Lacuna Coil Share Their Favourite Songs To Play Live

Italian metal icons Lacuna Coil are gearing up to return down under this week, bringing their Sleepless Empire world tour to Australian stages for the first time in nearly a decade – and if history’s anything to go by, it’s going to be equal parts catharsis, chaos and full-venue singalongs. Fresh off the release of their tenth studio album Sleepless Empire, the tour marks a long-awaited reunion with Aussie fans who last caught the band on home soil at Good Things in 2022, following years of postponed plans, pandemic curveballs and near-misses.

Ahead of that long-overdue Aussie run, Andrea Ferro has taken us inside the beating heart of Lacuna Coil’s live show, breaking down the songs that still hit hardest on stage – from career-defining classics and emotional gut-punches to newer cuts that have unexpectedly become crowd faves. Whether it’s the tracks that opened doors for the band, the ones that leave crowds misty-eyed, or the choruses now being gleefully screamed by a whole new generation of fans, this is a love letter to the songs that truly come alive when the lights go down and the amps kick in. Read her words down below.

LACUNA COIL – ‘Swamped’

Heaven’s A Lie: I would start with Heaven’s A Lie because it was the first song that brought real attention to our band, and it’s the song that kind of opened doors for us, especially in the United States because a lot of radio has been picking up that song. It’s such a classic tune and everybody sings the chorus when we play it live. Even if we’ve played the song a million times and we’re bored of the song, of course we still enjoy playing it live because people are expecting that song! It’s a song that has meant that many people discover Lacuna Coil, so it’s been very important in our career. And another thing about this song, very often in America where they have radio stations that are run by the church; they couldn’t announce the song as Heaven’s A Lie because the title was too strong, so they would announce it as A Lie, and that’s it (laughs). So Lacuna Coil’s A Lie, instead of Heaven’s A Lie. But that’s definitely one of the songs we love to play live.
Gravity: Another favourite song is one from the new album called Gravity. The lyrics for this song are quite intense, especially the part towards the end of the song, there’s a variation where Cristina [Scabbia] opens with a different vocal line that is epic. The lyrics are very deep in that part, they’re a reflection about death and where we go after we die. I notice that all of the fans are really, I don’t want to say crying, but almost crying in that part when we play it. It’s very emotional and very intense. That gives special chills when you see people singing that part because maybe they can relate, maybe they have lost somebody, it reminds them of the people that are not here anymore. It’s a song that connects a lot with people, and it’s great to play it live and see that reaction from the fans.
Reckless: A song that kind of became a classic Lacuna Coil song recently is one called Reckless, it has almost a hip-hop inspired beat on some of the parts. We also use some samples that are very similar to ones used in trap music or drill music. It has kind of a different groove than any other song we have. And people really headbang to the rhythm of that song because it’s so groovy. It’s fun to play because you see something different and unexpected. We tried it and we didn’t know how people were going to react, but it became quite a solid part of the set.
Our Truth: Another one is Our Truth, another classic Lacuna Coil song from our album Karmacode. In the beginning and the end there’s a vocal line from Cristina that is mostly a chant, like a siren voice repeating the same vocalisation. And people always sing along with that part because it’s under a groovy rhythm. It’s always so good to see people jumping and following Cristina on that part. It’s very good for uniting the people!
Enjoy the Silence: Another good one is Enjoy the Silence, the Depeche Mode cover. We usually play that song at summer festivals especially because it’s a song that everybody knows, whether you’re a Lacuna Coil fan or not. It’s a very helpful song to get everybody into the show, even if they’ve never heard of you, or they only know the name of the band but they’ve never actually followed you that deep. That song is very easy to play for everybody, and it’s a great one for the summer festivals.
I Wish You Were Dead: Lastly, one of the new ones is also a favourite to play live, it’s called I Wish You Were Dead. It has a very straightforward chorus that says: “I wish you were dead”. It’s funny because we’re starting to get a lot of kids at the show, different generations of fans and the parents bringing their kids to the shows now. And it’s funny to see the kids singing I Wish You Were Dead in the chorus, obviously they mean it in a funny way. I mean, we also mean it in a funny way, but it’s fun to see the kids singing “I wish you were dead” (laughs). It’s fun to play because it has a different kind of vibe and it’s more of an easygoing song. Everybody dances to the rhythm of that song and sings together in a funny way. Also, the video we made for that song is kind of a parody based on stuff like The Addams Family. We have the band dancing with some zombies, we did choreography and we’ve never had that before in our videos. It was funny to do a choreographed dance. Seeing metalheads dancing is not very common, so it was very fun.