Gotham V - London, May 2005 - www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk

Having badly underestimated driving time in London on a Sunday, arrived at 3:30 half way through the Scary Bitches set, missed Voices Of Massada entirely. The SBs put on a good show, and have acquired a new percussionist playing electronic drums mounted on a "skeleton" stand, which added to the visuals a bit. The made a couple of mistakes, but recovered well and got an enthusiastic response from a happy crowd. They also announced the release of their next album to happen this Autumn, which will feature the "I'm the woman who killed Jack The Ripper" track which went down a storm at Carpe Noctum in Bradford last year.

Once the Scary Bitches finished it was back upstairs to get some food and money round the corner in Oxford Street, and sort out photo-passes for the rest of the gig. That done it was back down to find Devilish Presley finishing strongly with "Black Leather Jesus", again to an enthusiastic reception.

We hung about on the gallery level for a bit, meeting various people and waiting for Inkubus Sukkubus to arrive, while listening to The Faces Of Sarah from below. The sound was good both in the main hall and in the gallery, Mean Fiddler (underneath a theatre - the Astoria?) seems to be a good venue, though I think overall I still prefer The Camden Underworld for sheer character.

Midnight Configuration were impressive, Theatres Des Vampires even more so, with fiery special effects and powerful music, both bands edging over into the heavy rock end of things, not always a comfortable place for Gothic acts to be, but they both seemed to carry it well.

Diary of Dreams were utterly amazing, full on Goth rock with punk edges, delivered with style and assurance and making maximum use of the venue's spectacular lighting rig to ensure the visuals were every bit as impressive as the music. The audience loved them and called them back for an encore with deafening roars and cheering after their main set. Spectacular stuff and one of my companions, who'd never even heard of them before, insisted on being taken to Resurrection in Camden the next day to obtain some albums. Now that's how to win an audience!

And then, at last, bang on time, Inkubus Sukkubus took to the stage with live drums for the first time in ten years. The set opened traditionally enough with the "Dark Chant" from the last album, many in the audience raising Horned God fingers aloft and singing along to the slow "Hecate, Cerridwyn, Dark Mother Take Us In" lyrics - and then Marcus's drums exploded into action for "Heart Of Lilith" and we were off in entirely new and unknown directions!

On the one hand it was a bit strange to hear the band without the usual fully-sequenced backing, but on the other the power and dynamics that the live percussion gave, pounding along like a live thing underneath Tony and Adam's faultless lead and bass, was quite unlike any other Inkubus Sukkubus performance I'd seen before and brought the whole set alive in a way that completely wowed the audience.

There were a few glitches, including "Smile Of Torment" going horribly wrong in the middle whereupon Candia explained the band's inner dynamic as "and this is where we all blame each other!", and the wrong backing track (there was still a partial backing to some tracks, mostly under Tony's control except when it developed a mind of it's own!) firing up as "Smile" was re-set, but these were irrelevancies compared to the sheer power and dynamism that the four of them were creating on stage.

There is a saying in pagan circles that "in all things there must be balance", and it was truly incredible just to see how much more balanced a band is when the percussion is a living thing. It wasn't just the full-on power tracks that benefited either, Candia's mind-blowing live version of "We Belong With The Dead" has regained its place in the set, as before Tony and Adam withdrew to leave Candia singing alone with the orchestral backing, but this time Marcus created some true magic in the background with ever-so-subtle soft cymbals and gongs, giving the already incredibly poignant track an extra lift and spice that set spines tingling and hearts racing.

Another surprise was to come, with Tony picking up the bass and Adam taking over on acoustic guitar for two ultra-rare live tracks, "Prince Of Shadows", from 1995's Heartbeat Of The Earth, and "Conquistadors" from the legendary Wytches album of 1994. And Candia revealed the biggest surprise of all at the start of Prince Of Shadows, announcing that she's to have another child and showing off a small but once pointed out, visible, bump. There was a moment of stunned silence, followed by thunderous applause and yells of congratulation welcoming the latest member of the McKormack clan to Earth.

And then Tony and Adam returned to lead guitar and bass respectively, and we were off into the second half of the set with more familiar live material, but all still being given that incredible extra edge of emotion from Marcus's drums.

It was an electrifying performance, and when the main set finally ended the venue exploded into screams and thundering feet demanding more, which was duly delivered with the incredibly silly "Jaegermeister":

And in your hand,
The promised land,
The universe at your command,
To ecstasy, and despair,
Jaegermeister will take you there! Oh yeah!

And then it ended, and we all staggered back outside to a London night suddenly all the richer for the experience we'd all shared.

Gotham 5 - Photo Diary

Cuba Detainee Protest

At first we thought this guy was part of the sound crew, but it turned out he was protesting against the UK government's complicity with the Bush Regime in the US and their treatment of the detainees from the first wave of the War On Terror imprisoned in political limbo at a US base on Cuba, the infamous Camp X-Ray. His final comment was, "Louis Ravensfield, RIP".

The snapper snapped...

Half way through the gig the band treated us to two ultra-rare acoustic tracks, with Tony playing electric bass while Adam led on acoustic guitar. This was the first time the band had ever attempted anything like this during a normal gig, and coupled with marcus' incredible drumming the results were truly awe-inspiring!

Tony rocks on electric bass

Adam playing "Prince Of Shadows"

Then it was back to classic Inkies territory for the second half of the set, including the now customary duet between Tony and Candia for the wonderful invocation of the Horned God from the end of "Song To Pan".

All good things must end, and all too soon the main set was over, a torrent of cheering and yelling summoned the band back for the encore, and Jaegermeister was duly dispensed.

"And in your hand, the promised land!"