The Mission/Salvation - The Waterfront, Norwich, Tuesday, 21st June 2022
On entering the Waterfront, I immediately headed for the photo pit to get a close-up view of the stage. To my delight and surprise, I saw a large Leeds United banner draped across some speakers, Wow! Marching on together!
My enthusiasm now heightened, I was really excited for the show, especially as in the outside area I met a Mission mega fan who told me he had seen them over 150 times! His commitment got me buzzing for their set.
But first, ‘Salvation’ to the stage. Opener ‘Answer’ created barely a ripple of interest from the crowd. They played well enough but despite the best efforts of frontman, Daniel Mass, these Leeds Goths never really caused waves of excitement from beyond the stage.
It kind of says it all when an encore of ‘Kim Wilde’s ‘Kids of America’ got the biggest response and proved to be the highlight of their set.
Set List: Tadeusz (1912-1988)/Beyond The Pale /Tomorrow Never Knows/And the Dance Goes On/Met-Amor-Phosis/Swoon/Severina/Only You & You Alone/Evangeline/Grotesque/Butterfly On A Wheel/Wasteland/Deliverance.
Encore 1: Raising Cain/Garden Of Delight/Swam Song.
Encore 2: Within The Deepest Darkness (Fearful)/The Crystal Ocean/Tower Of Strength.
Anyway, The Mission would soon explode onto the stage. Main man, Wayne Hussey had come from a ‘Black Planet’ from which he soon had to ‘Walk Away’, being shown as much mercy as Bielsa’s Leeds United defence! From here he unleashed his Mission statement, which would become these Goth legends.
I was now ready, an intro began, I expected to be engulfed by dry ice, the intro continued and continued. Then they were there! No dry Ice. Opener, ‘Beyond The Pale’ didn’t seem to create as much fervour as expected. This then turned into, ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and 'And The Dance Goes On’.
This trio of songs seemed to fail to ignite euphoria, well from my vantage point at least. So, I moved and moved again desperately in search of crowd interaction. As The Mission continued the most prevalent dancing, I witnessed was that of a girl dancing at the merchandise desk. Yes, there was a hard core of fans with their arms aloft but it failed to resonate throughout the venue.
The sound was clear and well balanced but it seemed to lack energy. It took until an excellent ‘Wasteland’ before lift off with Wayne, finally the rock goth god with the crowd joining in the chorus. ‘Deliverance’ closed proceedings keeping the intensity.
Two 3 set encores followed, the band now in full stride, ‘Garden Of Delight’ and final number, ‘Tower Of Strength’ keeping the fans engaged enthusiastically. If you were a mega fan, you might have had a taste of ‘Gods Own Medicine’. As for me, seeing the Leeds United badge was the highlight of the evening.
By Paul 'Rhino' Mace