Fields Of The Nephilim

I went to see The Nephilim last Thursday at the London Astoria. Of course it was a complete sell out as this was the first gig they have played since the mid nineties, although their music lived on after that through their enigmatic frontman Carl McCoy and a series of mind blowing albums.

I love the music of "The Neph's", uncompromising, innovative and very black. I saw one of their final gigs at the Brixton Academy back in the nineties and I was blown away by the power of it all.

So here I was , back in "their" presence in the L.A. which was so hot upstairs that your denims stuck to you and the security guards at the front downstairs were ferrying never ending glasses of water to the crowd in a bid to prevent them from dehydrating. Well, was all the hype worth it.

From my point of view, the magic lived on in their music. Upstairs in "the circle" the sound was far from great as there was a distorting vibration from the bass so bad that it hurt your ears and made any chance of hearing McCoy's vocals almost impossible. If you can imagine your hi - fi speakers with a dodgy cone on the bass one. Their second guitarist looked as though he was a throw back to the sixties as he was emulating Pete Townsend's leg movements which seemed pretty out of place at a "Neph's" gig. As for the poor old drummer, I never saw him as he was enveloped in dry ice most of the time so whether he was the original band member I can't say.

Was it a mighty gig? Not totally, but for me I am glad I went as the music at times was awesome despite the poor sound quality. Put them in a bigger place and sort the sound out and then you have something mega to look forward to.

McCoy's stage presence is still magical and I guess you have to say .. he is "the Nephilim". If they play any more gigs I will definitely be booking my ticket.