I am not that a big fan of gothic (or female fronted, whatever suits your taste) metal. I like some bands, but the genre as a whole is not my cup of tea. As every rule, also this rule has its exception. In my case that´s Kingfisher Sky. Delain was for me an added bonus. I am not familiar with their material besides two songs, so I hadn´t any clue what to expect.

 

This wasn´t the first time that I saw Kingfisher Sky perform. The first time was last year in De Boerderij in Zoetermeer. Back then they were the opener for Autumn, who sadly couldn’t perform because of personal reasons. That day they left a big impression on me, so my hopes were set high beforehand. And I must say that they didn´t disappoint me whatsoever! Judith’s voice was remarkably clear and fortunately it didn't drown in the sound of the guitars and bass. A big compliment for the people arranging the sound this night! Because not only Kingfisher Sky had a great sound, the sound was equally impressive during the performance of Delain.

 

One minor complaint I had was the setting on stage. Ivar was forced to drum in a small corner, because Delain's instruments were already present on stage. That was too bad, because Ivar's drumming is such a big part of the sound of Kingfisher Sky. Luckily he was well audible, maybe a bit too well sometimes. The drums were a bit too loud during their performance, but it wasn’t a real obstacle in enjoying their performance. A performance which was well received by the crowd by the way! I have seldom seen a crowd react so positively towards an opening act. Some people even said that Delain had finally found a worthy opener. I hope that Kingfisher Sky will release their second album very soon!

 

As said, I wasn't that familiar with Delain. I had heard their new single (‘April Rain’), which didn’t impress me whatsoever, so I hoped that the rest of their material would be a lot better. They started their performance with two video screens and a lot of smoke. The video screens were an integral part of their performance. During the performance the screens showed several images, the video clip that accompanied their latest single and videos of the bass and guitar player while playing. Especially the last element was funny to see. Both players had a small camera on the neck of the guitar, which was connected with the video screens. In this way the audience had a better look on how they played their instruments.

 

The big bright spot of the performance was reserved for Charlotte Wessels, the very charismatic frontlady of Delain. I don’t know where she got all the energy from, but if I could borrow just a few percent of that energy I know that my boss would be very pleased and who knows maybe I could finally place all of my reviews online on time! She really amazed me and that’s not only because of her good looks. She was jumping, headbanging and firing up the audience constantly. Kudos to her! 

 

But of course the great performance was not all due to Charlotte. Her male companions were very tight and also brought a lot of energy to the table. They easily dragged the audience along in their enthusiasm, with as a result a lot of hand waving, clapping etc. The audience clearly had a great time!

 

I can only conclude that I was amazed by these two Dutch bands, especially since this genre isn’t my favourite. I witnessed two bands that can easily compete on a global scale and not only because of their song material, but also because of their performance on stage!