The usual opening for a VNV Nation concert, and pictures from the Sentinal shirt that I've been sporting since last night. To be honest I don't know how I can convey how amazing the concert was. Uplifting. Life-changing. Soul-completing. Those words just don't seem to fully express the incredible, raw, awesome power that flowed through the Grand Ballroom last night. It was all of those and more. So, so much more.
The VNV show was preceded by two smaller bands, Ayria (electronic) and War Tapes (punk rock). Ayria was alright, not by any means terrible, but probably not something I would add to my library. They're a mix of punk and electronic but with a female singer. War Tapes honestly didn't fit in with most of the crowd or with the other two bands. Absolutely a punk/funk/pop band, no electronica, and a very narcissistic singer who attempted to crowd surf and...didn't quite make it. I wasn't big on them.
VNV Nation played after them, starting the concert with 'Pro Victoria', the first song from their new album, while they played an intro slide show: Those who have Faith, will know Power, and shall receive Glory (I think that's it verbatim, it was played around 9:30ish last night and I my memory sucks as it is). Originally I thought the play list would be just songs from 'Of Faith, Power, and Glory' but I was pleasantly surprised when they played songs from earlier albums, all the way back to 1998's Praise the Fallen (VNV's second full album IF you don't include Advance and Follow V.2 - a re-release of their first album Advance and Follow). The songs played included: Pro Victoria (as previously mentioned), Joy, Defiant, Further, Epicentre, Tomorrow Never Comes, The Farthest Star, The Great Divide, Chrome, Illusion, Nemesis, and Darkangel. They were called out for two encores, during the first they played Beloved, and when they were called back the second time they played both Solitary and Perpetual before they really left. I think I got all the tracks down, but just those alone put in about 75 minutes, if I remember any more I'll post them later. The selection covers all the main albums except for the Advance and Follow's, so that's PTF2012 (Praise the Fallen), Empires, Burning Empires (an EP based off of Empires and the song 'Standing' but comprised of remixes and new songs), Futureperfect, Matter + Form, Judgement, and Of Faith, Power, and Glory. The songs themselves were all amazing, and even though the recorded versions of live songs on the Pastperfect and Reformation 01 albums are incredible, there's really no comparison to hearing them actually played live.
For me the night was made complete with Darkangel, Epicentre, and Solitary. Darkangel was the first song I ever heard from VNV Nation about 6 years ago when I found the song while searching music from the darkwave genre. I was home schooled at the time, and it was through high school that I added more VNV songs, but I wasn't a die hard fan until the end of my freshman year. Epicentre became another favourite both because I played it in the shower for about two years, and because during my senior year of high school, the definition of the word 'anathema' came up while reading Beowulf in the first few weeks: a word that I had heard in the song, and later my favourite word to use in conversation (0r as an exclamation). And Solitary will always hold a special place in my heart, both for it's lyrics, and for the live introduction Ronan Harris has used since the Pastperfect album (it was probably used before, but I haven't gone looking for it on Youtube). I was blessed enough to hear both the song, and it's introduction last night: "This is Solitary. This song is our hymn and our anthem. Sing. Move. Dance. Do something." I also noticed that it's one thing to sing along to the actual lyrics of a song, but to be able to speak along with Harris the words that you know he is going to use...it adds a whole other special aspect to the experience. Some of the other live trademarks of VNV concerts as I've seen, heard, and now experienced include Harris beginning the concert with the title of this post, posting the words "I Want Justice" from the overhead when the chorus of 'Nemesis' comes up, and singing along with the introduction notes from Perpetual. There's a few more things that he says and does all of which are a tons of fun to listen to and participate in but I don't want to write them all.
Ronan Harris is also incredibly funny and kind. He spends time actually talking with the audience, doing fun stuff (taking a picture with all the bald men in the crowd), joking around, etc. and he pulled a little girl who was next to us up onto the stage so that she could see without having to hang onto the edge of the stage that towered two feet above her. Apparently the girl has been attending their concerts since she was five years old. After the show, we got to touch the hands of both Mark Jackson and Ronan Harris before they left for the after party at the DNA Lounge - which we went to.
They both arrived at the club about ten minutes after we did and I was able to speak with Jackson and thank him for the performance and shake his hand. I thought I had missed out on Harris, but they were both waiting for their bus as we left the club and I spoke to him then and shook his hand as well as thanked him for an amazing first concert. My only regret of the entire night was bringing my camera but forgetting the battery at home. I was unbelievably pissed off before the concert, and still wished I brought it afterwards, but was in no way in a negative mood. There really wasn't any way I could have been.
A few things I took away from the night: Mark Jackson is really tall, Ronan Harris definitely cares about people, and they both look you in the eye when they speak to you, and they actually speak to you.
Alright, I will leave you with that and not go on forever, even though I'm still quite excited and happy. The picture below is the back of the shirt I bought (was bought for me, something I won't soon forget), and has part of the chorus from the song 'Sential'.
Cheers,
-Shadow of Light
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