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THE ARCHIVES
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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
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BRAINSTORM - AT VANCE - MERCENARY
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Stadthalle - Langen (D)
May 6th 2005
http://www.brainstorm-web.net
http://www.at-vance.com
http://www.mercenary.dk
Since Paddy was kind enough to accomodate me, I was able to attend my third gig on Brainstorm's first headlining tour. I drove down to Frankfurt where I was picked up by his girlfriend Conny and soon after we were on our way to Langen. We were about to see the last show for this part of the tour and so I was hoping for a few funny incidents ;) The Stadthalle is exactly that, the city's multifunctional venue and unlike the venues I usually go to, it didn't really have a "metal" flair to it at all. And although Todde told me that the crowd in Langen is usually in a pretty good mood I was still a bit sceptical. The rather huge pit in front of the stage fed my doubts - I don't like bands being meters away from the fans.
Anyway, I went up front as I expected MERCENARY to start playing soon and that's when I first spotted a tiny drum kit on stage. Haha, that seemed to be the first prank for today ;D I was wondering if Mercenary's drummer Mike would actually really try playing on it but he didn't. As on the previous gigs I have seen on this tour the band started their set with "Falling" and in the beginning I wasn't exactly convinced I was part of an enthusiastic crowd. Again, I thought that the pit wasn't in any way helpful to get in touch with the audience but with the sound getting better after a few minutes and with the next song "Firesoul" the latest, the crowd started to wake up. Singer Mikkel seemed to have troubles with his voice though, poor guy. Vocalists really aren't enviable. A song later he announced a special tune for one of the crew members, Dominik. The song was called something like "Salsa For Dominik" and Dominik actually came on stage for a brief "dance performance" together with Mikkel, hehe. Too bad my pics ended up too blurry to use them here. I also have no clue about the idea behind it and I couldn't find out what the joke was because Dominik was too busy to be available for a chat :( and I was stupid enough to not ask one of the Mercenary guys I ran into later. I promise to improve my investigation until the next time ;)  For the final track "11 Dreams" Mercenary were joined by Brainstorm's Andy, cool! Also merchandiser Völle entered the stage with a huge Denmark flag. In the end, bassist and second vocalist Kral tried his German and said we'd all meet again at this year's WOA - hell yeah! :)
setlist Mercenary:
Falling
Firesoul
Seize The Night
"Salsa For Dominik"
World Hate Center
11 Dreams
After a short break, it was AT VANCE's turn to entertain the people with their music. Well, in the past two weeks since the last time I saw At Vance I haven't learnt to love them but that's just my personal preference. I am guilty of staying somewhere in the back during their show, watching the show with a beer in hand.
The set started off with "Tell Me" from their current output "Chained" followed by "The Evil In You", "Fallen Angel" and "Heart Of Steel". I again found singer Mats together with bassist John the strongest links in At Vance, but mind you, I haven't really much an idea about guitar playing, and if you think Olaf is brilliant on guitar, so be it. It's just that I think it's a bit boring watching him play. What I said about soloing when you are acting as a support band applies to At Vance as it does to any other band: give us songs damn it! I will never understand why there has to be guitar/drum/whatever-solos when there's only playing time of 45 minutes and a tons of songs to choose from. Seriously, I don't get it. Perhaps you have to be dedicated musician to understand. I doubt the average concert visitor appreciates solo escapades though. But anyway, Olaf did a guitar solo from his classical repertoire, which was followed by a drum solo. The final song "Take Me Away" with its more than catchy chorus was well-achieved by the crowd again and although I was a bit too far away from the real action, I believe there were quite a few people who joined to sing along.
In my last review I said that I was proud of the BRAINSTORM guys and now that I have heard the tour went well I'm even more proud :) I know I'm repeating myself but...what a live band! It's amazing too see how little difference that annoying pit made as soon as Brainstorm hit the stage and started off with "Worlds Are Coming Through". The only older track on the setlist was "Voices" again, perhaps they gonna pick another "classic" for the next tour? Would be cool to hear some of the other old hits again as well. To cover as many "neckbreakers" as possible Brainstorm again played their medley consisting of "Lifeline", "Shadowland" and "Tear Down The Walls" and it seems the fans loved it because after that medley the crowd started the first "Brainstorm"-chants of the night. Frontman Andy again was speechless (or at least pretended to be ;)) but those chants were nothing compared to what was still to come. Again Brainstorm played the entire "Trinity Of Lust"-trilogy and for the third song of that trilogy, "Soul Temptation", the Mercenary guys Kral, Morten and Jakob as well as At Vance drummer Mark came on stage and acted as a choir! Great fun!
But the next surprise was just on the way. For the single "All Those Words" the guys were joined Carmen Schäfer, the female voice singing there with Andy. I didn't expect her at the show in Langen at all as she had only been announced for the gigs in Ludwigsburg/Germany and Budapest/Hungary, so that was quite a surprise! I rushed from the front rows into the photo pit to take a few pics and because of that I hardly realized what was going on. But as soon as the song was finished it was just amazing to hear the reaction of the fans: they kept singing the melody of the song for I don't know how long. Awesome. Even after the next song "Hollow Hideaway" these "All Those Words"-chants continued. "Burns My Soul" was the last regular track that was played and as soon as Brainstorm had left the stage the "All Those Words"-chants started all over again. So of course the band had to return for an encore ;) "Doorway To Survive" and "Under Lights" went down so well, that the fans started "Brainstorm"-chants as soon as the guys had waved good-bye. Too bad all the roars didn't make the band return for another song.
setlist Brainstorm:
Intro (What A Beautiful Noise)
Worlds Are Coming Through
Blind Suffering
The Leading
Voices
Highs Without Lows
medley (Lifeline/Shadowland/Tear Down The Walls)
Inside The Monster
Shiva's Tears
Fornever
Soul Temptation
All Those Words
Hollow Hideaway
Burns My Soul
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Doorway To Survive
Under Lights
submitted by Cora 07.05.2005
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