FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM (Live)

At the O2 Academy, Newcastle, U.K., June 30, 2019

FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM (Live at the O2 Academy, Newcastle, U.K., June 30, 2019)
Photo: Mick Burgess

While all eyes were focussed on Glastonbury with Kylie and Miley basking in record breaking sunshine, up North things were altogether darker. All swirling smoke and silhouetted figures dressed in black saw a welcome return to the region for Goth legends, Fields Of The Nephilim.

Before Stevenage’s finest hit the stage, The Last Cry were tasked with warming up the highly expectant crowd. Talk about grabbing their chance with both hands. The Last Cry were sensational. Lead by imposing vocalist Andrew Birch, whose melancholic, melodic voice and anguished delivery was mesmerising and won them many new fans with songs from their current album Goodbye and new single Years with a performance that was befitting of a headliner.

The Last Cry had set the bar high and a lesser band may have faltered following them but Fields Of The Nephilim are made of sterner stuff and after the brief Harmonica Man intro it was straight into Preacher Man with Tony Pettit’s bass punching through the swathes of dry ice

With lead singer Carl McCoy looking like a renegade from Jeepers Creepers with a band to match, this was the antithesis of mainstream Pop. Huge crunching riffs and McCoy’s deep, guttural growl created the required ambience further enhanced by the dark, atmospheric lighting.

Dawnrazor and Moonchild, stone cold classics, had the crowd in raptures. The chiming guitars of Love Under Will and The Watchmen opened the scope for McCoy’s baritone voice to show its class while the up-tempo For Her Light and Prophecy brought an added dimension to the night.

Mourning Sun and show closer Last Exit For The Lost were epic in scope and majestic in style. A perfunctory “Thanks” at the end from McCoy was the only interaction with the crowd but after such an intense performance, the music was the only talking that was needed. Utterly brilliant.

Review and Photos By Mick Burgess

Author

  • Mick Burgess

    Mick is a reviewer and photographer here at Metal Express Radio, based in the North-East of England. He first fell in love with music after hearing Jeff Wayne's spectacular The War of the Worlds in the cold winter of 1978. Then in the summer of '79 he discovered a copy of Kiss Alive II amongst his sister’s record collection, which literally blew him away! He then quickly found Van Halen I and Rainbow's Down To Earth, and he was well on the way to being rescued from Top 40 radio hell!   Over the ensuing years, he's enjoyed the Classic Rock music of Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, and Deep Purple; the AOR of Journey and Foreigner; the Pomp of Styx and Kansas; the Progressive Metal of Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, and Symphony X; the Goth Metal of Nightwish, Within Temptation, and Epica, and a whole host of other great bands that are too numerous to mention. When he's not listening to music, he watches Sunderland lose more football (soccer) matches than they win, and occasionally, if he has to, he goes to work as a property lawyer.

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