Xandria - Delain @ Mezz Breda
Xandria (Delain) @ Mezz Breda (Netherlands)
Sunday 30 March 2014
What’s nicer than closing the weekend on the Sunday evening with a gig of two top bands: Xandria and Delain. Adding to that I’m picked up by two reporter colleagues of Rockportaal. How convenient. We were a little early, so we had to hang-out with already a great group in fans in the sun. How bad can it be at the end of March?
This would be an interesting gig from different perspectives. How would old Xandria songs be with their new singer Dianne van Giersbergen? And how would the new Delain songs sound live? In a couple of hours we would know.
I heard Xandria two times live before and the last time was on Metal Female Voices Fest in 2012. I like their music so it was great to see them again. What about Dianne?. I have to admit I love Dianne’s vocal capabilities and style (and Dianne as a person) so I assumed I wouldn’t be disappointed. And yes, I’m a little bit biased (LOL).
The short Xandria gig was the last of the “Neverworld’s End” Tour. The new album Sacrificium will be released in May. The songs played were all from the Neverworld’s End album. The only exception was the closing “India” from the album with the same name.
The lineup: Dianne van Giersbergen (vocals), Marco Heubaum (guitar), Philip Restemeier (guitar), Steven Wussow (bass) and Gerit Lamm (drums).
Almost exactly on time Xandria got to the stage and opened directly with the heavy “Valentine”. With Dianne it sounds different and if you’re not familiar with Dianne’s voice and her stage performance you might experience it as quite a change. Based on the reaction of the crowd, most were very quickly used to it and appreciated the “old” music with a new flavor. The band used the given space optimally. They had more or less only the front of the stage (back was full with Delain stuff) and Gerit was almost positioned in the front as well. After the up-tempo “Blood on my Hands” and “Euphoria” the crowd got more enthusiastic.
The quiet “Forevermore” was the ultimate proof. For me the unique voice of Dianne added a different layer to this and the other songs. But also the missing piece of previous gigs came up again. Why not using a live key player instead of samples? Not that this influences the sound directly but it gives a different experience.
The show continued with the more heavy songs “Cursed” and “Soulcrusher”. Xandria enjoyed their time and especially Dianne as it was her first gig in her home country (with of course friends and family). The show ended with the old song “India”. The crowd had a great warming up and could start preparing themselves for Delain.
Set List:
Valentine
Blood on My Hands
Euphoria
Forevermore
Cursed
Soulcrusher
India
In preparation for this show I had the opportunity to listen already to The Human Contradiction. So I had an idea on what to expect. But things turned out a little different. I fully enjoyed the Xandria gig but at the break I almost immediately got very sick. So I had to go outside to get some fresh air. When back in the venue this visit was very short again. When returning a second time the people from Mezz were so kind to let me go to the closed balcony area for a short period to make some photos. The main part of the show I saw on the monitor in the foyer.
The lineup: Charlotte Wessels (vocals), Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije (bass), Sander Zoer (drums), Timo Somers (guitar) and Martijn Westerholt (keys). Martijn celebrated his Birthday on stage.
From the short period from the balcony I saw a crowd that was very enthusiastic and a band that had a good time on stage. During “The Gathering” there was a lot of jumping on stage and in the venue. Ronald Landa came on stage as an additional vocal layer to “Tell Me, Mechanist”. Charlotte in a light “Summer dress” was in good shape and with the band entertained the crowd in a great way. The new songs (based on listening the album) are good and accessible to a wider audience. With a show like this (although I saw a little bit live – a full version is available on YouTube) Delain will increase their fan base.
Set list:
Here Come the Vultures
Get the Devil Out of Me
Army of Dolls
Mother Machine
April Rain
Stardust
Sing to Me
Sleepwalkers Dream
The Gathering
Tell Me, Mechanist (with Ronald Landa)
Pristine
Go Away
Electricity
Not Enough
Encore:
My Masquerade
Virtue and Vice
We Are the Others
This was a gig with personally different experiences. I think the rest of the crowd had much better experiences looking at their faces when they came out the stage area. Having Xandria and Delain on stage attracts a wider audience because of the different styles but it has sufficient synergy to complement each other. After the show both Xandria and Delain were present in the foyer and that created a nice “after party” atmosphere. Being recovered a bit, I could also enjoy this informal meet and greet that often is part of the overall experience of going to a gig.
