Photo Reports
When Danko Jones is in town, you know you’ll get some good rock ‘n’ roll going on! And they were clearly ready to get shakin’ at Tavastia in Helsinki, the very first stop of their “Shake Your City tour 2023”! There’s always something in the air when they’re playing a show, and especially at a legendary rock club like this. Throw on top of that an absolutely and completely sold-out and packed to the brim venue and it can’t go wrong anymore. To warm us up, we got the local hard rock heroes Dirt showing what they got, starting off a night of pure and uncut rock till the very end!
After finishing their Asian tour Against The Current kicks off their European tour in Brussels. A rather small crowd has gathered in Ancienne Belgique to enjoy an evening full of rock. Together with Call Me Amour and LØLØ they all gave everything they had.
Lorna Shore is right now undoubtedly one of the biggest deathcore bands in the world, and have given the genre a huge boost. After a simply impressive show at this year’s Tuska, where a huge crowd gathered in front of the main stage in pouring rain, they were coming back to Finland with “The Pain Remains EU tour” and tickets were flying out the door. The Helsinki show had to upgrade the venue from Black Box Ice Hall to the full capacity Ice Hall venue and the Tampere show at Pakkahuone was sold out almost immediately. I wanted a slightly more intimate feel, so off I went to the smaller and gorgeous Pakkahuone for an evening of extreme metal blasting in my face with Lorna Shore, Rivers of Nihil and Ingested!
Opening the evening, a mix of post-metal and djent, Allt are powerful and managed to warm up the night a little, but the fans were there to see something and were excited and impatient for moments of ecstasy with their idols.
Known for their superior technical skills, the Animals As Leaders presented themselves in a very professional and focused manner. With minimal communication with the audience, they only announced their songs and mentioned that this was the biggest concert they had ever given in Munich. Despite a little too much volume and bass in the room, in my opinion, they enchant everyone present with technical details that only a few in this world can execute so cleanly and precisely, even under the pressure of an audience almost entirely made up of musicians. Tosi Abasi and Javier Reyes showed why they are the cream of the crop of technical guitarists, with the enormous complicity and joy of those who play their instruments with love and enjoyment, and this is reflected in those watching from the other side. On drums, completely blowing everything out of the water, was Matt Garstka, also at a super high level.
To sum up the evening, we can say that the Gods of Djent came to earth in Munich and gave a concert that will remain in our memories for a long time.
On Friday November 10, Brother Firetribe came to town on their “Band On A Mission” Finland tour, where they rocked the G Livelab venue in Tampere and we were there for it! This was the first time I made it G Livelab and I was very pleasantly surprised. The venue was a very cosy size, the sound was good and the lights were amazing. I will definitely be back. Brother Firetribe was also very nice, although it seemed like Pekka had some trouble with a little cold.
After a bit under 3 decades of rocking hard, Danko Jones does not seem to think of slowing down one bit. They released full-length album number 11 on September 15th via AFM Records with ‘Electric Sounds’, on which they sound stronger than ever (read our review here) and are set up to start an extensive European tour later in 2023 still. To celebrate the new release, they dropped by in Helsinki for a private rock party at Semifinal, the smaller stage of Tavastia. Only a small selection of fans and industry professionals were invited to be there, and it was really heaps of fun to see a band as popular as Danko Jones playing a small club show like this, where you can feel and smell the rock ‘n’ roll by being so up close. With a nice selection of Danko Jones classics and new work, there was not a moment people weren’t singing along or rockin’ out! It was an honor to be part of this!
Tonight we were able to attend the last show of the European chapter of the “202III world tour” that kept The Winery Dogs on the road for the past year. Another 5 shows are planned in Japan later this month, and that’ll be it for this tour! Being a supergroup it doesn’t seem that hard to fill up the venue, even though Destruction is playing their last show of their 40 years anniversary tour in the other hall, and while there’s also a first edition of a very promising ‘The Rock Circus’ going on in Den Bosch, only 25 km from there.
Tonight’s show, in 013 Poppodium, Tilburg (NL) is filmed and recorded for the upcoming live album. Mike Portnoy says he has quite the history with this venue and the Dutch audience here as this is the 6th show he filmed there for a live release with the several groups in which he has played: Transatlantic (2001), Neal Morse Testimony (2003), Flying Colors (2012), Neal Morse Band (2017), The Shattered Fortress (2017, unreleased so far)
Warm up act was guitar virtuoso Dave Cureton (guitarist and co-founder of the symphonic progressive rock band IO Earth). During the pandemic he made a whole collection of instrumental guitar tracks, and he came here to play them, accompanied by William Kopecky on Bass and his IO Earth colleagues Tim Wilson (Drums) and Adam Gough (keys and guitar)
Stam1na released a new album with ‘X’ and celebrated with a massive show at one of Helsinki’s biggest venues. And with them they brought their countrymates and melodeath heroes Diablo, the Swedish heavy metal/hard rock outfit Corroded and the modern metal project Dear Mother, all the way from the Netherlands! The turnout was massive and spectacular night of metal and heavy music!
Saturday night, and the Halle room from the Backstage Club is completely packed. Personally I think it’s a bit of a mistake to have put this event in this room, as it’s too small for so many people, probably leaving many frustrated at not being able to get a ticket. Perhaps the reason for not using the club’s larger room had to do with an event on the same day and probably just as large, I don’t know… what is certain is that getting some photographs under the conditions presented was an almost impossible task.
Founded in Japan in 2009 as Suicide Heaven, they were on the road as Gyze between 2011 and 2023, changed their name this year to RYUJIN, and announced a worldwide contract with Napalm Records. They were the first band to take to the stage in the Halle room at Backstage in Munich, and for about half an hour they showed that they are technically gifted and very happy to have the opportunity to win over new people in Munich.
Eleine came from Sweden and showed that they are a well-trained band with a good fan base. Madaleine Liljestam, powerful in voice and stage presence, spread her magic to everyone present, leaving the male audience completely mesmerised by her beauty and sensuality. It was a very confident and powerful concert, which stirred the crowd into believing that we could soon have a tour as headliners to present their latest album “We Shall Remain”, dated 2023, because the short concert they gave here felt like too little.
After a short break, one of the pioneers of what is now known as pagan metal, Finnish band Ensiferum, took to the stage. It was a good concert, very lively and with a lot of people who were there to see them perform, but unfortunately it was again too short for a big band like them. We look forward to their return to Munich so that the party can be in full swing.
It was clear that the time was against what was going on in the Hall Backstage room, as there was a big event at the club and everything had to happen quickly and under strict control. A good-humoured short film featuring Pain’s mascot played on the screen, and so began the party for the band’s concert in Munich. For about an hour and a half, they played all the hits to please both young and old audiences. The live show is worth seeing. The enthusiasm and joy with which things are done in a genuine and natural way, manage to convey and communicate their messages in a funny way and entertain those present. Perhaps such a large audience had a negative impact on Pain‘s performance and the madness didn’t happen in Munich as Peter Tägtgren and co. had hoped, it was very good, but it could have been excellent and unforgettable.
Sonic Rites brought a new festival into existence to overcome the full year until the next edition of the festival, and gave us 3 nights of excellent bands in the doom, sludge and affiliated music genres. We got to enjoy the first night with the Dutch psych rockers of Iron Jinn and the ladies from across the water, the doomgazers all the way from the US: Blackwater Holylight!
