Yet another great night of darkwave music in the vault at the legendary Bannermans venue, thanks to a typically inspired pairing of acts from the synth end of the modern goth market by Flag Promotions, bringing Brooklynites Bootblacks and French band, Divine Shade to the heart of Scotland’s capital for the first night of a UK tour.
Playing Edinburgh for the first time ever, despite having released their first (split-)single almost 15 years ago, Bootblacks took some time to fully hit their stride as the opening act on this co-headlining tour. Whether it was the preponderance of slower songs in the first half of the set, the slightly disappointing crowd size, with fewer than expected numbers of Numanoids (Divine Shade had successfully supported the seminal synthwave icon in the city two years ago) supplementing the hardcore of ‘elder goth’ capital gig regulars, or the extremely cramped stage conditions which restricted the usual infectiously energetic physical performance of band mainstays, vocalist Panther Almqvist and synth maestro /electronic percussionist Barrett Hiatt, it was only when the band switched to more dancefloor friendly songs that the evening really came alive.
Guitarist Kalle Fagerberg’s mournful dark twang embellishments significantly enhance what could otherwise be more generic coldwave fare, and choice up-tempo cuts (like Travelling Light, Decoys, and Hold & Dissolve) from the band’s three albums to date soon have the audience dancing as the band finally settle into their stride. Tracks with a harder EBM backbeat like recent single When You Want raise the temperature further, with Panther removing his mic stand to enable him to prowl the front of the stage more effectively in his impressive silver shoes, and there is sustained applause at the end of set-closer and fellow recent single Forbidden Flames, further whetting the appetite for the forthcoming fourth Bootblacks album.
(short video of the intro to Forbidden Flames)
Curiously, Divine Shade have yet to release an album at all, a full decade on from their debut EP, although a nine track LP Fragments is due before the end of the year, but nevertheless their fame has deservedly spread impressively in recent years. Although mainman Ren Toner wasn’t even born when monoliths of industrial post-punk such as Pretty Hate Machine, Psalm 69 and TV Sky were released, since discovering the genre initially via The Matrix soundtrack he has distilled its essential elements to create a potent modern sub-branch of the musical style, which is particularly effective in the live setting thanks to the incorporation of live drums (now courtesy of Max) and his brother Nico’s versatile guitar riffs, in a genre where pushing a button on a machine is often one of the main elements of a supposedly live performance.
As a singer Ren is equally adept at crooning a verse as he is at bellowing a chorus, and strapping on a second guitar or playing synth gives his songs a welcome diversity, as does his switching from French to English from song to song. Beginning with unrecorded cuts Hate and Oblivion and Ruines et Cendres, Divine Shade up the pace with From The Sky from the debut EP, from a time when there was an overt angular Numanesque element to their sound.
Numan may himself offered the band their big break in 2022 with that UK tour slot, but he is far from the only respected scene figure twice Ren’s age to be impressed by his youthful talent, with The Mission also taking the project under their wing as support on this autumn’s French/Spanish mini-tour, industrial legend (ex-NIN and MM) Chris Vrenna remixing singles Stars and Ashes, both of which receive a rapturous reception at Bannermans, and esteemed scene guitarist Steve Fox-Harris (Gary Numan band, ex-Fields of the Nephilim) collaborating with the band on last year’s single Oublier, which in the live context combines the raw power of vintage The Young Gods with the sensitivity of Ren’s understated vocal.
Max’s frenetic tubthumping lights the touchpaper for a coruscating rendition of most recent single Heaven, a manic brainfreeze of a song that makes The Prodigy’s Invaders Must Die sound like a nursery rhyme in comparison. A faultless set ends with the almost balladesque Show Me The Way, and the band clearly hadn’t anticipated the enthusiastic reception they received as they appeared unprepared for the defeaning chanted demands for “one more tune!”, but after some discussion they treated the sweaty throng to a stunning rendition of Éternel from 2020’s In The Dust EP by way of an impromptu encore.
After this triumphant opening night, the tour moves on Newcastle before further stops in Glasgow, London, Sheffield, Birmingham and Bristol, so do yourself a favour and for less than the price of a CD catch this double bill of excellent bands on a rare visit to these shores.