DEATH IN JUNE Helsinki, Finland, October 12 2011

Last time Death in June performed around my parts was in 2003 when they played in Stockholm. That time I missed out on the whole thing, and I never thought I’d get another chance. But then, all of a sudden, Death in June felt like celebrating their 30th anniversary, and a bunch of dates in Europe started to surface. Of course nothing in Sweden, but Finland is not that far away so it was a no brainer to go.

So there we are, at the DOM venue in Helsinki, and finally the intro starts and Douglas P enters the stage. People are starting to cheer, but he waves at us as to stop. He places a couple of incense sticks on his monitors, puts his guitar in place, and then quickly leaves.

After about 15 minutes or so, Douglas Pearce and John Murphy (SPK, Current 93, NON and plenty others) make it to the stage, with their trademarked masks on and in full camo gear. “Death of a Man” starts it all off and I instantly feel I’m in for a very special night.

After the first song the masks are off and a trip down memory lane begins. Apart for some new tracks from the latest album, “Peaceful Snow” (we get to hear them as they were originally written and we are among the first in the world to hear them this way, Douglas assures us), we are showered with almost all the songs I was hoping for. I mean, how can you go wrong with “All Pigs Must Die”, “Kameradschaft”, “Rose Clouds of Holocaust”, “Little Black Angel”, “Runes and Men”, “But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter” and “She Said Destroy”? You can’t of course.

Death in June end the night with “C’est un Rêve” and the words; “Thank you and goodnight… and goodbye I guess…” It looks like he’s about to say something more, but makes a gesture with his hand as if to say, “no, it doesn’t matter”, and leaves the stage.

It was truly a night to remember, and as I’m pretty sure I’ll never get another chance to see Death in June live again, I couldn’t be happier that it was such an amazing performance.





Text and photos by Mattias Andersson.