I am not interested in seeing nostalgic shows. More often, they are with some members missing, and the energy level, understandably, just is not there. Big stages and big lighting play compensation roles for the depreciation in this ageing theatre.
Touring is hard. Even giving it your best is just not good enough. This is rock ‘n’ roll. Unfortunately, many older bands just show up–often with vocals in natural decline–and just play their greatest hits with half the energy and half the interest.
There are exceptions.
Metallica is rolling along like it made a pact with the Devil to stay young and relevant. It’s not the 1986 Master Of Puppets Tour, which I saw them on, when they raged with a thrashing frenzy that the larger world was still not ready for. Switching gears, the 2022 Tears For Fears tour, from all accounts, was excellent.
And bands like Fu Manchu, Clutch, Corrosion Of Conformity, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and Sweden’s Dozer and The Hellacopters, while all having crossed the threshold of being around for at least 30 years, are still playing with an intensity that they matter today.
And they do. But the majority do not. It is an embarrassing cash grab for people of my generation with an unhealthy addiction to only jukebox memories of high school.
Going back a generation, then, from the early ’90s rock boom, I am not interested in seeing anyone. At all.
The Who? Thank god that is finally put to bed. I was in high school when a big deal, televised to boot, was made about their 1982 Farewell Show in my hometown of Toronto.
I am not sure if they played Casinos, but that is what they felt like to me at the end, like some loud, lounge act to be caught in Las Vegas. Any memories of their legendary 2:30 am performance at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970 and groundbreaking albums like Who’s Next and Quadrophenia seem oddly divorced from a band that represented the best union of songwriting and generational rebellion.
And so many props to Mick Jagger, who is in such marvellous shape, and still dances and moves as only he can. But, The Rolling Stones, for me, at least, died in the ’70s. And, how could they not? The album output from 1968 to 1972 is hard to beat, being punctuated by the wonderfully sloppy, bar-room songs on Exile On Main Street.
Black Sabbath is no more, but even with a frail and dying Ozzy singing with probably more energy than his body could produce this past summer with the Back To The Beginning Festival, their aura/influence transcended that. But, there is, was, only one Black Sabbath.
Led Zeppelin thankfully packed it in after Bonham’s death in September 1980. And, their wildly successful O2 show on 10 December 2007, was a perfect balance of remembering them as the giants they were and not wanting/desiring any more.
Maybe millions of others did. I did not. Too many bands of that generation were sabotaging their legacy by not knowing when to call it quits.
Which brings me to The Gathering. For me, this Dutch band has everything that makes seeing them beyond just another concert.
As someone who has been seeing live music for six decades now and has seen almost all the greatest bands over that time, from small clubs to large arenas, I can confidently say that wanting to see The Gathering Reunion tour is anything but nostalgic.
It’s a Bucket List item.
Throw any band at me. And maybe, except for a Kyuss reunion (I saw Kyuss in 1994), there is not a group that comes close to seeing The Gathering live in 2026.
The number one reason is that Anneke Van Giersbergen is back with the band. If she is not the greatest and most versatile female singer of this generation, then I do not have a clue who is. I mean, c’mon, the woman can sing pop, rock, country, opera, and Metal like she owns each of those genres separately.
She also sings with a smile and a twinkle in her eye, which feels angelic, a needed anchor of lightness that balances the emotionally and sonically uncompromising sound of the band.
The Venn Diagram of people who can cover a Barbara Streisand song and an Iron Maiden song contains one person. And nobody should search for anyone else. You would be looking for artists to stand on the silver medal podium.
While she has had a successful solo career for more than 15 years, nothing showcases the power of her singing more than being in The Gathering.
The Gathering, as already hinted at, has a dense sound that mixes gothic romanticism, Pink Floyd soundscapes, and general moments of pure heaviness that few bands can duplicate. If it were not for the almost blinding presence of Anneke Van Giersbergen, musicians like Rene Rutten (guitar) and Frank Boeijen (keyboards) would get far more credit and attention.
The best example of that is A Noise Severe, and this version from their final show with Anneke back in 2007 in Chile is one of the most devastatingly chilling and paradoxically uplifting songs I have heard in my life.
And just like Nicky Hopkins was instrumental in adding characters to the outro for the Stones’ song Sway, Boeijen calmly hits the right notes on his keyboard when the song exits in breathtaking dissonance.
While the band creates a sound of growing doom, Anneke’s voice, while competing with that pleasing dissonance, lifts the song, even while the whole thing feels like a downward spiral.
But, it is a downward spiral you want to be in because Anneke’s aura is so magnetic and powerful that you are comforted in even the harshest musical storm and this song, trust me, is one drawn out storm of distortion genius.
The closing density is so strong, you would think the band was writing a song about being sucked into a black hole happily.
There is just no band on the planet that can turn a bleak-as-fuck song into goosebump beauty like The Gathering. That is because no other band has an Anneke Van Giersbergen.
But that was 2007. Is the band still capable of capturing the magic that took them from the cult status of the late ’90s to European and Chilean darlings in the 2000’s?
As Aerosmith said, Let The Music Do The Talking.
That blitzkrieg of sound and light in the final minute of this performance is romantically symbolic of the unique energy that The Gathering has brought to their live shows.
And, it does not overwhelm AVG. Nothing can. The intensity is simply a symbolic reflection of the energy and power contained within the band, and with their once-in-a-lifetime singer never deviating from being the centre of that musical tsunami.
When she pivots to be perpendicular to the audience during this heavy finale, dancing, stomping, and banging her head like she is listening to Slayer, because she does, it is nothing short of electrifying.
Anyone going to see them on this tour does not need to read this article. They know all this. This article is for those who do not.
The Gathering is one of the greatest bands of all time. And, not that I needed any more convincing, my 17-year-old daughter Raya, who listens to contemporary music like Beach House and Tyler, The Creator, is a massive fan of the band, so much so that she wants to travel to see them as they will not be playing Canada.
Now it does not hurt that she is also obsessed with bands like Pink Floyd and The Smashing Pumpkins, as elements of both can be found in The Gathering’s rich catalogue.
This is a rare treat, and there are not that many dates for this world tour. So, if they are coming to your city, I would suggest you buy a ticket to the concert. The show will most likely elicit emotions of awe, wonder, and bliss that will uplift you like few live performances can.
Bold words? Nah. The Gathering has already accomplished that. They are just giving an opportunity to a generation that might have missed them when they debuted with their groundbreaking album, Mandylion, in 1995, which is the reason for the band to reunite.
Yes, to fondly remember, but to give new life to those songs, and to remind the world that this band has been sorely missed in this original form.
Do not sleep on this band. Raya once listened to this song 20 times in one day. Maybe a father/daughter road trip with a passport is in order.
The Gathering play O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 19 May 2026. Tickets are available from gathering.nl.
