After the two support bands, it was time for VNV NATION to hit the stage. With the recent release of their new album ‘Of Faith, Power and Glory’ it was no surprise that the show started with the irrepressible build of the opening track ‘Pro Victoria’. You got the impression from the album that Ronan Harris (Vocals) and Mark Jackson (Co-member) were proud of their newest creation and you get an even greater sense of this when you hear them performing live.

Ronan burst onto stage to ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’ and sets a frantic pace which a small minority of the crowd with enough space to dance tried to match. The whole set seemed to feed off itself and by mid set the first beat of ‘Chrome’ it couldn’t really get any better.

If the tempo was slowed by ‘Great Divide’ then it hit the proverbial brick wall that is ‘Illusion’ with its slow beat and syth-piano accompaniment, Ronan’s voice takes on a completely different aspect, such a contrast to the rest of the set, live this song hypnotises the audience.

In between songs Ronan kept up the witty banter with the crowd, every now and then burst into Darah o’Briain style gags, the finest when he stop the set and with the help of the rest of the band managed to create a Christmas tree out of the drum kit using glow sticks thrown from the crowd!

The set closed with the powerful beat driven ‘Nemesis’, but with more than a few crowd pleasers still to be played, after some thunderous applause, VNV NATION were back on stage, and off again and back on with three separate encores! Not that anyone seemed to mind the chance to make as much noise as possible in between.

As the set was coming to an end ‘Joy’ got everyone dancing one last time. Then when it seemed the set was never going to end, with a little irony for good measure ‘Perpetual’ brought the night to a close.

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Review and Photography and Alexander Shaw

(VNV Nation photos)