Rockhal, Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg17th November 2025
Electric Callboy - “Tanzneid World Tour”
Castrop-Rauxel meets Esch-sur-Alzette: ELECTRIC CALLBOY transformed the Rockhal into a hyperactive riot of colour, irony and ecstasy. On Monday evening, the German band put on a show that blurred the lines between a concert, a rave and a multimedia installation.
Formed in 2010 under the name ESKIMO CALLBOY, the band has already made plenty of noise in its first decade of existence, picking up newcomer awards, achieving top ten placements and causing a worldwide sensation, but judging by what’s been going on in the last two years, that was just the prelude. Since singer Nico Sallach, who joined the band in 2020, the guys from Castrop-Rauxel have been really going for it!
The very first single with him broke all previous dimensions: ‘Hypa Hypa’ not only reached over 60 million plays on YouTube and the usual streaming portals. In April 2022, the band announced their sixth album ‘Tekkno’ which was released in September. ‘Tekkno’ entered the German charts at number 1 in its first week of release, the highest ranking achieved by an ELECTRIC CALLBOY album. https://www.electriccallboy.com / https://www.facebook.com/electriccallboy
Music & Performance
On Monday evening at the Rockhal, it didn’t feel like the start of the week, but rather like a rocket launch – in the truest sense of the word. After support acts WARGASM and BURY TOMORROW, ELECTRIC CALLBOY took to the stage with ‘Tanzneid’, and a spaceship-like light show made it clear that this was no ordinary concert, but rather a visual spectacle accompanied by a Metalcore soundtrack.
What sets ELECTRIC CALLBOY apart from most Metalcore bands is their boldness in exaggeration. During ‘Tekkno Train’ and ‘Hypa Hypa’, videos race across a huge LED wall in the background, synchronised precisely to every breakdown and blast beat. During ‘Pump It’, images of exaggerated fitness mania flash across the screen, and during ‘Neon’, colour gradients explode in time with the synthesizers. Pyrotechnics, fog and pulsating spotlights are all perfectly choreographed, and nothing is left to chance.
The climax of this multimedia escalation is as follows: BABYMETAL appeared during ‘RATATATA’ - not in person, but as a five-metre-high projection on the screen. The virtual band runs, talks and interacts with the musicians on stage as if they were there. It’s a hyperreal moment oscillating somewhere between technical innovation and absurd overkill. The audience celebrates it anyway - perhaps precisely because of it. The question remains: where is the line between impressive staging and visual overload? ELECTRIC CALLBOY deliberately pushes this boundary, sometimes crossing it. But that is precisely what makes them unique.
Musically, the band moves confidently between extremes. A medley of ‘Hurricane’, ‘Overkill’, ‘All the Small Things’ and ‘Bodies’ transforms the sold-out Rockhal into a demolition site, performed not ELECTRIC CALLBOY themselves, but by their alter ego, ELECTRIC BASSBOY. The deliberate increase in tempo gives the metal-loving audience a moment to catch their breath before the performance continues at full throttle.
The emotional counterpoint follows unexpectedly. Nico, Kevin and Daniel appear suddenly in the middle of the audience. They perform an acoustic set, completely unfiltered: Kevin plays the piano, Daniel plays the acoustic guitar, and Nico sings the first notes of ‘Fuckboi’. Within seconds, the atmosphere shifts from brutal energy to intimate closeness. The band seem relaxed and almost vulnerable; the audience listens reverently. When they play an acoustic version of ‘Everytime We Touch’, the contrast is perfect. Back on stage, the song finally ends with the full, brutal ELECTRIC CALLBOY version - a dramatic trick that works.
This moment reveals that, beneath the irony and visual spectacle, there are genuine musicians who have mastered their craft. This also applies to drummer Zummo (ex-SUM41), whose drum solo is technically precise and musically cleverly arranged - a highlight that leaves the audience in awe-struck silence for a few seconds before the cheers erupt.
The Rockhal is filled to capacity with a diverse audience ranging in age from teenagers to people in their mid-thirties and even older. The atmosphere is electric from the outset, and during ‘We Got the Moves’, the crowd occasionally overpowers the band. Confetti shoot across the hall and pyrotechnics detonate in time with the music as the audience celebrates with the band. It’s pure, chaotic, blissful pandemonium.
It is interesting to note how varied the reactions to the different sections of the set are. While the visual excesses and harder songs trigger a storm of predictable enthusiasm, the reverence during the acoustic set is almost palpable. This demonstrates that ELECTRIC CALLBOY has mastered the art of engaging their audience, showcasing their versatility.
Anyone who saw the band in Luxembourg in 2023 will recognise how much they have evolved. While the show was already elaborate back then, it has now gone one step further, with more colours, self-irony and visual layers. For example, the BABYMETAL projection wasn’t there last year, nor was the extended acoustic set performed amongst the audience. ELECTRIC CALLBOY has perfected their formula without repeating themselves - a feat that few bands manage to achieve.
From a critical perspective, the question remains as to whether the visual concept will remain viable in the long term, or if it will eventually descend into arbitrariness. For now, it works because the band masters the balancing act between irony and seriousness, and between technical perfection and emotional authenticity.
ELECTRIC CALLBOY has set their own standard with their unique blend of modern metal and rave, combining the excitement of a concert with the immersive experience of a multimedia installation. It is a colourful, adrenaline-fuelled spectacle that perfectly balances humour, technical precision and genuine goosebump moments. Whether this will last remain to be seen. In any case, the Rockhal was in a collective state of emergency on this Monday evening - exactly what the band wanted to achieve.
Setlist
01. TANZNEID
02. Still Waiting (Sum 41 cover)
03. Tekkno Train
04. Hypa Hypa
05. MC Thunder
06. Neon
07. Pump It
08. Hurrikan / Overkill / All the Small Things / Bodies / Song Request (with Electric Bassboy) (Electric Callboy / RIOT / blink-182 / Drowning Pool / Ray Volpe)
09. Revery
10. Hate/Love
11. Mindreader
12. Monsieur Moustache vs. Clitcat / Muffin Purper-Gurk / We Are the Mess / Crystals
13. Drum Solo
14. Fuckboi (Acoustic in the middle of the crowd)
15. Everytime We Touch (Maggie Reilly cover) (First part acoustic in the crowd. Breakdown played with the full band on stage.)
16. MC Thunder II (Dancing Like a Ninja)
17. Elevator Operator
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18. RATATATA (BABYMETAL × Electric Callboy song)
19. Spaceman
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20. We Got the Moves
All Pictures by Elena Arens
