London After Midnight live in Poland

About 5 months after the first live exposure to London After Midnight at the Wave Gothik Treffen in Leipzig and after a highly succesful US tour, Sean Brennan and his live band were returning to Europe for a new two weeks tour. The tour was named "The Un-American Tour", refering both to the critique of frontman Sean towards the political status of his homeland and the recent events involving the USA, and of course refering to the fact that this was actually a European tour. The live band this time was made up of Pete on drums, Randy on bass, and Matt on guitar. Only familiar faces, this means.

Those who are not familiar with LAM can easily find my earlier report on the Wave Gothik Treffen, including an introduction to LAM. Brief summary: LAM is the musical project of Sean Brennan, who composes all music by himself but is guided by a live band during tours. The project has been existing since the early nineties and has Los Angeles as homebase. LAM are most often linked to the gothic scene by music critics, something however which is not really appreciated and considered as pointless tagging by the people involved with the project. LAM are quite famous for their social and political statements in their music and during other ways of communication with the fans. The bands last album, Violent Acts of Beauty, had a very heavy political undertone even more so than earlier albums who however had their songs with political statements just as well.

The first gig of the tour was actually in Berlin goth club K17, ironically the place where I first got exposed to LAM when the DJ played their iconic song Sacrifice. I was entranced from the start, and a few songs on internet later (most notably my favourite "Where Good Girls Go To Die") I had purchased several LAM albums already. The WGT experience, including a very brief encounter with Sean and Randy, tasted for more. The circle would have been round when attending the gig in Berlin, but unfortunately this was not an option due to not being in the city for now. I however was not willing to miss out on this tour and soon found an alternative to see the band live: Warsaw. I had never been there, I had a day off the next day, this was perfect. Ticket was booked a two weeks in advance when the concert promotor rang me the night before, announcing there were financial problems within the club and LAM would very likely not play. I was very disappointed but at the same time hardly believed the story as the LAM site did not mention anything about a cancellation. As spending a day on train for nothing is less bad than missing a concert if it goes ahead after all, I decided to jump on the first train to Warsaw after all the next morning. A wise choice, because arrived in Warsaw I was confirmed that LAM would be playing and that only Clan of Xymox had cancelled their gig. The other bands scheduled for the night would be playing, with LAM being the main act and final act of the so called local Independent Festival.




It was a very long train drive to Warsaw, basically I left very early morning and arrived close to 6:00 PM. This means I have not had much exposure of the city, but what I saw made me curious enough to want to go back on a citytrip. Warsaw is said to be one of Polands less interesting cities because it was largely destroyed during the second World War. This means a lot of Soviet style architecture and modern blocks, but luckily a few historical buildings and squares were reconstructed in the original style. These few spots should give the city a nice combination of old and new with a touch of memories on the pre-capitalist era. The parts of Warsaw I did see were the direct environments of the (very big and, with many shops and restaurants, very vibrant) train station and the areas halfway the station and the concert venue. Right across the train station is a nice example of the more modern side of Warsaw, with a big glass building hosting a mall. A mall, but at least they bothered to make it look a bit stylish from the outside.

The concert venue was named Progresja, and is not only a concert venue but also a club. It is mainly orientated on alternative music, including gothic and aparently also metal. The gothic and metal scenes are very big in Poland. Progresja is not the biggest club but it was clean and cosy and it could host a crowd big enough while still being still small enough to have a cosy intimate atmosphere. To my pleasant surprise communicating in English was not a problem at all, and less to my surprise the female fans were a pleasant sight. Ready set go for a nice evening of music.

The first bands I saw were a few synth/wave bands from Germany and Poland, as I was more focussed on talking to security to see if there was a way to meet the LAM guys and say hello, I sort of missed part of the other bands gigs. The Polish band, Agonised By Love, was however far from bad. Same can be said about the band performing just before LAM, replacing Clan of Xymox as the Dutch goth icons had cancelled their scheduled gig at this festival. Psyche was a good replacement however, I had first heard this band back when I lived in Belfast and they stroke me as very interesting back then. Focused mainly on the LAM concert to come however, I again missed a few songs while looking at the merch salespoints and again asking security if briefly saying hi to the band would be possible. What I heard of Psyche was quite good though, with the exception of their cover of Joy Divisions song "Disorder". The original song sounds monotome, gloomy and cold, a perfect soundscape for Ian Curtis' tortured vocals singing about mental decay. Psyche turned the song into a more synth-driven slower song, it sounded more accessible maybe but somehow missed the cold and desperate feeling of the original song. However, the gig was pleasing overall.




By then it was clear London After Midnight would be performing and when at the background of the stage the introduction film to Violent Acts of Beauty began, there was no more doubt. Soon enough the band had entered the stage on a loud applause from a now very packed Progresja club. Clearly I was not the only one who came especially for London After Midnight, and not the only one even who travelled quite a far distance for this gig.

A first highlight for me was Feeling Fascist, one of my favourites from the new album. The lyrics spot on with their very clear political undertone, with "Ignorance is not a bliss" being a core message of the song, and a nice rocking sound. However, the third song in the set was an even more emotional moment as it was a song that touches me emotionally because of some own experiences. The very fragile and beautiful "Scatter" was next on the list, a song that never fails to reach my emotions.

You did it again, yes, you in the mirror
You put your faith in a cruel world
All my dead friends come to haunt, harm and hinder
Never letting go, here to drag me down to hell...

Those lines still amaze me and move me, no matter how often I hear them. Shortly after another highlight came, also from the Psycho Magnet album which mainly deals with themes such as emotional abuse and loss of innocence. The song through which I really fell in love with LAM, "Where Good Girls Go To Die". In Leipzig it was not in the setlist, but this time it was and it was absolutely great to hear it live. The guitar riffs just before the chorus, the haunting atmosphere and the beautiful metaphorical lyrics ... another one of those songs I never get tired of.

Where good girls go to die, that's where I'll be, waiting for my love with my heart on my sleeve
Forget about the future, it wasn't meant to last
My hands are cold, my heart beats slow
Thank God it's the end at last...

Next up we were treated with some new tracks from the latest album, such as the beautiful "Heaven Now" where Sean's warm vocals truly shine in the chorus, and the very political "America's a F**king Disease" which was accompanied by a video stating some less honourful facts about society and politics in the United States. The videos displayed on the background were all composed and produced by Sean himself, and the next songs "Republic" (a well-aimed stab in the body of the Republican Party) and "Pure" also had some fantastic videos accompanying them. Especially the video for Pure was really moving and a great work of art. I hope people in the audience massively paid attention, this work deserved a lot of credit.

The setlist was concluded with two signature tunes of LAM: "Kiss" (again dealing with the theme of emotional abuse) and the deeply romantic "Sacrifice" from the very first LAM album. Still a classic and a fan favourite after all those years. Despite some slight health problems stemming from an exhausting tour, the band treated the very vocally thankful audience to two encores. The evening ended with a nicely rocking "The Kids Are All Wrong", again accompanied by a great video.




Veni, vidi, vici. A great concert once again, and the whole Progresja seemed to share my opinion about that. Despite the exhausting touring schedule and early flights to catch on to the next shows in Greece, the band stayed loyal to their habit of never letting the fans down and coming into the crowd for signatures and pictures. I was able to have a brief chat with Randy and Pete and then spotted Sean in the audience. I was hoping to briefly say hello and maybe a very short chat, but to my surprise he agreed to (once all other fans had their signature and/or picture) let me go backstage for a brief moment in order to have a short chat away from the busy crowd. I was able to talk to him for a short while, which was absolutely great and a lot more than the short hello I had hoped for. Afterwards I ran into guitar player Matt who hung around with me and a few other fans and even invited us to an afterparty in the hotel (which unfortunately I had to skip due to having to catch the early morning train back). The guys in the band were all extremely friendly and down to earth and it was once again a pleasure to meet them and see how much these people really care about their fans. A sincere thankyou.

The trip back was exhausting after a nice without sleep, sleeping on a train is not that comfortable at all when being woken up frequently by random passengers and ticket controllers. But as tired as I was after the trip, I would immediately do it again. Going backstage for the first time, even if it was only briefly, was a nice experience but overall the whole evening and especially the concert was fantastic. LAM will likely be touring Europe again next year. See you all in 2009 and once again thanks to Sean, Randy, Pete and Matt for a great concert and for the meeting afterwards. And Warsaw ... too bad I did not see the entire city, but I guess the upside is that is gives me a reason to go back someday soon :)




Setlist LAM:

- Your Best Nightmare
- Feeling Fascist?
- Shatter
- Nothings Sacred
- Where Good Girls Go To Die
- Demon
- Heaven Now
- Beginning of the End
- Americas a f***ing Disease
- Republic
- Pure
- The Bondage Song
- Kiss
- Sacrifice

encores:
- This Paradise
- The Kids Are All Wrong