Munich | Music Junkie Press

Concert review: Freedom Call, Eden’s Curse and Veonity. By Alex Bock

February 22, 2017

Munich, Backstage, Feb. 14th 2017 It was Valentine’s Day and a Tuesday. One might think, probably not the best evening for a live show. BUT…. German Power Metal band Freedom Call have made a stop in Munich during their ‘Master Of Light’ tour and their fans came. As to be expected they didn’t come alone. They brought two bands along on tour with them. First one to play that night were Veonity, a four piece from Vänersborg, Sweden. They started out in 2013 and released their first EP that same year. In early 2015 they released their first full length record, which was followed by their latest effort ‘Into The Void’ in 2016. Just like in Freedom Call their vocalist Sköld also plays guitar, which gives them a vibrant guitar sound. You should definitely check them out, when they come to town. Next on – Eden’s Curse. Based in Glasgow, UK, the members are a mixed bunch of five guys. Only the bassist and drummer are Scottish, their vocalist was born in Serbia, the [Read More]

Concert review: Devin Townsend Project, Between The Buried And Me and Leprous. Contributed by Alex Bock

February 17, 2017

Munich, Backstage Werk, February 10th 2017 It has been a while, two years to be exact, since we had the pleasure of Devin Townsend playing in our beautiful city. When doors opened at 7pm that night, there was a really long queue waiting down the street to get inside. The show wasn’t entirely sold out, but it couldn’t have been many tickets left and by show start those were gone for sure. The venue was pretty packed from the beginning, which gave both support bands, Leprous and Between The Buried And Me, the chance to play for a bigger crowd. Leprous: Between the Buried and Me: Different from last time Devin Townsend played here, there were no big screens with aliens and other strange things on them in the back. It was mostly reduced to the music itself. The Aliens though were still there that evening in the form of hand puppets, which were sold at the merch table. Moving pictures in the back or not, what counts is the music and there was [Read More]

Concert review: The Pretty Reckless with The Cruel Knives – Munich. By Alex Bock

February 7, 2017

Munich, Backstage Werk, February 3rd, 2017 Another sold out show at the Backstage. The Pretty Reckless, the band around the actor/model Taylor Momsen, made a stop in Munich during their tour through Europe and the UK. Soon as I came around the corner, I saw the massive line of people queuing for the show. It was one hour before show time then. The line moved slow, but steadily, so on time for the show to begin, the venue was already packed with people. TPR brought one band along on tour. Some people might have recognized at least two people on that stage, Sid Glover and Rob Ellershaw, Heavens Basements’ former string section. They formed a new band called The Cruel Knives, which they just recently announced to their fans on facebook. Their sound doesn’t differ that much from Heavens Basement. It has great sing alongs and their performance definitely invited the crowd to dance and party along. They are currently working on their debut EP, which they’re crowdfunding via pledgemusic. Go check http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/the-cruel-knives-new-ep for [Read More]

music

Concert review: Avatar with The Last Band in Munich. By Alex Bock

December 20, 2016

Munich, Backstage Halle, Dec. 9th, 2016 Another night at my favorite venue, another packed room full of excited people. Two Swedish bands were playing that night. The first band was actually called ‘The Last Band’. Take a raspy voice, some dirty guitar riffs and rhythm and you get an idea what the band sounds like. Reminds me of a slightly heavier version of an US band called Junkyard. The Last Bands’ latest record ‘The Fall’ has been released in November 2016. During the tour the band ran out of CD’S, so it’s safe to say they’re having a good run. For friends of theatrics, Avatar is probably THE band. The whole set is a real show, not just the instruments and the music, also the way front man Johannes Eckström acts and talks. Speeches starting with ‘Meine Damen und Herren, Brüder und Schwestern, liebe Kinder….’ (Ladies and gentleman, brothers and sister, dear kids…) in his raspy dark voice, plus the make-up … this could be the beginning of something really dark, but in this [Read More]

Concert review: The Amity Affliction with Northlane, Stray From The Path and Wage War by Alex Bock

December 19, 2016

Munich, Backstage Werk, Dec. 16th, 2016 This show closed my concert year 2016 and I have to say, it ended with a blast. A few days before, the show was sold out and the place was really packed, from the beginning. The crowd was obviously into all the bands, although all three opening bands had some sound problems in the beginning. Nevertheless the audience seemingly loved their performances, considering all the crowd-surfers, mosh-pits and circle-pits that happened during their sets. Wage War Stray From the Path Northlane The Amity Affliction were loudly welcomed by the crowd. The audience sang along to every song, knew all the lyrics by heart. Almost constantly the security guys had to catch crowd-surfers and see to it, that they got out of the pit quickly, so no one gets hurt. The songs they played were mainly taken from their last two records ‘This Could Be Heartbreak’ and ‘Let The Ocean Take Me’. Wise choice probably, because those records really let the band grow over the last years. Set-list: I [Read More]

Concert review: Alter Bridge with Like A Storm and Gojira, in Munich. By Alex Bock

December 13, 2016

Munich, Zenith, December 10th, 2016 This tour was announced about five months ago and it was a highly anticipated one. After the release of their latest record ‘The Last Hero’ on October 7th, Alter Bridge started out on an extensive tour through Europe and UK early November. With them on the road were Living Colour, Volbeat, Gojira and Like A Storm. The only band that stayed throughout the whole tour were Like A Storm. They were also the first band to play that night in Munich. The band has been out on tour through Germany earlier this year with Escape The Fate, where they played in a smaller clubs. Now with Alter Bridge they were able to play in front of big audiences, which in this case were about 5000 people. Already a popular rock act in the US and Canada, they have also gained many fans by now in Europe. Their latest record ‘Awaken The Fire’ sealed their breakthrough worldwide. Songs like ‘Love The Way You Hate Me’ or ‘Become The Enemy’ are [Read More]

Concert review Bullet For My Valentine with Cane Hill and Killswitch Engage – Munich

November 14, 2016

Munich, Tonhalle, November 11th, 2016 Not many bands these days play sold out shows in Munich, but with two masters of Metal playing together in one night, it’s actually not surprising at all that Bullet For My Valentine did it again. Show times were changed at the day of the show from 8 pm to 7.30 pm. Since that happened on short notice, the venue wasn’t really packed when I got there at 7 pm. To everyone’s surprise Cane Hill, the first band to play that night, started their set at about 7.10 pm. Everyone was still waiting to store their stuff at the coatroom and people in general were still entering the venue, so Cane Hill played to a slightly unobservant audience, which probably didn’t give them the attention they would have deserved. Cane Hill is a five piece Metal band from New Orleans, LA. They released their first EP in October 2015. Their current record ‘Smile’ was released in July 2016. Second band to play were Killswitch Engage. The five guys from [Read More]