LACUNA COIL
O2 FORUM KENTISH TOWN, LONDON
Milanese metallers celebrate two decades in style
IT MIGHT BE bordering on Baltic outside, but the combination of fizzing bonhomie and palpable anticipation inside practically ignites the packed-out Forum. resembling a musical United Nations, the balcony is adorned with flags with fans from Italy to Australia in attendance. The reason behind it is simple – tonight marks Lacuna Coil’s 20th anniversary – and London has been cordially invited to witness The Greatest Show on Earth. The milanese metallers consistently deliver live, but what follows over the next twoplus hours is a jaw-dropping, retina-popping extravaganza of career-defining proportions. Flowing curtains drop to reveal not only the band, but myriad stilt-walkers, macabre mimes and face-melting pyrotechnics transfixing the revellers and transforming the stage into a twisted circus fantasy. Plunging headfirst into a beguiling salvo of
A Current Obsession and 1.19, Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro are on resplendent form visually and vocally; the juxtaposition of resounding grace and gravel-laced rasps complement each other, reaching the type of symbiosis only achieved after two decades together.
The biggest singalongs remain reserved for eternal classics My Wings, Swamped and Heaven’s A Lie – all of which render the band speechless in humble bewilderment – but it’s the raw intimacy of stripped-down, piano-led ballads Falling and Wide Awake (complete with Cristina suspended from the heavens like an anguished angel) that engross. Tonight isn’t just a celebration of the past 20 years, but proof that Lacuna Coil truly fear nothing.