A metal night to remember with Epica, Eluveitie, and SCARSYMMETRY

By Nathan Lucking, Rock At Night London Correspondent

Venue: O2 Forum-Kentish Town, London-November 15, 2015–Epica with Eluveitie and SCARSYMMETRY

This was my first time in the Forum (O2 Forum Kentish Town) in years. The last time was when Chase and Status were performing for the Q Awards some five years ago.  The show was somewhat different but the passion and the fans hadn’t changed a vast amount – extra hair and a love of metal not withstanding .  There was still a steady stream of people passing through security when I got to the box office ten minutes before the first band. SCARSYMMETRY was slated to take to the stage which turns out was a good sign as the venue was heaving just before seven on a Sunday.

After a quick catch up with some fellow photographers SCARSYMMETRY started their set without fanfare, which caught me off guard as I hadn’t even gotten my ear plugs from my bag. Remember people, safety first! With the worst lighting and the smallest section of the stage SCARSYMMETRY managed to whip the crowd up into a small frenzy of head banging and horns, pausing but once before their last song to thank the crowd.

As the stage crew cleared away all of the gear, monitors and mic stands too, a lot of the crowd seemed to drift towards to back of the venue towards a number of it’s bars for refreshments. With the dimming of the house lights the crowd once again surged towards to barriers as special guests Eluveitie.  Every one in the room was just lapping them up, including me and since I’d never even heard of these guys before. Eluveitie put on quite a stage show with synchronised head banging, some great call and response yodeling whilst playing a selection of tracks from across their catalogue.

As the house lights came up after Eluveitie’s encore hardly a soul moved towards the bar – whether they were unable or just unwilling to lose that spot right at the front from which they can film the show on their phone, I’ll leave to speculation . After some significant moving of staging and curtain removing, the stage was set for the headline act of the night Dutch five-piece Gothic metal masters Epica. I would rate them 10/10 for the light show– seriously some of the best I’ve had the pleasure of shooting or watching The music wasn’t bad ether! Joining the stage to rapturous applause, screams and shouts it was clear they were amongst friends and family. Dissecting their discography they played fan favourites and classics evoking a great response in the crowd, which almost in its entirety had their fists or horns in the air shout/singing back the lyrics to the stage.

Check out highlights of the shows below:

PHOTO GALLERY

 

WEBSITE-Epica

WEBSITE-Eluveitie

WEBSITE-Scar Symmetry

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