In slightly less than two years after their last visit, Cradle Of Filth once again visited Copenhagen.
Would it be a warm welcome back, or was the Danish capitol not ready for another dark, musical induced, Armageddon?

After two wicked support bands, Ghost Iris and Ne Obliviscaris, it was time for the main act to take control over the stage. Oddly enough, not many more people had shown up, and in the badly filled hall, there were even fewer old-school fans to be found. Another teenage fest then, oh well…
What hit me first, was that Cradle Of Filth had been blessed (or do they prefer cursed?) with a good sound mix this evening, and that’s always a plus, no matter how you watch it.
The problem is, the band didn’t really manage to live up to the good work the sound technician had prepared. Apart from Rick Shaw, who showed some real dedication in getting the atmosphere across, the general performance was a bleak affair indeed. Especially frontman Dani Filth seemed to be even less interested in delivering than his usual self – there was next to no communication between songs, and the performance during the songs was average at best. The whole thing just seemed extremely dull and lethargic.
To give an example – after the “last song” had been played, the band was so slow in returning for the encore, I was actually beginning to wonder if they had chosen to just cut their losses, and move on to the next venue on their tour. Not that it would surprise me, as the crowd in general was so bored that about 4/5 of them didn’t even bother trying to call the band back.
Eventually, they would return, but honestly, they might as well not have bothered, because it didn’t do neither them nor us any good. At all. Sure, Dani Filth did realize where his band was playing, which he mentioned while dedicating Nymphetamine (Fix) to “all the beautiful girls in Kopenhaken”, and Cradle Of Filth finally managed to get a little bit of a sing along going in Her Ghost In The Fog, but come on. This could have been so very, very much more impressive.

So, the sound and the beer was a positive experience, but why I was given the dullest concert of the year to review, I can only wonder…

Setlist:

Humana Inspired To Nightmare
Heaven Torn Asunder
Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids
Blackest Magick In Practise
Lord Abortion
Right Wing Of The Garden Triptych
Malice Through The Looking Glass
Deflowering The Maidenhead, Displeasuring The Goddess
Queen Of Winter, Throned
Walpurgis Eve
Yours Immortally…
Nymphetamine (Fix)
Her Ghost In The Fog
The Forest Whispers My Name
Blooding The Hounds Of Hell