There is no good or evil. No absolute truth or lie. And when something like this happens, there's always two sides to the story. The truth is said to be just a lie the majority believes, but I won't say that this is a matter of choosing which lie to believe - I won't call anyone a liar, because maybe someone actually believes he's telling the truth, but ultimately I don't care who's right and who's wrong. I'll just tell both sides of this story, and I won't deny myself the pleasure of exposing both versions' weaknesses. Cradle of Filth were scheduled to play at Porto, Thursday, April the 24th, 1997. They didn't show up. Over 800 fans waiting for them, but no Cradle of Filth. No matter who's fault it was, the band's or the promoter's, all we got was two Portuguese bands trying their best, or the possibility of a refund (that did happen for lots of people). To make things worse, CoF have been playing for an hour and a half in their latest concerts, and using a female backing vocalist lately - two little details that made things even worse for us who couldn't see them live. So let's hear both sides of the story, then. CoF drummer Nicholas states that there wasn't enough electrical power for the band to play and for the lights and fog. We would be happy to listen to them without the lights and fog, if that would solve the problem - maybe it wouldn't, I don't know. Anyway, the problem was solved by a power upgrade 5 hours before CoF were scheduled to play, states the promoter, the new problem was that they were gone by then. Nick says that, and I quote, 'everything was bullshit'. I'm far from understanding what he saw in my home city of Porto that was bullshit, maybe he was talking about the place where the concert was held; then again, I think it was a reasonable room. It's strange that it'd be bullshit for them to play for a crowd of 800 instead of the usual 200. Nicholas also exclaims that their fans should 'ignore all the bullshit', before he tells what happened. And then he states that the people entered the concert not knowing that CoF wouldn't be there. Wrong. Bullshit, as you'd call it, Nick. Everyone knew CoF weren't there. No matter how heart-breaking this may be for CoF, over half of -their- fans entered the concert anyway, thus losing the right to a refund, and they all knew that CoF weren't there. Now for the other side of the story - the promoter's. He recalls that CoF's last Porto concert's promoter owed them money from that concert. That guy had nothing to do with this one, though (as far as I know). Still, he says that CoF were payed 50% in advance (CoF say this is normal), and that they didn't play just out of revenge. He says that their whole attitude was towards not playing, right from the beginning, and he quotes Nicholas as having said that this was their day off in Porto. He claims that they complained about everything (most of which for no reason, he assures), and ultimately left before the electrical power problem was solved. I think it's rather unbelievable that the promoters didn't check on the power earlier, making sure there was enough power for CoF. The concert started anyway, around 400 people showing their support by paying to see the concert without CoF. Web played 25 minutes of their Slayer-like thrash, ending their performance with a cover of Slayer's "Raining Blood". In Velvet Clouds took the stage for the next 50 minutes, and they played an aggressive mix of Cradle of Filth and Brutal Truth. They feature two vocalists (both doing only vocals): one's an excellent grunter, the other screams like hell. A reasonable act, even though they're still a very young band. So that was it. CoF say there wasn't power, the promoter says there was enough power 5 hours before they were supposed to play, and that they didn't play just for revenge for what happened in the past with someone else. Who's right, who's wrong, who cares? The ones who lost here were the fans. CoF seem to be trying to show that they do have some respect for these fans, as they're scheduled to come back in July and play in a festival together with Moonspell and Megadeth. I sure hope the concert does happen this time, and that everything goes well, because I'd sure want to see them - they're one of the top five bands I'd like to see live. So I also hope that I'll be back in the August issue telling everyone how great that concert was.