Delain at Relentless Garage

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Delain at Relentless Garage, London

This was the opening night of Delain’s first headline tour of the UK, with their first show at The Garage in north London. Having done very well in their recent support slot with Finnish Power Metal troupe Sonata Arctica, they had a lot to prove this time around. The Garage was packed and the atmosphere was electric. Band members came onstage one by one to the opening strains of Invidia. After about 30 seconds the beautiful Charlotte Wessels graced the stage with a smile that lit up the whole venue. She sang and mesmerised the crowd with her incredible vocal range. As a gesture of thanks to Delain’s UK fans, she had a small union jack flag on her right cheek and looked constantly amazed at the crowd reaction. After ‘Stay Forever’, ‘Sever’, ‘April Rain’ and ‘Away’, the band stopped and took time to bask in the glory that was undoubtedly theirs. Delain’s strong point has always been the great songs written by the masterful Martijn Westerholt. This really was symphonic Metal at its best and the musicianship was brilliant.

Despite a small mishap half way through the performance where Charlotte’s microphone died, she showed great maturity and presence as a lead singer. She had the crowd eating out of her hand as they passionately sung along to every melody. After singing “Silhouette of a Dancer” Charlortte was speechless once more at the support from the crowd. They thanked the crowd and left the stage, returning for an encore of ‘Virtue and Vice’ ‘Lost’ and finally ‘Pristine’.

This was a hell of a way for Delain to kick off their tour and if they keep this up, there will simply be no stopping them. What a great night it was.

Review by Warren Peart.