Still somewhat recovering from the lack of sleep I endured after getting the night bus back from London after the Equilibrium show on Monday, there was no way I was going to miss this show, featuring Ne Obliviscaris and Oceans Of Slumber – two absolutely top-notch bands.
I’d been unfamiliar with Kusanagi prior to the show, but I was seriously impressed by the time their set came to a close. When it comes to instrumental music, it can sometimes be a little difficult to fully engage with a band’s performance in a live environment, and performances can wind up dragging, but this absolutely wasn’t the case with Kusanagi. Although they didn’t have the most captivating of stage presences, this didn’t exactly matter because the music more than made up for it as they created beautiful soundscapes from start to finish. The flow was magnificent and a nice touch was the very light use of vocals for a few brief moments in the set – it added another level of colour to the music. It was an impressive set from the band, and hopefully I’ll get the chance to catch them live again soon.
Main support came from progressive metallers Oceans Of Slumber and after being a fan of these for a fair while, it was great to finally get to witness them live. There was something so mesmerising about the way their music translated in a live environment, as there were moments when it wasn’t quite the same as it was on CD, and it subsequently kept things fresh and engaging. Frontwoman Cammie’s crowd interactions were a pleasure, and she was so sweet and receptive towards the crowd, which was really nice to witness. Indeed, as a whole you could really see how much Oceans Of Slumber were putting into their set, giving it 100% at all time – seeing a band put so much into a performance means you can’t help but enjoy them!
Headliners Ne Obliviscaris came onstage to a roar of cheers and although the room wasn’t packed full of people, there was enough to still make a noise and the response and atmosphere was fantastic. You could really see how into the set the fans were, and it reflected in the band’s performance as a result, really feeding off the crowd’s enthusiasm. At one point, violinist Tim didn’t even let a broken string set him back halfway through a song, managing to fix it by the time the song came to a close!
At times it did feel a little like the songs were dragging and repeating themselves a little, but that could be just down to me not being familiar with their entire discography, as aside from that it was a great and well-rounded set. Indeed, all three bands gave great performances and as a whole, it was a very good gig! Make sure you go and see these bands if they’re playing a show near you.
8/10
