I'm working backwards because the last thing i've done this week is the freshest in my mind. After seeing Nightwish on the 16th in Philly, 18th in NYC and 19th at the Vintage Vinyl signing in Jersey, this week long event of friends, concerts and fun would draw to a close with an excellent, if somewhat short set from After Forever.
Now i am not a fan of bands that i like getting haphazardly put on the ticket with an obviously unrelated band, such as the case as occasionally happens when Overkill tours. You get 2 separate crowds, it's like two separate concerts in one. In this case, the AF crowd came in, watched the concert, most of us left, and then the majority of the Overkill crowd came in afterwards. Really i wouldn't mind this half as much if the first band wasn't treated like an opener with an equivalently short set. I suppose however, that it's a good thing as it left me wanting more. Hopefully a North American headliner will be in their near future.
After Forevers set itself was on point. Everyone was fantastic. André Borgman was kicking ass on the drums, and even Sander Gommans, whose growls i have never been a huge fan of sounded very good to me. Then of course Floor just sounds so amazing live. It has been my opinion that she is one of the finest voices in metal today and seeing AF live has only increased this belief. There was some guy standing next to me who asked someone else who the first band was going to be (which was AF) and if they were any good. During AF's set you could see he was totally into it. I was surprised that any Overkill fans could get into it. I heard a few completely ignorant comments before the show like, "my problem with female fronted bands is that they all sound the same". Every time i hear someone say this, i want to step up to them and ask them how they feel this differs from male vocal bands. I guess these people think female vocals are a gimmick, so it's all the same gimmick to them. This mentality seemed prevalent among Overkill fans. And then a few others there for Overkill found it boring. So it was good to see that there were at least a couple open minded individuals among the few Overkill fans who decided to get there early.
But enough with the words, now here's some pictures:
The After Forever set list.
Luuk van Gerven, Floor Jansen, Bas Maas, Sander Gommans
Floor Jansen
Bas Maas and Floor Jansen
Floor Jansen
Luuk van Gerven, Floor Jansen, Sander Gommans
Joost van den Broek (who i couldn't get good pictures of all night, being on the other side of the stage. but we all know how much he rocks from his work in Ayreon and on the Star One tour dvd, not to mention all of his contributions to the modern AF sound!), Bas, and Floor
Sander Gommans
Floor, Sander, Luuk
Luuk, Bas, Sander
The band gets ready to take a bow.
Now i am not a fan of bands that i like getting haphazardly put on the ticket with an obviously unrelated band, such as the case as occasionally happens when Overkill tours. You get 2 separate crowds, it's like two separate concerts in one. In this case, the AF crowd came in, watched the concert, most of us left, and then the majority of the Overkill crowd came in afterwards. Really i wouldn't mind this half as much if the first band wasn't treated like an opener with an equivalently short set. I suppose however, that it's a good thing as it left me wanting more. Hopefully a North American headliner will be in their near future.
After Forevers set itself was on point. Everyone was fantastic. André Borgman was kicking ass on the drums, and even Sander Gommans, whose growls i have never been a huge fan of sounded very good to me. Then of course Floor just sounds so amazing live. It has been my opinion that she is one of the finest voices in metal today and seeing AF live has only increased this belief. There was some guy standing next to me who asked someone else who the first band was going to be (which was AF) and if they were any good. During AF's set you could see he was totally into it. I was surprised that any Overkill fans could get into it. I heard a few completely ignorant comments before the show like, "my problem with female fronted bands is that they all sound the same". Every time i hear someone say this, i want to step up to them and ask them how they feel this differs from male vocal bands. I guess these people think female vocals are a gimmick, so it's all the same gimmick to them. This mentality seemed prevalent among Overkill fans. And then a few others there for Overkill found it boring. So it was good to see that there were at least a couple open minded individuals among the few Overkill fans who decided to get there early.
But enough with the words, now here's some pictures:
The After Forever set list.
Luuk van Gerven, Floor Jansen, Bas Maas, Sander Gommans
Floor Jansen
Bas Maas and Floor Jansen
Floor Jansen
Luuk van Gerven, Floor Jansen, Sander Gommans
Joost van den Broek (who i couldn't get good pictures of all night, being on the other side of the stage. but we all know how much he rocks from his work in Ayreon and on the Star One tour dvd, not to mention all of his contributions to the modern AF sound!), Bas, and Floor
Sander Gommans
Floor, Sander, Luuk
Luuk, Bas, Sander
The band gets ready to take a bow.
