After excellent opening sets from one man New Romantic army, Vedawave and Sisters of Mercy Guitarist, Ben Christo’s Diamond Black, Esprit D’Air took to the stage in front of a packed out room at Birmingham O2 Academy.
Crashing onto the stage with an upbeat opener, Tsunami, Esprit D’Air immediately showcased their phenomenal talent from the outset. With flowing clothes and impeccable hair, frontman Kai swept onto the stage, his effortless charisma and incredible voice immediately charging up the crowd. What followed was a glorious selection of tracks from their studio albums, Constellations and Oceans as well as more than a few surprises.
With their mix of soaring solos, thunderous electro-metal, technical time signature shifting and Kai’s incredible vocals which ranged from deep, throaty growls in The Abyss to melodic harmonies, they had the audience in the palms of their hands. Drawing them in even further by putting them through their vocal paces during a rousing rendition of Starstorm.
A brief drum solo/instrumental break gave each of the other band members a moment to shine as they hyped up the crowd even more, getting the whole room bouncing along before featuring their new single, Shizuki in the hopes of lifting it to a much-deserved number one spot in the charts.
Ben Christo rejoined the stage to perform their collaboration, Dead Zone highlighting once more the wealth of incredible talent on display as solos and counterpointed vocal lines were traded between all involved. Closing out the main set with the epic double header of Guiding Light and Leviathan the crowd were hungry for more and the band did not disappoint.
The encore featured a performance of the uplifting Kurenai before they were joined one final time by Ben Christo for an epic cover of The Trooper to close out the evening in raucous style. The single, Shizuku is available for purchase and is currently charting in the UK Singles Downloads Chart.
Words by Simon Potthast, Photos by Arta Gailuma
