Lacuna Coil & Paradise Lost @ Arena Wien

So Tuesday night was the first of the series of gigs I'm going to over the winter. Paradise Lost are celebrating their 25th anniversary with the Tragic Illusion tour, which also features Katatonia and Lacuna Coil.

I've just looked back at my previous posts and realised I didn't write a post about seeing Killswitch Engage at Arena earlier in the year! How remiss of me! Which means I haven't told you about the venue. It's a former factory complex, with a few buildings. There is a stage outside, and there are a few club rooms around. The main concert space is pretty big, with high ceilings which gives some nice acoustics and means it doesn't get too hot.

I arrived just at the end of Katatonia's set, due to a change to the advertised starting time! But I was definitely there in time to get a good spot right at the front for Lacuna Coil!

This is the *counts* 6th time I've seen Lacuna Coil in what is fast becoming an annual event! I think is probably one of the better gigs of theirs I've seen, primarily because the sound seemed better than it has at previous gigs, with the two vocals in much better balance than the last couple of times.

They ran through a bunch of classic tracks, including Our Truth, Trip The Darkness, Swamped, Heaven's A Lie, Spellbound and Without Fear. It was a shorter set than they would normally play, but they brought all the energy to it.

At the end of the set they announced that the new album would be out next year, and they would hopefully be back when they tour with that.

After a quick change over of set and the time had come for the main attraction - Paradise Lost.

Admittedly I only really came to see Lacuna Coil, but I wanted to see Paradise Lost. I don't always enjoy gigs that I don't know the music that well, but this was different. Firstly, as the band are from Yorkshire it was an absolute pleasure to hear some regional British speech!

As the pioneers of the gothic metal genre (my favourite), they evolved their sound from a doom laden beginning through more melodic into a Depeche Mode-esque period, and more recently to a more traditional rock metal sound, all while retaining the core aspects of gothic metal.

They ran through a selection of tracks from their 13 (yes 13!) albums, and I have to say, having gone back and listened to their albums again, that they sound way better live than recorded, which is nice!

Lead singer Nick Holmes chatted with the crowd and kept up some friendly banter, and the energy of the crowd was really good. I'm not sure the band are that well known in the UK, but it was one of the liveliest gigs I've been to over here!

I had such a wicked time at the gig, much more than I thought I would if I'm honest!

Next up: Volbeat at Stadthalle on Sunday!