Paradise Lost visited Copenhagen, and more precisely the small venue at Vega, on their Tragic Idol tour, and Metalmoments was of course on spot to take the show in.

After a surprisingly well-played out support by Finnish doomsters Swallow The Sun, I was now more than ready for the ever good old Paradise Lost.
Or, ever good is maybe an overstatement; on album they always deliver (sometimes it has taken me some time to catch on to what they were going for, but I’ve always gotten there in the end), but previous encounters have taught me that when Paradise Lost hit it, they are as unstoppable on stage as they are on record, even more so on a really good day, but there is an equal risk of the band, and here I especially leave some responsibility at the hands of vocalist Nick Holmes, not being in the mood and in extension not being up to the task to entertain a room/festival full of people.
Now, as I’ve thoroughly loved their last album, Faith Divides Us – Death Unties Us, and from what I’ve heard so far will also count their latest effort, Tragic Idol, as one of their great ones, I was truly hoping that the night would go in the former direction; however taking into consideration that this was a Monday, and it was in Denmark (notorious for having some lazy metal fans), I was surely not going to put all my money on it…

“God, you’re so loud!”
- Nick Holmes (vocals)

To begin with though, it would seem that the evening would take a turn to the latter of the examples sadly, as the band entering had a bit of an air about them saying; ”This is a Monday, and just another gig to finish”, but to their great surprise, and certainly also to mine, the nearly filled hall gave such an explosion of gratitude for the band playing that it didn’t take long for the members to re-energize and create an amazingly positive atmosphere, considering their musical style, in the close quarters of Lille Vega.
The crowd wasn’t exactly wild in the usual understanding of the word in the beginning, but with loud shouts and a lot of presence they managed to create an immensely intense feeling that got the place cooking, so much in fact that already early in the set, just after the new basher Honesty In Death, I saw Aaron Aedy giving his guitar a work-over with a towel as it was getting too sweaty to handle!
Even though the heat was draining in itself, the activity of the people present only increased throughout the evening, and upon reaching such classics as Pity The Sadness and As I Die, some form of a moshpit even broke out. A while later, during the encore song Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us, the audience as a whole got a good chance to show off some singing capabilities as we took the title part of the chorus. Quite well-sung if I may say so myself.

The show wasn’t all peaches though, some small worms inhabiting the sweet fruit made for minor cracks in the whole (yeah, that analogy kind of fell through at the end, I admit…).
One thing that certainly was a mistake, but only added a short comment from Holmes and an “oops, busted” smile on the lips on Aedy was when he forgot to start off Tragic Idol and the rest of the band was standing waiting for him.
Something that probably wasn’t meant as a mistake, but just as certainly came out that way, was a short vocal improvisation by Holmes at the very end of As I Die, which by its melodic lightness almost killed the grave seriousness of the rest of the song. No more of this please.
On the other hand, after the unwillingness at the very beginning which I mentioned earlier, I admit that the band really pulled through and gave an entertaining show to remember. Surely, this was not Paradise Lost at their very top, but it was honest, done with feeling, and worth every drop of sweat they drained out of us.

Setlist:

Desolate
Widow
Honesty In Death
Erased
Forever Failure
Soul Courageous
In This We Dwell
Praise Lamented Shade
Pity The Sadness
As I Die
Symbol Of Life
Tragic Idol
The Enemy
One Second
Fear Of Impending Hell
Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us
Say Just Words