Anathema & Antimatter Live @ Boerderij Zoetermeer, The Netherlands


Antimatter04The Boerderij in Zoetermeer was host to a very special acoustic evening with Antimatter and Anathema. These two bands are closely intertwined, as former bass player and songwriter for Anathema Duncan Patterson was one of the founding members of Antimatter. Anathema’s Daniel Cavanagh also appeared on Antimatter’s fourth studio album Leaving Eden.

Antimatter’s members for this evening were Mick Moss and Vic Anselmo, who performed a lovely set of songs on acoustic guitar and keys respectively. Their dark ambient style worked amazingly well acoustically, and they provided a beautiful delicate start to the evening. Vocally they were a wonderful match, with Moss’ clear voice being complemented perfectly by Anselmo’s deep harmonies. She also occasionally embarked on some vocal solos, and performed a song on her own, where the quality of her singing was excellently displayed. In between the songs, Moss provided the audience with jokes and witty remarks. All in all, this was a perfect act to warm the crowd before Anathema hit the stage.

Anathema03Having started as a death/doom metal band, Anathema has changed styles over the years and currently create atmospheric prog. This evening saw the band consist of only three members, Daniel and Vincent Cavanagh, and Lee Douglas. The music was brought together in a very interesting way: rather than just play a regular acoustic show, Daniel added percussion and rhythm guitars through a looping system, or switched to keyboard duty, while Vincent occasionally used a synthesiser effect on his guitar. This did sometimes lead to mix ups when Danny decided the tracks weren’t lined up absolutely perfectly, but they did an astounding job of recreating their music. They explained that this was rather different from how they were used to playing, and also wildly different from the show in Bulgaria, where they performed with an entire orchestra, and which will be released on DVD later this year.

Anathema05In song choice, they played a lot of crowd pleasers, from their latest albums: Opening with ‘Thin Air’, they immediately got the audience enthusiastic. ‘Untouchable’ made for a wonderful sing-along moment, ‘Dreaming Light’, ‘The Beginning Of The End’, and ‘Flying’ were also very memorable. They even forayed into their past music, and played ‘Lost Control’ and ‘Parisienne Moonlight’, both songs from their more gothic period. They also played a couple of covers, namely Pink Floyd’s ‘High Hopes’, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Big Love’, and The Beatles’ ‘Oh! Darling’. After the cathartic combo of ‘Last Goodbye’ and ‘Fragile Dreams’, they played another cover as encore; namely Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall’.

This was a truly spectacular show: Vincent’s vocals were absolutely spot on, from the emotional ‘ OneLast Goodbye’ to the powerful ‘Untouchable part 1’. Lee vocals were staggeringly good, and I was more than happy that she got to sing songs on her own this evening, ‘Parisienne Moonlight’ and an amazing rendition of ‘Oh! Darling’. Daniel’s backing vocals were also very good, and he often enticed the crowd to sing along. During ‘Flying’ the audience was singing for such a long time that the band even had time to wander off stage. I cannot but conclude that this is one the most amazing bands to see live. From their camaraderie on stage and audience interaction to their incredible technical ability and amazing talent, they will provide you with an evening to remember.

Anathema + Antimatter
Zoetermeer, Boerderij
July 11th
Lorraine Lysen
Photography: Susanne Maathuis

Anathema – Facebook
Antimatter – Facebook