HIM - January 26th 2004 - Glasgow Barrowlands.
I arrived at the barrowlands an hour before the gig began, and already the queue was
pretty large. I had been waiting to see HIM for a year. Last year, they had played at the
Cathouse, and I think I was on holiday, so I was unable to go. Anyway, after waiting
around 40-50 minutes, the queue started piling in. It was a lot busier than I expected.
After around half an hour, the lights went dim, and Viking Skull took to the stage.
I had never heard them before, and I was quite impressed. They had a sort of Deep Purple
/ AC/DC feel to them. Nice touch. They were pretty good anyways. After around half an hour,
a lot of the crowd were unamused and becoming impatient. They began chanting for HIM and
Ville Valo to come on stage, but Roddy Stone (vocals) was not disheartened as he told the
crowd to 'Shut the *@!& Up' I'm sure (Or words to that effect). This may have made them
more unamused, but, they did as told and shut up. After enjoying the last ten minutes of
their set, I became really excited knowing that extremely soon, Mr Ville, Mige, Linde, Gas
and Burton were soon to be in front of me playing their music, and I would be standing
singing my heart out. That's exactly what I did.
After 10 anticipating minutes, they came on stage and opened with an immense 'Soul On Fire'.
The crowd went wild! They were really hyped up. Ville was looking pretty rugged (and sexy)
with an unshaven face..In fact, more of a beard and moustache. He also was sporting a
cigarette. As per usual. Unfortunately, I can't get hold of a setlist, and my memory is
pretty bad, so I don't remember all that they played. I do recall some of my personal
favourites, such as, 'Heartache Every Moment' and 'Right Here In My Arms' being played,
but most unfortunately, no 'Sigillum Diaboli' or 'Razorblade Kiss'. At the end, after
playing 'Wicked Game', HIM gave an incredible and most energetic version of
'Buried Alive By Love'. It should have been the ender, as many thought, but straight away
they burst into 'Gone With The Sin'. Such a mellow song, to end the night with. I don't
think it was the best song to end with, but still a great song and performance. I really
think HIM are a great band to see live. I enjoyed it so much, and look forward to seeing
them again. x