Live review: Current 93 at Union Chapel 2025
It has been six years since I last saw you perform live, dear David, as Current 93 with Nurse With Wound at the release of 'The Light Is Leaving Us All'. Many things have changed since then, but the magical energy that David Tibet is enveloped by and emits remains undimmed. I have been following C93 and attending their performance for 22 years, but I will never forget the first gig I attended in Athens, for the duration of which I was in tears. I have changed a lot since then, but the melodies, the lyrics and David's delivery of them, still cut through all my layers of change.
I still sing A Gothic Love Song
Following a 15 minute folk warm up by Matt Deighton and a 15 minute drone filled introduction by Davide Pepe – followed by a 60s/70s folk song that I did not recognise – C93 appeared on stage one by one right after a succession of hallucinatory images with a symbolic gaping black hole in the centre that changed shapes. With a captivating kindness and a ferocity that has the power to awaken ancient forces, David Tibet channeled serenity and disquiet in equal measure whether singing a lullaby or kneeling on the floor and knocking on it demanding an entity to 'open a door' as an imaginary escape to another world.
For two hours, whose passing could neither be traced nor be compared with any other similar amount of time, David Tibet – more communicative than ever with the audience – mesmerised even the figures on the stained glass windows.
The Light Is Leaving Us All
One does not go to a C93 performance with expectations, rather with a desire to be guided into new spiritual and emotional paths through reimagined performances of well-known and much-loved songs. C93 filled the stage with songs that went as far back as the third album from 1987 'Imperium' and as recent as 2018’s 'The Light Is Leaving Us All' – an album inspired by a new development in a cold case related to witchcraft. 
The setlist mainly focused on the band's old songs, making a few rare stops to albums that have been 'traditionally' represented by other songs. 'The Cat Is Dead', 'This Is Not The Summer of Love' and 'Panzer Ruin' are not usually part of the band’s setlist and listening to them live was a real treat.
There are so many riddles, so many stories, so many layers of obscurity and mysterious lights in the band's songs, and visuals that a lifetime seems too short for deciphering them.Beautiful performances of 'Time Tryeth Truth' with an introduction read by Aloma Ruiz Boada, 'Soft Black Stars', 'The Heart Full Of Eyes', 'I Am The Last Of All the Field That Fell', 'The Great Bloody, And Bruised Veil Of The World', 'Whilst The Night Rejoices Profound And Still', and 
'The Time of The Last Persecution', all charged with the weight of the passing of time, had me on the verge of tears many times.Others around me with eyes closed in a state of unbreakable immersion looked as if their breath depended on the hearing of the next verse.
All the notes on the piano, the violin, the electronics, the keyboards, the bagpipes, the (what seemed to be a) bassoon – courtesy of the talented Andrew Liles, Alasdair Roberts, Mike York, Davide Pepe, Reinier van Houdt, and Aloma Ruiz Boada – acquired so much meaning that they almost manifested themselves as physical objects dancing around in a state of suspension in the space. 
The visuals, full with emotional weight and many layers of meaning, sometimes resembling automatic writing, other times just conveying ominous messages complemented 
the music and David’s voice to the point that one couldn’t help but think that this is such a complete body of work that goes beyond what is expected from a live performance.
Time Tryeth Truth
During the past two years, coinciding with the new publication of her novel 'The Pepsi Cola Addict', June Alison Gibbons and Current 93 have been working together to set some of her incredible stories to music. Towards the middle of this gig,
June Alison Gibbons made a special appearance to read a haunting story about a little boy and a little girl, accompanied by beautiful and dark melodies, while on the screen flashed drawings of little kids and the scrolling text.June,who was helped 
both on and off stage, gave a bone-cracking performance leaving me with goosebumps while David Tibet sat beside her on stage for the duration of the reading.It was very interesting that this part of the performance nodded towards the older'Hourglass For Abelisk'.
We experienced two more special moments during this gig, one when an emotional David Tibet dedicated 'The Time of The Last Persecution' to the recently deceased friend and cult folk singer Bill Fay, the next when he dedicated 'Bright Dead Star' to his companion and illustrator who has created designs for Current 93 Ania Goszczyńska.The latter followed a loving introduction 
after which David stepped off stage towards Ania. The song was accompanied by a candid video showing a duckling in a water bowl taking a bath.
In the last few years (about 6-7 years), we have witnessed a significant change in the way C93 reaches
its audience.David is very active on social media and humour has found its place in his candid videos, all of which create an openness that was not there in the past.
It was evident throughout this gig – from the moment David appeared on stage and looked every one of us at the front in the eyes, holding the gaze as if extending a very special 'hello' to each of us, to the end of the gig when he introduced 'Hushabye Mountain' as the lullaby that should accompany us to sleep. It is invigorating to see younger audiences in this gig perhaps as a result of the renewed outreach, and great to see David's lighter side too. 
The setlist included some songs with a heavier sound than the rest (e.g. 'Panzer Ruin', 'Lucifer Over London', 'This Is Not The Summer Of Love') which saw Andrew Liles trading the knobs for a guitar, joining Alasdair Roberts for some euphoric guitar jamming.
We slowly left the venue, emerging onto the busy high street with the realisation that we had all taken part in one ceremony with very different manifestations for each of us.
Dear David, I didn’t sleep well that night because I didn’t want to let go of this energy.
Thank you C93!
