Clan of Xymox is a household name in these pages. Formed in 1981 in the Netherlands, they are celebrating their 45th anniversary with a month-long co-headline tour together with the Los Angeles band Cold Cave, and they will continue to tour in Europe in the fall.

Sadly, I missed the openers, Buzz Kull and Rosa Anschütz, but when I arrived at the venue I was immediately drawn by Cold Cave's stage presence and powerful sound: a great mixture of synthpop and dark rock that's the perfect bed for Wesley Eisold's baritone voice and stage dark-rock-icon stage presence. Amy Lee is on keys, delivering the goods, and their new drummer (from Bologna, Italy) is helping deliver the show with great intensity and commitment.

Clan of Xymox started with a cool lighting trick by Sean de Winzer, who then took the stage-right keys position and had a few more lighting tricks up his sleeve (literally) later in the show. Ronny Moorings, with his perfect 80s hair, was on guitar and voice, delivering the clean arpeggios that are so typical of this genre and that defined the sound of the band. It was a bit hard to understand his lyrics or even his talking between songs, but their sound engineer was doing a good job with delays on the vocals, and the sound was powerful with nice low end (even the occasional infra-subby sine drops), although I must say, after seeing Cold Cave with a live drummer, the lack of drums on the Clan of Xymox set, did feel a little bit like an energy dip. Nevertheless, a great live show from one of the most respected and established darkwave bands on the scene.

The concert was organized by LPR (Le Poisson Rouge), one of the best venues in New York City, where Clan of Xymox has played previously. But this time around, with a co-headlining tour and fans of the Clan and the Cave coming together, a bigger venue was needed, and Pioneer Works in Brooklyn was perfect.