Concert Review: 2007 Viva La Bands Tour

by Kenneth Smith of 2K7 Photography

In true Halloween fashion, Dallas's House Of Blues hosted the 2007 Viva La Bands Tour on Thursday night. M.C'd by the "Viva La Bam" star himself (Bam Margera), this night would prove to be one of the more interesting ones that have been held at the HOB. Following CKY's performance Bam would be absent for the remainder of the evening because, as he explained in true Jackass fashion, Novak (one of his cohorts) had been arrested for defecating on the street and he had to go bail him out of jail.

Immediately after the goo-filled, bloody, and visually captivating GWAR performance, tour headliners Cradle Of Filth held a Meet & Greet in the upstairs Cambridge Room. It was quite an intimate affair, not to mention an odd sight. What seemed to be about 20 fans, most of whom were stained blue from the Gwar juice, were mingling in a swank room with leather-bound, corpse paint wearing band members. I will say that all of the guys seemed very nice as they walked around signing autographs, taking pictures, and conversing with their biggest Dallas fans.

Following what seemed to be a quite lengthy setup process (though more than likely it was the cleanup process for GWAR that took so long) Cradle Of Filth took the stage at about 10:45pm. The stage setup was very simple yet nice. A solid white backdrop that served as a projection screen with the barbed wire-clad drums set in the center surrounded by what looked to be a (faux) stone riser with stairs on either side. At the back of the stage to the left of the drums was the (also barbed wire covered) microphone setup for backing vocalist Sarah Jezebel Deva and to its opposite and right of the drums, the keyboard setup for their live keyboardist Rosie Smith. (Yes, the keyboard stand was also adorned in barbed wire).

As everyone took the stage, the crowd cheered loudly only to erupt into all-out screaming as Vocalist Dani Filth emerged last. The eerie synth & keys set the tone before dropping into the much faster, almost un-categorizable music that is Cradle Of Filth. As images of naked woman (which seems to be a running theme with past album art) were projected onto the screen above and behind them, they worked everyone into a frenzy as fans began crowd surfing over the barricade into the dank, Gwar-ooz soaked front of the stage.

I have to say that I was most intrigued by the fact that Dani Filth has an ability to go from the deepest, most unholy growls to the highest pitched, most ear piercing screams I have ever heard in a single breath. I was quite excited to hear a live rendition of one of my favorites, 2004's Nymphetamine which was recorded with ex Theatre of Tragedy and current Leaves' Eyes vocalist Live Kristine. They pulled it off without a hitch, though it did sound a bit different (considering the change in female vocals) as the video for the song played behind them.

This show definitely took the cake as the most interesting at this venue thus far. Between Gwar's always captivating show, and Cradle Of Filth's stellar performance I would have to say that it was well worth the lack of sleep and terrible headache that resulted. COF truly put on an awesome show and showed why they have remained to be one of the frontrunner's in heavy music for the last decade.

This review was submitted by a member of the Pegasus News community.