Photo Reports
Greta Van Fleet‘s ‘Dreams In Gold Tour’ made a radiant stop in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday evening September 20th, 2022. And boy, it was a whole vibe! Adoring fans filed into the venue all decked out in beautiful outfits resembling 70’s hippy era clothing. It was really a joy to see so many smiling faces, ready to have a night of fun with their friends!
Robert Finley and his band got the party started by bringing his Louisiana bluesy soul sounds to the stage. Robert brought some amazing dance moves to the stage as well, which the crowd seemed to enjoy!
Next up was Houndmouth, hailing from right here in Indiana, with their alternative rock blues quartet. The band continued with the good vibes and was the perfect warm up for Greta Van Fleet.
Finally, it was time for Greta Van Fleet to grace the crowd with their presence, and that they did! The Michigan rock band formed in 2012 and consists of three Kiszka brothers: Josh[vocals], Jake[guitar] and Sam[bass, keyboards]; additionally with Danny Wagner [drums]. Their theme for the night was love, and they showed love for their fans throughout the show. At one point, singer Josh handed out white roses by piggy-back to adoring front row fans. Their entire set was a sight to be seen; not only super talented musicians, their beautiful outfits and amazing stage show, but the big message and take-away from the show was to really let love win.
Sold out at one of the venues of our beloved metal club in Munich!
Opening the night and warming up the crowd well was the Finnish band Oceanhoarse, well disposed, full of energy and cohesive, they had a good reception from the Bavarian crowd that collaborated well and let us anticipate a fantastic night. The second band onstage were the French LizZard, probably the most exciting surprise of the night, leaving the crowd literally speechless with such a demonstration of power, technique and sound quality, managing to attract many new fans in Germany.
Headliners of the night, the Swedish Soen, are one of those bands that make perfect and magical music, lulling and mesmerizing the audience as if they were sailing on a calm as on a more violent sea. The first time I attended a concert of this band, 10 years ago, they were opening for a Paradise Lost tour and the talent was there, super band formed by extremely talented musicians, but today, they are the fruit of an evolution and union that reflects in their music and live shows.
Heavy metal night simply perfect:
Disneyland After Dark or better known as D-A-D presented a fantastic show in Suvilahti, Helsinki at a sold out event in front of a crowd of over 3000 people on a warm late summer evening. D-A-D delivered the old trusty gimmicks, at least for older fans of the band, with a spinning carousel on stage and various different weird looking two string basses. Newer songs and old hits, D-A-D put on a fantastic show for old school fans of the band and newer ones. They set on a good example how to put on a feel good rock ‘n’ roll show, and at least left this photographer leaving the show with a big smile on my face.
If you were any bit into stoner rock, this night at On The Rocks in Helsinki was the place to be. With the first visit ever in Finland of the popular Greek stoner rock outfit Planet of Zeus and a first visit not supporting someone else of the Norwegian stoner punks of Bokassa, this would be a night to remember. Especially knowing that the latter one was handpicked by Lars Ulrich to open for Metallica on their 2019 Europe tour, there has to be something there…
On a Sunday autumn evening in Helsinki we saw total death metal takeover of On The Rocks venue in the heart of central Helsinki. Even though it was a Sunday and many metalheads attending seemed to be pretty tired or hungover didn’t slow down the mosh pit especially after the main act Vader hit the stage.
First polish band of three Thy Diseased gave a solid death metal show with some the most amazingly mixed drums I’ve heard in a while and left the crowd clearly craving for more face melting blastbeats. Next up another polish band called Hate took the stage with their in your face blackened death metal action, reminding me personally a lot of ‘Demigod’ era of Behemoth. Personally the best live performance of the night for me. And then it was time for the main event, polish death metal warriors Vader took the stage and that’s when all hell broke loose and delivered a good Sunday workout for everyone in the moshpit. Packed house full of great bands delivering a satisfying evening of death metal. Not a better way to spend a Sunday in my mind.
Some musical projects are simply unique, sometimes with their music, other times with their lyrics and themes, other times with their aesthetics. I think it’s easy to say that SKYND is rather unique on all of these levels. The way they combine industrial music with poppy qualities to sing about serial murders, murder mysteries and horrendous things that happened in the past including some very distinct looks and imagery is something we haven’t seen done before like this. SKYND isn’t just music. It’s an experience. It’s a happening. It’s something that’ll easily speak to people from all walks of life if they’re any bit intrigued by the dark side of life and murder mysteries. We’ve been following what they’re doing since they suddenly popped up with their very first single and haven’t been disappointed with anything they’ve done. So when we saw they were going to drop by a couple of places close to us on their European tour, we just had to be there.
Just to bring back some good festival times from this summer here are some impressions from day one of Wacken Open Air 2022 with Thundermother, Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons (from their first gig at LGH stage) and Grave Digger! Hope you’ll enjoy or got back some good memories if you were there!
A festival experience that combines metal and folk music, authentic folklore, stunning nature and a rich Viking history. The organization is very small and a bit chaotic, but you shouldn’t expect more of a small festival like this. Situated next to the Midgard Historical museum, harbor, burial mounds, longhouse, and larp encampment at the seaside. Add a small but very international crowd and a most welcoming atmosphere and you have the recipe for a real viking style festival weekend. Allow us to take a trip with you to Borre, Norway, to Midgardsblot.
Midgardsblot is located in Borre, in the Vestfold county of Norway, at the west coast of the Oslofjord. There is a direct train from Oslo Airport, passing by the capital, that stops at Skoppum. From there it is just a short bus ride to the festival site (approx. 4 km hike). If you are travelling from the capital you can also easily take a train to Moss and catch a ferry to Horten. This way you can enjoy the nice scenery of the Oslofjord for half an hour free of charge (without car). From Horten you can again take a bus or hike about 4,5 km to the festival site. During the festival you can either camp right next to the beach or spend your nights in one of the hotels in Horten. Be quick to decide though, as hotels and other options such as cabins and AirBnB sell out months before the festival!
The idea for Midgardsblot grew from the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian constitution. The fans who have read the review know that Skuggsjá, the collaboration project between Einar Selvik of Wardruna and Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved, was a commissioned concert piece for this special occasion. Because of the success of this project and the positive reception among metal fans and fans of Viking culture, the idea grew to organize an open air festival combing these aspects.
The Midgard Historical Center in Borre and the surrounding area proved to be the perfect place. The museum is located right next to an excavation site of what is presumed to have been a thriving Viking trading post. The protected park area holds the largest assembly of monumental grave mounds in Northern Europe. Just a bit down the road you have the great hall, or Gildehallen, a reconstructed Viking feasting hall that is used by the festival for intimate concerts, story telling, and beer or mead tastings.
This place bursting with historical significance is the area where Midgardsblot takes place. A blót is the term for ‘sacrifice’ in norse paganism. The sacrifice could be to the Norse gods, the spirits of the land or your ancestors. In any way, it often constituted a moment of coming together and sharing experiences, food and drinks. This is exactly what the organizers try to offer. And believe us, it is so much more than just a music festival.
With GRIMM we’re always on the look for the next big thing in music to try and cover those promising artists. One such talent is the UK artist YUNGBLUD, who has been taking the world by storm with his highly catchy and poppy music that has a clear punk attitude. While the poppy nature of his music might turn off a lot of people that frequently visit our site, we feel he’s a fresh breath of air in the realm of more commercial rock music and his clear belief in being who you are without compromise is something that should at least get appreciation by the part of our crowd that highly values individuality and not hiding who you are. So off we went to catch his Helsinki stop on his “Life On Mars Europe Tour” at the Culture House! When we got to the sold out venue shortly before the doors opened, there was a line of people waiting to get in that spanned a couple of blocks. The sheer dedication of YUNGBLUD‘s fans in Finland is pretty obvious…
After several times being announced as the headliner for the Tuska editions that ended up not happening due to the pandemic and another postponed show, the French metal masters of Gojira finally made it to Finland! While at first the show was scheduled to be at the Helsinki Culture House, the ticket sales pretty soon told the organization that there was way more demand than they initially thought and ended up moving to the much bigger Black Box Jäähalli (Ice Hall). And again, the show got sold out completely by the time they arrived here. With support from up-and-comers Alien Weaponry and Employed To Serve, we knew we were in for quite the night for heavy music!
