- Nov 24, 2002
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Finally (and after an accidental deletion of the previous one
) is the review of the Helloween concert held at Planet Mall on March 22nd.
Planet Mall is a small venue (~2000 max) which used to be a disco. Therefore the infrastructure is not good for concerts and on the safety issue is a death trap IMO but being this a small country not other possibilities are available for this type of events.
Several conerts has been done so far in the place Hammerfall, Avalanch, Dark Tranquility, Sepultura, Mago De Oz, Destruction (yesterday) and many manged by my friend Darren who also brought Helloween and will bring Tierra Santa at the end of the month.
Being my friend the promoter allowed me not only for a free ticket but also for passes (and a staff t-shirt)
For the first time in my life I was able to be a small part of the organization and taste the gig on the other side of the barrier which gave you a whole different approach to what a concert really is and to experience it in a very different manner.
The concert run smoothly and everything was done in time which allowed the opening act to play for an hour. Slavon is the best local band IMO and their debut “Just A Dream” is the best album ever to came out of here (sadly unknown outside our borders). The band just revamped with a guitar less and a new vocalist which if very capable doesn’t hit me as good as the original. In any case the huge crowd (was a bit under the Mago de Oz pack but way over Hammerfall or Destruction as I checked on the media) responded very well to the openers and they fit good on the night.
Of course some friends were around and since we all have met through Darren everybody got a pass!
, so we all been on and off the barrier at some point. Here I managed to get my pic taken with Aisling and her son Connell during the opening act. She’s older than me and not into metal (but into Darren, ehem) much albeit she likes some mallcore acts (discussion promptly avoided by buying her a beer). Connell is way into metal but more extreme stuff so he wasn’t very impress by Helloween. In any case by the time the Germans started the fun was on for sure.
Helloween presented a guy dressed as a monk to read the opening words of ‘King for A 1000 Years’ which was very well know by the crowd (to my surprise).
Soon and throughout the first half of the concert I understood the concept of “happy Helloween”. The band loves to kid around, they smile, make faces, move all around and have a this is a party attitude that piss all the tr00 metalheads :Smug: On the other hand they may took that to a certain extreme when fooling around after the drum solo with Markus playing a kid’s drum set to mock Dani playing, also with Dani doing the same with a small guitar on Sacha solo presentation.
Andi Deris is a very capable frontman and vocalist and knows how to manage the crowd (especially during ‘Future World’
albeit not as good as Joacim Cans did during the Hammerfall concert. Markus is the main clown always making faces and smiling while playing a mean bass (he’s very underrated IMO).
The new guys proved also worthy of the outfit. Sacha is a very good guitar player and listening to him live shows how underrated was his studio work with Freedom Call as for Dani if he’s not as technical and accomplished as Uli definitively knows how to keep the drum set on fire during the concert
Weikath stole the night for me not only being a very good instrumentalist but also leaving a lot of space for his mates and even with a straight face managed to infuse a lot of humor and fun to the concert while drinking his beer (Imperial the best selling on the country, yes UM he dig it).
The setlist (plus two encores):
‘King For A 1000 Years’
‘Eagle Fly Free’
‘Hell Was Made in Heaven’
‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys’
A Tale That Wasn’t Right
Drum solo
‘Ocassion Avenue’
‘Mr. Torture’
‘If I Could Fly’
Guiar solo (Sacha)
‘Power’
‘Future World (with extensive crowd participation)’
‘Invisible Man’
-----------------
'Mrs. God'
'I Want Out'
-----------------
'Dr. Stein'
As in any concert one came out with highs and lows. I knew they will play a couple of songs I don’t like and I knew some songs I love will be left out especially from “Time Of The Oath”. I’m intrigued that they played stuff from “Dark Ride” since supposedly Weikath hate it and was the cause that Grapow and Kusch were fired. On the other hand the balanced setlist and the confidence on the newer material shows that the band doesn’t need to live in the past (like many) but embrace their classics with passion as well as the fresh stuff.
I couldn't met the band (courtesy of the fucking outside promoter a real prick) although I could exchange a few words with Sacha (the guy is tall as hell) while going to Denny's for a dawn snack. Mostly we parted with the bass player of Slavon (cool guy) and soem people from the press and entourage, the Germans didn't like much to blend with us. I finally hit the bed by 5:00 while the birds already were singing and the light rising (a pill and I woke up at 14:00). Wish I had a bigger camera roll film (next time) and wish Darren wouldn't be so stressed with all the evnts so he can part with us and the band too. I hope I can do so with Motorhead in October (already confirmed hell yeah!)
Adramelch - 'Beloved Jerusalem'
Planet Mall is a small venue (~2000 max) which used to be a disco. Therefore the infrastructure is not good for concerts and on the safety issue is a death trap IMO but being this a small country not other possibilities are available for this type of events.
Several conerts has been done so far in the place Hammerfall, Avalanch, Dark Tranquility, Sepultura, Mago De Oz, Destruction (yesterday) and many manged by my friend Darren who also brought Helloween and will bring Tierra Santa at the end of the month.
Being my friend the promoter allowed me not only for a free ticket but also for passes (and a staff t-shirt)
For the first time in my life I was able to be a small part of the organization and taste the gig on the other side of the barrier which gave you a whole different approach to what a concert really is and to experience it in a very different manner.
The concert run smoothly and everything was done in time which allowed the opening act to play for an hour. Slavon is the best local band IMO and their debut “Just A Dream” is the best album ever to came out of here (sadly unknown outside our borders). The band just revamped with a guitar less and a new vocalist which if very capable doesn’t hit me as good as the original. In any case the huge crowd (was a bit under the Mago de Oz pack but way over Hammerfall or Destruction as I checked on the media) responded very well to the openers and they fit good on the night.
Of course some friends were around and since we all have met through Darren everybody got a pass!
, so we all been on and off the barrier at some point. Here I managed to get my pic taken with Aisling and her son Connell during the opening act. She’s older than me and not into metal (but into Darren, ehem) much albeit she likes some mallcore acts (discussion promptly avoided by buying her a beer). Connell is way into metal but more extreme stuff so he wasn’t very impress by Helloween. In any case by the time the Germans started the fun was on for sure.
Helloween presented a guy dressed as a monk to read the opening words of ‘King for A 1000 Years’ which was very well know by the crowd (to my surprise).
Soon and throughout the first half of the concert I understood the concept of “happy Helloween”. The band loves to kid around, they smile, make faces, move all around and have a this is a party attitude that piss all the tr00 metalheads :Smug: On the other hand they may took that to a certain extreme when fooling around after the drum solo with Markus playing a kid’s drum set to mock Dani playing, also with Dani doing the same with a small guitar on Sacha solo presentation.
Andi Deris is a very capable frontman and vocalist and knows how to manage the crowd (especially during ‘Future World’
albeit not as good as Joacim Cans did during the Hammerfall concert. Markus is the main clown always making faces and smiling while playing a mean bass (he’s very underrated IMO).
The new guys proved also worthy of the outfit. Sacha is a very good guitar player and listening to him live shows how underrated was his studio work with Freedom Call as for Dani if he’s not as technical and accomplished as Uli definitively knows how to keep the drum set on fire during the concert
Weikath stole the night for me not only being a very good instrumentalist but also leaving a lot of space for his mates and even with a straight face managed to infuse a lot of humor and fun to the concert while drinking his beer (Imperial the best selling on the country, yes UM he dig it
).
The setlist (plus two encores):
‘King For A 1000 Years’
‘Eagle Fly Free’
‘Hell Was Made in Heaven’
‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys’
A Tale That Wasn’t Right
Drum solo
‘Ocassion Avenue’
‘Mr. Torture’
‘If I Could Fly’
Guiar solo (Sacha)
‘Power’
‘Future World (with extensive crowd participation)’
‘Invisible Man’
-----------------
'Mrs. God'
'I Want Out'
-----------------
'Dr. Stein'
As in any concert one came out with highs and lows. I knew they will play a couple of songs I don’t like and I knew some songs I love will be left out especially from “Time Of The Oath”
. I’m intrigued that they played stuff from “Dark Ride” since supposedly Weikath hate it and was the cause that Grapow and Kusch were fired. On the other hand the balanced setlist and the confidence on the newer material shows that the band doesn’t need to live in the past (like many) but embrace their classics with passion as well as the fresh stuff.I couldn't met the band (courtesy of the fucking outside promoter a real prick) although I could exchange a few words with Sacha (the guy is tall as hell) while going to Denny's for a dawn snack. Mostly we parted with the bass player of Slavon (cool guy) and soem people from the press and entourage, the Germans didn't like much to blend with us. I finally hit the bed by 5:00 while the birds already were singing and the light rising (a pill and I woke up at 14:00). Wish I had a bigger camera roll film (next time) and wish Darren wouldn't be so stressed with all the evnts so he can part with us and the band too. I hope I can do so with Motorhead in October (already confirmed hell yeah!)
Adramelch - 'Beloved Jerusalem'
Sounds like you had a good time and have recovered after a detour with the flu. 
