In the days leading up to the gig I thought to myself what a great line up. The first band, KATATONIA, is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of "Viva Emptiness" by playing the album in full. I can't argue that they don't play beautiful music, but I find their performance lacking. At the risk of making a bad pun, they were too catatonic. I think if you like KATATONIA, maybe even just like this album, then this is a good gig for you. For the more casual observer however, this is not something that will grab you and make you want to see them again. The coordinated head-banging hair from the band was very impressive, but they didn't give much energy from the stage. Some songs were very good, but as they are all from the same album it is useless to pick them out, and better to just tell you which album. Perhaps broadening their set list would have helped.

LACUNA COIL are good fun. Where KATATONIA make beautiful music but lack energy and presence on the stage, LACUNA COIL have the lot. They are not my favourite band but they are a very good act to see live. To be honest, I find it difficult to really see beyond Christina Scabbia as the main driver of the band, though that is clearly unfair to the other members. All members of the band are talented and good at what they do but her voice is just superb and sends them to another level. In terms of songs I though the usual "Heaven's A Lie" and "Swamped" stood out of course, then "Intoxicated" impressed me as well.

This was a PARADISE LOST gig for long standing fans rather than the casual observer. By playing a song off each album except "Believe In Nothing" they gave a taste of all of their work, and it is broad. A band that has been around for 25 years has a lot in its back catalogue, and PARADISE LOST have a great deal of quality as well as quantity.

I thought the sound took a few songs to get quite right, especially Nick Holmes' voice, but when it came right it did sound very good. I find it hard to pick out a highlight, but I think not playing "As I Die" left a few people frustrated but most of the songs seemed well chosen by the crowd's reaction to them. I thought the songs were well chosen, only having "Enchantment" off "Draconian Times" is a tough call and again makes it less accessible for more casual observers but if you want a run through the 25 years of PARADISE LOST this is as good as it gets.

I really enjoyed the gig and I would recommend to hard-core fans buy the DVD when it comes out.