Front 242 (8/12/24, Electric Ballroom, London, England, UK)

A first and last for me on Sunday night, with me *finally* seeing Belgian EBM outfit Front 242 on the London date of their farewell Black Out tour. Having missed an opportunity to see them a couple of years back, I would’ve kicked myself even harder had I let their swansong set pass me by.

Support came from rising Swedish EBM star Rein, and very impressive support she was too, striding across the stage in a cyberpunk-worthy shades and suit combo whilst performing tracks such as ‘Reactivity’, with its striking staccato choral rhythms, the moody ‘Dystopia’, which channels the sound and feel of early ’90s sophistipop through an electronic filter, and the absolutely belting brutality of ‘Bodyhammer’, a track that’ll see many a replay on my personal playlist. Definitely one of the best opening acts I’ve seen at a gig this year. Hopefully, she’ll return for a headline show or several in the not-so-distant future.

The tone well and truly set by Rein, 242, the elder statesmen of EBM, took to the stage not too long after, opening their set with an introductory video marking their 43 years in operation (something in common there!) followed by a nice, full-bodied, crowd-rousing rendition of ‘W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G.’. The band were in high spirits during the entirety of their 80-minute set, particularly lead vocalist Jean-Luc de Meyer, who continually exhorted the audience to get into the spirit of things. Not that it was necessary with the selections on the career-spanning setlist, which included, amongst others, personal favourites such as the energetic ‘Body to Body’, the memorably melodic ‘Quite Unusual’, the body-bouncing beat monster ‘Red Team’, and the stellar, soaring ‘Masterhit’. Less familiar tracks such as ‘Punish Your Machine’ and ‘Welcome to Paradise’ also made a strong, resounding impression. Of course, though, the money shot of the night came in the form of the iconic  ‘Headhunter’, the best bounty-hunter anthem ever committed to recorded media, and the instructive, count-the-steps chorus definitely garnered the maximum participation from all assembled.

As swansongs go, Front 242’s final (?) London show of their final (?) tour proved a revelrous rivetheaded roar rather than a waning whimper; my only lament about this show (beyond not hearing ‘No Shuffle’) is that it was my first.

~MRDA~

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