VNV Nation @ Phoenix Concert Theater – June 9, 2005

posting this a few days late, but (as you can see from the previous post) i’ve been busy lately.

last thursday i went to the phoenix concert theater to see vnv nation, with special guests soman and imperative reaction. We arrived a bit late and missed soman entirely, but were able to catch the last few songs in imperative reaction’s set. i’m familiar with their ‘eulogy for a sick child’ ablum and was interested to check out their set, but they went on a little earlier than i guessed and we were a little slower getting there so i only saw the last few. they sounded like they were mixed kind of ‘flat’ and muddy – it was hard to pick out more than the bass beat and some noise. sometimes that’s related to the sound in a particular venue, or equipment , and sometimes it’s intentional. not sure what the deal was there.

however, vnv came on and seriously rocked the house. they sounded great and have added two new musicians since the last time i saw them. it was only ronan singing and mark on drums when i saw them in minneapolis for the last tour, but this time they also had two people on keyboards/powerbooks. mark stayed on drums for the duration, switching over to play keyboards for ‘beloved’ as the two keyboardists left the stage. the band seemed to be having a really good time and thanked the crowd continually for their support. they seemed truly gracious to be getting the great reception from the crowd. their initial set felt a bit short, but they padded it out with two encores which made it seem a good length. however, with a great show like that you always seem to leave wanting more. i was really hoping for the vocal version of ‘forsaken’ and ‘beloved’ as i’d enjoyed them alot last time around, but only got one of the two. oh well, i can listen to ‘forsaken’ live from the ‘pastperfect’ dvd (which i’ve ripped into mp3 using my handy ripdvd program).

fantastic show. if you are a fan of the band you should definitely take the opportunity to check them out live. here’s the setlist:

chrome

joy

dark angel

arena

epicentre

entropy

endless skies

legion

standiag

perpetual

further

honour 2003

homeward

beloved