Cradle Of Filth and Behemoth were co-headlining their way through Europe, and in late February their road took them to Copenhagen, where we met up for some serious devil worship.

“Obviously you haven’t drunk enough or the prices in here are too high. Let’s get that mosh going!”
- Dani Filth (vocals)

You know that when Cradle Of Filth is involved, your everyday Satanism is washed down with a healthy spoonful of theatrics, and tonight was no different.
Cradle Of Filth went on before Behemoth this evening, but they still had plenty of space on the stage for all their stuff – special microphone stands, crates to stand on and so on and so forth. With the At The Gates Of Midian rolling out of the speakers and a video rolling on a screen hiding Behemoth’s drumkit, a hooded figure with a large cane took the stage with menacing strides. This was of course no one else than Dani Filth, revealing himself as the rest of the band came on and Cthulhu Dawn started of the set, with a lot of Cthulhu imagery flashing by on the screen.
The band held quite a few new faces, where Filth and drummer Martin ‘Marthus’ Škaroupka where the only two remaining from the last time we saw the band. That Cradle Of Filth has quite a history of the revolving door style membership is common knowledge, but it turned out that this was strictly a live line-up and at least the guitarists Paul Allender and James McIlroy are still with the band. The setting we saw contained Lindsay Matheson on a strangely bent keyboard and some backing vocals, Rich Shaw and Marek ‘Ashok’ Šmerda on guitars, and Dave Pybus’ replacement on bass, Daniel Firth. While this setting performed admirably both musically and otherwise, I did miss the presence of Allender and Pybus who bring a certain sinister atmosphere just by being there. The only thing I wasn’t a big fan of with the live-crew were the vocals of Matheson, but this is a common issue between Cradle Of Filth and myself, and she wasn’t nearly as dreadful as Caroline Campbell was in her time.

Dani Filth was, as always, the centrepiece of the show though, and he seemed to be in an excellent mood this evening – he was quick of tongue and quick on his feet, always moving, often jumping, and utilising the entire stage. He introduced songs, dedicated songs, and spoke well in general – a standing joke was “we haven’t played this one since last night”, and a special mention and dedication with Nymphetamine (Fix) went to Matheson whom he said celebrated her 28th birthday this day, and then he oddly added that she had done that the night before as well...
Filth’s behaviour, coupled especially with the extremely enthusiastic Shaw, kept the audience well entertained, and even though there wasn’t much physical action to see, the cheers and the applause spoke their own truth. The concert may have dragged on a bit longer than it needed though, and even though the band was inclined to play old material which should go as classics, and they brought on what I thought was a big hairy monster gimmick in the encore (turned out to be just a crew member who was fixing something on the drums, sadly), several people left the show for a drink and a chat in the adjacent room. Fair enough, my concentration wandered from time to time as well, but I was still surprised to see that Cradle Of Filth had this effect on people. The ones who stayed for the long run seemed to appreciate all they got however, and even though I’m still not a Cradle fan and probably never will be since I long ago outgrew my teens, I will say that this was one of the more positive experiences I’ve had with the band.

Setlist:

At The Gates Of Midian
Cthulhu Dawn
A Dream Of Wolves In The Snow
Summer Dying Fast
The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh
Beneath The Howling Stars
For Your Vulgar Delectation
Haunted Shores
Nymphetamine (Fix)
Born In A Burial Gown
Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids
Her Ghost In The Fog
Funeral In Carpathia