of the two support acts of Lamb of God they played a very tight and convincing show. You can read my live review of that show here. Before that show I interviewed Une Misère’s frontman Jón Már Ásbjörnsson. You can read that interview here. In that interview we also talked a bit about Une Misère’s then-upcoming Dutch shows. Now, those shows, three shows that took place last weekend, are done. One of those three shows was their show in V11 in Rotterdam, their only headline show of these three shows.

In case you don’t know V11 in Rotterdam, it also was my first time being there, something that immediately stands out is the nice atmosphere. V11 is a little boat including a restaurant. Before you enter the boat via its gangway, you have to walk underneath a bow of plants, something that increases the nice atmosphere even more. Once inside you enter the restaurant area of the boat. When you walk downstairs you will enter the venue area. Once downstairs it becomes extra clear how small this place is. The stage is also quite small and people are soon wondering whether all six band members of Une Misère will fit on this stage or not. Everyone who already knows Une Misère’s music, and especially their live shows, knows that their shows are very intense. Something that probably will be the case even more in this small venue.

That indeed is the case. As soon as Une Misère enters the stage, it becomes clear that all band members do fit on the stage. However, then there is almost no more space left for any movement, something that especially frontman Jón Már Ásbjörnsson does miss, resulting in the fact that he is in between the audience for almost the entire show. During the taped intro he is already warming himself up for what’s coming to ultimately unleash. Right from the first seconds until the very last seconds Une Misère plays an extremely tight show that is intense as fuck. Frontman Jón Már Ásbjörnsson is everywhere to be found in the heavy moshpit that is almost constantly moving, while he spits out his vocals with everything he has inside him. At one moment almost literally, when he is standing on the bar with his fingers in his throat. The atmosphere around this show is like an intense madhouse, in a very good way. That of course is something Une Misère’s music is perfect for. Yes, their show as support act of Lamb of God also was very awesome, tight and intense, but during that show the band was standing on a much higher and bigger stage, while the audience was in a much bigger venue. A smaller venue like this and a stage that is almost as high as the floor itself brings a lot more interaction and atmosphere, something that makes this venue, this show, this audience and especially this band a perfect combination.

Une Misère only plays for 45 minutes, something that of course isn’t very strange when you know that they don’t have that much of already released material. This show, in which Une Misère also played some new material of their upcoming full-length album, however was surely worth it, no matter the length of it. As I already said in my other live review of this band: when you haven’t seen Une Misère play live before, make sure that you do. A show by this band is definitely something you don’t want to miss! When Une Misère leaves the stage under loud applause, people are screaming for more. However, Une Misère is not going to play an encore, but that surely doesn’t make the experience of this show less special. What a show, what a performance, what a band!

Photo by Gerrit Smalbrugge

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