Moonspell
Gimle, Roskilde - 2019
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
Moonspell led a diverse trio of bands round Europe, stopping in Roskilde on the way. Silver Dust from Switzerland had a modern sound with great accompanying theatrics. Rotting Christ from Greece had a very distinct black metal sound. And now it was time for Moonspell from Portugal, with their personal take on the more gothic oriented genre.
“We’ve heard that Roskilde doesn’t like to go to bed early - we’re going to put that to the test!”
- Fernando Ribeiro (vocals)
The stage was dark, but not black. There was a rumbling and tolling of church bells. A ruined cathedral adorned the backdrop, and two erect stone crucifixes adorned the stage. Miguel Gaspar was behind the drums, and Pedro Paixão was behind the keyboards. Fernando Ribeiro came in, gripping a lantern in one hand, and soon gripping a microphone in the other. Em Nome Do Medo was playing, and Moonspell had control of the stage, and of our future for the next one and a half hour or so. Things were good.
Although, they were a bit odd as well. The crowd, while still quite big, had clearly diminished during the last break between bands. Those who had stayed were enthusiastic, yet calmer in their way of expressing it. Yes, things were odd as well.
Not within the band though, there things were quite as they should be. Ribeiro was the consummate frontman, expressing himself both through his voice and his body, and keeping the audience interested while the band changed from one song to the other. Aires Pereira was the same ball of energy that we are used to, rocking out and engaging the fans with his wild performance, often standing on the very edge of the stage. Gaspar taking the time once in a while to stand up between songs to take the crowd in. Paixão being all smiles and dance moves, even taking the front of the stage at the start of Evento, to help get the crowd clapping along to the music. And finally, Ricardo Amorim, playing fast, playing slow, always playing well - yet we still do miss seeing him engage more with the audience.
Moonspell got a good response for their efforts, no doubt about that. There was a lot of cheering going on, and between songs the band was praised by a host of lifted horns. In some songs, the crowd sang along to the songs, even though no specific spot was given for this activity, and throughout the set, the front few lines were headbanging along as well.
Moonspell was taking this in, and even though the show was the same, there was a distinct lift in energy in the band. The good vibes were bounced back and forth, as they should be. It’s always interesting to bear witness to this incorporeal exchange of energy, and this was a very good example of the matter. Moonspell came on strong, and even though the Roskilde crowd was smaller and more calm to start with than before, the two soon warmed up to each other. The crowd didn’t exactly grow, but it clearly became more involved. It may have helped that Ribeiro reminisced back to the Roskilde Festival of 1998, which incidentally was my first live encounter with the band, and it might also have helped that the band was trying out different stuff for different song - an example came in Vampiria, where Ribeiro had donned a long cape, which he was flapping about himself like bat wings through the song.
The setlist surely did some good as well, which beside the four songs from the band’s latest album (which are all great in their own right), was a veritable longtable of hit songs, mostly taken from the sophomore album Irreligious. There was even space for a couple of more songs than the previous night, Evento from 1755, and Abysmo from Sin/Pecado.
This night, there was no joke about stopping earlier. Instead, the band played on, and even though the crowd was slightly thinning towards the very end (their loss, those who left), both band and remaining crowd kept the energy going all the way to the end.
Yes, Moonspell took a good swing upwards this night with the performance, and showed once more that they were on top of their game.
Setlist:
Em Nome Do Medo
1755
In Tremor Dei
Opium
Awake!
Night Eternal
Abysmo
Breathe (Until We Are No More)
Everything Invaded
Evento
Mephisto
Vampiria
Alma Mater
Todos Os Santos
Full Moon Madness
“We’ve heard that Roskilde doesn’t like to go to bed early - we’re going to put that to the test!”
- Fernando Ribeiro (vocals)
The stage was dark, but not black. There was a rumbling and tolling of church bells. A ruined cathedral adorned the backdrop, and two erect stone crucifixes adorned the stage. Miguel Gaspar was behind the drums, and Pedro Paixão was behind the keyboards. Fernando Ribeiro came in, gripping a lantern in one hand, and soon gripping a microphone in the other. Em Nome Do Medo was playing, and Moonspell had control of the stage, and of our future for the next one and a half hour or so. Things were good.
Although, they were a bit odd as well. The crowd, while still quite big, had clearly diminished during the last break between bands. Those who had stayed were enthusiastic, yet calmer in their way of expressing it. Yes, things were odd as well.
Not within the band though, there things were quite as they should be. Ribeiro was the consummate frontman, expressing himself both through his voice and his body, and keeping the audience interested while the band changed from one song to the other. Aires Pereira was the same ball of energy that we are used to, rocking out and engaging the fans with his wild performance, often standing on the very edge of the stage. Gaspar taking the time once in a while to stand up between songs to take the crowd in. Paixão being all smiles and dance moves, even taking the front of the stage at the start of Evento, to help get the crowd clapping along to the music. And finally, Ricardo Amorim, playing fast, playing slow, always playing well - yet we still do miss seeing him engage more with the audience.
Moonspell got a good response for their efforts, no doubt about that. There was a lot of cheering going on, and between songs the band was praised by a host of lifted horns. In some songs, the crowd sang along to the songs, even though no specific spot was given for this activity, and throughout the set, the front few lines were headbanging along as well.
Moonspell was taking this in, and even though the show was the same, there was a distinct lift in energy in the band. The good vibes were bounced back and forth, as they should be. It’s always interesting to bear witness to this incorporeal exchange of energy, and this was a very good example of the matter. Moonspell came on strong, and even though the Roskilde crowd was smaller and more calm to start with than before, the two soon warmed up to each other. The crowd didn’t exactly grow, but it clearly became more involved. It may have helped that Ribeiro reminisced back to the Roskilde Festival of 1998, which incidentally was my first live encounter with the band, and it might also have helped that the band was trying out different stuff for different song - an example came in Vampiria, where Ribeiro had donned a long cape, which he was flapping about himself like bat wings through the song.
The setlist surely did some good as well, which beside the four songs from the band’s latest album (which are all great in their own right), was a veritable longtable of hit songs, mostly taken from the sophomore album Irreligious. There was even space for a couple of more songs than the previous night, Evento from 1755, and Abysmo from Sin/Pecado.
This night, there was no joke about stopping earlier. Instead, the band played on, and even though the crowd was slightly thinning towards the very end (their loss, those who left), both band and remaining crowd kept the energy going all the way to the end.
Yes, Moonspell took a good swing upwards this night with the performance, and showed once more that they were on top of their game.
Setlist:
Em Nome Do Medo
1755
In Tremor Dei
Opium
Awake!
Night Eternal
Abysmo
Breathe (Until We Are No More)
Everything Invaded
Evento
Mephisto
Vampiria
Alma Mater
Todos Os Santos
Full Moon Madness
Moonspell
