After a twenty minute or so delay, the doors to the glorious little black hole that is the Camden Underworld in London are finally open for a very special event, this is Evergrey's first headlining event in the UK and it is also supposedly some kind of launch party for their upcoming album entitled 'Monday Morning Apocalypse'. The fans start pouring into the venue rapidly and Rikard from Evergrey can be seen walking around and mingling with the fans, which is nice to see nowadays.

After the majority of the crowd have bought their merchandise and had a few drinks, the support band take to the stage, a small power/progressive act called Humanity. They seem to warm up the London crowd rather and are welcomed warmly. Their long epic songs and musical talents delight the majority of the crowd who make this night a special gig for the band. All of the band members are exceptionally on top form tonight, especially singer Simon Shadwell whose soothing yet powerful voice sweeps nigh on 300 people off their feet.

As Humanity say their goodbyes and thank the fans, the crowd depart for some more drinking time and a toilet break. The gap in between Humanity and Evergrey's set seems to take forever but after various sing along anthems such as 'The Book Of Heavy Metal' by Dream Evil and 'Fear Of The Dark' by Iron Maiden are blasted through the PA, the London crowd seem more than ready for the Swedish legends that are Evergrey.

After a lengthy wait, the intense intro tape starts and Evergrey take to the stage and seconds late rip into one of their classic tracks 'Blinded'. Despite a few technical problems and a few cock ups in the set, the band are on fire and 300 people are going wild for them, head banging and jumping up and down. Tom Englund is in a very cheerful mood this evening judging by his amusing stage banter. 'Who's smoking Marijuana?' he asks the London crowd followed by a huge cheer. 'Good, stay there' he laughs. Evergrey rip through classics such as 'She Speaks to the Dead', 'A Touch of Blessing' and 'Rulers of the Mind' which the crowd lap up. Although a question that was on the writer's mind this evening was, if it was a launch party for the new album, why did they only play one song from? Although none of the crowd seemed too bothered about this. The new track sounds brilliant live and it is received well, the fans have high hopes for this album. The highlights of the set are two of
the last songs, 'Recreation Day', a beautiful epic from the album of the same name which the crowd know word for word and 'The Masterplan', the closing song which involves a huge amount of crowd participation.

Evergrey put on a very good set this evening, and it is apparent that they have pleased the fans with their choice of set list. This was their first UK headlining show and it certainly will not be their last. A fantastic night and many memories that will stay with the attendees for many years to come.