Photo Reports

Once again the biggest room in the Backstage Club, was completely filled to receive another range of high level bands! The expectation was very high to see You Me at Six and the queue to enter the club was huge.

The first to take the stage came from afar, the Australians Yours Truly showed that they are strong and energetic live, especially vocalist Mikaila Delgado, generating a strong reaction from the Munich public.

The second band of the night arrives from the UK and apparently already has their footprints all over Germany, The Hunna put on a show full of youth and desire to please the audience.

The big band of the night has hit the charts several times in the UK, You Me at Six are an experienced band on stage and their songs are sung in unison in at the Backstage Club. They bring with them their latest album ‘Truth Decay’ released earlier this year and although it’s very fresh the crowd already know all the lyrics and help the band make it special. It’s been a while since the band was last in Munich and the audience made sure to welcome them in a very warm and affectionate way. A show of great communication and empathy from all sides, and we sincerely hope and think that You Me at Six deserve an even bigger room with a sea of people to receive so much talent in creating beautiful alternative rock songs that mix several genres.

Due to a rather crappy weather situation, we ended up getting to Turku Saatanalle 2023 way later than we had planned or foreseen, having missed what was probably a pretty epic opening of the 2-day fest with Satanic Warmaster. But we still managed to capture the Polish Medico Peste, personal favorites Finnish Trollheims Grott and the Swedish Mörk Gryning to wrap up the first night of black metal debauchery in the center of Turku, Finland!

If there is one band that has been repeatedly referred to as a source of inspiration for other great names in the history of rock such as Weezer, Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Nirvana, among many others, it is the Pixies. The veteran American band is back on the road and brings with them their new album “Doggerel”.

The Tonhalle is packed to bursting point and people of all ages are looking forward to an intense night. The Wunderhorse open the hostel and despite their young appearance they are very mature on stage, showing rock songs with a lot of identity and melody. Their debut album “Cub” was released last year, and it deserves a chance to be heard, because it is surprisingly good!

At 9pm Frank Black and company take the stage, the band presents itself in a relaxed way, the songs are strong, and the audience knows the band well.
Relaxing start with 3 great hits “Wave of Mutilation (Uk Surf)”. Where is My Mind” and “Here Comes Your Man” and during the night the presentation of some new songs to the Munich public, together with other existent from the past that are still current and that make the show. In a night of revival, the Pixies show that the years go by, and they are still alive, being living legends of rock that will never be forgotten!

A show over 2 years in the making, thanks to a certain global interruption, Wardruna finally made it over to Brussels to play their long awaited show at the Koninklijk Circus.

There was no supporting act to warm up the audience, but Wardruna is a special case. The Norwegian ensemble needs no intro as their presence, atmosphere, and message are strong enough to sweep up anyone open to it. Especially in a venue like the Koninklijk Circus that lends itself to that. The circular hall creates a sort of amphitheater feeling perfect for the ancient music and energy Wardruna brought to the stage. Keep an eye out in the reports section for our full report. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures.

Einar (Leprous vocalist) was sick. He didn’t feel well at all and his gut voice didn’t work at all, only the high voice worked, but… isn’t that what Leprous is all about? So the concert just had to go on! Actually, we didn’t notice anything of it all the time, and at the end, despite everything, even a growl came off in the song ‘Nighttime Disguise’…. Probably the painkillers totally kicked in by then.

Even more damage on the counter: the vocalist of Monuments had been a little too boisterous and knocked out his tooth with his microphone. (Visible in the photo where he is on his knees in front of the plexiglass step at the front of the stage: the white dot on it is his tooth!) According to his own words, this was already the sixth time this happened to him.

During the supporting act Kalandra nothing distructive happened. However, I must quickly add that they (the other bands too, of course) delivered a great performance!

After an earlier attempt by Gaerea in April last year to take over a stage in Finland, and an exceptional new album released last year as well with ‘Mirage’, we were really excited to finally catch these black metal stars on the rise on a stage near us. At the beginning of February the time was finally there, and we were clearly not the only ones that had been looking forward to seeing this Portuguese outfit live, since On The Rocks was completely sold out. With the addition of local black metal act Venenum Dei, it promised to be an intense evening and one for the books of hosts Nem Agency and Loose Mind Productions.

There is only one word to describe what The Kooks are live, and it’s professionalism at the highest level. The British band from Brighton filled the huge hall that is the Zenith in Munich with smiles and joy, showing off all their popular hits, from the oldest to the most recent (Seaside, Ooh La, Connection, Naive, Bad Habit, Always Where I Need to Be, She Moves in Her Own Way). The audience gave in completely, singing in unison the songs of the band led by Luke Pritchard, making the night memorable. Opening the night, Stone, a punk-alternative band who came all the way from Liverpool to unload all their energy in the few minutes they had to show themselves in a very direct and effective way.

Prog masters Dream Theater are on tour with their latest album ‘A View From the Top of the World’ and we got the chance to attended the show in Tilburg, Netherlands! The technical skills of all musicians are still top level. Whoever took the lead (for they each alternate) performed it with academic precision. From beginning to end, we were drawn into a musical story with a performance that approaches perfection… as usual.

Warm up act was the Finnish progressive/symphonic power metal band Arion.

We arrived early at the Feierwerk in Munich, to mark our position in the front line as we know the rooms here are small and there are no photopits in the hope of getting some good shots in the middle of the crowd. The night starts off very heavy with the British Heriot, a mix of genres ranging from hardcore to sludge, they showed that the potential is there in the band and that time will surely bring good results.

Coming from North America, Holy Fawn are a very interesting post-rock band that already has some years of existence and a few albums released. Little known in Europe they deserve a close listen and a trip to see them live is worth it, they started out as a folk band.

Rolo Tomassi are new to me, I confess! In a search on the Munich nightclubs’ agenda I saw the name, I found it curious and decided to listen to it. The surprise was immediate and the request to try to get a photo was instantaneous. A little more research and I could understand a little more of the band’s importance in the UK alternative music scene. Chaos and beauty mix together in the music composed by Rolo Tomassi, their music can be described as a mixture of various musical genres that live becomes even more alive and strong. An explosive performance that left everyone present with a smile on their face and the sweat on their body.