Concert Review
Munich, Backstage, Halle, Febr. 1st, 2015
Alive Like Me / Dangerkids / Set It Off / Crown The Empire
Contributed by Alexandra
We currently have tons of snow in Southern Germany, so it was more sliding than driving to the show, but I could make it on time anyway. I was even lucky to get a parking space in front of the venue, although the snow doesn’t make the parking situation any better. Luckily there was only that one concert yesterday. The Backstage itself consists of three clubs with different sizes. The Halle is size-wise the middle one.
Not to get ahead of things, but it was a killer evening. All four bands fit perfectly as a line-up. There were no flaws, no boring breaks, not one song the audience wasn’t into. Absolutely nothing negative to say on my parts, except that it ended somewhat around 11pm…but all good things have to end, right….
Doors opened at approx. 6.30 pm. Show start was set for 7.00 pm. First on were Alive Like Me. They formed in 2013 and are based in Oregon. It was their first time here in Germany. They played an awesome set and immediately had the crowd on their side. At first only a few rows close to the stage were filled with people, the rest was (whyever) in the back. Their frontman Jairus Kersey invited them to get closer to the stage and many actually followed. After a few songs into the set, they even formed a circle pit. Alive Like Me’s debut album ‘Only Forever’ was released Oct. 7th, 2014. Go check them out, you won’t be disappointed! They played last years Vans Warped Tour and are announced again for this year from June 19th to July 12th. So take your chances and go see them play live.
2nd band on the setlist were Dangerkids. They’ve also never played here before. They formed in 2012 and call Ohio their home. They have 2 vocalists, Tyler Smyth and Andy Bane. Their female drummer, Katie Cole, shows once again, that women in Rock music can stand against their male colleagues without doubt. Dangerkids’ debut album ‘Collapse’ was released in 2013. I’d say an influence of the bands sound is Linkin Park, which is not bad at all. But don’t get me wrong, they have their own sound. Just some of the songs have rap parts (sung by Tyler) and scream parts. Dangerkids played at last years Warped Tour too. Like their predecessors they also had an immediate impact on the audience. Some fans in first row even sang along to some of the lyrics, so they weren’t completely unknown.
After a brief break to set the stage for the next act, Set if Off came on. It was their 2nd time in Germany, but the first time they actually played here in Munich. Last time they were on tour with Yellowcard in 2013. They were involved in a car accident then. Luckily no one was hurt, but they couldn’t play the show. So another first that evening. For me they are one of those bands that win over the audience with their live set. Their music sounds awesome live and they have a much heavier set than you’d expect when listening through their current album ‘Duality’. Their frontman Cody was constantly interacting with the crowd, singing to single people, holding eye contact for quite some time, while seconds later he was on the other side of the stage. It was a dynamic set and both band and audience seemed to enjoy every second of it. They closed their set with their well-known song ‘Why worry’.
Last and longest break to get the stage all set for the headliner of the evening – Crown The Empire. They’ve played in Munich just months before, when they opened for Asking Alexandria in October 2014. Remember me saying, they need to come back soon?? Well here they were. The venue was not sold out (there’s actually not many shows that really sell out here), but it was definitely crowded from beginning to end. There were mosh-pits, crowd-surfers and circle pits (Andy couldn’t resist to join one too).
They opened their set with the intro/song ‘Oh Catastrophy’ from their album ‘The Fallout’. The set-list consisted mostly of songs from their current CD ‘The Resistance: Rise Of The Runaways’ like ‘Machines’, their latest single ‘Bloodline’ and ‘Rise Of The Runaways’, a three guitars piece. Dave, the 2nd vocalist for CTE, picks up the guitar for this one. The ‘oldest’ song the played was ‘Voices’ from the ‘Limitless’ EP. One of the highlights is the performance of ‘Johnny’. On each of their CD’s there’s a song about a guy named Johnny, which they put together into a medley of all three songs ‘Johnny Ringo’, ‘Johnnys Revenge’ and ‘Johnnys Rebellion’. Amazing way to perform the story as a whole. The last song from the actual set was ‘Millennia’. They closed their set with the encore ‘Makeshift Chemistry’.
After the set every band was at the merch tables, talked to fans, signed stuff and took pictures.
First show I’ve been to this year and it was awesome. We’ll see what 2015 has in stock. Stay tuned for more….
Contributed by Alexandra
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