Fields of the Motherfucking Nephilim

[gothypants]

M and I are in London. We just saw the Fields of the Nephilim 30th anniversary show. Not exactly a concert, it was more accurately like a frenzied summoning ritual. Totally worth flying to another continent for.

This gig had the most intense crowd I've ever been a part of, - from the first song it was crazy, but not aggro-metalhead-crazy, more like hypnosis-freakout-crazy, like "I've been taken over by the Spirits"-crazy. I didn't take many photos - here's one that is somewhat representative of the atmosphere (but imagine all these people as a roiling, bubbling mass, during Last Exit for the Lost):



They've been my favorite band since I was 16. So happy to finally have seen them, and in a proper atmosphere.

Saw Carl afterward too. I didn't say hello because I'm shy and don't like to bother people, but I enjoyed seeing him wandering around impersonating a normal person. : )

Anyway I feel like I can die now. If I get hit by a bus or something, don't feel too badly for me. (Though I'll try to stay alive).

Comments

[fudjo.livejournal.com]

I am sooooooo glad you got to see them!

[gothypants.livejournal.com]

Ahhh me too! Can't believe it took this long to see my favorite band (really, if I had to choose one, it would be FotN).

I liked seeing them at this venue too, on the 30th anniversary, because all the die-hards came out. A guy with a FotN back tattoo, lots of older folks with FotN jackets, etc. I liked seeing them in their element, as it were.

Setlist and a video!

[gothypants.livejournal.com]

Here's the setlist:

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/fields-of-the-nephilim/2014/shepherds-bush-empire-london-england-3cdc563.html

and here's a video of Last Exit for the Lost on the night we were there -- though it doesn't show the crowd, or really show the atmosphere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPrZJYUeQ-w&index=1&list=PLEw9oFGC0nmsv_M90FIIRYhPZFpj2338z

[hirez.livejournal.com]

I would like to think that any decent gig (and oh god that's a massive handwave right there) is some flavour of ritual. It's just that Ver Neffs (and, er, Bonanzas) are pretty clear about it.

I would like to think that perhaps something like Technological music is more centred on the individual. And the sort of things summoned by a Kraftwerk gig would be sensible pan-European transport policy, renewable energy research and a lot of earnest bicycling.

(The logical and dramatised-for-seventies-telly, therefore a bit average on the futurology, end-point would be the ITV series 'Quatermass' which may or may not be internet-available: Hawkwind-ish gig summons Great Old Ones, hijinks ensue.)

[gothypants.livejournal.com]

Hah! I love the idea of summoning magic to bring about all sorts of useful things, like decent transportation policies. And now thanks to your piquant image I am envisioning a stadium of Kraftwerk fans on stationary bicycles raising a reasonable and Euro-democratic-socialist sort of magical energy.