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| VV @ the Fillmore (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Well before the doors opened an hour before VV’s show at The Fillmore on Monday night, the line stretched down and around the block – an early-arriving crowd that rivaled some from the historic theater’s good old days. The crowd - featuring a blend of metal, goth and punk with some regular Janes & Joes thrown in for good measure – stood outside buzzing with excitement despite the cold breeze in anticipation of seeing H.I.M.’s lead singer (who recently switched to being referred to by his initials- rather than Ville Valo) live for the first time in San Francisco in years.
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| VV @ the Fillmore (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
HIM was originally formed back in 1991 by Valo and his childhood friend Miko Paananen in Helsinki as His Infernal Majesty with the original incarnation’s first show on New Year’s Eve 1992. After a brief run and breakup, they were reformed in 1995 as HIM - eventually signed partly based on their successful cover of the Bay Area boy Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.” By 2000, they had captured Finland’s Emma Award for best group (the Finnish version of a Grammy). They became the first Finnish band to get a gold record with 2005’s Dark Light and along the way did their own sold-out U.S. tour as well as opening for bands like Linkin Park and Metallica. With a style that was hard to place in one category - influenced by bands such as Black Sabbath, Neil Young, Type O Negative and Depeche Mode - they described themselves as “Love Metal.” After selling more than 10 million records and a handful of lineup changes, HIM announced their disbanding in 2017 with a final performance coming on New Year’s Eve 2017 - twenty-five years to the day after their first concert.
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| Kælan Mikla @ the Fillmore (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Monday, VV was back in San Francisco for the first time in nearly a decade and the audience’s appreciation and admiration had not waned a bit. By the time Icelandic goth trio Kælan Mikla walked out to open the show, the crowd was already lined 15 deep in front of the stage. Kudos must be given to the driving, emotional and unique performance that Kælan Mikla put forth with the crowd embracing them early, often and loudly. Faced with a small patch of stage and backed only with a curtain, the three women created a sonic wave and were in constant movement under a strong light show. They made the most of the space, time and opportunity and the audience ate it up.
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| VV @ the Fillmore (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The house lights dropped and a glowing symbol of VV’s initials announced his oncoming presence. Once the rest of his band had taken to the stage, VV emerged from side to the center stage microphone. Wearing a dark sport coat and slacks that he topped with a black messenger hat, VV took the stage with a smile that he wore throughout the night. VV’s lyrics often tend to the dark side and much of his music can pack a heavy punch, but he projected a joyful appreciation of being back performing live to a crowd and the crowd gave that joy right back to him all night.
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| VV @ the Fillmore (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The show began by alternating VV solo songs from his January album, Neon Noir, with classic songs from H.I.M. and continued this pattern throughout the night. He nicely balanced promoting his strong new solo material with the classics of his past group that many in the audience had likely never been able to see live. 2023’s “Echolocate Your Love” was followed with 2000’s “Poison Girl” and then “The Foreverlost” from the new album. Guitarist Mikko Verta owned the left side of the stage delivering solos that ran the gamut of speed and power with moments of delicate touch.
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| VV @ the Fillmore (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Vallo let his singing do most of his talking and his voice was in fine form Monday with the strong tone and wide range that is his trademark. When he did speak to the crowd, his voice was reminiscent of a Finnish Christopher Walken. He thanked the crowd early on and remarked about how nice it was to be back before going back into “Right Here in My Arms” and then on to what seemed to be the best-delivered of the new material – “Run Away from The Sun” a song that alters from a soft, pleading pace to blistering peaks.
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| VV @ the Fillmore (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“Buried Alive by Love” then led into “Loveletting” which featured a blistering solo from co-lead guitarist Sampo Sundström toward its end. The band followed it up with a bombastic version of “Wings of a Butterfly” that delivered the biggest punch and audience roar of the night. VV deftly followed the power with a haunting, brooding “Heartful of Ghosts” and the beloved power ballad “Join Me in Death.” The end of the main set had several highlights, including his solo album’s title track ‘Neon Noir,” 2007’s “The Kiss of Dawn”, “Stay with Me” (featuring thunder drums from Risto Rikala and the deep bass riffs of Juho Vehmanen) and “When Love and Death Embrace”.
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| VV @ the Fillmore (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
While the audience chanted for the band to return for “One more song! One more song!” VV had much more in store delivering a four-song encore. “Soul on Fire” was delivered with constant changing of pace from slow to lighting fast and VV delivering howling vocals along the way. A rocking version of his new “Salute the Sanguine” was roaring along when it unfortunately came crashing to a halt when VV spotted an act of violence in the crowd and waited for the matter to be resolved as the house lights were brought up. “Do we do a timeout? A yellow card? How do we handle this here?” he asked. Once peace had been restored, he finished the night strong with “The Funeral of Hearts” and then ended with the power ballad “Saturnine Saturnalia” from his latest release. As he exited the stage to a rousing ovation, he looked back capturing a last glimpse of the great crowd and shot one last smile of appreciation.
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