Live Review: Deathstars - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Support: Liv Sin, Priest
Words & Photos: Tom Atkin
Just next to Nottingham’s Legendary Rock City you have an amazing venue called the Rescue Rooms. A nice little 450 capacity hall with a balcony and two bars and some extremely friendly staff.
We have a treat tonight, a trio of bands hailing from Sweden. Opening the evening we have Liv Sin who hit the scene in this form in 2016, and releasing three albums to date and have a phenomenal fan base. The performance is certainly not that of an opening act, playing like they are in front of a much bigger venue. Liv Jagrell’s vocals are absolutely astonishing, changing between a stunning regular singing voice to a growling type voice, almost guttural!
The whole band match Liv’s energy with their performance, they get on wonderfully well and give out an infectious vibe. I think half the crowd that turned up early tonight were not expecting this. Unfortunately, Check out this years release 'KaliYuga', you will not be disappointed!
Next up this evening is Priest, a 3 piece that develop some stunning 80’s inspired sci-fi style music, mixed in with a gothic feel.
By now, the Rescue Rooms is almost at capacity, and there is a lot of anticipation for Priests show. Opening their set with 'The Pit', instantly it feels as though we are in the middle of the opening scene of Blade. I hadn’t come across Priest before so was intrigued as to what they were going to be like. First impressions - absolutely phenomenal. They are entertaining to watch even though there is no instruments so to speak. Lead singer Mercury interacts brilliantly with the crowd, and they are lapping up this performance.
'NeuroMancer', 'A Signal in the Noise' and 'Blacklisted' are all welcomed additions to the set. It’s hard to describe the exact vibe that they bring, switching between the Blade rave feel and then a much calmer synth heavy beat.
They played their latest release 'Burning Love' back to back with 'History in Black' which is off their first album back in 2017. In that time there has been a change of singer but you would not notice, both are performed as perfectly as each other. Definately a great band to get the crowd warmed up. If you get a chance, make the effort to go see them!
And now, the performance we have all been waiting for! Deathstars gracing UK soil for the first time in nine years! Launching into the title track of 'Night Electric Night', the crowd erupts. The beautiful synth being broken up by the truly industrial guitar tones. They are not messing about for their UK return.
Oddly, considering this tour is in support of their most recent album 'Everything Destroys You' they haven’t flooded the set list with tracks off the album. First track they treat us to off the new album is 'Between Volumes and Voids', Even though there has been a nine year gap in releases it still has that classic Deathstars feel, gritty vocals, heavy guitars and synth straight out of the 80’s. Next we have two classic songs, 'All the Devil’s Toys' and 'Ghost Reviver' both of which welcomed by the adoring fans.
Everyone in here seems as though they are die hard Deathstars fans. Ranging in age from what looked like 18 year olds all the way up to what appeared to be 60/70 year olds! This just shows the wide appeal that the band has and the influence they have had since 2000.
We get treated to the full scope of Deathstars back catalogue, with quite a balanced mix of songs from their albums. The band really do like to look good though, seemingly posing for the camera. But not in an un-natural way at all so they did not come across as just being there to look good. The did look look amazing though...
I would like to say that they saved the fan favourites until last intentionally to keep the crowd from leaving a bit early. However, there was no way in hell any one was leaving.
Ending the night on 'Blitzkrieg' and 'Cyanide', even after leaving the stage, the crowd hadn’t really moved all that much, blatantly wanting more from the Swedish industrial giants.
The only gripes I had with the show. Not a long enough set at all, another 20 mins would of been a bonus, and not a great deal of crowd interaction. These two go hand in hand though. As you can see from the setlist below, they managed to cram eighteen songs into the set. Deathstars wanted to give their fans as much music as possible to make up for the nine year hiatus from the UK.
Maybe next time they won’t leave us waiting so long!
Unfortunately, They are now back in Europe. So, if you missed them on this tour, feel free to kick yourself and wait for them to return!
Setlist:
Night Electric Night
Between Volumes and Voids
All the Devil's Toys
Ghost Reviver
Midnight Party
Tongues
The Greatest Fight on Earth
Death Dies Hard
This Is
New Dead Nation
Fire Galore
Metal
Synthetic Generation
Everything Destroys You
Blood Stains Blondes
Chertograd
Encore:
Blitzkrieg
Cyanide
Photo credits: Tom Atkin
I was there.
It was the best gig I have ever been to in my life.