Finnish goth rock band The 69 Eyes came through Mesa Arizona to the Nile theater on Friday May 5th and for all the goths in attendance, this was a special treat as there were multiple goth related events going on this weekend in the goth community in Arizona. The 69 eyes were a events perfect tip off to the weekend.
The 69 Eyes literally just dropped their new album ‘Death of Darkness’ in April, which has 10 tracks about their love for the famous California sunset strip. The album has their dark and moody sound all while experimenting with ‘Johnny Cash’s son ‘This murder takes two’ and special guest Kat Von d on ‘Doomer’. For anyone who has followed their career, this album doesn’t follow the darkness all the way through. It actually brightens up a bit and goes more into the glam area. This isn’t a bad thing and I personally feel, if any band can pull this off, it’s the 69 Eyes.
You can check out the new album here.
When I walked into the venue, The 69 Eyes were just setting up to go on. I was pretty excited about this show as I’ve never seen them before and I have to say they were everything my little black heart could desire. Where I was standing in the crowd, there were a couple of super fans standing right in front of me. As soon as they opened up with ‘Devils’ all three of them started screaming and dancing and didn’t stop until the very end. Everyone was dancing the night away, forgetting about all of their problems. Jyrki 69 is a phenomenal vocalist and while I’ve heard people say he’s the goth rock king or the goth ‘Elvis”, his depth is so much more. He’s quite impressive live and I know I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t help but get lost in his voice. Bazie is a spitting image of the rockers that came off sunset strip, and we could hear his talents on guitar far and wide. Rhythm guitarist Timo is an absolute riot to watch on stage. You could see the crowd on the left hand of the stage really lose themselves as he slayed away on the guitar. His presence on stage is fun and nothing shy of a true rockstar. You could see how he was feeding off the fans going absolutely crazy. The bass player Archzie was kind off in the shadows, holding down backing vocals and that low end of the band, all while occasionally coming into the light. Rounding out the band is drummer Jussi 69, and he is beyond fun to watch. At some point, he put his feet up on his drum kit and kept playing, not skipping a beat.
The set was about an hour long and a couple of songs that stood out were ‘Gothic girl, Betty Blue, Dance a’amour, Brandon lee, Feel Berlin, and finishing out the night with the hit song ‘Lost boys’! It was a perfect Friday night to be dressed in all black and be serenaded by The 69 Eyes!
Set list
