Setlist variation since 2007
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 10:36 pm
There's been a fair amount of discussion on the issue of (the lack of) set list variation since Carl resumed playing live in 2007. So I took a quick look at Ande's online Nephilim gigography and exercised my counting skills. I didn't double check, hence this might contain the occasional error, yet I'm rather confident to be ready now to pass a prep school test.
67 gigs were played from the 24th Moment up to Berlin 2016. In those nine years, 15 tracks haved formed the backbone and have been played at last at (nearly) half of the shows (with Trees and Nightmare counted as one): Moonchild (67), Last Exit (52), Psychonaut (52), STTL (52), Love Under Will (48), Watchman (45), Mourning Sun (43), From The Fire (43), Shroud (40), Zoon (38), Dawnrazor (36), Penetration (33), Preacher Man (31), Trees/Nightmare (30 [17/13]), For Her Light (29).
Despite all shifts and variations in set lists, all of these songs have been performed more or less continuously with the exception of Penetration and Trees/Nightmare which were last played in 2013 apart from each reappearing once in 2015 (Penetration at Islington with Nergal, Nightmare in Whitby). Yet I believe it's too early to conclude that these have been dropped from the primary pool of songs (though I personally am not keen at all on Penetration and the massacred version of the grand song that Trees is).
Four further tracks have been played occasionally for limited periods: At The Gates (17), Chord Of Souls (16), New Gold Dawn (14), Endemoniada (12). Each of these has been played for some time and then been dropped again. It's too early to tell for At The Gates, the last (13 Hamburg - 15 Leipzig) of these to make it into the live set (and which for me should not be torn from the full four-part For Her Light). Chord has been reanimated twice (10 Athens - 11 Kortrijk + 13 Hamburg – 14 Warsaw). I have neglected Dead But Dreaming (mentioned 11 times) and only counted what was played live (although there is extensive use of backing tapes throughout; it's a pity Jon Carin never joined the Nephs on stage).
Eleven rarely played songs account for the remaining variation: Requiem (8), Vet (7), Xiberia (7), Harmonica Man (6), Sumerland (5), Wail of Sumer/ATWYHBA (2), Sequel (3), Shine (3), Celebrate (2), Blue Water (1), Xodus (1).
Of course there's also the one-and-a-half new songs presented since 2007: Prophecy (11), Equinox (8). I guess it's too early to tell what their live status is. This will presumably depend on whether there actually will be a release any time soon.
After looking into this I have to admit that there has been a bit more variation than I had thought. But just a bit. Of the twelve songs performed at the 24th Moment, while two have been dropped, ten have been played more or less continuously until today.
Limited variation is a consequence of the small back catalogue. Considering that there simply are not that many Nephilim songs, it is all the more surprising to see how many of these are performed so rarely. And that more than 14 classic songs have not seen a live showing at all since 07: Submission, Phobia, Slowkill, Volcane, Dust, Reanimator, Power, Secrets, Tower, Gehenna, Darkcell, Laura, Shiva, In Every Dreamhome A Heartache. I'm not even counting Senseless, The Comeback and the Fletcham 86 track which sounds like a Bela Lugosi Returns To Gehenna edit of Laura. In addition there are further songs from Zoon (not that I'm particularly keen on the latter apart from Coma) and from Fallen. She, like the cover of In The Year 2525, has also never been played live. Nor, so far, a full-blown Equinox. The latter is something I am very much looking forward to!
67 gigs were played from the 24th Moment up to Berlin 2016. In those nine years, 15 tracks haved formed the backbone and have been played at last at (nearly) half of the shows (with Trees and Nightmare counted as one): Moonchild (67), Last Exit (52), Psychonaut (52), STTL (52), Love Under Will (48), Watchman (45), Mourning Sun (43), From The Fire (43), Shroud (40), Zoon (38), Dawnrazor (36), Penetration (33), Preacher Man (31), Trees/Nightmare (30 [17/13]), For Her Light (29).
Despite all shifts and variations in set lists, all of these songs have been performed more or less continuously with the exception of Penetration and Trees/Nightmare which were last played in 2013 apart from each reappearing once in 2015 (Penetration at Islington with Nergal, Nightmare in Whitby). Yet I believe it's too early to conclude that these have been dropped from the primary pool of songs (though I personally am not keen at all on Penetration and the massacred version of the grand song that Trees is).
Four further tracks have been played occasionally for limited periods: At The Gates (17), Chord Of Souls (16), New Gold Dawn (14), Endemoniada (12). Each of these has been played for some time and then been dropped again. It's too early to tell for At The Gates, the last (13 Hamburg - 15 Leipzig) of these to make it into the live set (and which for me should not be torn from the full four-part For Her Light). Chord has been reanimated twice (10 Athens - 11 Kortrijk + 13 Hamburg – 14 Warsaw). I have neglected Dead But Dreaming (mentioned 11 times) and only counted what was played live (although there is extensive use of backing tapes throughout; it's a pity Jon Carin never joined the Nephs on stage).
Eleven rarely played songs account for the remaining variation: Requiem (8), Vet (7), Xiberia (7), Harmonica Man (6), Sumerland (5), Wail of Sumer/ATWYHBA (2), Sequel (3), Shine (3), Celebrate (2), Blue Water (1), Xodus (1).
Of course there's also the one-and-a-half new songs presented since 2007: Prophecy (11), Equinox (8). I guess it's too early to tell what their live status is. This will presumably depend on whether there actually will be a release any time soon.
After looking into this I have to admit that there has been a bit more variation than I had thought. But just a bit. Of the twelve songs performed at the 24th Moment, while two have been dropped, ten have been played more or less continuously until today.
Limited variation is a consequence of the small back catalogue. Considering that there simply are not that many Nephilim songs, it is all the more surprising to see how many of these are performed so rarely. And that more than 14 classic songs have not seen a live showing at all since 07: Submission, Phobia, Slowkill, Volcane, Dust, Reanimator, Power, Secrets, Tower, Gehenna, Darkcell, Laura, Shiva, In Every Dreamhome A Heartache. I'm not even counting Senseless, The Comeback and the Fletcham 86 track which sounds like a Bela Lugosi Returns To Gehenna edit of Laura. In addition there are further songs from Zoon (not that I'm particularly keen on the latter apart from Coma) and from Fallen. She, like the cover of In The Year 2525, has also never been played live. Nor, so far, a full-blown Equinox. The latter is something I am very much looking forward to!