On the 20^th of June 2015, Swedish metallers EVERGREY stopped by the UK to play a show at The Underworld in Camden, London on their current tour. Support came from the bands AWAKE BY DESIGN and ONE MACHINE and this is a live report of the events that unfolded during the show that took place that evening.

Upon arriving at the venue at 5pm, I and a few other journalists from various other music magazines were taken into the venue. After a 30-45 minute wait, the interviews with members of EVERGREY began to take place but because they started a bit later than originally planned, the scheduling was a bit tight so I was not able to conduct my interview before the show began.

At around 6:30pm, the first band of the night AWAKE BY DESIGN took to the stage to play their songs but unfortunately, I was not able to watch their set as I had to shoot off during the first song to conduct my interview with Tom Englund of EVERGREY. By the time I returned to the venue, the band was finishing up their set so I was not able to catch their performance to make any notes on their performance. A great shame as I was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer.

At around 7:15pm, the second support act of the night was ONE MACHINE and this time I was able to stay for the set as I had my interview conducted and out of the way so this time I could pay attention to their set. Having watched this second support act play, I can sort of see why they were picked to support EVERGREY as their music was very loud, heavy, fast, savage and aggressive but it wasn't a performance I really enjoyed personally. I do give them points for their energy playing on stage and for being able to get the crowd involved with their performance but, their music was not for me as it was too aggressive and there was a bit too much growling, shouting and screaming from the vocals so I couldn't make out that much of the music that was being played as a result.

When it came to the final band of the night which was the headliners EVERGREY, I was a little bit more hyped and excited as I had checked out their newest album "Hymns For The Broken" prior to coming out to the show so I was familiar with their material and I did like what I heard on the album. How did that translate into their live show? The answer is very well. The show kicked off with the song "King of Errors" from the new album and if I thought it sounded good on the new album, it sounded just as good if not a bit more epic live.

More new songs from the bands new album "Hymns For The Broken" were also played live including "The Grand Collapse", "Black Undertow", "A New Dawn", "Wake A Change", "The Fire" and "Missing You" and the new songs sounded really good live as the added heaviness from the original studio performances sounded more punchy live but then any live show will always pack a bit more punch then the already great studio performances.

Other songs from the bands career were also played live from their previous releases and although I had not listened to any previous EVERGREY material other then the new songs, it did give me a bit of an incentive to check a couple of them out as there were some which drew my attention such as "Broken Wings" and "Monday Morning Apocalypse".

It wasn't just EVERGREY material that got thrown into the set as there was a cover included as well and the song chosen was "I'm Sorry" by Swedish pop singer DILBA and to hear a Rock/Metal version was pretty cool. I may not have been familiar with the artist they covered but I'd probably prefer the cover they did in the show as often covers can be better then or just as good as the original studio versions.

Throughout the bands 1 hour and 45 minute or so set, a total of around 18 songs were played if you exclude the intro piece they used to open up their show with. During the performance, the band showcased their new fresh sound and brought life to the new material as well as their older songs as well. There was also plenty of energy to be had as well from both the band with the excellent tunes they were belting live and the crowd who were happily clapping, singing and moving to the music.

The current line-up of EVERGREY consists of the founding member Tom Englund who was handling all lead vocals as well as shredding some mean guitar, Henrik Danhage who was also shredding some pretty sick guitar solos and riffs, Rikard Zander who was providing the haunting symphonic melodies of the songs on his keys, Jonas Ekdahl who was giving us some pretty sick yet awesome drum beats and Johan Niemann made up the second part of the rhythm section with his bass skills.

All of the five above mentioned members made up the tight unit that is EVERGREY and throughout the show, each of them was showing off what they can do and it's clear their experience performing as musicians paid off well as their talent really did come to life whether it was the vocals giving it their all and belting out the lyrics of the songs, the guitars wailing away in the solos and giving us some savage riffage, the drums shaking the room with their beats or the keys adding a sense of symphonic epicness to the tunes.

The bottom line? EVERGREY are a group who you should definitely go and see live at least once. Even if you're unfamiliar with their tunes, they are still worth checking out as chances are you'll find yourself loving every moment and banging your heads to their songs as well as getting out your horns and your air guitars but then, all of this is to be expected from the Swedes after all.

Setlist:

1.  The Awakening
2.  King of Errors
3.  Leave It Behind Us
4.  The Fire
5.  Monday Morning Apocalypse
6.  Black Undertow
7.  The Masterplan
8.  Mark of the Triangle
9.  Blinded
10.  Solitude Within
11.  Wake A Change
12.  A New Dawn
13.  I'm Sorry (Dilba cover)
14.  Missing You
Encore:
15.  When The Walls Go Down
16.  Recreation Day
17.  Broken Wings
18.  A Touch of Blessing
19.  The Grand Collapse