20 years of HÄMATOM and an anniversary album are good reasons for the band to go on a ’20 Jahre Für Euch’ tour through Germany and celebrate German metal. With them as support are the Berlin rockers from ENGST, who can impress with their mix of rock, punk, and a pinch of pop. Another support act is always present, but changes with each gig – in Stuttgart, it was the punk rockers from FOCUS. (FocusPunkt).

In the packed Wagenhallen of Stuttgart, a nearly 2000 people crowd gets together and are properly warmed up for the upcoming spectacle by FOCUS. The singer Eric Zieger, in white tennis socks, pushes the limits, and his bandmates are no less energetic. The audience appreciates it and is surprisingly active for a first support band. The five guys from Riesa know how to convince.

The escalation level 2 rises as ENGST takes the stage for their 40-minute gig. Their 10th anniversary is coming up in 2025, and it shows. They rock the stage with old and new songs from their latest album. The audience is already quite engaged, and the attempt of a first counter-polonaise in the audience is fuelled by singer and namesake Matthias Engst. The punk-rock tinged songs really make a bang. During the last song, guitarist Ramin goes for a crowd-surfing round while playing. We are already looking forward to their own anniversary tour in late 2025, that should at another notch to their performance.

For both openers, the sound is nice, but the lighting is unfortunately unfitting to the band’s great performances. This could have been done much better.

Then a thank-you anthem from HÄMATOM booms from the speakers. It starts. Finally.

The tension reaches its first peak when a unicorn appears in front of the unicorn Kabuki (someone in an inflatable costume, it truly has a comical note). And then HÄMATOM starts. There is no holding back in the hall. The music and the show captivate everyone. A first-class stage with several LED walls, a drum riser that would have done Queen proud in the 70s and 80s. Now it becomes a great spectacle of light and sound. The audience is immediately under the spell of singer Thorsten ‘Nord’ Scharf. The crowd sings and dances enthusiastically. HÄMATOM proves that a great metal, punk, and rock party also works in German. The excellently choreographed show is not even disturbed by a small, short-term microphone selection of the singer. The song ‘Gott muss ein Arschloch sein’ becomes a requiem and a tribute to the unexpectedly deceased bassist Peter ‘West’ Haag in 2023. The obligatory and dreaded drum crowd-surfing by drummer Frank ‘Süd’ Joos is also not to be missed, as well as the bath in the crowd when Nord und Ost play in the middle of the audience.