 HMS President, The Thames, London, 22 November 2003
John Marshall
3 December 2003 neofolk gothic-industrial apocalyptic folk dark folk military bombast | This was a weird experience going to a gig on a boat!...and being one of the worst days of the year for weather in London. Maybe if it flooded we'd be in the right place! Despite the gig being quite low key it was one of the biggest turn-outs I've seen for a Death In June gig. There was to my delight a vegetarian buffet included in the ticket price which I made a point of visiting as soon as the food was laid out, very nice it was too!
The stage was a step basically so I made sure I got to the front or I'd be looking at backcombed goth hair, bald patches or the back of some kind of German World War 2 hat All night! Doug came on in his usual military clothes although no mask, instead it was a helmet with a veil hanging down to hide his face (to which later he lifted announcing: "Here's the horrid truth."). He was joined by John Murphy on percussion playing lots of little weird instruments like chimes etc, but - unusual for Death In June - no drums were present. Doug was sat on a stall with a 12-string acoustic guitar. He announced things are going be a little different as he introduced each song and told a story about them. Some idiot told him to get on with it but Doug was having none of it and told the heckler to shut up and he was here to listen! He then proceeded to play 'Ku Ku Ku'.
He mentioned his collaborators on numerous occasions such as David Tibet and old band mate Tony Wakeford in his stories about song writing. He mentioned Tony when 'Death Of The West' was introduced as it was the last song they wrote together. Many songs were played spanning the history of Death in June and to my delight a good few songs from "Nada", including 'Leper Lord', 'She Said Destroy', 'Honour Of Silence' and much to everyone's surprise, 'Calling', where Doug was joined onstage by former band mate Patrick Leagas, who sang it beautifully despite being a little nervous. Patrick introduced the song by saying it was about an Afghan soldier he knew who fought and died against the Russians. There was a version of 'Till The Living Flesh is Burned' which Doug got everyone to stamp their feet to to simulate the heavy drum sound. For the first chorus the words to the earlier incarnation of the song 'Night Of the Long Knives' were sang.
There was a break for a while which meant more buffet food for me! Doug then returned for the second half of the set which included songs such as 'Cathedral Of Tears', 'Fields Of Rape', 'Rose Clouds of Holocaust', and 'Giddy Giddy Carousel'. As each song went on a string seemed to break and Doug then announced he couldn't play anymore songs due to this! Why he didn't bring a spare one was anyone's guess and it was the only flaw in such a perfect night. Despite this there was an encore which turned out to be an acapella version of 'Heaven Street' after attempting to play it on one string! For this there was plenty of audience participation singing "la la la la la la la" in between the vocal parts!
Doug announced after the show that he'd be interested to see what the Internet has to say about the night and he expected to be hung, drawn and quartered! Well certainly not by me although please bring two guitars next time Douglas! |
