Live Review: Amon Amarth & Machine Head - Oberhausen 2022

Rudolf Weber-Arena, Oberhausen, Germany
30th September 2022
Amon Amarth & Machine Head - “Vikings and Lionhearts” Tour 2022 - Support: The Halo Effect

In the middle of Oberhausen / Germany stands the Rudolf Weber Arena which had three well-known bands of Heavy Metal visiting that evening. The songs of the Swedish main act AMON AMARTH are about Vikings and their adventures. This was a double headliner show with US-Americans MACHINE HEAD as second headliner just playing before AMON AMARTH entered the stage. Swedish THE HALO EFFECT opened the evening.


The Halo Effect

The five guys from THE HALO EFFECT started the show, playing in front of a huge stage banner with the band’s name. Singer Mikael Stanne ran across the stage and heated up the audience in the not yet full hall. His band members on guitars and bass also often stood at the edge of the stage and played with their guitars held vertically. As is usual at Heavy Metal concerts, the band members also banged hard… and so did the audience. Only bassist Peter Iwers with his short hair raised his hand upwards as Metal fork - the sign of the Heavy Metal and Rock scene. With their melodic Death Metal they set the mood for the other two bands. https://www.thehaloeffect.band / https://www.facebook.com/thehaloeffectse



Setlist
01. Days of the Lost
02. The Needless End
03. Gateways
04. Feel What I Believe
05. In Broken Trust
06. Conditional
07. Shadowminds

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

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Machine Head

During the change-over, the visitors could buy fan merchandise at the merchandise stand or quench their thirst at the beverage booths. Afterwards, the hall filled up again so that no one would miss the start of MACHINE HEAD. Singer Robb Flynn stood in the middle of the stage with his long hair and beard and greeted the hall with a “Hello Oberhausen”. The Grammy nominated Americans then started right away with the song ‘BECØME THE FIRESTØRM’. Robb played the riffs very fast and still stretched his arm with the Heavy Metal greeting towards the audience. Again and again the singer shouted into the audience “Circle Pit, Oberhausen I want to see a Circle Pit”.



The fans immediately complied, positioned themselves in a circle and then ran around. Bassist Jared MacEachern was drenched in sweat, but nevertheless he was constantly banging his head. And when there was no hair flying, there were cups flying from the stage into the audience. So singer Robb provided his fans with some refreshment for a short time. Later, the pyrotechnics were ignited and the hall was brightly lit. Before MACHINE HEAD started the last song ‘Halo’, singer Robb thanked the fans for the support. In return he gave the audience his last drink and asked them to catch the drink. After this song, MACHINE HEAD’s performance was over and the band left the stage applauding. https://www.machinehead1.com / https://www.facebook.com/MachineHead



Setlist
01. BECØME THE FIRESTØRM
02. Imperium
03. Ten Ton Hammer
04. I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)
05. Old
06. Darkness Within
07. Now We Die
08. From This Day
09. Davidian
10. Halo

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8.5
Light: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 8.9 / 10

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Amon Amarth

After a break, the hall and the ranks filled up pretty quickly. From the upper seats you could then see that the infield was filled and fans were jostling in some places. At the beginning, the stage was covered with a curtain which was illuminated with two moving runes. When music of IRON MAIDEN started to play, every real AMON AMARTH fan knew that it wouldn’t be long until the start. So shortly afterwards the curtain fell with a bang and AMON AMARTH opened their concert with ‘Guardians of Asgaard’ and the audience got to see the mighty pyrotechnics. Here, six fire fountains slashed diagonally forward towards the audience. Singer Johan Hegg and his band stood in in safe places and pushed the audience from there.



The stage alone was a big eye-catcher. The drummer was enthroned on a huge Viking helmet with eyes that sometimes glowed, sometimes showed fire or were just moving. Two big guards, which looked like they were made of real stone, stood to the right and left of the drummer and it looked like they wanted to protect the band. AMON AMARTH gave more than full throttle here. Especially singer Johan Hegg moved on stage like no other of the band. The theatrical gimmicks, like the fight between Johan Hegg and a black-clad skeleton with horns or the sword fight of two Nordic soldiers, made the concert a great experience.



In the middle of the concert, the big guards suddenly disappeared and two fronts of dragon boats appeared instead. At this point, everyone realised that these monuments were only inflated. There were a lot of raised arms in the audience and almost only banging heads. But singer Johan Hegg also asked the fans to join the circle pit again and again. In the middle of the audience there was a big free area and at the band’s signal everyone ran in a circle, getting faster and faster. The spectators were always involved and then had to sit on the floor and make rowing movements. For the encore ‘Twilight of the Thunder God’ the deco boats disappeared again and a huge dragon head appeared on the right side of the stage. Singer Johan then came to the edge of the stage with Thor’s hammer and then hit a pedestal with full force. With that he triggered a pyro attack of flames and smoke. Then he took the hammer and hit the dragon with it.



But after this song it was over and the band thanked the fans in Oberhausen with many warm words for the support. Thus ended a loud evening with plenty of pyrotechnics in Oberhausen. The visitors of the concert could experience a nice end at the train station. There, a man stood in front of some visitors and played a bagpipe. https://www.amonamarth.com / https://www.facebook.com/amonamarth

Setlist
01. Guardians of Asgaard
02. Raven’s Flight
03. Deceiver of the Gods
04. The Pursuit of Vikings
05. The Great Heathen Army
06. Heidrun
07. Destroyer of the Universe
08. Put Your Back Into the Oar
09. Cry of the Black Birds
10. The Way of Vikings
11. First Kill
12. Shield Wall
13. Raise Your Horns
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14. Twilight of the Thunder God

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8,5
Light: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 8.9 / 10

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All Pictures by Andreas Klüppelberg