Gotham 10 @ O2 Academy

After a brief bit of rest and a snack, Toni and I headed into London to the O2 Academy to see the return of the Gotham festival (this year billed as Gotham 10) as we had enjoyed Gotham 9 so much last year.

The flyer:


Us:





DEAD HEAVEN
Dead Heaven played old school guitar based goth, a la Sisters Of Mercy with some Cure overtones and very Eldritch inspired vocals. Musically they were good although the keyboard player looked bored and the guitarist was torally miserable.




See all the Dead Heaven pics here: 100509DeadHeavenGotham10


CRYOGENICA
Cryogenica were a very good band, good band, a lot of Nine Inch Nails musical influences with strong female vocals. It was very nice to see the return of the comedy bass player, Cryogenica's was superb: think Brian Molko (from Placebo) but wankered!





See all the Cryogenica pics here: 100509CryogenicaGotham10


LILYGUN
Lilygun were almost out of place on the bill today with their All About Eve style hippy goth rock. The singer had a great voice and the band sported another comedy bass player. What was really impressive though was the fact that the guitarist and drummer quit the band 3 weeks ago and the two people playing today had stepped in to fill the breach and you would never have known that they were new to the band. It was nice to see a band really enjoying themselves.




See all the Lilygun pics here: 100509LilygunGotham10


MALEFICENT
Maleficent were one of the disappointments of the day. Despite some amazing PR pics they turned out to be a bit more style rather than substance. They were plagued with bad sound which probably didn't help. Mastini's outfit was sparse in place and I have to admit that I didn't like having to avert my eyes in case breakfast was displayed. It was more irritating rather than titilating although I am sure lots of the males lapped it up (if you'll pardon the pun) but Belsen Chic just ain't my thang! . The best part was the rope/boondage display at the end. To be honest, Maleficent would probably be better off performing at something like Antichrist rather than the Gotham festival. Visually they were impressive (hence the number of photos in my gallery) and made full use of the stage. Their cover of Nick Cave's "Where The Wild Roses Grow" was very good though, I will give them that!






See all the Maleficent pics here: 100509MaleficentGotham10


ALL LIVING FEAR
Pretentious goth guitar hero alert! These guys weren't bad at all but the guitarist was so up himself it was unreal! They were cut short which was a shame but timescales are tight at these things and I am not sure how much more of the guitarist throwing shapes I could have stomached LMFAO






See all the All Living Fear pics here: 100509AllLivingFearGotham10


HELALYN FLOWERS
Wow! How did that happen? Where did they come from? I didn't actually know the name of this band, Helalyn Flowers, until after the gig but they were fantastic. At the time they were the best band so far. They were full of energy and were totally enjoying themselves. They had a great Vis Kei visual style and some fantastic tunes to boot. The singer looked like a cross between Kate Bush and Toni Basil which we both find mildly amusing. Great band and one to watch out for.






See all the Helalyn Flowers pics here: 100509HelalynFlowersGotham10


VENDEMMIAN
Trad goth heroes return with a rusty but good performance. Chaos seemed to reign supreme with the guitarist having power problems as they set up (caused in part I suspect by the fact that he was spilling bear left right and centre on the stage). Comedy moment goes to the singers descending mike stand and the drunk guitarists slow reactions to kick the DAT off between songs (much to the growing annoyance of the singer!).





See all the Vendemmian pics here: 100509VendemmianGotham10


GOTHMINISTER
Gothminister were the only returnees from Gotham 9 and they once again successfully entertained us and were pretty damn awesome. Toni wasn't too impressed that the singer kept launching himself over the press pit to stand with his crotch basically right in her face (I think he did this four times). It was amusing as there were a few women around us who would quite happily have received his groin in their face but for some reason he kept doing it where Toni stood LOL. The final insult came at the end though when he launched himself into the crowd only to find that they weren't receptive to this and moved so he kind of collapsed on Toni's shoulder, got thrown on to the floor and then stomped off when things didn't go as planned. Unfortunately the incident did quite hurt Toni and we will be sending them a snotagram at some point. It didn't ruin things though and they were still fantastic.






See all the Gothminister pics here: 100509GothministerGotham10


DAS ICH
And last but not least came German legends Das Ich. I really liked them but they weren't Toni's cup of tea (although she did readily admit that a combination of tiredness and hurting from the Gothminister incident might have made her not see them in right light). Das Ich are a weird looking duo but have some pretty catchy tunes (and sung in German which was even better in my book). Unfortunately we did ahve to leave before the end as fatigue was setting in on both of us and Toni need to get some painkillers.






See all the Das Ich pics here: 100509DasIchGotham10


All in all Gotham 10 was a great success, it was wonderful to see a load of bands that we wouldn't normally have even listened to and just partake of more live music. Can't wait for Gotham 11 next year!