One of the benefits of living near Hamburg is, that there’s a good metal concert more than once a month.
In the past 6 years, my wife an I got to see more bands than I am able to recall. Some however, stay in my head, rent free.
A birthday present
This concert, in particular, will probably not be forgotten, because it was a birthday present my wife made. I had to wait for it for nearly a year. You can probably imagine how I got excited at first, then nothing happened for a while, and then you suddenly realize that the concert is right around the corner. Wooohooo! 🥳
The event
Since we moved away from Hamburg, we had about an hour long drive to the venue. We got there early, so I used the time to get some patches for my vest and a new baseball hat with the In Flames logo embroidered on it, black on black.
Soilwork
Soilwork opened the event and played for roughly 45 minutes. Solid as always, I really like the guys and their style. The crowd loved them, too.
The last time I saw them was at “Markthalle” Hamburg, when they toured for their “Virkligheten” album with Amorphis in January 2019.
Arch Enemy
I’ve seen Arch Enemy a couple of times. Never as a headliner, if I recall correctly. They are a great band and I think Alyssa White-Gluz is a good match for them. I don’t listen to them quite as often anymore, because my interests changed a lot in the last years 😅
I still think they were a perfect third band for this tour.
After the break, they played their slot the same way, Soilwork did theirs: Powerful, energizing, getting the crowd active.
In Flames
One of the first bands I got into, when I started to listen to metal, was in fact In Flames. It started with “Colony”, which the owner of our local records store recommended, just a few days after its release. Boy, was I hooked 😂
Since then, I’ve seen them multiple times. On festivals, as a headliner.. And I hope this was not the last time.
They played loads of classics and a few of my favourite songs. We all had a blast and people crowd surfed and moshed and just had a frickin’ good time.
Like many times before, Anders Fridén addressed the crowd, telling them how thankful he and the band were for the continued support and making their dream a reality.
Really nice to see, how even after years of success, artists can still be so humble.
PS: This post was written two days after the event, I just want to keep the correct date as a reminder.