The Gathering
Live @ Sticky Fingers,
Gothenburg, Sweden
February 15, 2001
Since they´ve been mentioned a lot in the discussion forum here at StonerRock.com, we know that a lot of you like `em... if not, I guess you wouldn´t be reading this text and looking at the photos of this feature now... or...
I recently read an interview with Anneke van Giersbergen (one of the better, if not the best, female singers in rock or metal today) where she called their music `trip rock`... and that pretty much sums it up. The Gathering started out as a goth band in the early 90´s, after two albums with a male singer they changed style and had a few changes in the lineup... the most important change was that they added Anneke to the lineup. Her angelic voice in combination with the new musical direction have resulted in an ever growing fan base. If you haven´t heard any of their albums, might I suggest that you start with "How To Measure A Planet?"... it´s the most tripped out album they´ve released thus far (it´s a 2CD for the price of one). Perfect if you wanna take a `trip` with or without chemical or herbal assitence. This is an album I often play when I wanna relax to some trippy grooves... you can´t be in the mood for Electric Wizard and/or Warhorse all the time...
(Click photos for larger versions)
Now on to their gig at Sticky Fingers... It was something of a mixed crowd at the club this night, everything from goth-rockers to cleancut mama´s boys... and they all seemed to love The Gathering. The gig started with a long, kinda monotonous, synth intro and then I could recognize the first song as "Rollercoaster" from their latest album "If_Then_Else". The next song, "Liberty Bell", was from "How To Measure A Planet?" In fact all but 3 songs were frome the two latest albums. Since my favorite of their albums is "How To Measure A Planet?" I liked the fact that such a large portion of the set was made up by songs from this album... plenty of the riffs from songs of that album is what I consider `stonerrock` riffs, albeit in a tripped out slightly progressive fashion...
I had positioned myself on the left side of the stage, right smack in front one of the PA speakers... it´s the only you can get any decent photos when Sticky Fingers is sold out, otherwise you´ll have to fend to keep the camera in one piece. This position also made it possible to get a closer look at the geezers standing in front of the stage... most people looked like what you´ve come to expect at a rock gig... but, there were also some total losers among the crowd. One dude tried to get eyecontact with Aneke all thru their set, everytime she looked in his direction he smiled a smile as wide as a buttcrack and then he stood there with glazed eyes and looked like he just had squirted in his shorts. Another dude that stood out among the `normal` folks in the crowd was this goth dude, his mascara was smeared all over the face after one of the more ballady songs... the dude had tears running like a river... I had heard that The Gathering, or rather Anneke, had some `hardcore` fans who all had a crush on Anneke... but this was the sorriest bunch of assholes I´ve ever seen on a concert...
(Click photos for larger versions)
All in all this was a great gig and it was evident that the dudes in the band knew how to handle their instruments... I especially liked the more tripped out stuff, like when René Rutten set aside the guitar and started making weird Theremin sounds. Their music might be more or less progressive at the core, but The Gathering adds enough psychedelic tripped out stuff to it to keep even the most jaded stoners interested... You can probably guess what the lyrics to "Herbal Movement" are all about, so I think they fit in nicely among the weedians here at StonerRock.com...
