Photo Reports

Rude & reckless. That’s still the best, most accurate way to describe these old school rude boys. The Slackers have been preaching the finest ska and rocksteady tunes all around the globe since 1991. These New Yorkers have had a great relationship with Belgium and the Netherlands since the very beginning and they still love the smaller, more intimate venues, like Kavka. For example, I first saw them at Ernesto’s Cantina in Sittard, Holland after Ernest(o) America himself had lured them in from their dressing room at Effenaar with a tray of tequila shots so they decided to play another show on the spot. Yes, they’re that kind of band!

Proof of The Slackers loving local culture is their support act. In this case Jason of El Topo (for whom this was his last gig with El Topo, you will be missed Jason!) booked Moodcollector. A reggae & ska party band from the Kempen that did an awesome job warming up the crowd, getting them moving with their groovy tunes.

I’m not sure why Sonata Arctica didn’t come to the bigger city of Tampere on their current ‘Acoustic Adventures‘ tour, but they’re that good that it’s also totally worth the time to travel an hour to see them. I simply couldn’t miss this tour. Sonata Arctica‘s shows are always of very high quality, but their acoustic tour are on a whole other level of perfection. I can just highly recommend to go and see it for your d´self if you have the chance too.

While the show wasn’t sold out, it was still pretty well filled and the venue offered excellent sound. It was a real blast and the 1 hour 45 minutes went by far to fast.

Finally Brymir made the step up and got to play their first headlining show at the legendary Tavastia club. What a fantastic way to celebrate the release of their 4th album ‘Voices in the Sky’. Although the show was on a Wednesday, there was still a decent crowd, which was a very pleasant surprise. Getting showered in sweat was a much less pleasant surprise, but I guess that’s part of the deal when you go to club shows. Speaking of surprises, there where more. Like Andriy Shevchenko reading the poem ‘My Testament’ before the song ‘Borderland’, as well as Antti Nieminen joining on stage for ‘Far from Home‘. They also played almost every song for the new album, only missing ‘Rift Between Us‘ and ‘All as One‘

To sum it up: An overall very nice evening, let’s do this soon again.

Last time we caught Amon Amarth in Finland was when they brought their fiery show to the exact same venue before the pandemic, so having them come back there finally after all those year AND with a brand new album was already a big reason for us to not want to miss out on this night. But then added to that, they got into an arrangement for a co-headline show with no one less than Machine Head! They’ve tried to get to Helsinki several times the past years but now finally made it and it’s been way way too long! And if that was not enough, the brand new melodeath supergroup The Halo Effect came along to warm up the crowd as the opening act. A very exciting night that we had been looking forward to for quite a while…

It is not for those who want, but for those who can! Technically flawless and musicians with a very deep knowledge, Obscura are possibly one of the best bands in the super heavy genre in the world, building complex songs with varied styles, mixing everything very well. With six albums released since 2002, the Germans from Landshut, managed to give the backstage audience a set of songs that left everyone crumpled but happy at the end of a brutal show.

Opening the night was the veteran band from Leipzig, Disillusion. Suffering several metamorphoses over the long years of their career as well as line-up changes, nowadays they are cohesive in the sound they make and do it in an energetic and enthusiastic way. Hailing from Andorra, Persefone are probably the only metal band from their tiny country. At the Backstage club in Munich they showed that they are able to go far and make the audience go wild to the rhythm of their sound, well done!

This hugely popular band surrounding the Robinson brothers needs no introduction. Not counting two short breaks, The Black Crowes have been touring and pumping out hits for close to forty years and they still shine on stage. If their soulful southern / blues rock jams can’t get you moving, that’s on you, not them! Like the tour says: Shake your moneymaker!

A lovely surprise was supporting act DeWolff. This Dutch seventies inspired psychedelic rock band started out as youngsters (2 brothers and a friend, sounds familiar?) and is now – after fifteen years, one EP, seven studio albums and two live albums later – touring Europe with one of their great influences, The Black Crowes.

After having attended a banger of a show in Munich earlier (find the photo report here), we got an extra chance in Antwerp. Opening act still was the Finnish band Oceanhoarse who managed to do what they were there for: warming up the crowd. Initially they stood in front of an -almost- empty venue, but luckily that changed quickly! By the time Lizzard hit the stage, the venue was pretty much filling up. Lizzard‘s show was -in one word- impressive!  Lizzard brings up a very accessible style of progressive metal and it’s not the first time they support Soen on tour!

Finally time for the headliner of the night with Soen! If you’ve never heard of them, don’t be ashamed, nobody is perfect. But if so, please check them out! And while they earlier had to upgrade from the smaller room to the bigger one, the venue wasn’t sold out here and knowing that it’s been many years since they played in Belgium, it’s almost hard to understand… it should have been!

A night of worship at the Muffathalle!

Opening the night, alone on stage and only with a guitar and several effects pedals was Tashi Dorji. The improvisational guitarist was on stage for about 40 minutes exploring his world with the audience showing different moods and feelings. Punctually at 9 pm the Canadians Godspeed You! Black Emperor enter the stage, drop by drop. The Canadian cult band is known for their peculiar live performances in which projected films are shown through various devices on stage during their musical performances. I would say that there is an extra element to the band because the projections are made with old film reels and worked live, making the perfect marriage between music and image.

An unforgettable night with the band giving themselves indulging themselves for over 1h30m to an audience surrendered to the manifesto and ideological emancipation of the members on stage. We are grateful for the opportunity to have been able to witness this unique spectacle.

After 3 years finally Black Stone Cherry was back on German stages. They have not lost anything ever since then and are fantastic live band with an energy loaded show.  If you are in blues rock it’s a must to see these guys live whenever you can. Presenting songs from all of their albums – this time even playing ‘Hell And High Water’ from the self-named debut album – they made the crowd at the LKA go crazy. To warm up for their outstanding performance The Georgia Thunderbolts rocked the venue.

Bring Me The Horizon, a band who has been reinventing their sound and influencing numerous bands in the scene for years, brought their US tour to Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, GA on September 27, 2022. They brought along Knocked Loose, Grandson, and Siiickbrain to open up the show for them. From beginning to end, the energy was cranked all the way to 100.

Siiickbrain opened up the night with her emo/trap metal vibe. Her band had incredible energy on stage and immediately had fans engaged from the start. Her aura is infectious and she knows how to talk to fans between songs in a way that makes them feel like they are best friends with her. Her songs stuck out and felt very unique from the other bands. They carried a different vibe with them in an incredible way, and it felt as though fans really latched on to that.

Grandson was next in the lineup. He is literally insane on stage. He is so passionate for what he is singing about and it is obvious with his demeanor. He knows how to get fans riled up, and by the end of the set, anyone who wasn’t a fan of his at the beginning was obsessing over him by the end. Though his music might not be as “heavy” as the rest of the bands on the bill, his crowds energy during his set is a perfect example of why stage presence can make or break a music set. He really was the perfect act to go right before Knocked Loose and he used that placement to his advantage.

Knocked Loose was on after Grandson and right before Bring Me The Horizon. Anyone who has ever seen Knocked Loose live knows that they are almost unmatched when it comes to crowd energy. Bryan (the frontman) knows exactly what he is doing and it shows literally 30 seconds into the first song. Their set was the start of crowd surfers, people jumping on top of each other, and massive mosh pits. Fans were screaming the lyrics back to them and vibing with every single second of their set. They really were the perfect band to be placed right before the legends in Bring Me The Horizon took the stage.

Bring Me The Horizon was last in the lineup and the headliner of the entire tour. From the jump, they had an opening video telling people to open up mosh pits, start jumping on top of people, etc. This definitely was a smart move, and obviously, the crowd followed directions. They opened up their set with their song “Can You Feel My Heart” which was already a massive sensation in the metal/rock world, but recently, has also seen a resurgence through TikTok. This seemed strategic, and everyone, literally everyone, was screaming the words back to them. It was the perfect set opener song. Oli Sykes (frontman) has something about him that makes him the perfect person to command a crowd. Whatever he tells them to do, they are going to do it. It showed during multiple songs where he would open up mosh pits or walls of death in order to boost the crowd energy that was already radiating. They really are an unreal band live. There is a reason why they are considered masters of the genre and it only shows more with every live show that they play. They really ended the night on a huge high note, and let fans know that they were loved, seen, and accepted for whoever they are. It really was a perfect night.