Live Review: Machine Head - Luxembourg-City 2025

Den Atelier, Luxembourg-City, Luxembourg
12th August 2025
Machine Head - “Europe Summer 2025”

On Tuesday evening, MACHINE HEAD lived up to their reputation as a live phenomenon in Luxembourg-City. Without their usual intro, they launched straight into an energetic set that turned the sold-out Den Atelier into a boiling cauldron. Sweat and mosh pits were a feature of the performance right until the very end.

Undisputed masters of murderous riffs, pugnacious grooves and ferocious hooks since 1991, MACHINE HEAD are long established as one of the most influential and incendiary bands in the Metal world. Exploding into the world’s consciousness with 1994’s seminal ‘Burn My Eyes’ album, the now legendary Oakland crew brutishly redefined what it meant to be heavy, incorporating a wild array of influences into some of the sharpest and most brutal Metal anthems ever written. Nearly three decades later, the band founded and led by vocalist / guitarist Robb Flynn has amassed an extraordinary catalogue of classic albums, while routinely enhancing an already formidable reputation as one of heavy music’s most powerful and relentless live bands.



Music & Performance
At 8.55pm, the lights went out in Den Atelier. Usually, a MACHINE HEAD concert would start with ‘Diary of a Madman’ by OZZY OSBOURNE, but not on this Tuesday evening. The band came on stage without an intro, and Robb Flynn immediately grabbed the microphone. “Good evening, Luxembourg! We have a very special set for you tonight!” the frontman exclaimed. After five weeks on tour, he explained, they were fed up with playing the same set list repeatedly. That’s why today they were going to shake things up with an exclusive programme just for Luxembourg.



It was no sooner said than done: after a brief intro of ‘Desire to Fire’ before ‘RØTTEN’, the band opened their set with a force that the audience gratefully received. Those in the front rows were headbanging, moshing and jumping as if there were no tomorrow.

Then it was back to the past with ‘Take My Scars’ and ‘Struck a Nerve’ from the 1997 album ‘The More Things Change…’. The audience went wild, the first crowd surfers made their way to the front, and security had their hands full. The atmosphere remained at boiling point. ‘ATØMIC REVELATIØNS’ and ‘Beautiful Mourning’ continued to heat things up, with litres of sweat adding to the excitement. With outside temperatures above 30 degrees and the venue sold out, den Atelier was transformed into a hot, pulsating party where nobody stayed dry. But that’s exactly how a MACHINE HEAD show should be!



This was followed by ‘Blood for Blood’, which was chosen by the audience. ‘Aesthetics of Hate’ was also put forward, but as there was a tie, the band made a spontaneous decision. The energy level remained undiminished. After performing ‘Old’ from their 1994 debut album ‘Burn My Eyes’, they continued with the European premiere of ‘NØT LØNG FØR THIS WØRLD’, followed by ‘ØUTSIDER’ and ‘Locust’. With ‘BØNESCRAPER’, ‘SCØRN’, and ‘BLEED ME DRY’, MACHINE HEAD once again demanded everything from their fans.



After a brief excursion into the 1990s with ‘A Thousand Lies’, ‘UNHALLØWED’ followed. By this point, sweat seemed to be running down the walls of den Atelier. Robb Flynn announced the next song. ‘Descend the Shades of Night’ was actually on the list, but “depressive songs” didn’t fit the mood that evening. Instead, the hall exploded with ‘Imperium’. When ‘The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears’ followed, there was no holding back.



Finally, the audience was taken back to the band’s early days with a classic: ‘Davidian’, one of the biggest hits in the MACHINE HEAD repertoire. Sweaty, exhausted and happy, the fans were released into the night after a concert that was hotter than any midsummer day.

Setlist
01. RØTTEN (with ‘Desire to Fire’ intro (Dynamo ‘97 style); first time ever as an opener)
02. Take My Scars
03. Struck a Nerve
04. ATØMIC REVELATIØNS
05. Beautiful Mourning
06. Blood for Blood (chosen by the band after a tie in the crowd voting between BfB and AoH)
07. Old
08. NØT LØNG FØR THIS WØRLD (first time live outside of the US)
09. ØUTSIDER
10. Locust
11. BØNESCRAPER
12. SCØRN
13. BLEEDING ME DRY
14. A Thousand Lies
15. UNHALLØWED
16. Imperium
17. The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears
18. Davidian

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All Pictures by Elena Arens