Logo, Hamburg, Germany23rd February 2019
Hell Boulevard - “In Black We Trust” Tour 2019 - Support: Johnny Deathshadow
A pretty warm Saturday night in February and another gig in the legendary Logo venue. HELL BOULEVARD went on their first headliner tour through six German cities and Hamburg was about to be the finale of this historical moment of every band. Taking JOHNNY DEATHSHADOW as support on this tour it was also clear that Hamburg was about to be a home game for many of the musicians playing tonight.
Johnny Deathshadow
JOHNNY DEATHSHADOW was founded 2010. With the newest album, ‘D.R.E.A.M.’ (out 18th January 2019), they can already count three releases their own and definitely got their own standing in the Horror Punk genre. After touring successfully e. g. with UNZUCHT end of the year, they were now supporting the Goth Rock band HELL BOULEVARD and had the chance to teach more people how to head-bang even if you are dead. For more info check https://www.facebook.com/johnnydeathshadow.
Music & Performance
The performance was just from the beginning on point and all but not dead. The guys entered the stage on time at 8 pm, the lights turned off and the skeletal face painted musicians immediately showed how much energy Horror Punk has. With the first four songs JOHNNY DEATHSHADOW presented their new album, ‘D.R.E.A.M.’ and the artistic growth they went through the last years. Pure, raw, honest, handmade music with all the Rock’n’Roll attitude and spookiness it needs for a good party of the dead. With ’Shadow’ and ‘Ghost’ we take a trip to the not that far away past and bang our head to the songs of the 2016 album ‘Bleed With Me’.
‘Under His Eye’ - a song that was introduced with “I found a really impressive book - the Bible - a mix of Narnia, Scientology [&...]” we all got a moment to praise the Lord, eh, or did I get that wrong? The slot ended with another song from 2016th ‘Bleed With Me’ album - ‘Kill The Lights’. A little cross-over of Horror Punk and Dark Electro and here is a song with a high fun factor. So the warm-up for the Headliner of the night worked perfectly, the heads shook and the feet got used to the party of the dead tonight.
Setlist
01. Red Rain
02. Trauma
03. Legion
04. Embers
05. Shadow
06. Ghost
07. Under His Eye
08. Kill The Lights
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Light: 8
Sound: 9
Total: 8.3 / 10
Hell Boulevard
After the for the fans surprising break-up of LOST AREA, who were just about to become more and more successful, parts of the former band decided to form a new project and so HELL BOULEVARD was born in 2014. The first single, ‘Hangover From Hell’, was released in the same year. The first album, ‘Inferno’, came out in 2016, in October 2016 the band was supporting DARKHAUS on a tour through Germany. With the 2018 released album, ‘In Black We Trust’, HELL BOULEVARD finally enter the stages as headliner. But the live dates are not over, just because the tour is over now. They are going to play a nice bunch of festivals this year and also support LORD OF THE LOST on the second part of the “Thornstar Tour” in Germany. More info: https://www.facebook.com/hellboulevard
Music & Performance
The band was welcomed by the fans loudly and enthusiastically. Some have visited more gigs and travelled e. g. from Bochum and elsewhere. So from the first second when HELL BOULEVARD came on stage, the atmosphere was enthusiastic and everyone was ready to celebrate an epic love-zombie-party. Matteo VDiva - singer and frontman - announced the songs with lots of charm and little hidden jokes. ‘Thanks For Nothing’ was dedicated to special friends, the negative ones. Before announcing the next song, Matteo dedicated it to his band colleague and friend Von Marengo who played well here. Enthusiastic and grateful asking which song actually. Matteo just answered with ‘Bitch Next Door’. True bromance, guys. Thanks for all the laughs. But not only were the jokes on point. The music groovy, spooky and absolutely danceable with a good amount of Goth’N’Roll and heart-breaking moments in between. All about love. And zombies. And love and zombies again. But different. ‘Cause sometimes more sad.
‘In Black We Trust’ - the title song of the first headliner tour - is also a powerful, great dark hymn. Another highlight for sure - as Matteo announced the song “We could have chosen so many other songs to cover… for some reason we’ve chosen this one” - and they played a gothified dark version of BRITNEY SPEARS’ ‘Hit me Baby One More Time’. I haven’t heard the song for ages and immediately felt like travelling 20 years back. This is the moment where Goth people usually have to decide between staying cool and ignoring the song or sing along as loud as possible. We’ve chosen the 2nd one and had lots of fun. The fun continued even on Sunday ‘cause the song just kept coming back to my head all the time. Not the most predictable aftereffect of a Goth Rock concert I believe.
The best song to continue the show at this point was also chosen - ‘Zero Fucks Given’ - the live and do whatever you want hymn. And the atmosphere couldn’t have been more relaxed and energetic at the same time as it was here. With ‘Dead Valentine’ we got back to the heart-breaking songs that gave us the possibility to lose ourselves at the moment. Not difficult at all while listening to Matteo’s deep, calming, intense voice. ‘Hangover From Hell’ - the first single of HELL BOULEVARD - marked the official end of that night, but of course four more songs as encore had to follow before the band was allowed to leave the stage and celebrate their first successful headliner tour and the finale.
Everyone in the band just enjoyed performing so much and you could feel it in every moment. So for the moment wishing the hangover on Sunday was not so much from hell and looking forward to the next gigs!
Setlist
01. Intro
02. As Above So Below
03. Satan In Wonderland
04. Bad Boys Like Me
05. Thanks For Nothing
06. Bitch Next Door
07. All I’ve Lost
08. In Black We Trust
09. A Beautiful Ending
10. Love Me
11. Living Dead Lover
12. Hit Me Baby One More Time (Britney Spears Cover)
13. Zero Fucks Given
14. Dead Valentine
15. Hangover From Hell
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16. Rest Well
17. Love Is Dead
18. A Lesson In Pain
19. BTTF Outro
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Light: 9
Sound: 8
Total: 9.3 / 10
All Pictures by Nastja Iz
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