VV
London Royal Albert Hall
Gothic metal icon turns loose his swan song.
If there’s any funereal undertone to this final VV show, it’s purely aesthetic. Ville Valo is met by a sea of black-clad figures as he arrives on stage at the Royal Albert Hall tonight, but the shrieks of adoration that greet set opener Neon Noir suggest more of an Irish wake. Besides, there’s still plenty of life to be found in the soaring choruses of Run Away From The Sun, Wings Of A Butterfly and Loveletting, everyone in the audience joining in with exultant enthusiasm.
In a set that balances HIM hits and the majority of last year’s comeback Neon Noir, Valo shows just why he’s the crown prince of goth-metal, The Kiss Of Dawn adding a surprising lustiness to Sabbath-like riffs, while The Foreverlost could be a forgotten Cure off-cut. For all the well-worn brilliance of Buried Alive By Love or Killing Loneliness, it’s the NN material that feels most transformed, tighter and imbued with a fresh sense of VVitality by the band.
Valo is tight-lipped throughout but a giant grin betrays his enjoyment. Showered
