There comes a time for every man, woman and child to witness Moonspell live… Seven or eight times… And exit the venue enchanted by the sheer eruption of voluptuous dark metal coming from that stage. Oh, there were two other bands on the bill as well!
Joking aside, the evening went surprisingly well from a number of aspects. First of all, the venue which I’ve never been to before. A massive hangar turned into a concert hall seemed a great idea, though there was a slight fear about the prospect of sound engineering in such a setting. Still, apart of a segment of the opening track by Hiraes and the first track and a half by Dark Tranquillity, it was rather good in that respect also. Then there was the question of capacity. Never would I have guessed this combo could gather around a thousand people in Belgrade! The venue wasn’t quite packed, but it was neatly filled which wasn’t a promise around the time Hiraes invaded the stage.
Having heard nothing of the band other than the announcement of a melodic death metal opening band, I went into their performance with no expectations at all. What came out of it was a really confident band, with obvious experience and mileage up there, even if they only exist for just about five years. The members, of course, are no newcomers and it is apparent from their handling of space and especially crowd.
As for their music, I’m left with a bit less enthusiasm. Though they dabble in melodic death metal and are doing it decently, there’s not much more for my taste. They have a number of good ideas but the songs themselves often go on for far too long and eventually I was losing focus. There was this one shorter track that proved my point (sorry, I cannot remember the title), being the most moving and best developed of the bunch.
Still, half an hour well used to warm up the atmosphere for what was my headliner.
Moonspell cannot do a bad show. Even half-assed is not an option. They’re giving their best, regardless of the setlist, surrounding, country, stage… Even if choosing “Opium” for an opening track is a suspicious choice, considering its sluggish heaviness, the Portuguese had little trouble waking up the audience to the audio-visual spectacle in front of them. Wisely crafting the flow of the concert, constantly looking to include the crowd, Moonspell proved that Serbia and Serbian fans reside deep within their Lusitanian hearts. The connection was undoubtful throughout.
Naturally building through the show, to the utmost pinnacles of “Vampiria”, “Alma Mater” (both with theatrics brought to the maximum by a specialized light show) and “Fullmoon Madness”, Moonspell solidified their status as one of the best loved foreigners on Serbian stages.
After such a magnificent expression of emotions, Swedes were left with an unprecedented task. Not only were they never up to my taste, but their sound was suffering greatly for the first track or two. It’s like the only audible instruments were the bass drum and voice. Everything else sounded like it was coming from a whole other room.
Still, matters of taste aside, Dark Tranquillity’s performance isn’t questionable. Highly professional, extremely experienced, plus they had the advantage of the crowd being overly “theirs”, meaning most of the fans were there to hear them play. And it was fairly certain that they didn’t disappoint. It was all there…
Except for me, as I took one more look of woe to the merch table where it was all way too expensive for my taste, including the overpriced small (domestic) beer. But it was all worth it. Because there comes a time for every man, woman and child to witness Moonspell live… Eight or nine times…
Photos by Lukrecija Mesek, captured at Boogaloo, Zagreb, on April 30, 2025.
The complete gallery can be viewed on Rock Portal by clicking here.
