Last Concert You Went To (Now with Pics)

[Bear 1817]

Went to a neofolk/ambient/industrial gig called Blå Ild yesterday. Was great.

 

I arrived just in time to see the second band, Solstorm, in action, and it was amazing. Folk with members from Vemod and Ghoul-Cult. A nice, calm and atmospheric gig that really pleased me. Very enjoyable. Looking forward to the band's first release sometime soon.

Next up was Peter Bjärgö, but me and my mate went to grab some beers and sit down after five minutes as this didn't give us anything at all. Dark . ritualistic ambient.

Last band of the evening was Of the Wand and the Moon, and they truly impressed. A band that should be familiar to all fans of neofolk. Was very nice!

 

Was a cheap gig as well.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Excellent gig at one of my fave venues (A38 Ship) last night!

 

Opening act was Jessica93, who's a French dude doing a dark-rock one-man-band kinda thing, drum machines, guitar / bass guitar switching and looping back and forth while singing. It was quite fun for the first few songs, then it became kinda boring (the tunes were a bit repetitive with just one drum program and guitar riff/melody per track xD). Interesting nevertheless.

 

Then came the band I was looking forward to seeing for months now: the mighty Grave Pleasures! It's no secret I'm a huge fan of "Climax", the album of the band's previous incarnation Beastmilk, and their new album is pretty cool too, so I had high expectations. The band itself was amazing, with tight and energy-filled playing, and McNerney is one of the coolest frontmen ever for this type of dark and decadent post-punk vibe. I really appreciated that apparently they played the most songs out of all the gigs on this tour so far (16 in total, performing almost all the tracks of "Dreamcrush" too). What a magical night - it's just too bad that there weren't that many people there. One of the lowest turnouts I've seen at this venue for such a kickass band. Oh well, it was absolute fun, and that's what counts!

 

A video someone took:

 

 

(you can sometimes see me rockin' out in my new white Grave Pleasures T-shirt to the right XD)

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Another night at A38, another awesome gig.

 

DJ/producer Phase Fatale opened the night with some bleak as fuq minimal techno beats. It generated a pretty cool vibe, tho the tracks themselves dragged on for a bit too long maybe. Anyway, it was a surprisingly fitting warm-up in atmosphere to the main band of the night, The Soft Moon. I've been dying to see these guys live after missing their concert two years ago, and oh boy did they deliver! Actually, this might be my favorite gig of the year so far. There was just something so right about the whole thing: the nihilistic, cold and empty-sounding electro-post-punk numbers coupled with a fittingly stark and minimalistic lighting. Lots of good vibes in the crowd, and the band seemed to enjoy it too. I wish I could just frame this night and take it home with me.

 

Here are two random pieces of footage that showcase the range of their style well (I was especially happy they played the 2nd one, it was totally mental live!).

 

 

[トカゲ 49]

Jex Thoth with cult of the BLACK MOON RISIN' as opener.

A little bit short, but great. cult of the BLACK MOON RISIN' did a good job and Jex Thoth is just haunting live, especially their leadsinger. It was great when she went trough the crowd.

[Bear 1817]

I went to see The Prodigy the other day and it was amazing. The sound was good, the entire band on fire and everything just clicked this evening. I thought it was a bit short when they ended it, but after checking their setlist yesterday I realised they had actually played 16 songs which is fairly decent. Superb gig!

 

I wish there was a few more older songs though, but the new, more punky songs off The Day is my Enemy worked really well live. They felt harder, yet more danceable live than on album. Nah, great gig! Happy to finally have seen the band live as well.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Saw the legendary Morrissey last night at Budapest's Millenáris theatre. What a show! Dude is in great shape, he can still sing amazingly, everything was crystal-clear and beautiful (this goes for the overall sound too). There was a bit of a delay in starting, but it was well worth the wait. I really respect that he doesn't resort to a typical oldies-fest best-of setlist, but rather one focusing on his recent records (the new album in particular). He also performed some cool rarities, and the song I initially got to know him with, First of the Gang to Die (in a weird Latino-influenced new arrangement, haha). Of course, there was a Smiths track or two (well, three actually xD). Meat Is Murder was brutal as hell, and The Queen Is Dead was an excellent energetic encore.

 

A random video someone took:

 

[Champ213 1858]

Okay, this concert actually happened several months ago, but I didn't get around to post it yet.

 

 

But yeah, my sister and me went to Paganfest in Oberhausen earlier this year. Lots of fun was had.

 

Prepare for a bunch of crappy phone pics. XD And one crappy phone video!

First band was Frosttide, but I didn't take any pictures because we were too busy figuring out where the checkroom was.

 

The second band was a mystery to us for quite some time because neither of us could decipher their band logo. I had to check the band flyer on my phone to see that their name - ironically - was "Obscurity". They were decent, albeit a bit generic.

 

 

Next band was Finsterforst. Yay, first accordeon of the evening! But you couldn't hear it at all over... everything else. Vocalist had some pretty neat chant-like clean vocals though. Audience was doing the first wall of death

 

 

Then came Grailknights. I was expecting something completely whacky, and they certainly did deliver. Swordfights on stage, a crowd-surfing Skeletor-double and a "superhero-medley" covering themes from Saber Rider, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers and others.

 

 

Next was Heidevolk. They played a few songs I knew, including my favourite "Nehelennia" so - yay. Also, they have two vocalists, which is pretty  awesome.

 

 

Now Turisas, which I've been looking forward to the most. They certainly won best backdrop already, with the band being portrayed as byzantine-style icons.

 

 

They even brought in an accordeon player (the dude from Korpiklaani I think) for a very frantic rendering of "In the Court of Jarisleif". They also played some older songs like "Midnight Sunrise".

And I still can't believe that they played "End of an Empire". How much I had wished they played it when I saw them in Cologne last year, but they didn't because I think they almost never play this song live. But here they did and it was glorious. And accompanied by a foam shower.

 

 

We had to take a break after Turisas, so we lost our prime viewing spot. But that's okay, Wintersun were a lot more static on stage than the lively Turisas anyway. They started by playing pretty much the complete Time I album, which was pretty cool (Land of Snow and Sorrow ♥), followed by some older songs - and a new song! Jari was grinning like a kid in a candy store the whole gig. He was clearly having a good time. Wintersun were also definetely the most technically proficient band. I have never seen a metal band that was able to reproduce the sound from CD so perfectly live.

 

If you're interested, here's a one-minute video clip of them playing, recorded on my phone.

 

 

 

And finally Korpiklaani. They were pretty routine. I enjoyed it well enough though, considering I barely knew a single song they played. Also, after 8 hours straight of standing, jumping and shouting I had become really loopy. We also had to leave 1 or 2 songs early to catch our trains back. I basically needed a new set of feet after that concert, but that was an amazing evening.

 

[トカゲ 49]

Driving Mrs Satan last saturday. Jesus Christ, the singer was cute. <3

[The Reverend 3566]

Went and saw Killswitch Engage & Rise Against in Richmond last night. The National is a great venue... nice rising slope of the floor toward the back so that everyone can have a pretty good view.

 

This was my fourth time seeing KSE and I still think they pretty much begin and end the conversation on American metalcore. (there are plenty of other good bands... but for a casual fan of the genre who just needs a few albums? I'd recommend KSE all day)

 

The goofy guitarist was as fun as ever on stage... these guys definitely know how to put on an engaging show (lots of running around, playful power metal stances/poses, interacting with the audience).

 

The former and current vocalist doesn't have the singing power that Howard did, but he pulls off the songs they do from that era admirably.

 

A couple photos I took on my phone:

 

 

 

 

And of course this is the tshirt I bought (someones foot is blocking the symmetry between the robot on the shirt and the guitarist above, heh):

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Went to a random gig on a weekday to an intimate venue cuz it was cheap and the artists seemed interesting, haha. Slovenian band Ludovik Material was the opening act. They weren't exactly lame, but a weird choice to pair with the main act. They sounded like a low-budget nu-metal band trying to play industrial rock and failing at it a bit. It was okay for the time being anyway. Main act was Shilpa Ray, an Indian-American singer/songwriter accompanied by a two-piece backing band. Very nice mellow and floaty indie-blues kind of stuff. She played a harmonium most of the time while singing, so the whole package had an interesting bittersweet folky tinge to it. Evening saved!

 

Some crappy pics I took (first row, babyyy)

 

 

 

...and a video someone else shot:

 

[Pandabear 414]

 

Went to see the faceless. It was awesome. Those guys are on point live. And their new drummer is insane.

 

Also saw After the Burial, and Rings Of Saturn open for them.  They were both heavy and brutal \ m /

[Delkmiroph 1649]

 

 

 

Florence + The Machine - How Big Tour  at Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany 2015.12.14

[Bear 1817]

Went to see Bow to Each Other yesterday. I'm not really familiar with the band, I just checked out some songs a week ago and decided I'd go. And I do not regret it. The band is quite obviously inspired by Susanne Sundfør, and their debut abum was produced by none other than Susanne Sundfør, so it all feels a bit like Sundfør. Way more minimalistic and far from as grandeour, but great. I thought the gig was fantastic. The sound was brilliant, and the girls and male support drummer seemed to enoy it alot. I sure did as well.

 

Also, one of the chicks moved exactly like Susanne Sundfør on stage a well. Was weird as fuck, but very cool as the way Susanne moves on stage is quite hot.

 

Poor audience, though. I think we were something like 35-40 in total, and only a few of us went to the stage, moved around a bit and had fun. Should've been a full house. Will check out their album(s?) for sure.

[Shaolan974 6185]

 

 

 

Florence + The Machine - How Big Tour  at Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany 2015.12.14

Wooooooooooooooooooooo

 

I was at Le Zenith (Paris - France) at December, 22 and it was AMAZING

 

And December, 21, I was at l'Olympia (Paris - France) for ONE OK ROCK

[desparejo86 160]

 

Whistesnake because I'm old.

 

 

Shut up they kicked ass.

[Crube 585]

Went to see Trivium several days ago. Enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Went to my favorite venue in Budapest, the A38 boat last night for a gig with a very special atmosphere. The Devil's Trade (a.k.a. Dávid Makó) opened the night with this Americana-influenced blues/folk singer-songwriter tendencies. I really dug his debut album, so I was curious to see him live finally, and he delivered. Just an acoustic guitar and his powerful voice, excellent moody feeling. He whipped out his banjo for a song or two as well, which was amazing. I don't know how 'authentic' this music is to American ears (he occasionally does renditions of Hungarian folk songs too btw), but in any case it really evoked a sort of deep, ancient atmosphere. Very nice.

 

The main attraction of the evening, however, was King Dude and his small band of merry (or moody?) men. This dude (heh) is really something! Some of the most viciously depressing and cathartic music I've ever heard live, but the guy keeps joking away with the audience between songs, really entertaining guy all in all. At times he reminded me of a cross between Nick Cave, Michael Gira and Tom Waits, sprinkled with a big dose of the occult and macabre. Also, he insisted on trying the country's traditional fruit brandy, so he got a few shots of that, plus some whiskey along the way. He was kinda drunk towards the end, but played his sad and dark bluesy tunes impeccably. Unfortunately, the other guitarist's equipment somehow got busted just before the last song, so they couldn't have a grand closing number - instead, the King played two random songs for us just by himself, guitar & vocals. It was an unexpected but touching end to the night. Great show all around!

 

 

 

(not my photos, obviously)

[Undead burger 24]

I went to Crossfaith (and the one hundred for the opening, they are really great it's a good discovery) in Nevers (France). You can see me on some videos since I was on the first row :>

My next concert will be DIO ~distraught overlord~ in Paris. Can't wait to see them ;_;

[Bear 1817]

Went to see Lee "Scratch" Perry & Mad Professor at Blæst, one of my favourite venues, yesterday. Dub-legend Mad Professor entered the stage at 10:30 and did his thing for a few songs, among them Pharrell's "Happy" which was cool as fuck and totally got us into the mood, before Lee Perry entered and did his thing. Now, he's not as much a vocalist as he is a shaman and performer these days, and he can't sing for shit, but he's 80 years old so that's not expected either. And his role simply isn't to sing good or anything. He's an eccentric guy who's there to there to make you feel good with his presence, his wonderful tone and childlike and magical fascination with the noises he produces with his mouth, doing all kinds of shit. And some of the tracks didn't even sound like they do on record, but who gives a fuck? I enjoyed myself to death, and so did my girlfriend.

 

 

Late concert start on a monday is so fucking fucked up. The gig lasted from 10:30 to 12:20, and our last bus home comes by Blæst at 11:15. So we obviously missed our last bus and had to go home with a "private/illegal" taxi. Which sucks. Had it started earlier we could've gone home with the bus for $3.80, but we had to pay $57 for a ride home, which I consider a lot but it's probably $44-50 cheaper than a normal taxi. Christ.

[TetsuAkira 289]

So, saw DIO in London, Sunday just gone.

 

It was incredible.

 

They are great performers, really knew how to work the crowd and get everyone involved. They sounded great as well. Mikarus English is fairly good so every 2-3 songs they stopped and he did his best to speak to the crowd. Even though the crowd was literally about 60 people, I didn't expect huge numbers but was surprised how little people where there. And a lot of the crowd had come from abroad just for the show. After the show they stayed around and signed CD's etc for the fans and they all seemed so nice and down to earth, was a really great experience.

 

I was never a huge fan of DIO but after seeing how well they perform live and the great fan experience they provide I will cement myself into their fan base buy all their CD's and cry that they have disbanded. If I remember I'll upload pictures and videos later.

[YuyoDrift 1540]

30 minutes ago, tetsuakira11 said:

 I will cement myself into their fan base buy all their CD's and cry that they have disbanded.

 

Lol its' terrible that people already have the procedure mapped out in their heads.

[Delkmiroph 1649]

 

 

Dio distraught overlord - B7Klan 10th Anniversary Tour at  2016.04.12 Köln, Germany

[Seiji 156]

On 4/14/2016 at 10:37 PM, Delkmiroph said:

 

 

Dio distraught overlord - B7Klan 10th Anniversary Tour at  2016.04.12 Köln, Germany

Been there too! Was a good concert with typical technical difficulties. Mikaru must love the MTC

My last concert was Mouse on the keys with KUF as opener in Dortmund. Both bands matched really well and delivered an amazing show. 
Worth every penny.

[freesia 714]

the GazettE's Taiwan concert! It was amazing! No one took out their phones during the performance, everyone was so disciplined. During Ruki's MC, he "Shhh"-ed on the mic and everyone in the hall went quiet, then he said we're awesome then everyone went "Yeah!" and some laughed. My neck still hurts after 3 days but it was worth the fun!

 

 

[The Reverend 3566]

So last month I went to some VK shows in Japan.

 

My first night in Tokyo I actually planned to just sleep (jetlag be damned!) because I had been awake for about 30 hours of airports and planes and was gross and tired. Fortunately, because it makes for a better story not that I wasn't cursing it in the moment, I arrived at the AirBNB apartment I was renting about 20 minutes before I was supposed to check in and my host was still cleaning it. So, I had to kill at least 20 minutes but since I was wandering back outside (at least I got to drop my bag off!) I decided to hit a concert nearby.

 

I was staying near the Otsuka station in Ikebukuro. It was  now 15 minutes to 5pm... and knowing how early these VK shows start I knew I'd have to pick something nearby to not miss a few bands. I could name three livehouses in Ikebukuro off the top of my head (who knows what important information has been pushed out of my brain by all this pointless VK minutiae.) Ikebukuro Chop had a few bands I'd never heard of playing, and I'm pretty sure Aie isn't in any of them. Ikebukuro Blackhole had a slew of bands, a couple of whom I'd heard of but not listened to.... but oh that show started at 4 not gonna work. Ikebukuro Edge has bands I've mostly heard of  but never actually checked out any of them.... let's do that!

 

I started at a different train station just ten minutes before the show was scheduled to start and still made it just before the first band went on!

 

None of the bands at this show really wowed me, and it was a month ago at this point, so I don't think I could manage a very good fully fleshed out live report. But it also seemed a waste to have taken notes and not doing anything with them (and I love to read about concerts I can't go to from others)... so below you'll find my unedited notes (I didn't delete or add anything.... I don't even remember what some of the things I wrote mean at this point haha) from:

 

2016.5.31 Rivabook Presents 「Neo STARGATE」@ 池袋EDGE featuring: iNSOMNiA, Van9ish, Pisarro, Vexent, Salivan, Jack Caper, Piglow in Gloomy

 

Insomnia - not a unique sound but at least are all in on it. Support drummer I assume, no makeup and tshirt. Didn't realize shitty VK shows would be literally 100% girls and me (and jeans are not the standard concert wear... only one other pair)

 

Van9ish - I've been saying 'vanish' are they going for 'vanquish' ala Infi2ty? Doing that heavy/poppy arlequin/pentagon thing they're all doing. Vocalist laid on the 'me so crazy' a little too thick (writing all over him, possessed voice, that fucking maniacal laugh in every.single.song.) Stage right guitarist broke his B string in second song and didn't try to fix it. Could tell during a solo where he would've needed that string but he ad-libbed well enough. Cool ending, band all fell down and singer let out bloodcurdling scream as curtain closed.

 

Pisarro - sound mostly the same. The bassist was having fun. Opened to members holding framed pictures of themselves (weird/narcissistic?) Vocalist screamed less and had pretty good vibrato. All seem a bitter older/mature... probably have been in other bands.

 

Vexent - heavy/noisy. Had the most crowd participation.

 

(Somebody's dad walked in between sets here)

 

Salivan - guitarist had stuffed leopard on Ruki's wide-brimmed black hat. Michael Flatly dancing from vocalist. Technical difficulties... And singer definitely didn't want to have to fill the air for five minutes. Youngest.

 

(Mobile game. Looked like host RPG on top... but had Bejeweled shit on bottom half.)

 

Jack Caper (I think) - Thought they'd be darker... maybe because when I hear 'Jack Caper' I immediately think of Jack the Ripper.

 

I actually left before the last band because, as I mentioned, I was freaking tired.

 

Yes, I did not realize till afterward that the dude from Siva is now the vocalist of Pisarro... at least I was right about him being a scene vet. Here's a picture of the Salivan guitarist from the day of the show and his ridiculous hat (I think 'Michael Flatly dancing' was this weird dance the singer did that was mostly legs):

 

 

And if anybody can post a link of whatever mobile game that girl was playing in front of me please do! It was definitely like Host-kei looking boys as the RPG sprites... but then during the battling part you had to do some bejeweled match shapes shit.