Live Review: VV, Eivør and Zetra | Royal Albert Hall, London | 10/05/2024
The goths have converged on one location and seized control of the country’s most iconic venue to witness the last breaths of the VV era with a sold out evening full of Love Metal as Ville Valo closes out his globe trotting solo expedition in grand fashion.
Zetra
Enigmatic London based goth-tastic duo Zetra have been on the road across Europe with VV for the past month or so, finally culminating in tonight’s imposing hometown performance. By this point their opening thirty minute set is a road tested, well oiled machine but Zetra still have a few surprises in store. A healthy crowd has already gathered to witness the band walking to their raised stage platforms in their distinct take on corpsepaint. They’re flanked by what looks like their own equivalent of nuns as back up dancers, opening tonight’s proceedings with ‘Sacrifice’ from their forthcoming debut album.
Performance wise, Zetra are on excellent form, the layers of electronic instruments sound massive with the guitar cutting through when the songs demand more distortion laden heft. The pair’s delicate vocal harmonies should be truly shimmering in such a space, but unfortunately they often got a little overwhelmed when the instrumentals are particularly powerful. It isn’t constant but enough to be noticeable across the set and unfortunately only affects Zetra. It’s still one hell of a spectacle however, performing in front of a void for a backdrop belting out their already massive soundscapes in a venue of the calibre of the Royal Albert Hall.
The setlist contained a good balance between cuts across their back catalogue and teasers for their debut album with newly unveiled single ‘The Mirror’, alongside a guest appearance from Serena Cherry of Svalbard to perform their collaborative single ‘Starfall’. It makes for a heartwarming and celebratory moment for fans of the British alternative underground. Despite the less than stellar sound, it is very easy to see why Zetra seem to be on an unstoppable rise at the moment, they performed like they owned the stage and didn’t feel one iota out of place regardless of still being early into their career.
Photo Credit: Taya Llewellyn
Eivør
Marking their only appearance on the entire tour, tonight has a special guest and rather rare support slot from Faroese singer-songwriter Eivør. Last setting foot in the UK as main support for primal neofolk collective Heilung in early 2023, Eivør is most well known to English speaking audiences for her vocal collaborations in her native Faroese for neo/pagan folk soundtrack work with John Lunn on BBC series The Last Kingdom and Bear McCreary for the modern God Of War entries. She also has a suite of solo albums that range from the similar neofolk spaces to progressive rock realms, electronica and chamber pop as well as classical; occasionally employing English lyrics, but more often than not presented in her native tongue.
Tonight is an excuse to showcase all the different sides to Eivør, fitting the gothic theme of the night with a few guitar led electronic and progressive pop tracks such as new single ‘Jarðartrá” and ‘Salt’, alongside the primal Viking infused neofolk like the throat singing led ‘The Last Kingdom’ or ‘Í Tokunia’ bridging the gap, making for a gripping experience. Due to the eclectic variety of styles the artist is known for there is an equally broad range of instruments across the stage. Eivør herself switches between rhythm guitar and use of a Bohdrán supporting her indescribably beautiful vocal performance. The drummer is mostly playing with mallets for a softened impact, adding weight to the full force percussive hits when required as well as occasionally employing a sample pad for the electronic leaning pop tracks. The other two backing musicians have multi layered keys/synth set ups, with one also playing an electric double bass.
Simply put, it sounds absolutely stunning throughout the entirety of Eivør’s set, her falsetto tones soar, the building’s acoustic grandeur bolstering the ethereal beauty of the spellbinding performance. With no disrespect intended, its clear the vast majority of the audience tonight were not overly familiar with this incredibly unique artist at the start of tonight’s thirty minute set, but they definitely walked away with a strong new appreciation for Eivør.
Photo Credit: Taya Llewellyn
Ville Valo
Tonight feels like it has been a long time coming. It’s easy to argue that Ville Valo has long deserved the opportunity to showcase his penchant for riff heavy gothic poetry in one of Europe’s most prestigious venues, never having the opportunity to do so before HIM called it a day in 2017. Marking the Royal Albert Hall as the celebratory proverbial finish line to his continent-hopping year long campaign, the atmosphere is electric as the lights dim and the sold out audience in attendance start to stir as the now familiar dreamy tones of ‘Zener Solitaire’ start to creep from the PA. The modified heartagram (read: Ville-gram) stage prop illuminates with neon lighting with no additional backdrops except the stunning architecture of the venue itself.
The band take to the stage as the man himself walks out with a massive grin and unyielding screams of joy echo throughout the historic concert hall from the five thousand strong in attendance. Much like the string of UK dates from last year, the setup remains the same. Going back and forth between the new-wave gothic stylings of Neon Noir (playing every track besides the 8 minute album closer ‘Vertigo Eyes’) and following up with a fan favourite HIM classic. It’s obvious that VV has spent the last year finely tuning the set, playing with placements and figuring the smoothest flowing setlist possible.
Things already kick off to a hot start, opening the show proper with solo album title track ‘Neon Noir’ inviting audience singalongs with its massive chorus before launching straight into the ravenously received classic ‘Right Here In My Arm’. Vampiric lovelorn escapist fantasy ‘Run Away From The Sun’ is achingly sweet, sounding equally as grandiose played back to back with the unquestionable HIM mega-hit ‘Rip Out the Wings of a Butterfly’, the opening guitar riff receiving a monstrous reaction from the love metal hungry audience, bathing the crowd in the iconic heartagram spotlights.
On a normal night Ville Valo is known to put on a meticulously strong showing, whether in HIM or solo, the man is somewhat of a known perfectionist for his live sound. Tonight it’s safe to say the whole band are on peak form, delivering the solo work crystal clean and belting out spot on renditions of all the classic material. VV himself is on exceptional form as always, still showing off one of the best vocal ranges in the alternative scene and oozing charisma with his saccharine crooning. The only notable issue arises when Ville gets a little over eager on the intimately sized stage, straying a little too close to the front and squeaking out a soft touch of feedback, occurring maybe once or twice across the whole set.
The blend of solo and classic material work with each other expertly at this point. ‘Salute The Sanguine’ and Venus Doom’s ‘Kiss Of Dawn’ play off each other like old friends, luminous ballad “Loveletting” brings one of the firmest crowd sing-alongs for the solo material and a bittersweet moment to breathe before the Royal Albert Hall is firmly pummelled with “Buried Alive By Love”. It’s increasingly noticeable that whilst the Neon Noir still has plenty of fans in the building, the reactions are just incomparable to the adoration shown to the HIM catalogue. Whilst the somber longing of ‘Heartful of Ghosts’ sounds dazzling, it’s hard to compare with Razorblade Romance classic ‘Join Me In Death’. The piano intro sending shivers throughout five thousand spines as it permeates the lofty setting. Even the most ardent critic can’t help but be moved as every single soul on fire in the building belts out the final pre-chorus refrain of “this life ain’t worth living”.
With just a handful of tracks left in the main set, Neon Noir cut ‘The Foreverlost’ is overwhelming and cathartic when its chorus hits, flowing wonderfully into “The Funeral of Hearts”, which just sounds oh so right being performed in such a historic venue. The energy is lifted back up with Neon Noir album opener ‘Echolocate Your Love’, followed by ‘Poison Girl’, always a crowd favourite whenever HIM were playing, never failing to stir a loud singalong from the audience. Closing out the main set is doom tinged epic ‘Saturnine Saturnalia’, feeling suitably huge in a live environment to begin with, but even bigger tonight.
Time is melting away and even though it’s abundantly clear there is still an encore yet to come, the crowd are begging for more, not wanting the night to be over with the overwhelming sense of finality looming. Receiving one of the most fervent reactions for the classic material, the sultry gothic slow jam ‘Gone With the Sin’ makes for a welcome surprise addition alongside Dark Light’s tearjerker single ‘Killing Loneliness’. Interwoven between is the last two tracks remaining from Neon Noir, gothic dream-pop soaked ‘In Tredonia’ and the soft anthemic heartache of ‘Baby Lacrimarium’. There is one final song for the night, ripped straight from HIM’s legendary debut album; ‘When Love And Death Embrace’ is the powerfully emotive and poignant finale to the evening. With Valo walking away and leaving the backing band for one last refrain of the main riff, they end it in bombastic rock band fashion with a climactic crescendo, giving one final Sabbathian nod and devil’s tritone chord before leaving the stage.
It’s hard to put into words just how special tonight feels. Not only as a finale to Valo‘s Neon Noir cycle (especially with him being so coy announcing: “we’ll see what tomorrow brings” as he leaves the stage); but to firmly place Valo and HIM alongside the gothic greats (and some of his own inspirations like The Cure and Killing Joke) that have rightfully headlined the iconic concert hall. Coming from a time where you thought you may not hear another HIM song live to hearing those classic love metal anthems in such a renowned space cannot be understated for longtime fans. Hopefully this is merely a historic performative marker before the next chapter of the illustrious goth legend’s career, but if not, then it was one hell of a way to say goodbye to the Neon Noir.
Photo Credit: Taya Llewellyn
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Zetra