EPICA's first concert in moscow was an interesting and natural occurrence. After all, this Dutch band is one of the few well-known young metal bands with female vocals (or more precisely, dual vocals in the "beauty and the beast" style) that had not yet come to russia.
Last year's EPICA performance at the Global East Festival in Kyiv brought me personally enormous disappointment. Though an important caveat applies here — bands of this genre in general look rather weak at festivals; the only suitable option is a performance not on the main stage, preferably under a marquee, i.e., essentially in a semi-enclosed space. A certain intimacy is needed — only then does the atmosphere become something else entirely. In this regard something interesting happened at DK Gorbunova. That atmosphere was created — quite literally. Already a few minutes after the concert began, those present could feel "nostalgia" for moscow in July-August 2010. Not just the hall but even the main foyer of the second floor of Gorbushka was heavily smoke-filled — and by no means from cigarette smoke. As for the stage itself — it combined bright and very beautiful lighting with simply an incredible quantity of smoke that kept accumulating and accumulating. Photographers had to perform near-miracles to capture anything at all.
EPICA is unusually arranged on stage. In the centre is a small raised platform, to the right of which stands the drummer, and to the left the keyboardist. The sound, incidentally, left something to be desired at first — to put it mildly; after the first song the strong impression formed that Simone Simons, the band's vocalist, could barely hear herself at all, and moreover the extreme vocal parts sounded very poor. However, after 15–20 minutes the sound levelled out, and after some more time had passed it became close to ideal.
The band played a ninety-minute set consisting of 13 compositions, not counting the intro. The main portion of the set was essentially a presentation of the latest album released the previous year. The concert opened with the monumental "Resign to Surrender"; also performed were "Unleashed", the aggressive "Martyr of the Free Word", the title track "Design Your Universe", and particular mention should be made of the ballad "Tides of Time", which beautifully demonstrated Simone's vocal abilities. From the first album "Sensorium" and "Cry for the Moon" were played. To be honest, the difference in the band's sound over these 6 years is enormous. Both compositionally and technically the band has progressed very seriously, which nonetheless in no way diminishes the merits of their earlier work. From the previous album "The Obsessive Devotion" was played, and in the encore "Sancta Terra" also rang out. The main emphasis from the three preceding discs was placed on the second of them — "Mother of Light" and "Blank Infinity" were performed, one of the band's most popular songs; for the encore "Quietus" had been prepared; finally, the last composition of the evening was the ten-minute title track "Consign to Oblivion".
Objectively speaking, the concert was more solid than outstanding. However, fans of the band simply could not have failed to enjoy it, and all others who were present at the concert at least should not have been disappointed. Because, if assessed objectively, the band works very professionally, cohesively, and with quality. The only issue is that something harsh needs to be done with whoever was responsible for the smoke machine.
Setlist:
- Samadhi (Prelude)
- Resign To Surrender
- Sensorium
- Mother Of Light
- Unleashed
- Martyr Of The Free Word
- Cry For The Moon
- Tides Of Time
- Blank Infinity
- The Obsessive Devotion
- Design Your Universe
Encore: 12. Quietus 13. Sancta Terra 14. Consign To Oblivion
Special thanks to Spika Concert Agency and personally to Vera Dmitrieva for the accreditation provided