RoD header

Translate

introPalladium, Cologne, Germany
29th June 2014
Limp Bizkit & Eskimo Callboy

As I like a lot of bands of the 90’s of the Crossover/ New Metal genre, I was really pleased to have the chance to see another great band of this era. With 4,000 fans the show was sold out. To my surprise I saw a lot of very young people. I didn’t expect this as I thought that the band’s peak of success was in the late 90’s and the early years of 2000. But probably it is me not being up to date as I don’t listen to popular/ commercial radio shows. Anyway it is always great to see that good bands/ musicians still attract people and continuously gather new fans.


Eskimo Callboy

The German Metalcore/ Trancecore band was founded in 2010. In the same year, they released single-handedly their first EP, which was later re-released under Redfield Records. The six-piece band is busily touring and was supporting act for bands like WE BUTTER THE BREAD WITH BUTTER, ASKING ALEXANDRIA, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, to name just a few. Furthermore they performed at several festivals in Europe and Austria. After the release of their first album in 2012 they started their Asian tour, performing in Japan, China and Russia. The following year the band won the Metal Hammer Award ‘Up and coming’. Their second album was launched in January 2014. Despite other bands of this genre the lyrics are not political but about parties, sex and alcohol. ESKIMO CALLBOY are Sebastian “Sushi“ Biesler (vocals), Kevin Ratajczak (vocals, synthesizer), Daniel Haniß (guitar), Pascal Schillo (guitar), Daniel Klossek (bass) and David Friedrich (drums). http://www.eskimocallboy.com / https://www.facebook.com/eskimocallboy

eskimocallboy1eskimocallboy2

Music & Performance
It is surely an honour to be supporting act for a band like LIMP BIZKIT but a tough job at the same time. But the guys did their best to give the audience a good warm up with their energetic show. And thus you could already see a lot of people moving to the sound or clapping their hands when invited to by the singer. The screaming vocals of Sebastian reminded me partly of the vocals of the CRADLE OF FILTH singer. For a supporting act their light show was surprisingly good with changing colours and the use of a stroboscope to stress the double bass drum. Every now and then the singer asked the crowd to chant “LIMP BIZKIT!” which the people did very loudly but of course they did not chant “ESKIMO CALLBOY!” with the same enthusiasm and volume. Second to last was a cover of the SKRILLEX song ‘Cinema’ which I personally found a bit disappointing but the concert itself was not bad.

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.2 / 10

eskimocallboy3eskimocallboy4


Limp Bizkit

In 1994 the Crossover/ Nu Metal/ Rock Rap band was founded in Florida, USA, by Fred Durst (front man and singer), Sam Rivers (bass) and John Otto (drums). While searching for a band name Wes Borland (guitar) joined them. Their friendship with some members of KORN surely helped them a lot, for after hearing their demo tape, the KORN guys were so thrilled that they organised tours with HOUSE OF PAIN and DEFTONES for them. After these tours several record labels showed interest in the band but in the end Fred Durst settled for an Independent label. With prominent support of musicians like Jonathan Davis (KORN), Method Man (WU-TANG CLAN) and Scott Weiland (STONE TEMPLE PILOTS) and others, their first 3 albums were already an incredible commercial success. After the release of their 3rd album they toured worldwide, first with EMINEM, PAPA ROACH and DMX, then as headliner also in Japan, New Zealand and Australia. In 2001 Wes Borland left the band in order to work with his new band. It took the band a while to find a new guitar player who has experience enough with the Nu Metal sound to fit in the band.

limpbizkit01limpbizkit02

Has the band already been commercially very successful, with the release of the album ‘Results may vary’ and the launching of the singles ‘Eat you alive’ and the THE WHO cover version of ‘Behind blue Eyes’ they reached the climax of mainstream fame, especially as the latter mentioned song was played on almost every radio station on heavy rotation. And being a soundtrack for the film ‘Gothika’ with Halle Berry the video was shown frequently as well on music channels like MTV, VIVA and the like. Wes Borland returned in 2004, left one year later again but is part of the band again since 2009. Quite interesting is that although the band exists now 20 years they have only released five studio albums. A new album is expected to be launched this year. LIMP BIZKIT are Fred Durst (vocals), Sam Rivers (bass), Wes Borland (guitar) and John Otto (drums). http://www.limpbizkit.com / https://www.facebook.com/limpbizkit

limpbizkit03limpbizkit04

Music & Performance
The stage rebuilding time took a bit too long for my taste, especially as you couldn’t see any action on stage after a while. Thus it was no wonder that the waiting fans got a bit impatient and started to whistle. But when finally the light was turned out and music from the playback was played, the people cheered enthusiastically the band when they entered the stage. Already with the first song the guys rocked the place and the fans were with them showing a fantastic interaction with shouting, singing, dancing, jumping and clapping their hands. But if you thought this could not be boosted anymore, you learn with the performance of ‘Rollin’’ what it is like when hell broke loose. The first victims of circulatory problems were brought out of the venue by the paramedics. And although it was not such a warm day, the temperature rose quickly.

limpbizkit05limpbizkit06

Nevertheless the band went on to raise the roof and with songs like ‘My Generation’ or ‘My Way’ there was no chance to get a break. In between the audience chanted ‘LIMP BIZKIT!’ which was answered with ‘Germany!’ by Fred Durst. Despite the usual process of concerts, the band has its own capriciously way by playing different song sequences from the playback, e.g. ‘Don’t stop ‘til you get enough’ of Michael Jackson with Fred asking the crowd why they are not dancing. Fortunately we were released from this disco song as the band started to rock with their next song. The audience was partying hard, partly with crowd-surfing that I almost had to fear for my life. Thus I preferred to listen to the rest of the concert from the front hall. We didn’t have to miss ‘Behind blue eyes’ presented as a beautiful acoustic version and of course everybody knew the lyrics by heart and sang along with the band. Had the audience been prepared to take sparklers to the concert, the atmosphere had been very romantically.

limpbizkit07limpbizkit08

Anyway, before the crowd had the chance to drift into a contemplative mood, they were confronted with a medley of cover versions of GUNS N’ROSES’s ‘Welcome to the jungle’, NIRVANA’s ‘Heart- shaped box’ and ‘Smells like teen spirit’ and METALLICA’s ‘Master of puppets’, before the last song was performed and the band left the stage for good.

Setlist
01. The propaganda
02. The truth
03. 9 Teen 90 Nine
04. Rollin’ (Air raid vehicle)
05. …And justice for all (METALLICA cover)
06. Hot dog
07. Stalemate
08. Sour
09. My generation
10. My way
11. Gold cobra
12. So what (MINISTRY cover)
13. Nookie
14. Take a look around
15. Behind blue eyes (THE WHO cover)
16. Covers medley (Welcome to the jungle- GUNS N’ ROSES, Heart-shaped box+ Smells like teen spirit- NIRVANA and Master of puppets- METALLICA)
17. Break stuff

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9 / 10

limpbizkit09limpbizkit10

All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)


Comments powered by CComment