Lacuna Coil
June 11, 2004
Croatian Cultural Center / Vancouver, BC Canada
Review and
pictures by Lord of the Wasteland
When
I first read it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The ad read,
“P.O.D. with special guests Blindside, Hazen Street and Lacuna
Coil.” First of all, I thought who the hell are Blindside and
Hazen Street? Then I wondered why Lacuna Coil was last on the
bill. I soon found out that this was a tour of Christian bands
and somehow Italian goth-metallers Lacuna Coil found their way
on to it. Getting the opening slot on a four-band bill gets you
thirty minutes (at best) and I wondered how a band with a song
called “Heaven’s a Lie” would fare among the Christian audience.
This was Lacuna Coil’s first visit to Vancouver and since I had
asked vocalist Cristina Scabbia when I interviewed (http://www.metal-rules.com/interviews/LacunaCoil-Aug2003.htm)
her last summer if the band would make it to these parts, she
sounded like they would play for us no matter what. I’ll give
her credit, she made true on her promise!
As soon as I arrived at the venue (which was changed last
minute), I could tell this was a far cry from the usual metal
shows I covered. I saw enough mallcore kids, parents with
children as young as eight or nine, and straight-laced junior
high girls to make me think I was at the local mall on a
Saturday afternoon. There were no clouds of smoke (legal or
illegal), no crushed plastic beer glasses littering the floor
and certainly no provocatively-dressed young strumpets. I can’t
stress enough how squeaky-clean this show was.
At
precisely 8:00, the lights went down and out came Lacuna Coil.
Cristina Scabbia was vamped up in a low-cut red and black outfit
with knee-high boots and hair tousled just perfectly—she was
every bit the vision she is on the CDs and in magazines. With
six members in Lacuna Coil, they could barely move on a stage
that was cluttered with the other bands’ equipment already
partly setup. Besides Scabbia and vocal partner, Andrea Ferro,
the rest of the band basically stood in one place the entire
time. Leading off with their latest single from 2002’s COMALIES,
“Swamped,” the band was quite captivating as Scabbia and Ferro
traded off vocals that were as clean as the originals. Scabbia
is the star of this band and she stood front and center the
entire time, her magical voice sweeping over the auditorium. The
only problem was the complete and utter lack of enthusiasm,
participation or acknowledgment by the audience that there was
even a band on stage. I was in the photographer’s pit watching
the band’s long faces and it was disgraceful. Try as they might
for even as much as a cheer, the band seemed totally dejected by
the catatonic audience. Still, they soldiered on and played a
strong set for their full half hour. Scabbia was headbanging
away and did some great hair spins. Ferro tried to get the
audience going and moved around in his “The Gothfather” t-shirt.
The two of them can handle the stage separately, but they also
work well together. Their duets are a beautiful synergy of
talented voices. Cristiano Mozzati pounded away on the drums and
mugged for a few camera shots. Guitarist Marco Biazzi and
bassist Marco Coti Zelati seemed as catatonic as the audience,
interrupting their poker-faced playing by doing that robotic
bending at the hips that nu-metal guitarists do. Lead guitarist
Cristiano Migliore threw out some great riffs and had some good
energy on his side of the stage. As the band finished, Ferro
said, “Thank you very fucking much Vancouver!!” and I could
almost feel the hand of God as 300 pairs of eyes collectively
smited him.
The
push from Century Media to get COMALIES noticed has been strong
and the band has been touring endlessly since its release. From
Type O Negative and Anthrax to P.O.D. and the upcoming Ozzfest,
Lacuna Coil has been everywhere and this exposure to vastly
different audiences has certainly helped get buzz going.
Interestingly, all eight songs that the band played were from
COMALIES. Lacuna Coil has three full-length releases and two
E.P.’s under their belts but the focus was strictly on their
latest release. My only rationale for pairing them with a bunch
of Christian bands is to get a different—VERY different—audience
to buy their records. On paper, I suppose this is clever
marketing, but if the rest of the crowds have been as cold to
the band on this tour as they were in Vancouver, I can’t help
but think Lacuna Coil is counting down the days until this
nightmare is finally over. The combination of P.O.D. and Lacuna
Coil goes together like oil and water and for a band as strong
as they are, it is a terrible injustice for Lacuna Coil to be
playing to an unappreciative and unaccepting audience. They
should be playing with band’s that will help them sell records,
not to stunned audiences of brainwashed 11-year olds.
When
I first read it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The ad read,
“P.O.D. with special guests Blindside, Hazen Street and Lacuna
Coil.” First of all, I thought who the hell are Blindside and
Hazen Street? Then I wondered why Lacuna Coil was last on the
bill. I soon found out that this was a tour of Christian bands
and somehow Italian goth-metallers Lacuna Coil found their way
on to it. Getting the opening slot on a four-band bill gets you
thirty minutes (at best) and I wondered how a band with a song
called “Heaven’s a Lie” would fare among the Christian audience.
This was Lacuna Coil’s first visit to Vancouver and since I had
asked vocalist Cristina Scabbia when I interviewed (
At
precisely 8:00, the lights went down and out came Lacuna Coil.
Cristina Scabbia was vamped up in a low-cut red and black outfit
with knee-high boots and hair tousled just perfectly—she was
every bit the vision she is on the CDs and in magazines. With
six members in Lacuna Coil, they could barely move on a stage
that was cluttered with the other bands’ equipment already
partly setup. Besides Scabbia and vocal partner, Andrea Ferro,
the rest of the band basically stood in one place the entire
time. Leading off with their latest single from 2002’s COMALIES,
“Swamped,” the band was quite captivating as Scabbia and Ferro
traded off vocals that were as clean as the originals. Scabbia
is the star of this band and she stood front and center the
entire time, her magical voice sweeping over the auditorium. The
only problem was the complete and utter lack of enthusiasm,
participation or acknowledgment by the audience that there was
even a band on stage. I was in the photographer’s pit watching
the band’s long faces and it was disgraceful. Try as they might
for even as much as a cheer, the band seemed totally dejected by
the catatonic audience. Still, they soldiered on and played a
strong set for their full half hour. Scabbia was headbanging
away and did some great hair spins. Ferro tried to get the
audience going and moved around in his “The Gothfather” t-shirt.
The two of them can handle the stage separately, but they also
work well together. Their duets are a beautiful synergy of
talented voices. Cristiano Mozzati pounded away on the drums and
mugged for a few camera shots. Guitarist Marco Biazzi and
bassist Marco Coti Zelati seemed as catatonic as the audience,
interrupting their poker-faced playing by doing that robotic
bending at the hips that nu-metal guitarists do. Lead guitarist
Cristiano Migliore threw out some great riffs and had some good
energy on his side of the stage. As the band finished, Ferro
said, “Thank you very fucking much Vancouver!!” and I could
almost feel the hand of God as 300 pairs of eyes collectively
smited him. 
The
push from Century Media to get COMALIES noticed has been strong
and the band has been touring endlessly since its release. From
Type O Negative and Anthrax to P.O.D. and the upcoming Ozzfest,
Lacuna Coil has been everywhere and this exposure to vastly
different audiences has certainly helped get buzz going.
Interestingly, all eight songs that the band played were from
COMALIES. Lacuna Coil has three full-length releases and two
E.P.’s under their belts but the focus was strictly on their
latest release. My only rationale for pairing them with a bunch
of Christian bands is to get a different—VERY different—audience
to buy their records. On paper, I suppose this is clever
marketing, but if the rest of the crowds have been as cold to
the band on this tour as they were in Vancouver, I can’t help
but think Lacuna Coil is counting down the days until this
nightmare is finally over. The combination of P.O.D. and Lacuna
Coil goes together like oil and water and for a band as strong
as they are, it is a terrible injustice for Lacuna Coil to be
playing to an unappreciative and unaccepting audience. They
should be playing with band’s that will help them sell records,
not to stunned audiences of brainwashed 11-year olds. 
