Photo Reports

Happy for the umpteenth Spoil Engine show I got to attend, but also sad, because it was the last one with Iris, and probably not just for me, but for many, Iris became an inseparable part of Spoil Engine! I already feel sorry for whoever has to follow up on her because that’s a tough – if not impossible – task ahead! For 7 years she has given us everything she had in her. She helped to make Spoil Engine what it is today. We’ve seen them many times live, and every time you couldn’t help but being deeply impressed by her appearance and her amazing voice!

They say all songs come to an end, and so does the Iris era! She decided to exchange the Netherlands for California, where the winters are warmer and there’s nothing we can do about that! However she has promised that we might meet her again in our regions in the summertime. After all, she has her roots here and so she intends to come back whenever she can.

At the end of the show Steven (Gaze) took the microphone to say a word of gratitude. He brought back memories of how Iris came knocking at Ace’s studio’s door for the audition 7 years ago. Ace must have then said to Steven: This is a natural talent, you have to take her in ’cause if you don’t,  I will! He also said a big thank you to all the fans who come out for live shows so that this kind of shows can continue to happen. In addition to the usual fans, we must also mention that the ex-members Matthijs, Bart, Steven and Nick were also present to attend this show.

A dignified closing you might call it. A show where she gave everything, as usual, but after the show, she also took the time to meet, and take pictures with… all the fans! Yes, all of them! (who wanted). The pictures were posted on their Facebook page the very next day. With ‘Stormsleeper’ playing in the background while writing this, we can only close with a heartfelt thank you for the past 7 years! Iris, you will be missed!

(Warm up act by Coffin Feeder)

First of all, just to be clear in case you didn’t know this yet: Eagles Of Death Metal is not a metal band. They give everyone a good time with the finest of rock and roll.

It was an honor to be presented to and get to know Dead Sara. Four killer musicians with great songs warming up the crowd. They are actually almost too good to be a support act.

And then when the main event started, it’s instantly clear, when all musicians of EODM come on stage, “we are family” is playing and Jesse Hughes is hyping up the crowd: we are all going to have fun together. After the first three songs all photographers had to bring all their equipment outside the venue. But I didn’t waste any time to run back into a packed Trix and enjoy a really great evening!

There is Desertfest Antwerp, Berlin, London,… but nothing of the sorts in Finland despite a pretty active stoner/psychedelic/doom scene. Time to change something about that, some people were clearly thinking. Enter the first ever Desert Hel festival for the heaviest stoner and doom music from Finnish shores and beyond. It promised to be a weekend full of loud & fuzzy shows, craft beer and psychedelic visuals and hopefully the start of a new yearly tradition after having to postpone it several times due to the pandemic! And with a quite busy first day, bands like Jupiter, Craneium, DÖ and as cherry on top, Lucifer in combination with their own festival beers, it was quite the start of our weekend!

Last Thursday I seemed to have wandered into the metal equivalent of Kamping Kitsch. A parade of ’80s track suits and cliché pimp costumes went all the way from the Noordersingel into Trix, Antwerp. And no fucks were given because we had one hell of a metal party. Starting off with One Morning Left. A metalcore band from Finland rocking synths and T-shirts with unicorns and rainbows. With titles like Sinners are Winners, !liaF cipE (Epic Fail!) and You’re Dead, Let’s Disco, they had me at hello. Next up were Blind Channel. Some may know these guys from representing Finland in the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. Others will know them as a emo/post-hardcore band with catchy songs. Either way, they’re a live band that sure knew how to warm up a crowd and a great fit in this line up. And then the moment we had all been waiting for. Electric Callboy (previously Eskimo Callboy) live on stage in Antwerp. Opening wearing their outfits from the Hypa Hypa video and firing confetti cannons into the crowd immediately set the mood for the rest of the evening.

Dagoba and Infected Rain are touring together as co-headliners on the “ECDYSIS BY NIGHT TOUR 2022”. We went out to have a look for you at the MEZZ in Breda (NL). A rather small venue (capacity 100 persons). The concert was not completely sold out (but still: almost) allowing us to still be able to move a little bit.

First up was Dagoba. Almost non stop headbanging, Shawter and his band sure know how to wake everybody up. When they followed up, Lena from Infected Rain drew special attention to the guy in the wheelchair in the front row who had been actively participating all night. A broken drum stick wasn’t thrown in the crowd, but was personally handed over to this guy instead. They also made some jokes about the size of the venue, such as asking if everyone was OK all the way in the back (which was no more than a couple of meters from the stage). At the end of the show they also said they had come to the point where they should go off stage and we should shout “we want more”, so they could come back up for the encores, only, since there was no place to hide for them, they just asked if we’d like some more and continued with it right away.

It was a very pleasant night out with two bands that are very entertaining and who are fun to check out live every single time!

After an impressive first day, we’re back for a second serving of prog brilliancy. Today 10 bands play, from 2 in the afternoon all the way until midnight. 10 bands, bringing the best of their beautiful repertoires. It was a pity we missed out on one of the bands though: Ross Jennings, who opened the festival, played in the small hall and that was full right from the start! There was simply no getting through… good to see that people are actually showing up for the opening’s acts as well! Headliner for today: Leprous! Like Katatonia yesterday, Leprous played a set of songs by request, and their setlist can be found here.

The King of Clubs once again did not disappoint. With the warmth of the spring day still lingering at show time, it was a beautiful night to head out and catch some live music! The lineup for the evening was headlined by the amazing Tantric and supported by the one and only KrashKarma. Additional support was provided by 2 Ohio bands, This Day Forever and Twenty-Second Dimension.

When I discovered Author & Punisher back in 2018 at Blowup festival in Helsinki, I was blown away with the uniqueness and creativeness of the project. The industrial doom that Tristan Shone literally bangs out with his machinery is damn-right impressive, captivating and one of a kind. So whenever A & P is in the neighborhood, you can count on me being there if it’s any bit possible. Looking at the usual industrial fare that Elektrik Products usually brings to Finland, I was kind of surprised to see this act being booked by them but hey, I’m not complaining. They fleshed out the line-up of the night with their friends of Eggvn and Pedigree, turning it into a promising night of harsh beats and heavy music.

After 2 cancelled editions (thanks to the pandemic), Prognosis festival finally took place in Effenaar in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Not every band that was originally planned could make it anymore, but at least the organization managed to replace every cancellation with a worthy replacement. Some had to cancel, others insisted on being there even if they couldn’t be there with the complete band. The Ocean for example: their vocalist recently had an accident, leaving him in a wheelchair for 2 months with 8 fractures. Still they were there, playing an instrumental set without him. How’s that for dedication?

This was only the second edition of the festival and they already had visitors from 45 countries! Not too surprising with an amazing line-up like this! Prog may be a genre that is sometimes a little harder to digest for many, but it can also count on a large group of real dedicated fans. Less common instruments can also be found here. Next to a flute and a hurdy-gurdy, the first band (Argus) opened with a theremin! If you don’t know what that is, you should check out the pictures below.

Due to the overlapping time schedules and the different sizes of both venues, it was sometimes very hard to get in (the small venue). Therefore we regret not getting the chance to take pictures of Novena, as the place was full, there was no getting through. But good on them for getting a full house showing up for their show!

Headliner for day one: Katatonia! The set list was ‘by request’ and can be found here.

I haven’t been at a concert this big in years, just too bad the crowd seemed to have forgotten how to concert. Even though there were over 11.000 thousand people there was seemingly almost nothing to indicate they were there. I even took my ear plugs out a few times to check if I could hear someone sing along or just scream for the band. In the front there were at least some excited fans but when I went to the back, the only thing I could hear from the fans was some talking and clapping between songs. Which seemed like a pity to me as the band themselves seemed so excited to be back on stage. At least towards the end of the show the fans woke up a little.  

For me this was my first time of seeing Nightwish. The mixture between super emotional songs like ‘How’s the Heart’ and those songs packed with so much power that you feel like you’re part of the song is even more amazing live. Despite Floor having the flu, she was still pretty impressive, motoring through the show like nothing was going on. Very sympathetic was also that they congratulated their long-time sound technician for his 60th birthday with a song he ‘certainly’ never heard before, ‘Nemo’. Happy birthday from us as well.  

If you have a chance to see them live yourself, I would definitely recommend to do so. The magic of today’s show lasted almost two full hours. 

As support there was Lähiöbotox. Which was less enchanting, but at least brimming with of energy.