Good day to all who read this manuscript. A manuscript which, naturally, speaks of the philosopher's stone. To understand how it works, one must learn its formula. Which is what we shall do. So, let us find the formula of LACRIMOSA — let us begin.
A year ago, I already wrote a concert report on this wonderful band. Indeed, exactly one year has passed! On June 10, 2005, an absolutely sold-out concert took place at DK Gorbunova. At that time, the band visited our country — where they boast many thousands of fans — for the first time. Tickets sold at extraordinary speed, and before the concert, scalper prices reached 7,000-8,000 rubles. It was spectacular, what more can you say. All those for whom this band's work is meaningful were waiting for the fairy tale to repeat. And it did — moreover, to the extraordinary joy of all those same people (your humble servant included), this year the band had scheduled two moscow concerts just a day apart.
This time I won't retrace the band's career milestones — they haven't changed since last year. Suffice it to say the band completed a wonderful tour and released a single.
The concert was organized, as last year, by the label IROND, which releases the band's albums in russia. So: two days — June 9 and 10 — DK Gorbunova and club Tochka. In a mini-interview published by the label, it was said that an entirely new stage design would be presented, the setlist would differ from last year's, and moreover, the setlists on each day would also differ from each other.
June 9th. Time — a little after 8 PM. The hall is full, but there are far fewer people than last year, when it was almost impossible to move. This time, the stalls and balconies of the legendary DK held at most a little over 2,000. The sounds of the all-too-familiar Intro from the album "Inferno," which has opened every performance for a decade now. For the first time in a year (since the last concert), the stage is hidden behind a curtain. But when it opens midway through the introduction, the audience is presented with a unique picture — instead of last year's theatrical dark design with prevailing dark-blue tones and velvet-covered synthesizers, everyone sees a strikingly bright stage, a white(!) tapestry with a huge clown silhouette. The musicians appear onstage, and last to emerge is, naturally, Anne Nurmi. Immediately after the two-minute Intro ends, she begins playing the opening chords of "Ich Bin Der Brennende Komet," which surprised many — this composition is virtually the band's main hit, and excluding the "Stille" album tour (during which the band's only official live release was recorded), it has been an invariable part of the encores. In keeping with tradition, everyone hears the familiar vocals, but nobody is on stage yet — then the tempo slows, and with measured steps, singing "Wenn ich traume, schweigend will ich warten...", the man of the hour walks to center stage, accompanied by the audience's fervent emotions. The entire hall sings along on the choruses — how could they not? — the instrumental break, Tilo Wolff's signature hand gestures, and finally the climactic ending.
Almost without pause, Tilo begins conducting to the keyboard introduction of "Malina" from "Echos," then brilliantly performs this beautiful, emotional composition. What's next? Next is 1993 and "Alles Luge" in its live version — in the studio version, as those reading this top-secret document surely remember, it had the sound of hard, energetic darkwave, with the metal element being rather slight, and the vocal part somewhat more varied.
A piano intro heralds the performance of one of the band's slowest and most beautiful compositions — "Eine Nacht In Ewigkeit" from "Echos." The audience calmed, fell quiet — this bliss was interrupted by sounds that made the hall simply roar — "Schakal" from "Inferno." The darkest opening gives way to an instrumental break; as usual, Tilo retreats to the back of the stage, conducting the proceedings.
That song too comes to an end, and it's time for Tilo and Anne to swap keyboards and microphone — "Not Every Pain Hurts" from the band's heaviest-sounding album, "Stille." Thanks to the hall, and the band switches to the latest album, in support of which they were in russia last year. What can I say — the same compositions were played: the title track "Lichtgestalt" was followed by "Kelch Der Liebe." They're similar in structure: a measured beginning, an energetic main section, and an extraordinarily expressive conclusion with vocals verging on a screaming style. After these two songs came the concert's most divisive moment — ultra-heavy riffs of a rather strange composition began, which Tilo sings in English. Most of the hall exchanged confused glances, unsure what song this was. The song was short, entirely unremarkable, with an atypical (for the band) priority of heaviness and aggression over emotionality and melody. The audience listened dispassionately through "Road To Pain" from the single "Lichtgestalten" — the band's most recent studio release, which followed some time after the last album.
Mere seconds, and everyone had already forgotten that strange interlude and was reveling in the enchanting sounds of "Vermachtnis Der Sonne" from "Inferno." One of the band's most beautiful — and I won't shy from the word — exquisite ballads, at the conclusion of which, to general surprise, the final duet from "Kabinett Der Sinne" (the composition that follows right after the Intro on the same album) sounded.
The concert continued with another song from the latest album, also played last year — "Letzte Ausfahrt: Leben," followed by "Halt Mich" from "Elodia" — surprisingly, the first that day from what is arguably the band's most successful album. Under Tilo's conducting, the entire hall sang the chorus in unison.
As last year, the inimitable "Stolzes Herz" crowned the main set — perhaps the band's most positive composition ever. A symbolic farewell to the audience and exit backstage.
The band returned after a couple of minutes. In a quiet, intimate voice, Tilo began performing "Der Morgen Danach," followed by a most pleasant surprise — "Siehst Du Mich Im Licht" from "Stille" — a powerful composition with a heavy sound. Crowning the first encore was another "Stille" track — the solemnly mournful "Am Ende Stehen Wir Zwei."
A few more minutes of waiting, and the melancholic "The Party Is Over" from the band's latest album — before the finale, Tilo plays the trumpet. The riffs of "Copycat" ring out, Anne leaves her massive synthesizers and sings a duet with Tilo — I could never understand why people love this particular composition so much, but the fact remains: it has been the invariable final chord of LACRIMOSA concerts for many years.
What to say about the concert — everything seemed to go wonderfully: an excellent song selection, wonderful performance. But something had changed beyond just the design — something else had vanished. Instead of the depressive, sorrowful theatricality and that inimitable magic, we were presented with a band going through the motions of a concert. And it's not about Tilo — he was at his best as always. Strangely, it was the musicians: beyond the execution quality being far from ideal, they generally behaved somewhat too mechanically, and the sound wasn't the best either. This is my strictly personal opinion — the concert didn't make the proper impression on me. The fairy-tale feeling was gone, perhaps because this was my second time seeing the band. I left DK Gorbunova with one question — would the concert the next day turn out to be the same for me — routine, leaving no vivid memories? But more on that below!
Setlist. DK Gorbunova. June 9th. Intro-Lacrimosa Theme / Ich Bin Der Brennende Komet / Malina / Alles Luge / Eine Nacht In Ewigkeit / Schakal / Not Every Pain Hurts / Lichtgestalt / Kelch Der Liebe / Road To Pain / Medley: Vermachtnis Der Sonne/Kabinett Der Sinne / Letzte Ausfahrt: Leben / Halt Mich / Stolzes Herz / -encore 1- / Der Morgen Danach / Siehst Du Mich Im Licht / Am Ende Stehen Wir Zwei / -encore 2- / The Party Is Over / Copycat
Day two. Destination: club Tochka. Queues at the entrance to this well-known club are a common sight when major bands are involved. Arriving around 8 PM, I nonetheless saw no such queue — yet I only got inside by ten past eight, and instantly realized that 90% had simply come early. To say the club was packed would be an understatement. Moving through the stalls was very difficult — those wishing to do so used the second-tier "balcony." The tapestry looked rather comical, as the clown's face was only partially visible — the wall height, to put it mildly, was no match for that of DKG. Naturally, there was no curtain. All this, at the same time, created a wonderful sense of being part of the action — everyone could study the musicians' faces up close. The same memorable Intro, during which Anne appears onstage, and the same Comet. I won't hide it: I was standing near the sound engineer and had a chance to see the setlist before the concert began. That setlist stunned me — it contained two compositions I absolutely didn't expect to hear, and I only believed they would be performed when I heard their opening notes. Most songs repeated the DK Gorbunova variant, though the order was fundamentally different. The first major surprise for me was "Senses." I won't hide it — this is my favorite LACRIMOSA composition, performed by Anne Nurmi. Several years ago, as a fan of melodic hard rock, AOR, and classical music who practically never listened to metal, I heard the album "Fassade," which I didn't much like — except for one amazing song that lodged in my head. Time passed, I re-listened to LACRIMOSA's entire discography, and the band took its place among my favorites. But that composition was the very first through which I came to appreciate this wonderful band's music.
This time the main set ended with "Alles Luge." And there were a whopping 3 encores. The first included the same "Der Morgen Danach" and the once-again entirely superfluous "Road To Pain," but the first encore concluded — to the delight of most — with the wonderful "Ich Verlasse Heut' Dein Herz" from "Elodia," which was played last year but wasn't performed at the first concert of this visit (at DK Gorbunova this year, as seen from the setlist above, the emphasis was mainly on "Stille" rather than "Elodia" as it had been the year before).
The second encore — I again peered at the setlist by the sound engineer and continued to disbelieve, until I heard the opening notes of a composition absent from any of the band's studio albums. It's not on any singles either. The 1998 live album is the only officially recorded proof of the existence of the composition "Darkness." A seven-minute, slow, drawn-out song with exclusively keyboard accompaniment. But Tilo doesn't let the audience melt into sadness — "Stolzes Herz" closes the second encore, and almost immediately the band returns for the third and final one to perform "Copycat."
My fears, fortunately, were not confirmed. I attended one of the most astonishing concerts of my life — one that, for me personally, is incomparable to the one I'd been at exactly 24 hours earlier. Of the three LACRIMOSA concerts I've attended, I can unhesitatingly place this one first. What made it so special is hard to say — above all, the intimate spirit, a kind of coziness, funny as that may sound when talking about a venue packed to the rafters, but that was precisely the feeling I'd been missing the night before. And the musicians that day were far more soulful. Plus the surprise songs. Anne was particularly impressive, delivering "Senses" with a surprisingly powerful voice.
One could end the report here, if not for one But — we still need to find the formula of LACRIMOSA. Does it exist? Yes, without a doubt — it lies on an emotional level and is absolutely unique for each person.
Setlist. Club Tochka. June 10th. Intro-Lacrimosa Theme / Ich Bin Der Brennende Komet / Malina / Letzte Ausfahrt: Leben / Eine Nacht In Ewigkeit / Schakal / Halt Mich / Senses / Lichtgestalt / Medley: Vermachtnis Der Sonne/Kabinett Der Sinne / The Party Is Over / Kelch Der Liebe / Alles Luge / -encore 1- / Der Morgen Danach / Road To Pain / Ich Verlasse Heut' Dein Herz / -encore 2- / Darkness / Stolzes Herz / -encore 3- / Copycat