Covenant Review October 22
Alicia and I went to see Covenant in San Antonio at The White Rabbit on St Mary’s street. This was my first time to see Covenant and to go The White Rabbit. The club has been around a long time. Covenant is an EBM (Electronic Body Music) band out of Sweden.
A band called System Syn was the first opening act. They were good, with some dark lyrics. Clint Carney, the lead singer, has some dark visuals during their show using the microphone wire like wrapping it around his arm to indicate a tourniquet and around his neck indicating death. They put on a good show. The crowd was still thin during it.
The next opening act was Imperative Reaction. Clint also plays keyboards for Imperative Reaction. I had seen them once before when they opened for VNV Nation in Dallas, but their set was cut short due to their laptop cutting out. Their equipment had been stored underneath a leaking a/c unit the night before at La Zona Rosa in Austin. Ronin of VNV Nation announced that they would play after VNV set, but I did not stay for it since it was already way after midnight on a Sunday night. Anyway, back to the review of Imperative Reaction. They are definitely a harder sound than most EBM bands. It is not quite Industrial, but somewhere in between. They put on a good show with the crowd getting larger than with System Syn.
Covenant took the stage after 45 minutes or so after Imperative Reaction. The crowd had gotten pretty big by this point. Covenant started out very shaky with their sound. They kept talking in presumable Swedish to the sound board. During their second or third song, Eskil stopped singing. At this point I contemplated leaving. They finally got it straighten out during the next song though the lyrics were not loud enough in my opinion. They played some songs off their new album, Sky Shaper. Most of their really good songs are off Northern Lights like We Stand Alone. They played a little over a 90 minute set with a five or so minute break. I am glad I got to see them, but I will probably not be seeing them again. They put on a lot better show than Assemblage 23, but not nearly as good as VNV Nation. I wish I could go see their show in LA.