The first highlight of the day was for sure the gig of MaYaN. That was not only obvious due to the quite well filled venue but also due to the efforts spent on the stage. At least during that show not less than 11 musicians should populate the stage.
Directly after the classic heavy metaller of Nightmare the stage was hectically rearranged and during the beginning of the gig of the US American progressive metal band Oceans Of Slumber it seemed as if not all sound settings were finished correctly.
Today the 1000. Epica concert should take place at the same location where everything started in 2002. And so you could look forward to a mini festival with many companioned bands of which the French Nightmare should be the opener.
The highlight of this truly fantastic evening was the Finnish band Amorphis, led by frontman Tomi Joutsen. The venue was packed, humid, and warm, but the audience gave it their all one last time. After 40 days in 33 different locations, the tour for their latest album, “Under the Red Cloud”, was set to conclude here tonight. However, there was no sign of exhaustion from their long and surely grueling journey across Europe. Each member was brimming with energy, making it clear from the start that they were going to give everything they had.
After the guys from Poem, Textures from the Netherlands had their chance to show what they were made of. They brought along their latest album, “Phenotype”, offering the audience a taste of its sound. With their progressive death metal, they cranked up the intensity compared to their predecessors. Vocalist Daniel de Jongh wasted no time, launching into a hard-hitting opener with “Drive” from their 2006 album, “Drawing Circles”.
Calling Poem newcomers wouldn’t be quite accurate. The band from Greece was formed in 2006, and with the release of their second album “Skein Syndrome” in March, Amorphis invited them to join their European tour. So now, the four musicians take the small stage at Matrix Bochum, captivating the audience that has already gathered at the start.
The evening progressed, and by now, the sold-out Lanxess Arena was packed to the very last seat, with everyone eagerly awaiting the start of the headliner’s show. At 21:15, the lights finally went out, and to the sounds of Sergei Prokofiev’s "Dance of the Knights", the spectacle began. The intro transitioned into "Drones" from their latest album of the same name. As the song played, enormous illuminated spheres suddenly floated through the arena, gliding above the heads of the audience. After performing a sort of ballet, they aligned themselves above the stage, and Muse launched into "Psycho" with full force.
In October of the previous year, the British rock band Nothing But Thieves released their self-titled debut album, achieving respectable success in the UK charts. This likely caught the attention of Muse or their management, leading to an opportunity for them to join Muse on their Drones Tour. Tonight, they kicked off the evening energetically with several songs from that very album. The Lanxess Arena in Cologne was already quite well filled, offering a fantastic view of the 360° stage positioned in the center of the venue.
Now it was unfortunately time. Project Pitchfork, the last band of the Blackfield Festival era, took the stage. A veteran band that has been shaking up the scene since the 1990s. The eyes were wide when the stage set was built, as no fewer than three! drum sets were to create a truly breathtaking soundscape (musically, of course, it made no sense at all).
A few years ago at Wacken Open Air, I was almost "annoyed" with constant advertisements for their then-current album “After The War”, which was accompanied by the opener “Arabia”. Today, I finally had the chance to see and hear a bit more of Mono Inc. Amidst flaming effects, the band, consisting of singer Martin Engler, his partner Katha Mia on drums, brother Carl Fornia on guitar, and Manuel Antoni on bass, blasted the oriental-sounding hookline towards the extremely large audience.