JAB Haus der Jugend, Düsseldorf, Germany13th September 2018
Helmet - 30th Anniversary European Tour 2019
Noise Rock fossils HELMET from New York have announced a tour with the caption “- 30 YEARS. 30 CITIES. 30 SONG SET. NO OPENERS -“. The band around musical master mind Page Hamilton, who has been a tremendous inspiration to musicians world-wide, were coming to a small club near you to celebrate their three-decade existence.
While their 1992 major label debut ‘Meantime’ has found moderate mainstream success, the subsequent releases failed to capitalize on the success of the then-popular music genres Grunge and Nu Metal, as singer Page actively disassociated himself from these trends. Nevertheless, HELMET acted as a huge inspiration for countless Rock and Metal bands, such as KORN, GODSMACK, DEFTONES, PAPA ROACH, or SYSTEM OF A DOWN. To find out more about the band, go to www.HelmetMusic.com or https://www.facebook.com/HelmetMusic/
Music & Performance
As announced on the postings, HELMET were not accompanied by any opening act on their 30th anniversary tour. Instead, they packed a real punch in the form of a 30 song setlist, covering all their albums from the last three decades. HELMET took to the stage of the JAB around 8:45pm, opening up their set with their song ‘Your head’ from their 1990 debut ‘Born Annoying’. Next up was ‘Give it’ from the impeccable 1992 masterpiece ‘Meantime’, which paved the way for the band’s modest rise into the hall of Rock legends, as the band around master mind Page Hamilton were among the first to exhibit this elegant breed of noise-rock dissonance and hypnotic groove.
The band continued to barrel on for the 10 songs without addressing the audience at all. Only after ‘I love my guru’, a visibly upbeat (and seemingly well-aging) Page Hamilton asked the audience in flawless German, if they were okay. Turns out everyone was, as the atmosphere inside the cosy youth club was composed of euphoria and nostalgia, with many concertgoers in their forties and fifties proudly sporting some obscure independent band merchandise, which probably has not seen the light of day in decades.
After 90 minutes of playtime, fan favourites ‘You Borrowed’ and ‘Milquetoast’ closed out the main part of the set, with the band leaving the stage to a deafening feedback from Page’s guitar. After a short break, HELMET fortunately returned for a four-song encore, including the Judgement Night soundtrack song ‘Just another Victim’. After a playtime of almost 110 minutes, the crowd got their final send-off with the fiercely celebrated all-time fave ‘In the Meantime’, and while the lights went on again, Page shook hands and handed out plecs to eager fans, marking the end of a memorable night.
Setlist
01. Your Head
02. Give It
03. Bad News
04. Red Scare
05. On Your Way Down
06. Taken
07. Wilma's Rainbow
08. Bad Mood
09. Drunk in the Afternoon
10. I ♥ My Guru
11. Oven (Melvins Cover)
12. In Person
13. The Silver Hawaiian
14. FBLA
15. Sam Hell
16. Tic
17. Unsung
18. Beautiful Love
19. Speechless
20. Army of Me (Björk Cover)
21. Symptom of the Universe (Black Sabbath Cover)
22. (High) Visibility
23. Life or Death
24. You Borrowed
25. Milquetoast
26. Urine Secure
---
27. I Know
28. FBLA II
29. Just another Victim
20. In the Meantime
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10
All pictures by Tanja Schilling
Comments powered by CComment