The Gathering live
Yes, I was waiting for this. And it was not only me, who awaited the first concert of The Gathering for two years and after getting Silje Wergeland as the new singer in the band. But to make one thing clear in the beginning, I’ll try to avoid any comparision.
Once the show dates were published fans from all over the world got excited and curious, plans for travels and meetings were made. And I had to be there as well. Unfortunately just for the first of the both tryout gigs. And so I went to Holland with bookings for hotel and tickets for train and the show.
The room in Amrath Max was really tiny, just a bed with walls around. But since it was just for one night, it went okay. And it was quite near to Popodium Nieuwe Nor, the club where the show was.
When I arrived there I instantly met Faridee from Mexico and Marcela, who’s singing in Stream of Passion and one of the guest singers on “The West Pole”. It’s always a pleasure to meet the fans I know from the internet in person. And after having a nice little chat we went into the club. In the meantime Mariska and Michael arrived, so it was time for a first chilled beer. They were really small, but more important was the music.
And just to enjoy the music we went near the stage, trying to avoid these really tall guys in front of us. And since we met after a long while we had many stories to tell which helped shorten the time.
Silje & Marjolein
When the waiting was over and The Gathering entered the stage, everyone was excited and welcomed the band. Starting the show with the instrumental “When Trust Becomes Sound” like on the new album “The West Pole” all musicians were playing their instruments. Even Silje was there playing piano. But after that she changed places and sang “Treasure”, her first song live on stage with The Gathering. Obviously she was a bit nervous, but everyone was welcoming her.
After another song, “No One Spoke” from their recent album, it got exciting again when the first of the older songs was played. And Silje did it well with “Great Ocean Road”. She got cheers from the audience which was a good sign for everyone on stage.
It followed a mixture of old and new songs and at one certain moment I couldn’t do anything else than getting completely into the music. Everyone around was feeling this way and with every song the it got better and better. “Analog Park” sent shivers down the spine the same way “Leaves” did before.
René
The new songs were fitting well inbetween the old ones, “All You Are” was perfect. And there were “Saturnine” and “Travel” as last songs before the break, both are surely hard to sing. Especially since those two songs are the most listened songs on Last.fm and that’s raising expectations.
Shortly after the beginning of the show I wasn’t able to handle my camery anymore and that didn’t change whilst the break. This phenomenon I knew from earlier shows of the band, I was stunned and delighted. And I couldn’t wait to see the band back on stage.
And they came back with “Marooned” and “No Bird Call”, and I enjoyed the rest of the show with closed eyes. Of course there must have been a last song, even if everyone wanted more. This last song was the title song of the album “The West Pole”.
Video “The West Pole” live in Heerlen by paulhoeks
It was not easy to leave the venue after this show and it was really nice to have all the friends and fans around, having chats. The tears of Faridee and her happiness could have been the best to show what nice concert we saw. It was f**king great..! And we got the chance to meet the guys of the band for a chat.
Everywhere around in the bar were small groups and I met Tatiana and her friend from Russia, drank some beer with the Mexican guys. With the walk back to the hotel we finished a great evening and I fell exhausted but really happy in the small bed.
On the next morning I was leaving rainy Heerlen in the wrong direction, going home instead to the next show on that day. But I will see The Gathering playing live in a few weeks at Amphi Festival again.
Dank u wel.
