Palladium, Cologne, Germany 11th October 2024
Beartooth - “UK EU Tour 2024” - Special Guests: Landmvrks, Polaris
Our favourite Metalcore band BEARTOOTH from Columbus, OH seems to be a roll. They just released their latest album ‘The Surface’ a year ago and have been touring relentlessly ever since. They started out in the US in spring with THE PLOT IN YOU, INVENT ANIMATE and SLEEP THEORY, came over to Europe for a ton of summer festivals (including Rock am Ring / Rock im Park), and now finally they have arrived for their European tour with LANDMVRKS and POLARIS. As the first gig sold-out in no time in the Palladium, it was fortunate that the band managed to squeeze in a second show a day later, which also sold out, making it the largest headliner shows for BEARTOOTH in Europe.
Landmvrks
First up this evening was the French Metalcore band LANDMVRKS. Originating from Marseille, the band formed in 2014, and is currently on their third release (‘Lost in the Waves’ from 2021). Check out www.landmvrks.com for more info.
Music & Performance
Lots of fans wearing LANDMVRKS merchandise filled the room in front of the Palladium stage, and people were screaming in anticipation, as the lights went out, and the illuminated band logo lit up the stage. The gloomy intro gave way to the first bears of the opener ‘Creature’, as frontman Flo sprinted into the spotlight, delivering the Rap lines, and then being joined by his band mates crashing into the first of many breakdowns of the night. LANDMVRKS have been growing enormously in popularity in the past couple years and tonight really showed that off, every song got an enormous cheer and there was non-stop action in the mosh pit, and a handful of work for the security people to catch the incoming crowd surfers. You could tell by the cheeky grins of the band that they were extremely happy with the response! ‘Death’, ‘Blistering’ and ‘Self Made Black Hole’ were definite highlights of this evening, which left the crowd screaming for more after the 30 minutes of playtime flew by.
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10
Polaris
The latest addition to seemingly growing roster of Australian Metal bands marked the next band of that special evening: POLARIS, a Metalcore band from Sydney, Australia. Founded in 2012, the band has released its debut album ‘The Mortal Coil’ in 2017 and their last album ‘Fatalism’ was released in September 2023. https://www.facebook.com/polarisaus/ or www.polarisaus.com.au
Music & Performance
POLARIS entered the stage with a bang with the first riffs of their song ‘The Crossfire’, the approximately 4,000 people inside the arena made it clear that they were here to party, as the first circle pits and crowd surfers started to appear instantaneously. Jamie and his band mates delivered an extremely energetic show, which made it clear they took their job very seriously. After that, the band put the pedal to the metal music-wise once again and gave the people in the mosh pit the heavy riffing they were waiting for. The fans thanked the band in the form of a giant wall of death, which underscored what an excellent addition POLARIS have been for this line-up.
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10
Beartooth
BEARTOOTH from Columbus, Ohio have only been around since 2012, and they have released their debut album ‘Disgusting’ in 2014, which was followed by the immensely successful second long player ‘Aggressive’, which put them onto the map of metalcore lovers throughout the world. Their latest album ‘The Surface’ has been released in 2023 and has only cemented their status among fans. www.beartoothband.com
Music & Performance
Those who came to the party had no reason to be disappointed, as BEARTOOTH came out firing on all cylinders with the opener ‘The Surface’, with red confetti cannons firing their load into the air to kickstart the party mood. And the party went on without room to breathe: The crowd immediately responded by firing up the mosh pit, and BEARTOOTH were more than up to the task to keep things going. The energy levels they unleashed in the crowd certainly did not fail to impress. The people kept things crazy - but in a solid, responsible way. Crowd surfers were carried towards the stage, and security did its best to pluck all of them from the hands back to the ground. Circle pits were opened and people went wild, but at least no one’s nose got bit off from what I saw. This positive aura was also underscored by Caleb’s messages between the songs: He introduced every band member in a unique way and urged everyone to continue to show love and support to everyone exhibiting signs of mental health struggles.
The stage production was augmented with lasers, huge pyrotechnics throwing flames for dozens of meters, Caleb wielding even a nice little flamethrower, and further confetti cannon shots. Last but not least, the music live performance and song selection were epic. Time flew by as the band drew a best of-selection from their albums. In the middle of the set, Caleb sneaked into the back and set himself up at the sound desk for an acoustic performance of ‘Mr Brightside’ and ‘Look the other way’, with Caleb parting the crowd into a giant wall of death on his way back to the stage. The end of the main set came a little early after only a good 80 minutes of playtime, but with the last song ‘In Between’ the crowd got a farewell, and afterwards hundreds of sweaty kids spilled into the cold October night with the blessed feeling of having witnessed an up close and personal show with their idols.
Setlist
01. The Surface
02. The Past Is Dead
03. Doubt Me
04. Riptide (Techno Intro)
05. Disease
06. Devastation
07. Might Love Myself
08. The Last Riff (Without Caleb)
09. Mr. Brightside (The Killers cover) Acoustic on B Stage
10. Look The Other Way (Into full band)
11. The Lines
12. ATTN.
13. Body Bag
14. Jam (Band introductions)
15. I Was Alive (Interrupted for ~10 minutes due to medical emergency in the crowd)
16. Sunshine!
17. In Between
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10
All Pictures by Christian Beyermann
