HIM Astoria, London. Friday, March 1 KKK Fancied Finns vamp it up at grizzly Goth-fest. IT@S AN admittedly strange sight: in the middle of the crowd, two middle-aged, folically-challenged blokes are moshing heavily. This is not, however, two old geezers on a nostalgia trip (that is reserved for tonight's headliners The Mission), but rather getting off on Finish Goth rockers HIM. Or more specifically their chain-smoking, beanie hat-wearing frontman Valo, who might be considerably younger than most of his audience but luckily knows a thing or two when it comes to turning on the charm and making an impression. Which is a good thing, considering than most of tonight's set is taken from new album "Deep Shadows And Brilliant Highlights". Tracks such as "Pretending" and "In Joy And Sorrow" border on the pedestrian, with the pungent whiff of pomp never far away, but thankfully Valo's not-so subtle onstage theatrics obscure this fact, and his rather suggestive poses attract some predictable whistles and squeals from both sexes.         The set reaches its climax with a rousing version of Chris Isaac's "Wicked Game", wherein even the most skeptical warm to HIM and give the band their full attention. It's also the point at which some bravely decide to put their air guitar technique into practice -with varyin degrees of success. They do, however,fare better than pissed-off guitarist Daniel Lioneye, whose playing is continually hampered by his malfunctioning six-string. Sadly guitar smashing isn't on the agenda -well, it just isn't Goth, is it?

Kerrang, March 16 2002. Astoria gig review