Being preoccupied by interviews (coming soon!) meant that we missed the local supports, so for us our gig began with the main support band of the night, Sterbhaus.
Put simply, Sterbhaus are great. They’re a band that are out to enjoy themselves and it translates perfectly into their live set. As well as having a largely tight sound onstage, the four piece just put on an engaging performance from start to finish, which made for an incredible set. Whilst Sterbhaus are awesome on CD, seeing them live is a whole other story because it’s like their music has been made for a live environment.
Marcus was a masterful frontman and injected just the right amount of humour as he spoke with the crowd – at one point introducing Sterbhaus as “the only band on the bill called Sterbhaus” as he motioned to the backdrop with their name that had been hanging there from the start. With strong inclusions of tracks such as Insecticide and Frogboiler, which was the highlight of their set (the country section is even better live), it made for a gripping gig and with a performance this good, Sterbhaus did themselves proud and showed Liverpool exactly what they were made of!
It was for the headline act Shining that the room came alive though. Taking to the stage to a roar of cheers, everyone was behind them from the get-go as they opened with Människa o’avskyvärda människa. Something that was fantastic to note was that although the band weren’t playing at full strength (due to drummer Rainer being quite unwell and feverish, and vocalist Kvarforth having throat problems and had admitted to me that he was unable to sing clean vocals), it was almost impossible to tell otherwise.
Kvarforth was an excellent performer and an engaging frontman, and often ventured in and out of the crowd, which made things a lot more interesting than him just being static in one place. As he said in our interview with him, he tends to get very angry going onstage, so his performances are subsequently extremely anger-fuelled – and whilst the self-harming no longer happens onstage, there’s no question you won’t go forgetting a Shining show in a hurry.
The setlist was a good mix of songs, with two of the strongest track of the night being Submit To Self Destruction and Fields Of Faceless, and their awesome cover of Seigmen’s Ohm was another welcome inclusion. Another high point was a solo section from both guitarists, with each of them showing off just how talented they were, and there was even a sneaky little Guns N Roses solo at the end!
One of the best points of the night was when comedy legend Steve Hughes joined the band onstage (him and Kvarforth are old friends) and even contributed some vocals during his time onstage! Once in a lifetime experience? I think so!
A great night with both bands giving it their all. It’s extremely rewarding to witness two strong sets one after the other, and needless to say they both completely delivered. Fantastic stuff!
9/10
Shining: Website|Facebook|Twitter
Sterbhaus: Website|Facebook|Twitter
