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Review: Epica/Amaranthe/Charlotte Wessels, Bristol Beacon – ‘When it works, the results are spectacular’
“Thank you, Bristol, for such a wonderful, bizarre, surreal evening,” quips Epica’s Simone Simons.
Rewind four hours or so and it had all started out so promisingly.
Charlotte Wessels could be forgiven for thinking she’s been handed the shitty end of the stick.
When Martijn Westerholt decided to disband the previous line-up of Delain, just as they seemed to be getting somewhere, on the grounds that the band was always conceived as a solo project, she barely had time to catch her breath.
After launching a solo career, she’s released three albums in quick succession.
Now she’s got her own impressive band, but that means she’s back at the bottom of bills like this. Still, she seems quite happy with her lot and grateful to be here, and her generous opening set is both lengthy and blessed with great sound.
She starts off with a trio of songs from The Obsession album, beginning with the Kate Bush-esque (all female artists operating in this field must at some point be compared to Kate Bush – it’s the law) Chasing Sunsets.
Two new songs – Tempest and After the Flood – are introduced and fit right in, after which she goes full death metal on The Exocism. Great stuff – come back soon.
The Swedish filing in this Dutch metal sandwich, Amaranthe are playing their first gig in Bristol since they supported Dragonforce at the Academy a couple of years ago.
They haven’t actually released any new music since then, so the set is much the same even if the production is grander, with an expensive light show including lasers bouncing off the cavernous Beacon’s ceiling.
Their USP remains a three-vocalist assault, with Elize Ryd flanked by two chaps: Nils Molin (very impressive trad metal holleer) and Mikael Sehlin (death metal growl).
They work together in a variety of combinations, although Amaranthe’s “everything including the kitchen sink” approach to combining metal with electro-pop proves a little cluttered at times. When it works, however, as on The Catlyst and Amaranthine, the results are spectacular.
That Song sound so much like We Will Rock You that it would be almost actionable but for the fact that they acknowledge this by dropping in a couple of lines from the Queen song. As before, the gloriously catchy Drop Dead Cynical concludes their set.
Headliners Epica don’t attempt to compete in terms of spectacle, opting instead for a relatively stripped down multi-level stage set with a massive 4K video screen carrying imagery and live performance footage. Unlike Amaranthe, they have a new album, Aspiral, to promote and this dominates the start of their set.
Charlotte Wessels joins them for an exquisite Sirens – Of Blood and Water, but there’s a voice lacking since the budget obviously doesn’t extend to flying in Myrkur just for the one song.
Then, bizarrely, the house light go up and the fire alarm goes off. Epica haven’t been using any pyro and there’s clearly no fire, so everyone remains standing or seated and the band just look confused while a janitor (or modern high-tech equivalent) is presumably sent to investigate.
After a lengthy 10-minute break, the show starts again. Epica do their best, but much of the momentum is lost as they launch into the crowd-pleasing second half of the show, which includes the ‘hit’ Cry for the Moon.
Keyboard player Coen Janssen can’t keep still, as usual, bounding across the stage to attack his instrument and strapping on the curved keytar at every opportunity.
And once again, Isaac Delahaye proves to be Epica’s secret weapon, being one of the genre’s most outstanding guitarists.
The show concludes with the great Beyond the Matrix, during which the house lights go up for a second time. Wisely, they just ignore them this time and plough on.
All photos: Mike Evans
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