At 20.30 the opening act, Drive By Wire, hit the stage. This threesome played rock that is close to stoner and started off rather convincing. After a few songs my interest drifted away though. This was mainly because most compositions proved to be slightly boring and the fact that both guitarists had to lean too much on their collegue on drums. Watching this man hit his drums was the only thing truly worth watching, the first forty minutes.

The Gathering presented the crowd with a perfect balance set of new songs from ‘Home’ and tracks from their back catalogue. The live performance of the band stood out far beyond average. I know that I’m usually not very keen about slightly introverted musicians, but it is simply stunning to see these guy dig into the thing they love; putting true emotion into their tracks. I think that this is one of the main reasons why the new tracks sounded even better than on the album. Another thing that kept striking me is the fact that there is a certain consistency within all these tracks. This is typical for the better bands in the business and one of the reasons why The Gathering has such a diversive crowd.

The band will be touring The Netherlands the last couple of months of this year. You bet I’m going to visit one of more gigs of the leg. I don’t think that one can ever get enough of a The Gathering live experience.

(Review: Geert Oldenmenger)