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HIM: Wolverhampton Civic Hall, 20th October 2004

REVIEW

Friday 22nd October 2004


Last time that eFestivals/eGigs caught HIM live was at the Download festival at Donington, where disappointingly due to a complete balls up by the organisers, HIM who were supposed to play for a full hour were reduced to barely 30 minutes. Obviously this left a few fans disgruntled because actually thought that it was because HIM just didn't want to play any longer. Just to clear up any misunderstanding- it was not the bands fault!! With that in mind we decided to trundle off to Wolverhampton to catch the gods of Love Metal in action once again.



For those of you who have never been to see a gig in Wolverhampton before- there are a couple of things that perhaps you should know which make going to gigs at Wolverhampton a very unique experience. Firstly if you go by car- it is well sign posted from the motorway and the venue itself is well sign posted once you get to Wolverhampton. But here is the best bit.. the car park for Wolverhampton Civic Hall is just opposite the venue- which means it takes ten seconds to get to the venue from the car park- which is useful when it is raining cats and dogs outside. The car park charges £1.50 for all night parking- so that's an absolute bargain.

Secondly, the staff/security at Wolverhampton are very polite and helpful which just creates a wonderful atmosphere- you feel like human beings rather than cattle being rammed into a tiny space, which is how I often feel at most other venues.



Onto the music itself, the band members of HIM arrived on stage to what can only be described as a thunderous echo of teenage screams- if you imagine the effect Westlife have on young girls- well the lead singer (Ville) has exactly the same effect on the females in the audience. Everyone just wishing for a glance from their sex god!!

Opening with 'Buried Alive In Love', it was easy to see that even though Ville gets most of the limelight- the rest of the band- (Mige, Gas, Burton and Linde) are all so gifted on each of their instruments that to have a band where all of the members are just as good as each other was certainly rarity- usually when watching a band play you can pick out the stronger members of the band- however this is a band where all of them are of the highest quality.



Whilst Ville gently moved around whilst doing the vocals, Mige (Bass) and Linde (Guitar) would be wildly moving around the stage and generally just have a fantastic time. HIM are one of those bands that enjoy being on stage- the energy and passion just shines through to give them that rare spark that so many bands seem to lose over time.

Sadly during their opening songs- 'Your Sweet Six Six Six', and 'The Sacrement' a few stupid pricks decided to throw things at the band- one item actually hit Ville in the face at which point he stopped the song- and kindly asked the audience to stop throwing items. I can't stress strongly enough that throwing things at bands that you have paid to come and watch is absolutely idiotic and very dangerous- DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!



Like true professionals HIM carried on with their storming set- which included their awesome versions of 'Wicked Game' and 'Solitary Man'. In short they played every track of their Best Of album 'And Love Said No'. They never once mentioned or tried plugging their new album, which made a refreshing change.

HIM ploughed through their set list belting out all their crowd favourites including 'Funeral Of Hearts', 'Poison Girl', and of course the title track form their BEST Of album 'And Love Said No'. The band waved goodbye to the audience and strolled off to the volcanic applause from the audience. HIM could quite easily have gone home at that point in the knowledge that they had done their job brilliantly and that the audience would go home feeling fulfilled. However due to them being such a bunch of nice guys they decided to come back and do an encore.


The encore included 'in Joy and Sorrow' and 'Soul On Fire'. After they had finished the dying notes of 'Soul On Fire', HIM just said thanks to the crowd and walked off without milking the applause from the audience.

HIM are one of those bands that do for live music what Michael Schumacher has done for Formula One! They are both in a league of their own!! Live, HIM are the best of the best!!

review by Luke Seagrave
photos by Luke Seagrave