Even though I hadn't seen Paradise Lost since 2015 they have remained unchallenged as my 'most seen' band, this being my fourteenth time! How is that even possible, I wonder... well it started it 1993 at Rock City (supporting Sepultura) which I attended with Rich Mabbutt if I remember correctly. After that we saw them twice in 1994 (Rock City and Wulfrun Hall) then in Milton Keynes under a different name (secret warm up gig for Monsters of Rock I think).
Then there was a break of four years, so we didn't see them on either of the 'Draconian Times' or 'One Second' tours, but we reconnected with them for 'Host' at JBs in Dudley. The next two tours we also saw them in Dudley ('Believe in Nothing' in 2001 and 'Symbol of Life' in 2003') and we saw them play the Wulfren again in 2004. Next up was as support to Nightwish at the Hammersmith Odeon in 2005 and then headlining their own show two days later at JB's! Then it was back to the Wulfrun in 2009, which was in support of the 'Death Divides Us - Pain Unites Us' album.
That was Rose's last Paradise Lost show for sixteen years, but I saw them with Rich at the Wulfrun again in 2013 with Lacuna Coil and Katatonia (who both sucked ass, even though Katatonia were supposedly playing their 'Viva Emptiness' album). Paradise Lost were great though. It was their 25th anniversary tour and they played a wide selection of songs from just about every album including 'Host', with Nick taking no shit from the crowd.
"Listen to it," he said. "It's a bloody good album."
Finally Rich and I went to Rock City to see them in 2015, which I have very little memory of honestly... and that was it until tonight. Amazing how all that adds up to thirteen shows, especially with some big gaps, but then if you see a band twice in three days then it does add up.
And so to this show at the Rescue Rooms... oddly I thought we'd seen them here in the past, but apparently not. I guess we must have considered it at some point and decided against it, probably because we assumed it would be rammed. And so it was tonight, sold out in fact, which I discovered on the day. Oh joy. How we love 'sold out' gigs... not.
High Parasite were first support, but for God only knows what reason they were coming on at 6:20pm. We hadn't even eaten our tea by then and the venue is 70 minutes away so we had fuck all chance of seeing them, and while we didn't actually fancy 'Messa's' jazz metal stylings, there wasn't much chance of making it in time to see them either. In fact we arrived to the venue at 8:05pm, just ten minutes before PL were due to take the stage.
Predictably, once through the doors it was a tightly packed throng of people and it looked like being a complete waste of time and money. I really don't understand why PL were playing here, surely they should be back at Rock City. Well anyway, we decided to try our luck on the balcony and while it was a bit hopeless to start with, after a little while people shuffled around and we could see Nick and Greg, some drums and occasionally the bass player (Steve). No sign of Aaron Aedy, but I assume he must have been there, cos we could hear him! 🤣
TRUE BELIEF LIVE AT RESCUE ROOMS 14.10.2025
The band started with 'Serpent on the Cross' from the new album and then once again took in songs from a wide selection of their older albums, including 'True Belief' (Icon'), 'One Second' and 'Say Just Words' (One Second), 'Once Solemn' (Draconian Times), 'Pity the Sadness' (Shades of God), 'Requiem' (In Requiem), 'Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us' (Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us), 'Beneath Broken Earth' (The Plague Within), 'Ghosts' (Obsidian), 'No Celebration' (Symbol of Life), Silence Like the Grave' and 'Tyrants (also from 2025's Ascension) and also 'Nothing Sacred' and 'Mouth' from their 'controversial' Host and Believe in Nothing albums.
Sound was generally good, and the crowd was very receptive and responsive, even singing along with Nothing Sacred, despite the man behind me loudly telling his friend that no one likes 'Host'. Ha!
Some of the guitar work was a little sloppy though and Nick's voice does not sound like it used to, lacking power for a lot of the set. The problem with that is that Nick's voice is a huge part of PL's sound and when you're singing along and he's singing it 'wrong' it does throw you a bit.
Still, I'm glad we went, but next time I think we will go somewhere bigger because this place is just too small for a band of this size. Really we were lucky that we could find a tiny spot on the balcony otherwise this would have been a right disaster of a gig.
SETLIST: Serpent on the Cross / Tragic Idol / True Belief / One Second / Once Solemn / Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us / Pity the Sadness / Beneath Broken Earth / Nothing Sacred / Tyrants Serenade / Requiem / Mouth / Say Just Words / No Celebration / Ghosts / Silence Like the Grave
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