Cambridge Corn Exchange 17th October; Random Finnish Band.

HIM are definitely a band better live. They sound a lot weaker on their album; the gritty rock sound they achieve live is not mirrored in their studio recordings. The Cambridge corn exchange is a beautiful, but small venue, quite suited I think for a goth rock band. Unfortunately I was sitting in the balcony, sitting at an indoor gig breaks many rules, for one, a girls corset starts to chafe, and no muppet dancing is to be had. The support band Cathedral were a little droll, the band was fine, the music was ok, but the lead singer was a plonker. It was about 20 minutes before the main act finally graced the stage; they tried to create a slightly tribal but haunting atmosphere, which would have worked if not for the screaming teenagers. Especially a girl to my right who insisted (and she kept this going on throughout the gig, much to the annoyance of the person sitting behind her) on standing up and yelling ‘woo’. Putting the technical difficulties behind at the start of the gig which did ruin a few of my favourites a little, the set was put well together, and the lighting superb. Now onto the characters in this show; the band worked well with the audience, Linde must have walked miles in a clockwise motion (to be fair at least twice in an anti-clockwise direction) stopping periodically to play in front of the speaker. Midge decided on an ‘I’m a rock star, hear me roar’ stance for the duration of the gig, Gas and Burton we out of my sight really, so I can not comment. As for the ring master, his analogies and references were ‘tasty’ at times, but humourous and kept the flow of the songs. He didn’t swear, he didn’t go on for too long, and in essence he ripped the piss out of himself to a point with phrases such as ‘an egotistical bastard in a rock band’ and ‘most of our previous stuff was mediocre goth rock crap.’ HIM as a band (mostly due to the delectable Mr Valo’s communication with the crowd) are not distant and pretentious as most rock bands tend to become when they get an ounce of recognition. They remained very real throughout the performance, and my compadre on this mission, who had no idea who HIM were till I handed him his ticket in the queue, said he would definitely like to see them again.
It was Burton’s birthday, he was thirty…thirty! Twenty eight tops I thought. He got a pie in the face; some things have to be done.

End of message.