Live Review: Lacuna Coil w/Nonpoint at the 1865 in Southampton!

Even though tonight has been sold out for a while there are fans queuing in the rain outside the 1865 in Southampton to see if they can get a ticket on the door. That’s how great the demand is and how loved Milan based Italians Lacuna Coil and Fort Lauderdale Americans Nonpoint are on the South Coast. It’s not our first rodeo with the pair having witnessed Nonpoint last year on the 25th anniversary of “Scars” by Soil tour at this very same venue and having seen Lacuna Coil at Bloodstock Open Air Festival this past summer. They both have a reputation to live up to, those performances the kind that live long in the memory.

While stateside Nonpoint [9/10] have been touring around the 20th and 25th Anniversary of their “To The Pain” and “Statement” albums, tonight the Nu-Metal birthed in 1997 treat us to a 50 minute, eleven song career spanning set. As there is no third band on the bill and we’ve been waiting for them to take to the stage for an hour “Breaking Skin” isn’t as impactful as an opening song as it could have been. Fortunately it’s swiftly followed by the powerhouse of a sing-a-long anthem that is “What a Day“, which gets everyone going, hands in the air as that earworm riff penetrates the ear drums. The momentum builds with “Chaos and Earthquakes” as the crowd gets off the floor before “Ruthless” confirms that what the band did back in the day can be matched by this incarnation almost thirty years later. As ever it’s the rhythms that get everyone going, drummer Robb Rivera beating the living daylights out of the kit with a little bit of that Latin flare the band are renowned for. If there is anyone in the crowd who doesn’t know who Nonpoint are then there is no excuse not to sing-a-long during their beefed up cover of “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins because it’s one everyone should know, so vocalist Elias Soriano holds the microphone stand at arms length so he can hear the south coast crowd. Tonight his vocals are fierce, showing no signs of wear and tear despite having been put to good use night after night for nearly three decades. He means every word, every song one that no doubt has the name of a person in his mind from situations he’s found himself in and the fire still burns. An unholy trinity from the aforementioned “To The Pain” brings the curtain down, as “Rabia“, “Alive and Kicking” and “Bullet With a Name” are all hammered out of the park for a home run. The energy of that final three is incredible, each angry anthem getting the crowd screaming along during the choruses while bass solo from Adam Woloszyn is warmly received. So while it felt like a slow start by the end the capacity crowd are won over, warmed up and ready for the main event having been suitably impressed.

As an album “Sleepless Empire” continued the heavier direction which Lacuna Coil [9/10] took with “Comalies XX” and that translates particularly well to their live show. Tonight they give us a 90 minute performance of nineteen songs including no less than four in an encore. Each one is utterly spellbinding, the band blurring the lines between sub-genres with their Industrial tinged Gothic Metal sonic abrasions. When they take to the stage in their Zombie inspired corpse paint the quintet are given a heroes welcome before they burst into powerful rendition of “Layers of Time“. Curiously the sound is bass heavy tonight, the 5 string of Marco Coti Zelati put through its paces while his synths and programming are on a backing track. There are a few strained clean vocals from Andrea Ferro early on, as if he has not properly warmed up however his harsh uncleans are as powerful as ever and his performance grows in stature as the set plays out, “Hosting the Shadow” being a fine example. By contrast Cristina Scabbia’s performance is majestic throughout, giving every song that epic quality the band are known for as they crush the crowd with their intense mid tempo anthems. She gives a little speech before a classy rendition of “In the Mean Time” mid set before the bands newest member in seven string guitarist Daniele Salomone nails a pair of incredible solos at the beating black heart of the set and they leave you wanting more. The biggest roars are saved for “Heaven’s a Lie XX” and “Oxygen” before Scabbia gets the crowd chanting “We fear nothing!” as the band tear through a masterful performance of “Nothing Stands in Our Way“. The encore is of course very special, drummer Richard Meiz directing the crowd to cheer as every other member of the band returns to the stage. “I Wish You Were Dead” has everyone singing during the chorus with barely a pause for breath during “Swamped XX“. Tonight isn’t one for mosh pits but swaying like marionettes to the enchantment of the siren songs of these five musicians and by the end there are even a few fans in tears…