Fields Of The Nephilim / The Membranes, O2 Ritz, Manchester.

It’s one of the coldest days of the year tonight at Manchester’s O2 Ritz, but regardless Fields Of The Nephilim are on their major UK tour promoting their landmark 1988 album The Nephilim In full!

Inside the venue it’s absolutely freezing, if you’ve never been to The Ritz in Manchester during the winter before, make sure you have a coat because it is so cold inside this venue. The crowd slowly starts to gather, a smaller crowd than expected for an earlier show ready for the kickstart of the night The Membranes.

The Membranes take to the stage sadly to a very non enthusiastic crowd, tuning their instruments and ready to get this crowd going. With the typical post – punk style, vocalist John Robbmoved around on the stage in a wild fashion, as if he didn’t have the ability to keep still, which is always amazing to see from a band going on as long as these guys have!

The interaction with the crowd is incredible, especially with how quiet they were from the beginning, the laughs and the jokes bring everyone together and help get the blood pumping as the set begins.

With a punk-gothic vibe they could be either a hit or miss depending on your taste, but honestly I’m shocked they didn’t get the crowd going more, maybe it was the cold or maybe it was because it was a fairly earlier show, but it didn’t stop them from really putting everything they have into their performance.

Making every second theatrical and entertaining, with their keyboardist sporting a long black veil with red and black roses as a crown on top, hidden in complete black with face hidden from view, they can be spotted on the side but every now and again would make their way around the stage, twirling in a trance-like fashion.

With a deep and heavy bass, deep riffs and the entertaining stage presence, by the end of the set the crowd had warmed up emotionally, and let’s really hope physically; the room has filled up massively and everyone is now officially ready for Fields Of The Nephilim.

If you’re still into your original post-punk vibe, then you should check out The Membranes back together once again and showing you that 70’s punk never left the scene.

I won’t lie but there needs to be some sort of heating in The Ritz because everyone in this venue has coats on, normally for shows it’s too warm and you need to think about what to wear to a gig but this is 100% coats and gloves tonight in here.

One thing to note before you go to see Fields Of The Nephilim is that you might not actually be able to see the band itself, well their faces anyway. You might get a pretty decent silhouette but that’s about it – mostly due to the dry ice fog that they use throughout their set. The band take to the stage wearing their trademark wide-brimmed hats, mirrored sunglasses, long duster coats, cowboy boots, and this feeling of mystery around them.

The crowd is now fully alive, some have their coats off as they soak in the bright and deep colours of the stage, hands are in the air as everyone takes their places, with a crowd of different ages. This is a band that has brought many generations together by being a staple in music history.

For their sound we’ll have to take you back to the original sound of goth; goth is a lifestyle and a massive community and these guys were, without a doubt, at the heart of it.

With baritone vocals, chiming chords, bleak soundscapes and a twangy guitar. With lyrics that reach the interests of Religion, the occult shapes the bands brooding music sense.

Tonight they’re here in Manchester to play their second landmark album The Nephilim in full. Guitarists Gavin King and Adam Paul Leach are in the complete cowboy getup, with a throw in of steampunk fashion. Around the crowd you can easily spot the mix of fans going from, goths, punks, metalheads and even just your standard t-shirt and jeans.

As the set opens, you have a slow, quiet instrumental for a few minutes before vocalist Carl McCoy joins the rest on the stage, surrounded by deep red and orange colours with the added dry ice fog, giving you the mystery feeling around his character.

Not once do you hear McCoy speak to the crowd the entire night, not wanting to break the character of the mysterious cowboy, all except for a simple “thank you very much”, he just lets the nine tracks and two encore’s tell you everything that you need to know.

Tonight everyone really saw the history of goth come completely alive tonight, in this cold dark room as everyone there is engulfed in a red-toned fog.

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