Anathema/Alcest - Denver, CO 9/24/13

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Well, here we are. Anathema's first North American tour! Hooray! They brought along two friends as well, putting French experimental metal act Alcest and Aaron Turner's ambient project Mamiffer atop the bill as well. The show was at the Summit Music Hall, a 1,000 person venue with a metal balcony. Not a horribly big venue. I bought some merch before the show, vinyl copies of Ecailles De Lune and the Mamiffer/House of Low Culture split. I managed to get both of them signed, the former by Neige and Zero (live guitarist), the latter by Aaron and his bandmate/wife, Faith. (They were managing their own merch booth, surprisingly.)

The show began with a 30 minute set by Mamiffer. Doused in red light, the pair managed to create strange soundscapes, accented by Faith's droning organ and post-rocky guitar from Aaron, whose aggressive roots with ISIS are all but gone. It got a little grating at times. It's a beautiful concept when executed properly, but their selection of songs was very aggressive and a bad impression. Very interesting though, they should gain more attention within the drone/ambient scene, especially with Aaron Turner's prestigious history as a post-metal idol.

A few minutes later, Alcest came on. Unfortunately, their set suffered from some technical problems (Neige's mike, in particular). However, their music was very powerful. I'll admit, it catered to both the numerous black metal fans and prog-rock fans alike. It was better than Mamiffer's set, but still not the greatest thing since sliced bread. I was very happy to see them play live though, and they did bring out new songs from their upcoming album Shelter. 

Setlist: 

Autre temps
Là où naissent les couleurs nouvelles
Les voyages de l'âme
Opale
Souvenirs d'un autre monde
Percées de lumière
Sur l'océan couleur de fer
Beings of Light
Summer's Glory
Délivrance

Anathema came on in a brilliant manner, with Pink Floyd's "A New Machine, Part 1" blaring in the PA while they proudly strode on. Daniel and Vincent bring such a great presence to the stage! Lee was positioned directly in front of where I was standing, which was very cool. She seemed to enjoy herself. The replacement bassist and drummer were on point, and looked like they had been playing with Anathema their whole life. Brilliant. The Cavanagh brothers provided some of the best crowd interaction I have ever seen, from making South Park references and jokes about the Shining to how Daniel wanted to visit Denver since age 10 and Vincent's hilarious tease of "Sleepless". They looked genuinely happy to be playing for us, even though we were a small crowd of ~200. I loved every minute of it. I was a skeptical fan of Anathema after hearing their studio recordings, but after seeing them live, it truly cemented my fandom.

Setlist: 

Untouchable, Part 1
Untouchable, Part 2
The Gathering of the Clouds
Lightning Song
Thin Air
Dreaming Light
Deep
A Simple Mistake
A Natural Disaster
Closer
Fragile Dreams

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RedNightmareKing Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 03 2012 Location: Colorado Status: Offline Points: 321	Topic: Anathema/Alcest - Denver, CO 9/24/13 Posted: September 26 2013 at 23:28
	Well, here we are. Anathema's first North American tour! Hooray! They brought along two friends as well, putting French experimental metal act Alcest and Aaron Turner's ambient project Mamiffer atop the bill as well. The show was at the Summit Music Hall, a 1,000 person venue with a metal balcony. Not a horribly big venue. I bought some merch before the show, vinyl copies of Ecailles De Lune and the Mamiffer/House of Low Culture split. I managed to get both of them signed, the former by Neige and Zero (live guitarist), the latter by Aaron and his bandmate/wife, Faith. (They were managing their own merch booth, surprisingly.) The show began with a 30 minute set by Mamiffer. Doused in red light, the pair managed to create strange soundscapes, accented by Faith's droning organ and post-rocky guitar from Aaron, whose aggressive roots with ISIS are all but gone. It got a little grating at times. It's a beautiful concept when executed properly, but their selection of songs was very aggressive and a bad impression. Very interesting though, they should gain more attention within the drone/ambient scene, especially with Aaron Turner's prestigious history as a post-metal idol. A few minutes later, Alcest came on. Unfortunately, their set suffered from some technical problems (Neige's mike, in particular). However, their music was very powerful. I'll admit, it catered to both the numerous black metal fans and prog-rock fans alike. It was better than Mamiffer's set, but still not the greatest thing since sliced bread. I was very happy to see them play live though, and they did bring out new songs from their upcoming album Shelter. Setlist: Autre temps Là où naissent les couleurs nouvelles Les voyages de l'âme Opale Souvenirs d'un autre monde Percées de lumière Sur l'océan couleur de fer Beings of Light Summer's Glory Délivrance Anathema came on in a brilliant manner, with Pink Floyd's "A New Machine, Part 1" blaring in the PA while they proudly strode on. Daniel and Vincent bring such a great presence to the stage! Lee was positioned directly in front of where I was standing, which was very cool. She seemed to enjoy herself. The replacement bassist and drummer were on point, and looked like they had been playing with Anathema their whole life. Brilliant. The Cavanagh brothers provided some of the best crowd interaction I have ever seen, from making South Park references and jokes about the Shining to how Daniel wanted to visit Denver since age 10 and Vincent's hilarious tease of "Sleepless". They looked genuinely happy to be playing for us, even though we were a small crowd of ~200. I loved every minute of it. I was a skeptical fan of Anathema after hearing their studio recordings, but after seeing them live, it truly cemented my fandom. Setlist: Untouchable, Part 1 Untouchable, Part 2 The Gathering of the Clouds Lightning Song Thin Air Dreaming Light Deep A Simple Mistake A Natural Disaster Closer Fragile Dreams
	I consider drone metal to be progressive...