Concert Review: Devilment / Motionless In White / Lacuna Coil at Backstage in Munich, Germany

Contributed by Alexandra 

 Arriving a bit later than usual (it was about 30 minutes before show start) most people were already inside. The crowd was pretty mixed age-wise, the average definitely older than 30 I’d say, which in my opinion resides in the main act Lacuna Coil being around for quite some time in the music business and having a fan-base that started to build a while back.

8pm was show start. There’s really not much to say about the first opener Devilment. The music itself wasn’t that bad, but you have to be into the kind of singing their vocalist Dani Filth does which is high pitched screams or low voiced growling. The crowd waited for what was about to come.

Next on were Motionless In White. They already had a fan base and I’m pretty sure they gained some new ones that night. It was a very energetic set. They started out with the first single of their recent, same-titled album, ‘Reincarnate’. Their 10 song set-list consisted of songs like ‘Abigail’, ‘Break the cycle’, ‘Generation lost’ and ‘Puppets 3’, also a song from ‘Reincarnate’ on which Dani Filth does guest vocals on the record.

It was awesome to watch vocalist Chris Motionless interact with the crowd, running around on stage and climbing monitor stacks. One time he suddenly ‘disappeared’ from the stage to stand in the middle of a small gangway under the roof of the club, singing to the audience and encouraging them to clap and sing along, hugging his girlfriend quickly, only to head straight back to the stage like a whirlwind. During the set you felt the people getting closer to the stage with every song, so even the ones that were mainly there for Lacuna Coil enjoyed their music and just adopted the joy that the band obviously had in performing. They finished their set with ‘Devils Night’. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was absolutely blown away by how awesome the songs sound live and by the performance of the band. Hopefully they’ll come back soon on a headline tour! Many bands that come to Germany as openers, return sooner or later to play as headliners, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a tour in 2015!!

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Right after their set, the greater part of the first two rows left. They were only there to see Motionless In White, which makes me all the more confident in hoping for an imminent return! As I wrote earlier, the average age was beyond 30, the greater part of the under 20’s left the club at that point.

Lacuna Coil started their set at around 10 pm. Most of the people knew every lyric to the songs they played. They also did a cover of ‘Enjoy the silence’ by Depeche Mode, encouraging everyone to sing along. It was a 60 minutes set. A bit short and considering peoples talks everyone hoped for a longer show, but nonetheless the atmosphere was great and everyone had a blast!

Contributed by Alexandra 

Pop Evil – Concert Review – Backstage Munich, Nov. 5th, 2014 and Interview with Leigh

Concert Review Contributed by Alexandra

There was light rain outside and it got pretty cold in Munich that day. A few fans waited outside, when doors opened at 7pm.

Show start was scheduled for 8pm. There wasn’t an opening act officially announced for the Germany tour, so it was kind of a surprise, who that would be. It was a local band called Thunder and Blitzkrieg (www.thunderandblitzkrieg.com). You can’t really define their music to a certain style. I’d say it’s hard rock with punk influences. They had a few fans there that knew the lyrics. When they started to play there weren’t really that many people there, but the ones that were seemed to like it.  Check out a slide show of photos from their set:

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The room was more crowded, when at 9pm Pop Evil started their set. They were greeted with loud cheers and immediately started with ‚Flawed‘. Their 13  piece set-list consisted mostly of songs from their current record ‘Onyx‘, the album they tour now for almost 2 years. They played all three #1 rock charts singles from that CD – Trenches, Deal with the Devil and Torn to pieces, that is, as known to most, a very personal song for the frontman Leigh Kakaty. But they also played a few tracks from their first two albums ‚War of Angels‘ and ‚Lipstick on the mirror‘. From start to finish it was an energetic set. Everyone in the band gave it their all for the German fans. Matt DiRito (bass) moving around the stage constantly, interacting with the audience, Chachi Riot (drums) switching often from a sitting position to a standing one, for me one of the most hardworking drummers on stage. They already have a solid fanbase here.

There were a few girls outside that I spoke to, that saw them up to 15 times and it’s only the second time the band ever played in Germany. First time was as opening act for Five Finger Death Punch and now those four headline dates in Germany. So the band brought along some real diehard fans they made in quite a short time in this country. Onyx was the first album for the band to be released in March 2014 in Germany, after they signed with Eleven Seven Music earlier that year. The show wasn’t sold out, but that didn’t stop everyone from having fun that night. Frontman Leigh Kakaty stated that it’s not important how many people are at the show, but what kind. And wasn’t he right about that. I attended many Munich shows and the people that were there that night made far more noice than sometimes thrice as many made at other shows. After the first ‚end‘ of the show, Leigh brought along a German flag the band got as a present at their Berlin show. They were seemingly proud of that one and Leigh even ‚wore‘ it for one song. They closed the show after 60 minutes that went by in a glance with one of their most popular songs ‚Trenches‘.

I hope they’ll come back soon to steady their fanbase and increase it, cuz they’re definitely deserve a lot of love.

Pop Evil will start working on a new album next year, after taking a well earned X-Mas break and spending some time with their families.

Contributed by Alexandra

Here is an interview with vocalist Leigh Kakaty and Alexandra before their set:

Information & Links:

• Pop Evil Website: www.popevil.com
• Pop Evil Facebook: www.facebook.com/popevil
• Pop Evil Twitter: www.twitter.com/PopEvil
• Pop Evil Youtube: www.youtube.com/popevilmusic
• Pop Evil Instagram: www.instagram.com/popevil
• Pop Evil Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/pop-evil/id441597923

Munich Concert review – Asking Alexandria w. Secrets, Crown The Empire and The Ghost Inside

Concert review – Asking Alexandria w. Secrets, Crown The Empire and The Ghost Inside, Contributed by Alexandra

Munich, Tonhalle, October 17th, 2014

Shortly before doors opened at 6pm there was already a long queue around the corner that soon started moving. The show was sold out, so some people were on the lookout for tickets without any luck though it seems.

The first band, Secrets, entered the stage at exactly 7pm. It was their second time in Germany. They opened up and seemed to have an immediate impact on the audience. They later sold many CD’s in the merch booth which speaks for itself.

Second on were Crown The Empire. It was their first time in Germany and I’m pretty confident not their last. Their set started with the opening tunes of their latest album ‚The resistance‘. They played mostly songs from that album, like Machines, Bloodline and Initiation. For the song ‚Rise of the Runaways‘ Brian Escamilla, second man on vocals, also picked up a guitar. With three guitars on stage the sound was massive. As Andrew Velasquez told the audience it was their best gig so far on this tour, which makes us all hope for a comeback anytime soon. Their IG post after the show read ‚All we have to say is WOW…thank you for being so amazing tonight Munich, Germany! The rest of Europe has some competition‘.

Third act on the set-list was The Ghost Inside. Considering the cheers and the loud sing-alongs they were known to a large number of people in the audience. It was only their second time here, but they already had a steady fan-base. Everybody was properly warmed up for whom everyone was waiting for.

Between the sets, to shorten the wait, they played some Aerosmith, Guano Apes and Beasty Boys. When Europe‘s Final Countdown started playing the crowd started to chant along really loud. Many were surprised by that, but after a while they tuned the song up a few notches and the everyone kept singing along until the final tunes faded.

The stage was set for Asking Alexandria. Soon as the intro to ‚Don’t pray for me‘ sounded from the PA the crowd started cheering. Last on stage was Danny Worsnop, their singer. He had a German flag tied to his mic-stand which he carried around most of the show. The focus of the set-list sure was on their recent album ‚From death to destiny‘, which is also the name of this tour, but they played some songs of their former CD’s too, like ‚To the stage‘, ‚Someone, somewhere‘, ‚A prophecy‘ and ‚Not the American average‘. At about half time of the show, they left the stage for antoher intro-like track, which is more a spoken piece, called ‚Dedication‘. All songs were well received by the crowd. They couldn’t have chosen better ones. Whilst the show Dany thanked the crowd for buying their records, cuz like he said, their fans seem to still buy physical copies instead of downloading songs from the internet, which gets pretty rare. Like Andrew he said that it was one of the best shows so far, which he also stated on his IG/Twitter ‚Absolutely in love with the show tonight here in Munich. Every second was just pure gold. Love y’all…‘. After about 60 minutes they closed the set with The Final Episode. When first protests started to be heard, Danny said they’d be back. The audience thankfully didn’t have to wait too long for that. They played three encores Killing You, The Death Of Me and Poison.

All three opening acts were at the merch booth afterwards to take pictures, sign stuff, sell their merch and chat with the people.

My résumé: A fun evening for audience and bands…one more song please!!

Contributed by Alexandra

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexi22473_b

 

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Concert Review:Escape The Fate w. New Years Day and Glamour Of The Kill at STROM, Munich

Concert Review

Escape The Fate w. New Years Day and Glamour Of The Kill at STROM, Munich

Contributed by Alexandra –  Twitter; https://twitter.com/lexi22473_b

Doors opened right on time at 8.30 pm, which is unusually late for a show. The start was announced for 9.30 pm, but already at 9 pm New Years Day started playing. It was their first time in Germany, as singer Ash Costella told, but they were not completely unknown to part of the audience that sang along their songs.

Next up were Glamour Of The Kill from the UK. It’s been their second time in Germany. Last time they came here, they opened up for Papa Roach. Jacoby Shaddix, the singer of Papa Roach, makes an appearance on GOTK’s new single Out of Control which they also played that night, along with well known songs like Second Chance and Freak Like Me. They had to fight with some technical difficulties during their set, but they managed to keep the crowd going, asking for someone to bring 4 Tequilas to the stage, to which two people from the audience happily obliged. They played an energetic set. It was fun watching them and they promised to come back in 2015. Considering how the crowd responded, they’ll sure have no problems to fill small clubs with their own fans.

It was already about 11 pm when Escape The Fate started their set. With every band that evening the crowd got tighter and with the opening tunes of Chose Your Fate you felt the tension rise. It was only a really small club that was filled up, but not sold out. The atmosphere was great. There were circle pits and they even managed a wall of death. The audience knew every word of every single song. They played most of their popular songs like One For the Money, Issues, Ungrateful, Until We Die and also two slower songs Picture Perfect and Something. The set-list was a mix through all of their records, with a focus on Ungrateful though.  It was a fast, well played set. Band and audience obviously had fun, but after about 60 minutes it was over.  By midnight most people were already on their way home, some stayed to talk to the bands that invited the audience to stay and chat.

All in all it was a good show, a bit of a shorter set but nevertheless a fun evening.

Check out a slideshow of photos from the set:

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~ Contributed by Alexandra –  Twitter; https://twitter.com/lexi22473_b