+++ Hey guys! It’s Angela from Arch Enemy here. Over the past few weeks I’ve been checking in with updates from our U.S. Tyranny and Bloodshred tour, which started on May 9 in Philadelphia and ended on May 30 at West Hollywood’s House of Blues. With supporting acts Dark Tranquility, Divine Heresy and Firewind, it was a crazy, good time. Below is my final wrap up of that tour! But don’t fear, if you’re lucky I just may post a final final round-up report of our European festival shows. +++
We are all back from the US “Tyranny And Bloodshred’ tour and ripping through the European festival season now! Michael is working double shifts with Arch Enemy and Carcass – speaking of which: Carcass are fucking great and getting a killer response!
The USA / Canada tour was absolutely amazing (most shows sold out) and for the first time I wished it wouldn’t have been over so fast! Firewind, Divine Heresy and Dark Tranquillity were such nice people and put on a kick ass performance every night as well. Fantastic tour package! A big thank you to all of you for the smooth ride, for the passion and for the great music!
Here’s some live shots of Micheal from Edmonton:
Those weeks flew by like nothing – and we know we have been missing out on lots of places all over the country, especially more down south! We will be coming back for another US run when Carcass take a break from dissecting the metal world (and before everybody starts shouting and screaming: I am damn positive Carcass will make it to American shores as well – check www.mypace.com/carcass for tourdates!).
“Taking Back My Soul” live in Edmonton May 24:
Here’s some pix from our bus in Vancouver:
“The Last Enemy” live in Vancouver June 26:
“My Apocalypse” live in Vancouver June 26:
Here are some impressions onstage, off stage and on the road – I love those beautiful mountains around Vancouver and in between Seattle and San Francisco!
+++ Hello, it’s Robin from The Ocean. This diary starts in the middle of our world tour in support of our latest album, Precambrian (Metal Blade). We have already been on tour in Europe for over a month now, but I only recently started bothering to write down some of our adventures as The Ocean tours the States for the very first time. Here’s the second installment… +++
5/30 Charlotte, NC, Tremont Music Hall
After another long drive we arrived at the huge Tremont Music Hall in the late afternoon. We set up our lights and hung out outside, while Mike was getting some free ink by the guys from Liberty Tattoo, who had offered their services prior to the show via MySpace… awesome people! There was a good crowd and the show was fun. We slept in the RV in the backyard of the venue until about 8 AM, when it got too hot.
Mike getting ink in front of our RV in Charlotte:
5/31 Atlanta, GA, Masquerade
Christian emo fans getting corrupted by members of The Ocean:
When we got to the place, there was a bunch of young girls waiting outside in front of the venue. Our faces lit up… had we finally made it? Had we progressed from a filthy rock band that draws filthy buffalo-hip chicks and long-haired metal dudes into…something else…that draws hot teens? Someone eventually told us that there was another show happening upstairs, some bands we had never heard of before were playing in a large room, and that someone described the style of music as “Christian emo.” So we embarked on a mission to try to convert as many of these lost teens to the cult of the Ocean, and won a good handful over, by offering them free guest list spots. These poor Christian emo girls didn’t really seem to understand what was happening to them when Withered unleashed their black metal thunderstorm.
Chris from Withered playing bike guitar:
Tonight was gonna be the last show with these guys who had become brothers in a matter of a few days, and we were all rocking out to their awesome set. Luckily, we were allowed upstairs, so we could eat all that Christian emo food and drink their Christian emo whiskey. The first band sounded like a terribly corrupted version of Mars Volta. But hey, these guys drew some 500 kids; there’s gotta be something to them.
Atlanta street party:
We drank a lot of J.D. and had a cool show. Afterwards we went out with Kylesa, Withered and Lair of the Minotaur to eat and party one last time. It was impossible to sleep in the RV tonight, the moist heat was unbearable. I took my sleeping bag and laid down outside in the parking lot, but even with the sleeping bag it was just too fucking hot. I took off my shirt and used my sleeping bag as a mattress, and still sweat was pouring from my forehead. It didn’t get any better. In the end I found peace sleeping in underwear in the parking lot, worried only that rats would come after my genitals.
Our drummer Luc, who doubles as the Venus de Milo:
6/1 Orlando, FL, Back Booth
We woke up completely beat and left really early to be at the venue at 5PM, as we were told, and when we got there no one was there. On the way we had passed Jacksonville, the city where I had my first real-life encounter with America in 1996. As a 16-year-old, I spent about one year of my life in this city as an exchange student, going to high school and living with an American host family, made up of a dude and his daughter. The dude was a nice but boring character, whose life can be summed up in a few words: work, Burger King, Seinfeld, weed and football on the weekends. His daughter was a much more interesting type: a diehard Christian who had devoted herself to an enlightened life serving God, and trying to baptize all eclipsed existences around her with a passion: her Dad appeared to be the only lost soul she had given up on.
She was engaged in aggressive agitation endeavors, including visitations at random people’s homes several days a week, missionary trips to the Philippines, etc. Me, getting big-time into Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy at that time, and her, completely denying the theory of evolution and conceiving of evidence of the dinosaurs as a coup of mad scientists possessed by the devil, were certainly not the best match. But somehow I felt sympathy for her, and I had the feeling I needed to save her just as much, or maybe even more, than she needed to save me. I sent her a copy of our recent album Precambrian the other day, as a reminder that the earth is (more…)
+++ Hello, it’s Robin from The Ocean. This diary starts in the middle of our world tour in support of our latest album, Precambrian (Metal Blade). We have already been on tour in Europe for over a month now, but I only recently started bothering to write down some of our adventures as The Ocean tours the States for the very first time. Anyway, here we go… +++
5/24 - Boston, MA, Church
We have had about 5 days off before this tour to recover from the fatigue that came with the extended tour of Eastern Europe we had just finished - just enough to get ready for our first US tour ever, and hell yeah we were stoked as we got on the plane at 6 AM that morning, direction Logan international airport, Boston.
Checking in our luggage proved to be much smoother than we expected - we were allowed 10 bags of luggage at 23 kg each, and we had spent a day putting all our guitars and LED lights together in all different kinds of combinations, weighing them and duct-taping everything together… in the end we had 10 bags of 24-25 kg each, and my Diezel amp at 32 kg. I was really worried that my amp might have to stay here, but in the end we didn’t even have to pay any extra fees. We decided to celebrate all this and start drinking immediately, so we made friends with one of the stewardesses, a generous older lady who realized we were a broke rock band that wouldn’t be able to pay for their beer as soon as we got on the plane, thus showing a lot of sympathy for us and getting us free beers all the way until Boston.
Mike’s shoes after two-and-a-half months of touring:
I still don’t understand how we managed to get all this gear AND ourselves into one single taxi, but we did. Jona and I were sitting on the front seat next to the driver and Jona had my foot in his mouth while I had his ass cheeks spread over my right thigh. We went straight into town to buy guitars at Guitar Center…the dollar is so cheap for us. You buy a new guitar, use it for a tour and sell it when you get back to Europe and you get more money for it then you paid for it in the first place.
The next morning we went to pick up the RV that was going to be our home for the next 4 weeks. I couldn’t believe how big this house on wheels really was. There’s a shower inside, a kitchen, a toilet and enough comfy beds for 6 people, fucking great! We would find out about the downside very soon though: this beast drinks gas like we drink Jack Daniel’s. A full tank comes at 180 bucks, and it doesn’t last very long.
The RV:
Inside:
I’m going to skip our 3-day Canadian run here. We had a great time there, even got to see the impressive Niagara Falls! Especially Montreal was awesome, despite us having to cut our set short and despite Opeth playing the same night… Hardly ever before have I been to a city with such a vast abundance of beautiful women out in the streets at night! I made plans to come back here soon.
The Ocean Live in Montreal:
The Ocean in front of the mighty “Niagra Falls”
…Or was it this one?
We got back to Boston and arrived at the venue early but the other bands with the backline didn’t get there until 7 so there was no time for a sound check. The church started filling up after the first 2 local bands played and in the end there was a decent crowd of more than 100 kids. I didn’t check out the other bands tonight because the sound in the venue was so fucking terrible that it was just no fun and we all thought it fucking sucks that we didn’t bring our sound guy over. There were some delays throughout the night and in the end we started so close to the curfew that we had to cut our set short 2 songs. This is what you get for not bringing a tour manager.
After the show we had shots at the bar and then ended up hanging out with Kylesa at the promoter’s band’s rehearsal space. There was more whiskey there and these huge plastic bottles of tequila and in the end I was so shitfaced that I didn’t remember how I got back to the RV. When I woke up the next morning, my head felt as if 2 freight trains had been driving into it from both sides. Not only the alcohol; the RV was parked in some garden, fuck knows how it got there, and the surface there was so uneven that I was literally hanging upside down in the bed compartment above the driver seat… my feet were numb and all the blood had shot into my head, making it red like a tomato. Good that my Mom didn’t see me this morning… (more…)
+++ Hey guys! It’s Angela from Arch Enemy here. Over the next few weeks I’m gonna be checking in with updates from our U.S. Tyranny and Bloodshred tour, which starts on May 9 in Philadelphia and ends on May 30 at West Hollywood’s House of Blues. With supporting acts Dark Tranquility, Divine Heresy and Firewind, it should be a crazy time. So keep checking back each week to get the inside dirt! +++
This week’s update begins on a slightly sour note caused by a very, very long travel day to Montreal due to our tour bus breaking down. Shortly after departure the engine started running on half the power and our max speed was capped at 40mph. So we slowly crawl up and down the mountains to the Canadian boarder, where they manage to take three-and-a-half hours to look at our papers and pale faces. Yep, not too much fun.
We get to Montreal at 4AM, Tuesday the 14. Instead of 8 hours the trip was almost 20 hours – so we are kinda wrecked and basically flee the bus immediately upon arrival. The bus then goes straight to the garage to be fixed. Despite being tired, I am looking forward to the show, the fan meeting, the lovely Miss Alissa White-Gluz (from The Agonist), our fanclub winners and my girl Hadass, a devoted metal soldier flying in from Jerusalem to catch the show! And what a show it is! Pure fucking metal magic, soaked in sweat, screams and moshpits – Montreal, we love you!!!
Hadass:
Michael backstage:
“Ravenous”
“Dead Eyes See No Future”
“Blood On Your Hands”
Firewind tearing up the stage:
We are having a hard time saying good-bye to our friends and fans that night – everybody wants to cherish that day as long as possible! At 6AM we finally make our way to Quebec, le capital du metal!
I don’t know how, but we manage to break the last five years record in attendance figure for a metal show! The L’Imperial is packed with almost a 1000 souls, ready to tear it up!
“Nemesis”
The promoter couldn’t look any happier and saying good-bye after this show takes a while. Thanx for all the love and care we got that day..and to everybody who came out to the show that night – pretty much every metal head in town!
The same goes for Toronto! Great show, extremely dedicated fans, singing along every line!
My friend Rebecca a.k.a. NEKRO – a fashion and fetish designer comes out to the show and brings me a new pair of her self-designed pants – they look killer!
I am very sorry I didn’t hang out with fans after the show – I had a very packed promo day and I can feel the bus-cold has gotten me too now. I am unusually exhausted after the show. I barely made it out of the shower there and back on the bus. I crash into bed immediately.
And on we drove to Detroit with a lovely three hour stint at the border…and this time we were intoxicated and not so innocent looking. But we managed to pull ourselves together, even Michael, who had some ominous space cookie after the show and looked scared shitless all the way through in the interview room. Priceless. I get to take a few early morning pictures from the beautiful scenery we are driving through:
Today it’s Detroit with very low ticket sales. A shame – the city of Rock’n’Roll isn’t doing well – Hip Hop, Rap and R’n’B have taken over this place! We have fun anyway, and the 300+ kids manage to fill up the run down Recher Theater with a huge circle pit! I think it was our last visit to Detroit though, if even such a strong package as we have right now isn’t doing well there. A shame indeed!
The next day at the House Of Blues in Chicago is a great ‘pick-me-up’! The place is packed and the crowd intense, celebrating every single band on this bill! We get to meet our lovely fanclub meet’n’greet winners, Stach who did a great airbrush painting of the Rise Of The Tyrantcover artwork and Bridget, a dedicated Arch Enemy girl with a great AE tattoo!
Jody from Randall (who came to hang with us and check Mike’s & Chris new sound) sums up the show in three words: Pure Metal Magic! Hells Yeah!
St. Paul, Station 4: This place is a dump, but the most popular venue in town – all metal bands are coming through here! We stay on the bus – the backstage room underneath the stage reeks like a pig stall! But a crowded sh*thole is better than an empty arena – and we have a killer show again! Btw, I think its time to introduce our lovely merchandiser Jake, who has been with us since the Ozzfest tour in 2005!
The prospect of four sold out Canadian shows coming up makes the smiles on our faces even bigger and the pain of the border crossing this night slightly more bearable. Oh yes, the Winnipeg border customs kept us there for quite a while again. We actually start to feel at home in fluorescent lit halls, haha! Fuck the system!
+++ Hey guys! It’s Angela from Arch Enemy here. Over the next few weeks I’m gonna be checking in with updates from our U.S. Tyranny and Bloodshred tour, which starts on May 9 in Philadelphia and ends on May 30 at West Hollywood’s House of Blues. With supporting acts Dark Tranquility, Divine Heresy and Firewind, it should be a crazy time. So keep checking back each week to get the inside dirt! +++
Well, it’s finally here: the first update from the Tyranny & Bloodshred tour! We are one week in and it is going well!
So far, all places were nicely packed, some actually sold out! Given the current economical situation in the USA we are more than happy that people still come to see the show!!!
Canada is a different story – ALWAYS full house, no worries attached! Great place to visit if you’re a touring a metal band! If only there weren’t those awful border crossings. But we’re lucky to not have any criminal records/weapons/drugs onboard and even manage to look very innocent and sober at 5am in the morning It also helps having all the paper work in order – but the customs still manage to keep us on our toes for at least three hours every time. We don’t have anything like this in Europe.
Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquility, Divine Heresy and Firewind – a diverse and really good package – the fan response is very positive! Things go smooth and quiet backstage. All bands are grown up and know the secret of a good tour: Respect for each other…and keeping the shower clean for the next person to get in!
It’s a bit of a clusterf**k backstage, small and midsize U.S. venues tend to have little room backstage (and still often no shower – why???) . Especially the first show at the TLA in Philly (9 of May) – That venue scared me! The ceiling is six-and-a-half feet high, which means [bassist] Sharlee [D’Angelo] basically touches it with his hair. Plus there’s only one shower, which you step out of and right into the guys from Firewind, as their ‘dressing room’ is in front of it. No privacy – but a good hug from [Firewind guitarist] Mr. Gus G instead makes up for the claustrophobic atmosphere!
The show is ok, if a bit tame maybe. And all the bands kinda have to warm up as well. The first two shows are always a bit shaky, with new or very old gear, finding that right mindset again and simply working as a team.
Talking gear: Look at these beauties:
And here is a good clip of Dark Tranquility’s ‘ Wonders At Your Feet’
And Divine Heresy, tearing up the stage with new singer Jake:
Towson, 10 of May, Recher Theater is great actually! The venue itself doesn’t look like much, but there is so much space backstage! And a pool table too! We get more people that night then last time when we played in the area on the Black Tyranny tour. I am happy we are able to still tour over here and enjoy the ride! Thanx for having us back and coming out to the shows!!!
Check out “Blood On Your Hands” from that show:
All happy and clean we make our way to New York, Irvine Plaza (11 of May). No shower backstage. Nice. But the venue is packed and we play our best show in New York that day! I also get to meet the good people from MetalKult.com for an interview and we have our first fanclub meet’n’greet, which is a lot of fun actually!
I manage to give away our New York pizza to the fans outside. They looked so hungry. And we just get too fat eating that stuff EVERY night anyway!
Here are some cool pictures from the show:
Here’s “Ravenous” from NYC:
We all get to bed late, despite the next early morning’s IRS office visit we have to face. Yep, we are paying taxes in the U.S.! We are good people! All that and more in the next update! The office visit was quite exciting by the way. A woman fainted in the waiting line. She came out of it quickly, but it caused quite a commotion! And the very friendly lady at the desk helping us with the paperwork had a big fat smile on her face, after I told her that she “fucking rocks.” Haha.. I don’t think they get too many metal bands coming through.
+++Hey guys! It’s Angela from Arch Enemy here. Over the next few weeks I’m gonna be checking in with updates from our U.S. Tyranny and Bloodshred tour. But before that madness begins on May 9 in Philly, I thought I’d give you a little taste of what’s to come. Below is the dirt from our recent shows in Glasgow, Manchester and London. +++
23.04. Birmingham
Together with those Brummy bastards we are kicking off the short but sweet ‘Defenders Of The Faith’ tour with Opeth! Its very nice meeting these guys again! Per and Fredrik are basically part of the Arch Enemy family!
Today is quite a busy day for Michael and Daniel. Terrorizer UK are here to conduct a lengthy interview for both Arch Enemy and Carcass – plus an insane photo shoot in the vein of the movie 28 days Later! I captured Michael and Daniel looking a bit on the…ermmm…infected side. Just check out their bite and strangle marks! Yeeeeees, that reunion is going well. Haha.
The show itself went well – the UK is always great when it comes to live shows! But the set didn’t flow so well, so we decided to cross out the guitar solos and add “Enemy Within” instead for the upcoming show in Glasgow!
24.04. Glasgow
I wake up at an the ungodly hour of 7AM, peeing blood. We decide to get me to hospital in an ambulance, so I get medical attention quicker and get some sleep afterwards. Exciting! The two meds are very funny and keep cracking jokes with a thick Scottish accent.
Turns out I have a bladder infection – I was quite in a bit of pain for over a week. I cant help but tell the crowd about ‘Blood Pee’ – its not as exciting as blood puke, but still a good Dethklok moment there. Btw, I will be in some of these episodes, playing a very insane character ☺ I have already recorded one episode, I will do more when we get to L.A. on the U.S. run!
The Glasgow show is awesome! Raging, set – it works a lot better, but Vultures doesn’t take off live, so we decide to swap it with “I Will Live Again” for the Manchester show!
And here comes Blood Pee:
The setlist has emerged to this version by now:
25.04. Manchester –
Raving mad! Together with Glasgow the highlight of the UK tour. Great crowd, fantastic new venue (purpose built, clean, lots of rooms and showers) and for the first and only time during the UK run – good catering! The set works great tonight and we are getting very excited about London tomorrow. We will have some pyros at the end of the show. We also know 4350 tickets are sold already – the Brixton academy will be packed!
Check out the review and pictures from Manchester HERE.
26.04. London
Opeth – as different as they are musically from us – experience the same crowd reaction. Birmingham good, Glasgow and Manchester super intense. All camps are a little nervous about London.
The Arch Enemies backstage, discussing tonight’s set:
All the media will be there, the venue is huge, but a bit of a dump as well.. The PA system cant match the Manchester Academy system, the sound on stage is pretty indifferent. And the audience is too far away from the stage – that photo pit is taking up a lot of space. It’s a bit of a shame, because we play the show for the fans and not for the photographers – and I like being able to see people in the front row straight into the eyes. All these factors fall short tonight – but we get a huge mass of people instead! And the show is probably the best we have ever played in London. Apparently it sounded massive upfront and the circle pits, hands in the air and chants reassure us, we are doing great tonight. And the pyro plus big bang at the end is pure rock’n’roll magic!
Here’s a couple pix:
And here the Grand Finale on video:
It is Sharlees birthday today, so there will be quite a lot of partying going on later. I have press lined up for Sunday, so I decide to leave rather early. We need to clean out the bus and move into a hotel room. I look forward to the festival season and a less rigid tour schedule – I haven’t really chilled for ages.
Here I am with my buddy Payman in the hotel lobby, where I will be doing my Sunday press. The fucker didn’t let me win though!
Now its Monday, midnight. We are almost home. I am beyond tired and looking forward to my fluffy bed! We will have a few days rest, until next week: When the Tyranny & Bloodshred tour will kick off in the U.S. and I will do another 4 weeks of mad screaming
This tour is going to be fun and will be our last U.S. tour for a while. We will do festivals in Europe in the summer, then Carcass will do some touring. We are thinking about another European round maybe end of this year. SO WHOEVER WANTS TO SEE US IN THE US: DO IT NOW, WE WONT BE BACK BEFORE LATER IN 2009!
This EU and UK tour has been an absolute success, we played to more than 15.000 fans in these 2 weeks and we explored new territory: Russia! I want to say a big, hearty THANK YOU to everybody who came out to the shows! And to all the bands, who came along for the ride: Textures, 3 Inches Of Blood, Devildriver and the great Opeth of course! Our crew did a fantastic job – We will bring the whole lot with us on the US run! Its good to have this ‘family’ with us – it’s a well-oiled machine with a heart of STEEL and a brain made of METAL!
Hope to see some of you out there!
Angela
PS: We have just launched our UNITED ENEMIES fanclub! Check it out HERE and join us!
PURCHASE TICKETS to the TYRANNY & BLOODSHRED TOUR by clicking the links below
+++Hey guys! It’s Angela from Arch Enemy here. Over the next few weeks I’m gonna be checking in with updates from our U.S. Tyranny and Bloodshred tour. But before that madness begins on May 9 in Philly, I thought I’d give you a little taste of what’s to come. Below is the dirt from our Amsterdam, Paris and Antwerp gigs. +++
We are moving into the tour bus today. Apparently its Motorhead’s vehicle. And what a bus! Double-decker, 15 meters long. Very nice and a little posh inside. Just have a look!
This is how my cosy little space looks like:
Check out the Arch Enemy clan in the lounge downstairs HERE and HERE. I am not in the picture, because I am wearing pajamas and glasses. I know, this is not metal
And this – ladies and gentlemen – is Lemmy’s personal ice bucket!
Playing Amsterdam on a Saturday night - wohoo!!! Our Dutch friends know how to have a good time! The show was sold out and with broken hearts we had to watch the ticket office turning all these kids away. But the total cap of the venue, Melkweg, is 1400 and security is simply the most important thing – too many tragic events in overfilled clubs have happened to risk anything.
Textures did a great job opening up for us – we had them out with us in the past. The venue was boiling up and smelled quite interesting: A melange of sweat and cannabis – they must have been smoking my chocolate, haha.
It was easy to launch into a furious, high rising set - 90 minutes of excessive metal! I loved every second that night - to leave the crowd completely exhausted and happy is the best reward you can get!
Check out this shot from side stage:
Unfortunately we couldn’t launch into a proper celebration afterwards – a long drive to Paris called for an early bus departure. But here a few backstage impressions:
Me, my friend Susan (Murder Syndicate/Cliteater), Green&Blacks organic chocolate and a kick ass new Legion Of The Dammed Hoodie – I am happy!
Arriving at noon in Paris – just in time for the load in. It’s the best time of the day to sleep: You hear the crew getting out of their bunks and into working gear: The sound of others working real hard is very soothing to my ears… haha! It’s the feeling everything will be taken care of, its all going to be fine. I love getting up a lot later and walking into a ‘ready-to-rock’ venue. We handpick our crew, so they’re the best: hard working, lovely, funny and all smoking hot
Speaking of smoking hot: It’s my brother Benjamin’s birthday today and I managed to get a hold of him in his new home in the south of Spain. My little niece Lavinia will be joined by a tiny terror brother soon. Benjamin lives a very different life from mine, but it’s just as crazy.
Paris, Bataclan is packed with almost a 1000 souls ready to thrash. They are already going berserk when Textures hit the stage, forming huge circle pits. By the time we go on, the temperature has risen to sauna-level and the air is pure mist. We are basically breathing water instead of oxygen. The French maniacs are frantic. Singing along with the lyrics and the melodies, showing no signs of fatigue. I start feeling light-headed towards the end of the set and seeing little stars. There is no air left in the house! We look freshly showered with clothes on. It’s just the smell that gives the truth away. Its pure fucking sweat and we worked hard for it. And the French crowd beats every other audience so far on this tour! Je t’aime – merci beaucoup!!!
Here is a good clip from “Revolution Begins!”:
And here is a bit from “Nemesis”
Check out this cute letter I received from a very young Arch Enemy girl: Tuukka from Finland!
Exhausted but very happy we crawl into the bus that night to drive up to Belgium Antwerp. We have played Hof Ter Lo a couple of times before. Getting the Belgium crowd going is not that easy. The show will be on Monday evening – a day most people hate with a vengeance, everybody sober and tired from the prospect of a long working week ahead. Not the best circumstances, and the show falls a little short compared to all the others as a result. The audience really makes 50% of the show happen and tonight the atmosphere isn’t magic. It’s a shame because I want them to let go, let loose. By the end of the set they are finally catching fire, but then the show is over. And I make a mental note: No shows on Mondays in Belgium - let it be a day off!
Here is a great clip of “Enemy Within”
And go HERE to check out some photos from that show.
Since we’re off to England next, we need to discuss and decide the set for the UK shows – We are getting clear orders from our lighting engineer Richard.
See Michael working on the setlist right here:
We hurry and get out of the venue to make the ferry to England. We miss it anyway and now we are all hanging out on the bus, jamming silly music. We have to wait to 4.30 AM for the next boat and then it’s a 90 minutes crossing. I haven’t made up my mind yet if I should stay on the dark, locked up bus in the belly of the beast or hang around on deck for the crossing. Both options are equally tempting. The thought of having a day off tomorrow in good ol’ England is a good one though. And the prospect of four upcoming raging mad shows is exhilarating. Manchester is already sold out; Birmingham, Glasgow and London are closing in quickly too. I am getting all excited just thinking about it and must jam some Judas Priest now. Defenders of the Faith – Hells yeah. As our religion is METAL TO THE LAST BONE!
Amen to that!
Yours truly, Angela
PS: I found a cool interview with Michael that he conducted with GetInThePit TV
+++Hey guys! It’s Angela from Arch Enemy here. Over the next few weeks I’m gonna be checking in with updates from our U.S. Tyranny and Bloodshred tour. But before that madness begins on May 9 in Philly, I thought I’d give you a little taste of what’s to come. Below is the wrap up from our April 13-16 gigs, when we played Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Moscow.+++
We arrived in the Finnish capital Saturday evening. Helsinki - in sunshine - is a beautiful and lively city, offering interesting architecture, arts, beautiful parks and lots of bars, cafes and restaurants. Saturday night it was stormy, with heavy rain and darkness prevailing through. People were getting totally hammered, screaming and fighting in the streets. The runner from Tavastia club told me that the Fins start drinking from a very early age, about 12-14 years old. It’s the long and dark winters that drive them into depression and they fight it with excessive amounts of liquor. It is tragic to see very young, pretty girls falling out of a bar at midnight, completely smashed, a cig in their mouth, barely able to walk and cursing like old sailors.
Our show was Sunday evening in front of a visibly weekend-drained audience. Our 90-minute set felt slightly exhausting, as it was hard to get the energy back from the crowd. There were some very excited kids there, but too many tired soldiers in between. It was a bit disappointing as all the shows in Finland had been absolutely mad in the past. Next time we will come in on a Friday night, when everybody is still fresh and able to mosh!
Next morning, we have a brutal wake up call at 6AM. We are moving on to St. Petersburg, Russia. Driving into the city, a towering statue of Lenin and a WWII memorial site greets the arriving visitor. The weather is still gruelling and I feel like shit, so I retreat to bed for the rest of the day with a big bag of dark chocolate–covered marzipan. I am addicted to that stuff right now. We are all offline and resembling a horde of Zombies - I believe we all hit the sack no later than 10pm that night. Just look at [guitarist] Michael [Amott]’s face below, haha.
Waking up refreshed and excited about the St. Petersburg show! The venue ‘Port’ was located right opposite an impressive cathedral.
Our Lighting designer Richard in front of the venue.
We made our way through the crowd (I very much dislike venues with no way out in the back – there is a fire and we are TOAST) and got ready with banana milk meets Vodka with Chris backstage.
They caught me with “forbidden” food that night, but to my defence: There was no cheese on that pizza. It was vegan!
The show was killer! Loud and crazy, bodies flying and fists in the air! Check Darkside.ru’s pictures here and here.
The only “glitch” in the set was when suddenly an old lady appeared onstage and, obviously confused, tried to make her way down to the crowd. Armed with a big shopping bag and a wild stare. I couldn’t help but make a few jokes Thanx to darkside.ru, we got a good shot of it:
Here’s the set list for the St. Petersburg show:
Intro
Blood On Your Hands
Ravenous
Taking Back My Soul
Dead Eyes See No Future
My Apocalypse
Chris Amott Solo
Revolution Begins
Daniel Erlandsson Solo
Burning Angel
Bury Me An Angel
Dead Buried Their Dead
Vultures
Michael Amott Solo
Enemy Within
Nemesis
–Encore–
Snowbound
We Will Rise
Fields Of Desolation (Outro)
After the show we boarded the night train to Moscow. It was a hot and tight ride and none of us slept that much to be honest. But it’s a famous trip so you gotta do it – only once in my case, haha. That’s Michael below:
We decided to add “The Day You Died” to the set list in Moscow. It went down surprisingly well. We kinda thought it’s more of a “Japan” track – so emotional and melancholic. I think it will stay in for the next couple of shows now.
Moscow is basically history on every street corner! You don’t know where to look first, or where to go for sightseeing. As usual, our stay there was way too short, and we didn’t have much time to look around. But at least some of us made it to the Red Square:
The venue DK Gorbunova is big and well equipped. The 1500 people in there filled it up nicely and got a good sweat going! I had a close encounter with security that night. A kid who crawled up onstage was trying to get back into the crowd—it was very tight up front and people were getting pressed into the stage rim. Well, the security obviously felt it was necessary to jump at him and get quite physical, pushing him all over the stage. I got in there and they actually let him go back into the crowd. Its not easy doing the security job, but there is a definite difference between being firm and getting violent. And violence against our fans is NOT something I like to see!
To see some more cool pictures from the show go HERE or HERE.
At the end of the show I did my little “shake hands with the front row” round…and almost got torn to pieces! All my wristbands were gone within seconds and my arm still looks a little mangled:
And here a few backstage impressions:
The paparazzi Angela at work!
Chris is awake at last.
Taking pictures with the promoters.
Catching the Three Musketeers in action!
Our exquisite video director Paul Smith came out to Moscow and filmed the show professionally. We will use it for a little clip and maybe as bonus material on the next DVD, which is already in the works!
The Russian promoters Andre & Igor and their assistant Sasha took great care of us – but it blew their mind that Michael and I are vegetarians. They made fun of it until the last day, when we met at noon in the lobby. Andre looked absolutely destroyed and I had the last laugh - strongly advising him to maybe try some fruit or vegetables at some point. He looked like a ghost and definitely was in desperate need of some vitamins – and not just lard. That’s me and Andre below.
When it was time to say goodbye, we laughed, we cried and then made our way to the infamous airport there, anticipating two shitty flights via Helsinki to Amsterdam. We got to the city of sin and weed in the evening. All about the red lights, sweet waffles and expensive supercharged chocolate in my next update then! I am getting ready to rock these Dutch stoners now!
For ten days this past summer, MetalKult editor Jimmy Hubbard hit the road with progressive thrash metallers Mastodon to document the band’s summer 2007 European tour in support of its latest record, Blood Mountain.
Hubbard’s journey with Mastodon began in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 28, 2007, and ended on July 8 at London’s Wembley Stadium. During these dates, across Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Greece, Denmark and Finland, the Atlantan four-piece played before audiences ranging from 2,000 to 70,000 people.
This eight-part series documents Mastodon’s powerful live performances opening for legendary acts like Metallica, Slayer, and Meshuggah, and also captures the revelry that ensued when this unaffected band—Troy Sanders (bass/vocals), Bill Kelliher (guitar), Brent Hinds (guitar) and Brann Dailor (drums)—bro-ed down with its friends and tour mates in the ancient cities of Europe.
The eighth and final installment of MetalKult’s weekly series takes place on July 8th, 2007, when Mastodon played Wembley Stadium in London, England. Once again Mastodon opened for Metallica and were joined by Machine Head and H.I.M. playing for roughly 70,000 people. This final show in a long string of European dates marked thirteen straight months of touring in support of Blood Mountain. (more…)
When MetalKult heard avant-garde noise/metal act Oxbow was tapped as an opening act on several dates of Isis’ 10th Anniversary tour, we had an idea: send Oxbow singer/fighter/author Eugene Robinson a handheld camera and get him to document the events.
After a few disclaimers (namely, “I might just get drunk, fall down, break the camera…and then sell the broken camera to a crack dealer.”) Robinson generously agreed and the deal was sealed.
The footage was edited into a two-part Oxbow Tour Diary, which documents Eugene and his band—Niko Wenner (guitar), Dan Adams (bass) and Greg Davis (drums)—as they support Isis on November 1ndash;4 in New York City, Philadelphia and Cambridge, MA.
MetalKult would like to give many thanks to Eugene, and we encourage you to check out Oxbow’s latest record, The Narcotic Story, out now on Hydra Head Records.
It also helps having all the paper work in order – but the customs still manage to keep us on our toes for at least three hours every time. We don’t have anything like this in Europe.
