It might have been cold and wet on the streets of St. Louis last Friday night, but no one inside The Pageant would have known it. Fans of Finnish superstars HIM were too filled with anticipation to notice as they waited for their cherished musicians to take the stage. At just past 9:00 PM, the houselights dimmed, the stage filled with smoke and the collective screams filled the venue as one by one the band members took their places and to their instruments, adding layer upon layer of music. The audience did not have to wait long for charismatic frontman Ville Valo to appear and give them exactly what they wanted.
The band delivered a 16 song set that included a mixture of their harder tracks, opening with Passion's Killing Floor from latest release Venus Doom (Sire). Highlights include Dark Light's Vampire Heart with a great breakdown of harmony, a passionate delivery of It's All Tears (Drown in this Love) from their first album (incidentally released 10 years ago this November), the track that made them a hit in Europe back in 2000, Join Me In Death, the ambitious yet impressive Sleepwalking Past Hope, and the finale of beloved track Funeral of Hearts off Love Metal. There was no encore.
Setlist:
Passion's Killing Floor
Wings of a Butterfly
Buried Alive By Love
Wicked Game
The Kiss of Dawn
Vampire Heart
Poison Girl
Dead Lover's Lane
Join Me In Death
It's All Tears (Drown In This Love)
Sleepwalking Past Hope
Killing Loneliness
Soul On Fire
Bleed Well
Right Here In My Arms
Funeral Of Hearts
HIM frontman Ville Valo sported skinny jeans and a Black Sabbath t-shirt under a dapper blazer. The ubiquitous beer of years past was replaced with bottled water and Red Bull, which he swigged throughout the performance. His most beloved prop, the ever-present Marlboro Light, was in hand, but despite this Ville's voice was rich and bold. As usual, Ville commanded his audience with the subtlest of gestures, a characteristic that makes this band best experienced, in my opinion, in close proximity.
Dear reader, if you are a stranger to HIM's style of music you should imagine arctic folklore, heartbreaking melodies, and wicked tales of love and death. Perhaps one can describe it as Lynchian thematics married with ambient melodies. It's five-star music that weaves a tapestry of goth, rock and melancholic-catchy pop. However I describe it here, it's a taste that should continue to catch on in this country. Just open your arms and drown it its love. -K
To see more pictures go to our buzznet site and enter the HIM gallery!
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