On Thursday, 23 April the short European tour of REMNANT started in 330 LIVE in The Hague. The ones familiar with REMNANT know that this group consists out of three members, but unfortunately, Robert_tJ couldn’t attend because of a business trip. That wasn’t a problem for Marie and Takmi however, because together they managed to put down a very atmospheric show. But let’s not get ahead of things just yet.
The doors of 330 LIVE opened at 20:00, and what surprised me was that the small venue filled with a nice number of people pretty quickly. That’s not just fun, because it meant that DJ Nachtraaf could perform a nice set immediately already to get people in the mood. Nachtraaf himself is a familiar name in the undergroud industrial scene, and I had heard about him a few times myself, but nothing beats a life performance. Which was exactly the case here as well.
After the audience was warmed up by Nachtraaf it was finally time for REMNANT. Their music is dreamy, exciting, spooky and touching in a way. A lot of this has to do with Marie’s voice. She is a person who can sing high notes beautifully without going flat. Aside from that she often whispers into the microphone. A delightful voice to dream away on. Takmi’s guitar play goes along perfectly with this. Even though I heard later that Takmi writes the music first and Marie then adjusts her singing to it, I really felt like Takmi adjusted himself to Marie instead. But that’s just the opinion of this reporter.
It was really nice to see that so many people listened to REMNANT in a sort of hypnotized way. I got “the ultimate dance moment” myself when I saw how Marie waved her fan at us. Guitar lovers were drooling over Takmi’s coffin guitar and the atmosphere was more than perfect. Due to the decoration of the stage, which REMNANT had done themselves, the small venue was comfy and atmospheric. Not like an open fireplace, oh no, this was more the atmosphere of a haunted mansion or abandoned castle. I’m not surprised, considering their music is partially inspired by horror movies.
Amusingly enough, the performance was way too short in my opinion. But if you look at the setlist you see that REMNANT played quite a number of songs. After accepting the cheers and clapping of the audience Marie and Takmi joined the merchandise stand themselves to help sell their items and give out autographs. DJ Nachtraaf started his closing act and kept going at it for quite some time. The people were enjoying themselves and stayed longer than I expected. This did give REMNANT enough time to take a picture with everyone who wanted to. When it was finally time to leave I saw a lot of happy faces exit the venue. And I couldn’t help but wonder, would they have spooky dreams tonight?
Below you will find the setlist of the evening to get an impression on what songs they played. Fun fact: this setlist was used for the entire tour.
Setlist:
01. Covenant(SE)
02. Darkness coming
03. Eternity of children
04. Progeny of blood
05. (SE)
06. Darkness eve-revive-
07. Ghost
08. Death wish
09. Insensate(MC)
10. Das Ende
11. Secret amour
12. La mer Morte
13. Absolve from restriction(SE)
14. Fallen
15. Requiem
16. Witches’ Sabbath
17. Blind Sunday
18. Apocalypse(SE)
Fotografie: Francisca Hagen
