Photo Reports

There was a Sound of Madness on April 27 in Fort Wayne, Indiana! Shinedown, Three Days Grace and From Ashes to New rolled into town on a Thursday night for the Revolutions Live Tour! They lit the house up and burned it down in front of a sold out crowd at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum! The venue was alive as I entered the venue to pick up my credentials! I met up with the other photographers, and we headed to the pit as a group, weaving our way through the already energetic crowd. Fort Wayne loves Shinedown, and it showed from the incredible week night turnout!

From Ashes to New got things started for the night! The band was formed in 2013 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They are a rock band that has a rock/metal/rap vibe with a hint of nu metal. They guys got the crowd rowdy by playing hit tracks such as ‘Nightmare’, ‘Hate Me Too’ and ‘Panic‘.

Rock veterans Three Days Grace took the stage next! The Canadian rock band was originally formed in 1992. They kicked off their set with the hit ‘So Called Life’ and played many other favorites like ‘Animal I Have Become’, ‘Pain’, ‘Home’, ‘I Hate Everything About You’, ‘Never Too Late’, and ‘Riot’. They encouraged the crowd to form a pit several times and by the time they played their final song ‘Riot’, a small pit had broken out in the front row. Singer Matt Walst spoke about mental health and the importance of not giving up as well. By the time Three Days Grace closed out their set, the sold out crowd inside the Coliseum was buzzing and ready for Shinedown!

Now it was time for what we had all been waiting for! Shinedown’s set had 2 gigantic video screens that opened from the center as the 4 members of the band slowly walked from the back of the stage to the front, greeting the thousands of fans that had waited all night for this moment! Shinedown is composed of Brent Smith [vocals], Barry Kerch [drums], Zach Myers [guitar], and Eric Bass [bass] and they were formed in Florida back in 2001. They played a 19 song set with 20+ years of hit tracks and a couple surprises mixed in. They kicked the night off with ‘Diamond Eyes’ and kept things rolling all night with many hits such as ‘Dead Don’t Die’, ‘I’ll Follow You’, ‘Bully’, ‘If You Only Knew’, ‘State of My Head’, ‘Sound of Madness’, ‘Planet Zero’, ’45’, ‘Devil’, and ‘Monsters’. During the song ‘I’ll Follow You’, a piano was dropped out of the ceiling and Eric sat down and played the song. During the song, Brent sang from atop the piano and Zach shredded his guitar on top of the piano as well. Covers ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ (Oasis) and ‘Simple Man’ (Lynyrd Skynyrd) were also performed throughout the night. The Shinedown stage is giant, and the band uses every inch of it during their performance. They love their fans and are very interactive throughout their 2-hour set. They also touch on the importance of taking care of your mental health and to reach out if you need help. At the end of the night, they had the lights turned on and encouraged everyone to get up and get jumping. I looked around and from the pit to the top balcony, I don’t think a single person was still seated! The band closed out the night with ‘Cut the Cord’. Shinedown puts on an amazing show that I think everyone should experience at least once in their life!

Radio station Studio Brussel exists 40 years. For this occasion they broadcast for 40 hours from in VIERNULVIER, Ghent where they also staged a lot of live performances and concerts. This Saturday evening was reserved for the heavy guitars with rock and metal of Psychonaut, STAKE and Brutus. It was the first time these three bands were on the same line-up, and they were killing it.

An amazing evening of singing and screaming along to the Dutch songs of the Belgian metal sensation Fleddy Melculy. They prove again why they are so popular: Vintage hardcore with tons of metal. Hard and catchy as f*ck!!

To support them, they brought their Dutch friends of Tusky.

Leprous is a kind of band that has managed to keep growing in popularity, even though the music they release now is quite a bit away from the sound they started off with. And that was clearly noticeable on their “Aphelion European Tour”, where a lot of the dates were sold out, including the stop in Helsinki. With them, they brought the UK djent outfit Monuments and Norwegian Nordic folk inspired alt-rock band Kalandra. A quite diverse line-up that still has elements in common with each other, and promising us a splendid night of incredible music.

The legendary heavy metal act W.A.S.P. hit the stage at the famous Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki during their world tour, celebrating 40 years of uncompromising heavy metal. The show was sold out months in advance, so clearly the anticipation of the Helsinki crowd was through the roof. The evening kick-started with the Swedish heavy metal outfit Crazy Lixx delivering classic Swedish hair metal sound to an already enthusiastic crowd. Check out the pictures down below!

Belgian progressive sludge metallers Cottrell recently visited our venue Asgaard in Gentbrugge. With this, the Liege-based band is playing their very first show in Flanders! All this to celebrate Yves’ birthday, one of our valued members of the GRIMM organization! Cottrell is a still relatively unknown sludge metal band, but with a very interesting sound. There is some real potential. Off course, we took some pictures! Enjoy!

It has been four years since Draconian toured Belgium. Meanwhile, singer Heike Langhans left the band (after 10 years) to focus on her family and her own musical projects. Heike replaced Lisa Johansson in 2012, and now Lisa rejoins the band. With Lisa, the band recorded their first 5 albums. With Heike they recorded 2 albums, including their latest ‘Under a Godless Veil’, which can finally be performed live!

On stage, it feels like Lisa never left. Not only about her performance, but fans also remember her and she is well received back. There was a special interaction with some fans in the front row. She also pays her respects to Heike at a certain song and mentions how perfectly she used to sing it. Lisa’s fragile clean vocals and Anders’ harsh vocals complement each other perfectly and blend into a warm whole, involving the audience.

Similar yet slightly colder are Swallow the Sun who come next. They are back as well after a long time and are proud to introduce us their newest album ‘Moonflowers’ that was released November 19, 2021. The atmosphere is a little more mysterious. Maybe because there is less interaction with the audience. It is rather limited to announcing the titles and a word of thanks at the end. Nonetheless, they too bring an excellent performance that richly showcases their new album.

Warm up act was the Italian band Shores of Null. Perhaps less known but also in the running for 10 years (and 4 albums). They brought a great performance, and they left us with the idea that we will definitely go see them again as soon as possible!

Nem Agency brought Kamelot back to Finland for 3 Shows and of course they didn’t come alone, they brought League of Distortion, Eleine and Myrath along with them.

While all bands fitted nicely and played a good show, the event, in my opinion, felt a bit hectic due to the short playtime each band had. I feel it would have been better to plan a bit more time for each band and just bring two support acts along. Other than that it was a very nice concert, in front of a surprisingly small crowd.

The Save the World Tour led by Fozzy with special guests Seventh Day Slumber and The Nocturnal Affair rolled into Columbus, Ohio Sunday evening April 2, 2023 to a SOLD OUT show at The King of Clubs!! 

The Nocturnal Affair kicked the night off to an already decent and energetic crowd! The 5-piece band hails from Sin City – Las Vegas, Nevada. The band’s music has a dark/alternative/industrial sound.  The band consists of Brendan Shane [vocals], Andy Ingraham [guitar], Dru Lappin [guitar], Michael James [bass], Raistlin “RJ” Hamman [drums]. To close out their set, they played Haddaway’s What is Love, a fun hit from 1993!

Seventh Day Slumber, a Nashville based rock band that has been going strong for 20 years, hit the stage next.  Frontman Joseph Rojas has struggled with addiction in the past and has faced other adversity in his life. This project helps fuel his faith in God, and he shares a message of love and of never giving up. The remainder of the band is made up of Blaise Rojas [drums], Ken Reed [bass] and Weston Evans [guitar]. 

Fozzy fans were beyond ready for the 20+ years old band to enter the stage! The excitement was growing when the band burst onto stage with the song Sane! Frontman Chris Jericho donned a green studded jacket adorned with peacock feathers and welcomed concert-goers by holding up a red solo cup. Fozzy’s other band members are Rich Ward aka The Duke [guitar], Grant Brooks [drums], Billy Gray [guitar] and PJ Farley [bass]. Fozzy is a good ol’ rock and roll band that shows up and shows out for you to party and have a freaking awesome night. Each guy in the band brings something different to the stage, and they all are very good at what they do. Fozzy is there to entertain you, and they happen to be damn good rock and rollers as well. The band played hits such as Nowhere to Run, I Still Burn, Purifier and Judas. To close out the night, they played a cover of Blitzkrieg Bop, a famous hit by the Ramones. Fozzy never disappoints!

After a catastrophic day in Munich due to a general transport strike in Germany, we managed to get to the small club Strom in the centre of Munich on time.
Surrounded by an atmosphere with very young people, full of expectation and excitement to see one of the most exciting new band from the UK: Nova Twins. A moment we have been waiting for some time since they were delayed due to the well-known issues of the past couple of years…

After a catastrophic start, full of difficult technical problems to solve, and supported by the peaceful patience of the audience, Master Peace were able to show their performance. Full of joy, vivacity and friendliness, the band showed their electronic pop songs with a hint of funk and R&B and the Munich audience loved it.
What can we say about the show that followed! It was simply great from start to finish.

Nova Twins are a breath of fresh air in the current musical environment and for that reason have recently been nominated for two BRIT Awards and a Mercury Prize. For those who don’t know them yet, I’d say they’re a cross between Rage Against The Machine, Die Antwoord, Skunk Anansie, and The Prodigy.
The reason of their visit to Munich was to present their second album “Supernova” and the reception couldn’t have been better, the crowd was delirious, singing and dancing. Amy and Georgia are an explosive duo, surrounded by huge pedals that they use in an active and completely controlled way to expose their sound, accompanied live only by a drummer with excellent musical skills.

In conclusion, see these girls live and you won’t regret it!