Last night I had the privilege of attending a concert where the support band matched or exceeded the performance of the headline act. This used be very common in the 80s where I would discover lots of amazing support acts who then would go on t0 bigger and better headline tours and  festivals.

 

My introduction to world of loops – I remember when I put together a very primitive looped live track in the early 80s using two ghetto blasters, basically recording a bodhran then playing it back while recording tambourine, then playing it back and recording the guitar and finally do the same for vocals. Luckily technology has greatly advanced since then. There was the loop master Matt Howden from Sieben, with his mesmerising layering and looping of recordings. Then I cam across Jo Quail and together they made the RASP project.

After seeing Lili Refrain I can see she has taken this to a new level of musical greatness and if there is one thing you should do on the Heilung tour and that is too make sure you see Lili who will totally blow you away with here short but powerful  aural punch! Lili will be joy to hear for fans of Darkher, Diamanda Galas, Dead Can Dance, Chelsea Wolfe, Anna Von Hausswolff,  Martialled Industrial, Darkfolk, and Neofolk. Her short set combines all these sounds which is quite incredible as she plays and sings all parts via the use of sampling and recording and playing back and building up songs into exquisite compositions. Here is a recent live recording to give you the idea

For me Lili who has been around since 2007 in rock and metal circuits which can be cleary seen in her lovely guitar abilities, I hope she continues evolve in the direction of here latest album Mana which you can get here-
Lili Refrain Mana

The album was recorded with other musicians such as Taiko drummer which Lili has done a great job o recreating live not only in sound but style of drumming as well. Can’t wait to see the next show!

The Ritual of Heilung was a great visual and theatrical spectacle when it was possible to look at the stage as maybe I am supergoth but without sunglasses it was impossible and one point it felt like my eyes were burning as the extremely bright backlights and strobes slashed through the night and I found I was not alone in having to look away from the stage or shield my eyes. Anoana was the crowning glory of the set.

 

Usually when I go to concerts I try to support bands by buying some merchandise wether it be T-Shirts, CD’s etc. Prices for some recent concerts have been T-Shirts The Cure 100Zl, New Model Army 120zl and Heilung 190zl this seems more or less double the prices online Where T-shirts where €40.45 same as caps but online at Season of the mist T-shirts are €21.99 and caps are €17.99 so with shipping cheaper to order online 😉