Saturday, July 9, 2016

HIM light up Chicago House of Blues and bring Anathema along for the ride

3-17-14 Originally published on Examiner.com by Tracy Heck

HIM and Anathema at the Chicago House of Blues 3-12-14

Wednesday night, the Chicago House of Blues played host to a foreign takeover as Finnish band HIM blew up the stage along with English rockers Anathema.
HIM's heartagram on stage at the Chicago House of Blues 3-12-14
Tracy Heck
HIM have a very large and loyal fan base that is spread out across the globe and people from all over made the trip to see the band grace the stage in Chicago.

Many of them lined up hours before the sold out show to fight for their spot on the main floor and all of them seemed to go home happy.

Much of the demand can be attributed to the fact that last May the band was supposed to tour North America on a short run promoting their new release, Tears on Tape.

Unfortunately on the eve of the first show in Los Angeles, HIM frontman Ville Valo fell ill with asthma problems and pneumonia and the tour was scrapped.

The band did return to the States over the summer playing on the Rock Allegiance Tour with Volbeat, All That Remains and Airbourne but many fans were still clamoring to see them headline.

In March, HIM announced that they would be making up the dates that had to be cancelled and Wednesday night was one of those shows.

It was recently announced that Anathema would be heading out on the bill as well and with the band getting a new album together, it is a great chance for them to pick up some new U.S. fans along the way.

Certainly they were met with a lot of enthusiasm from the crowd when they hit the stage and although their set was a bit short, it seemed to pack a punch as they moved through heartfelt songs like "Deeper" and "Thin Air".

Anathema vocalist/guitarist Vincent Cavanagh and backing vocalist Lee Douglas weave in and out together in a really powerful way that helped set the mood for HIM to take the stage.

HIM has one of rock's most iconic symbols in the heartagram and it was well represented as the stage was set up and the crowd began to buzz.

The band hit the stage hard kicking things off with the in-your-face "Buried Alive By Love" followed by their biggest hit in the States, "(Rip Out) The Wings of a Butterfly".

The set contained a long list of the band's staples from "Join Me In Death" to "Poison Girl" to their rocking cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" but it was their performance of older track "For You" that was the biggest surprise of the evening.

The song has not been performed in many years and earned the band its biggest crowd reaction.
The lighting this time out also really helped set the mood as the band was lit up throughout in striking reds and blues.

The band's clear joy at performing really translated into the crowd as Valo was all smiles and bassist Migé Paananen and guitarist Linde Lindstrom played off of each other in a really playful way throughout, urging one another on.

Drummer Gas Karppinen and keyboardist Burton Puurtinen also kept the energy level high.
There wasn't much from Tears on Tape this time out but HIM did pull out their singles from the album: the title track, "All Lips Go Blue" and encore "Into The Night".

At the end of the night, Valo thanked the crowd for coming out and seeing them "do their best to destroy the House of Blues Chicago" before closing things out with fan favorite "When Love and Death Embrace".

Anathema Setlist:
Deep
Untouchable 1
Untouchable 2
Thin Air
Simple Mistake
Fragile Dreams

HIM Setlist:
Buried Alive By Love
(Rip Out) The Wings of A Butterfly
Right Here In My Arms
Kiss of Dawn
All Lips Go Blue
Join Me In Death
Your Sweet Six Six Six
Passion's Killing Floor
Soul On Fire
Wicked Game
Tears On Tape
Poison Girl
For You
Funeral of Hearts
Encore:
Into The Night
When Love and Death Embrace


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