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Witnessed
Katatonia, 2010-03-07
30/03/10 || Altmer
The story of this gig is a pretty funny one, actually. You know, most of the time you come ON TIME to see your favourite bands (and actually Swallow the Sun is a favourite band of mine too). But here’s the deal – I came all the way from fucken London to be on time for this gig. You read that right: London. I had to travel thru Brussels, Antwerp, and a bus to the hole in the ground that is fucking Vosselaar to see merely the whole set of Katatonia, only to get stuck in a cold March night out with my girlfriend outside the venue. I shit thee not.
So, on to the performance at hand. I have been a fan of Katatonia for quite a few years now – only, I never ever got the chance to see them live. I couldn’t even make it to any of the Dutch shows, which is why I hurried through a cold, rainy Belgian evening just to see them. That’s how much I love Katatonia. So I got there, sold out venue and all, in the middle of fucking nowhere.
And then they come on stage.
I think this might be one of the most fantastic gigs I’ve ever witnessed. Jonas Renkse, the band’s enigmatic frontman, doesn’t really need to speak with the crowd much to make sure the material that goes over is of the utmost highest quality. Even the drums that were, at first, too high in the mix, during the first two songs, can’t ruin the experience. Katatonia are transcendent, and playing a varied mix of songs off their last four albums plus one oldie (“Saw you drown”), which is, to me, their best material, pretty much solidified this band’s place in my collection for life. As far as I’m concerned, bands need to be solid on two fronts – studio, and on stage, and Katatonia are immaculate on stage. It was a top-notch performance that I’ve witnessed, comparable with Gojira’s 2009 Graspop show (one of the best live sets of all time) or any time I’ve seen Dream Theater.
The setlist included exactly those songs that will make any fan drool. The omission of any pre-“Discouraged Ones” material did not discourage (hahaha, fuck you) me at all, because their newer material goes over extremely well live. “Ghost of the sun” sounded ten times heavier than it does on record. “Soil’s song”? Absolutely orgasmtastic. “Evidence” is simply the best thing these fuckers have put to tape and live it absolutely destroys. There is no need for mosh pits, for extravagances – you can watch, soak up the atmosphere, and have your inner beauty reinvigorated by the motherfucking overwhelming atmosphere that they create, much more so than feel a need to bash each other’s head’s in (I am not a fan of mosh pits).
By the time they closed the main set with a surprise “Tonight’s Music”, I was in fucking rapture. Seventh heaven. Anything like that. When they returned to play my least favourite track off “Last fair deal gone down”, Dispossession, I cheered the harder. And after 18 songs, I was still longing for more. They hadn’t played “Deliberation”, or “Leaders”, or “Departer”, or “I am nothing”, or “In death, a song”, or 20 of the fucken songs they could have played but didn’t, and still their show didn’t leave me wanting to change a single thing.
The interaction was perfect, the musicianship was immaculate, and to top it all off: the guys in the band are completely fucken ace. After the gig, we got stranded in Vosselaar (look that up on a map). So we just wait outside the venue, to check out if we can meet some of the guys and get some pics or whatever. So, stand-in deluxe Sodomizer of Katatonia comes out and we talk to him for a bit and mention we’re stuck here. He’s like “good luck with that” and walks back inside. So, 15 minutes later a few roadies come out and say “you guys are stuck here? We’ll drive you to the nearest big bus station and give you a lift”. Which means that of course the personality of the band has risen a millionfold in my eyes as well. Thank you very fucken much, Sodomizer. I owe you one. If I ever meet you again I’m buying you a free beer or two cos this is absolutely generous.
It was the gig I should never have gone to and ended up enjoying the most. Katatonia are a class act and should be witnessed by anyone into quality music.
A fucken score for the live show? 10 out of fucken 10.
- Who: Katatonia (Swallow the Sun and Long Distance Calling also played, but I missed them unfortunately).
- When: 7 March, 2010.
- Where: Biebob, Vosselaar, Belgium.
- Setlist
- 01. Forsaker
- 02. Consternation
- 03. Liberation
- 04. Day and Then the Shade
- 05. Onward Into Battle
- 06. Soil’s Song
- 07. Wealth
- 08. Teargas
- 09. Saw You Drown
- 10. Idle Blood
- 11. My Twin
- 12. The Longest Year
- 13. Criminals
- 14. July
- 15. Evidence
- 16. Tonight’s Music
- Encore
- 18. Dispossession
- 19. Ghost of the Sun
