Delain at Worcester's Palladium

I went to the Sonata Arctica concert at the Palladium last Saturday. The guest bands that were included were Chronologist, Xandria, and Delain. Delain has been a special guest at the Palladium before, and at the time I didn't think it would be worth going to see unless if they were the headline band. At the time I didn't think a band would give much of a performance as a guest band compared to a headline band. Thankfully when I went to the show, I was wrong in my assumption.

I found Xandria very enjoyable, quite so much that I bought two of their CD's. Their band's vocalist, Diana van Giersbergen, has quite the voice, and the rest of the band members were awesome too. Chronologist was enjoyable even though they have no lyrics and vocals whatsoever. I had to war up to Sonata Arctica, for they played their instruments with awesome talent, but I was a bit hazy on the lead singer's voice, Tony Kakko, though that maybe because I usually prefer female singers in symphonic metal bands. Maybe I was just expecting more of a deeper voice from him or something, but at least he doesn't growl like certain vocals in certain bands. Some shouting/growling is all right in music sometimes, but not all the time.

Honestly Delain really took control of the show the best. They were the only band to set up anything in the background before they performed, and they were the only band that used fog machines. Sure, Sonata Arctica used the technicolor lights, but I found Delain more visually entertaining. Their vocalist, Johanna Charlotte Wessels, sang beautifully, and she had this remarkable energy to her despite the fact that the room was hot! With that rare energy and that intoxicating smile, she got the crowd pumped up and even jumping at times! The other band members also played their instruments awesomely. They also performed some of their best songs including Get the Devil Out of Me, We are the Others, April Rain, Breathe on Me, and Stardust. This was a show worth seeing, and there were even people outside who tried to buy people's spare tickets or tried to sneak in!

I am really looking forward to seeing Within Temptation and Ameranthe at the Palladium next month!