Photo Reports
15 May 2023, is marked by the grandiose passage in Munich of the Swedish Sabaton. The huge Olympiahalle was completely packed to receive the new tour “The Tour To End All Tours 2023”, referred to as the biggest and most elaborate production to date! The band’s popularity in Germany is enormous, and proof of this are the consistently high positions in the national sales charts and high ticket sales.
Opening the night while daylight was still shining inside the Olympiahalle, the Finnish band Lordi returned to action in Bavaria, a few months after their performance at the Backstage club. This time a crowd was waiting for them in the already full stands, and they paraded their hard rock songs, the constant humour of Lordi and their fantastical world of monsters and horror.
The night continues with more masked musicians, this time to announce the presence of Japan’s one and only Babymetal. The band boasts unknown identities demonstrating great technical quality and virtuosity, and the presence of lead singer Suzuka Nakamoto and her dancers Moa Kikuchi and Momoko Okazaki. A frenetic performance, with many well-rehearsed and elaborate choreographies by this trio, that leaves the audience wondering what is happening on stage. The songs in Japanese leave you completely lost as to what is being said, and everything is strange to the German world! One thing is for sure, the Babymetal show is captivating and interesting, no matter how strange it may seem to us!
As usual, the stage from Sabaton is a huge war scene, which has everything to do with the lyrics and stories told in the form of heavy music songs by the Swedish artists. After a show-stopping start, purposely missed to infuriate and excite the audience even more, the “battle” begins! A setlist of 18 songs delights the audience, along with a repulsive show of fire, confetti, foam, weapons, and theatre in between to tell stories in a conceptual way. The promises were fully delivered and this is guaranteed to be a show to recommend, the level is superior and deserves to be seen by all fans of heavy music and not only!
PS: Special thanks for the excellent reception and explanation of what was going to happen on stage to try to make life easier for all the photographers, as well as letting us photograph the whole show freely.
In the series of GRIMM 10Y BDAY FEST events, surely there had to be some proper Belgian bands as well. We invited the Belgian icons of Belgian Asociality, supported by The Evil Pony’s and Klabanus.
In case you weren’t there, we got you the pictures right here! Enjoy!
Brymir did it again, this time at Tampere’s YO-Talo. They also brought along Kaunis Kuolematon. We were in for a sweaty show with a flying pike called Steve. ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?‘, even though with a little smaller prize (a T-Shirt) and just some good old metal. Brymir also for the first time ever played ‘Rift Between Us‘ live.
Both Master Events and Nem Agency did a great job again bringing these bands together on a stage near us.
A fantastic musical evening with four of the best guitarists in the world of rock music, performing for more than two hours of entertainment.
Michael Angelo Batio; The legendary Chicago shredder former member of Nitro is currently the guitarist of MANOWAR.
GUS G; The great Greek guitarist was a member of Ozzy Osbourne’s band from 2009 to 2017 and is the frontman of Firewind.
Rowan Robertson; Was recruited by Ronnie James Dio to join his band at the age of 17. Suddenly, he escalated from obscurity to worldwide fame.
Andy Martongelli; One of the best known Italian shredders, guitarist, composer, producer and teacher, member of the David Ellefson band.
A unique evening with a set list that, along with songs from the solo careers of these great performers, includes classics from legendary bands such as Van Halen, Pantera, Black Sabbath, Dio, Megadeth and more. The legendary double neck guitar solo of Batio was part of the show as well.
The band is further completed by Francesco Caporaletti on bass (The Gang – Vinnie Moore), Roberto Pirami on drums (Vinnie Moore – Michael Angelo Batio band) and Riccardo Curzi on vocals
And on top of that, the show started with a guitar contest! Since there was only 1 participant, you may wonder whether he actually lost or won? Because he was allowed to play with the quartet in the end, we’ll conclude that he won! 🙂
Last year, Imminence blew it out of the park on their tour supporting In Flames, taking over huge stages all over Europe. That this was a band we’d be seeing more of, was as good as a given. So it was no big surprise that they soon announced a headline tour for the Nordic region and were added to the Tuska 2023 line-up. Interested to see what these guys do with a much more intimate setting at a club show, and on top of that bringing along the always fun Norwegian wildlings Blood Command, brought us to On The Rocks in Helsinki on a sunny Friday night!
It’s been years since I last caught Nervosa live, and since that show in Helsinki that took place shortly before the pandemic hit worldwide, a lot has changed. Sadly, they had to cancel their stop in Helsinki of the tour with Burning Witches, so I never got to see that line-up in action. But now they’re finally here, this time with a line-up that brings us dual guitars, Prika taking over the vocal duties and Hel Pyre from W.E.B. on bass duties. Plenty of exciting stuff to be looking forward to!
With the release of their new album, UNEARTH brought “The Wretched; The Ruinous” album release tour to El Corazon in Seattle, WA with the support of Upon A Burning Body, 156/Silence and Filth is Eternal. I remember seeing UNEARTH at Ozzfest 2004, and they brought the same energy and excitement they had in 2004. Check out these photos I took from the show!
After the intense show that Igorrr brought to the legendary Tavastia venue in Helsinki last year (read the report here and see the photos here), we were all too happy to see them return to Finland on their latest “Distortion European Tour”. And the fact that they brought with them a fine selection of at least just as intense bands with Amenra, Der Weg Einer Freiheit and Hangman’s Chair, got us really excited. So off we went for a trip from the Helsinki region to the Pakkahuone venue in Tampere, probably one of the best looking, and best organized venues of the country.
SKILLET – since more than two decades one of the leaders of genre Christian Rock, which is especially extremely popular in the US, and touring Europe as part of their ‘Day Of Destiny Tour 2023’. Their last long player ‘Unleashed’ was released in January this year, and this tour was the first opportunity to present the new material live. First thing of the night everybody saw: the big ‘Sold out’ sign at the doors of the venue. The venue was packed to its maximum capacity.
Supporting and opening the evening was EVA UNDER FIRE – an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan, USA. A group of skilled and experienced musicians presenting a hard-hitting style rooted in classic rock, punk, heavy metal, and sometimes pop.
LIKE A STORM was entering the stage next – an alternative metal/rock band from Auckland, New Zealand, now based in Las Vegas. They are best known for blending the didgeridoo with heavy riff-driven music.
Finally, the highlight of the night was rocking the house: SKILLET. Besides their extraordinary music, a SKILLET concert is always something very special – lights, large video LED walls, fantastic sound and special effects – singer John Cooper shooting with nitro canons like RAMMSTEIN‘s Til Lindemann shoots fire. This was an American show at its best that would be capable to be shown on much larger stages and in bigger venues. It got pretty hot, the crowd got totally crazy and everybody was singing and moving. The mood brought up a number of crowd-surfers too. Maybe the only sad thing was that there has been only one encore on this evening, leaving a fascinated and satisfied crowd.
Cam Cole is a contemporary singer, songwriter, and musician from London. He walks the streets and gives concerts, performing brutal music in the styles: folk, delta blues, grunge, and rock and roll. He is a man who plays all his instruments at the same time and does it in an exquisite, super enthusiastic way, full of positive energy and joy. I would say he is one of us on stage, ready to excite and unite people in the room through music. The concert in Munich was not easy on a technical level, due to some problems with the drum system and then a broken string on his guitar, but the audience didn’t seem to mind that. They were patient and understanding, taking advantage of the dead times to drink some beers and chat.
The smallest room in the Backstage, opened its doors in the most extensive version and the capacity sold out for a great concert and demonstration of a unique talent that many, like me, will not forget so soon. I also thank the super kindness of the musician to send a voice message to thank me the photos I took and his excitement to see the rest, it feels really good to hear this kind of recognition made in a personal way, so, thank you very much.
Opening the evening was one man also, Van Tastik. He performs authentic rock n roll and blues songs and managed to captivate the audience with friendliness and humour. Summing up the night we can say that just two men can entertain a lot of people and leave everyone with big smiles.
