Luxor, Cologne, Germany 11th January 2026
President - “The Campaign Trail” European Tour
After months of cryptic teasers and a growing online mythology, the mysterious masked Metal collective PRESIDENT were scheduled to play the tiny bar Luxor as part of their debut headline tour, “The Campaign Trail”. The gig was sold-out in no time, and when arriving at the scene, there were people queueing round the block, waiting to be let in. So clearly, expectations were sky-high and I was curious if the band would be able to live up to the hype.
Music & Performance
The small club was filled to the brim with fans eager to see their idols, and with every minute passed the scheduled start date, the oxygen levels got depleted further. Every fifteen minutes or so, a message was broadcasted over the PA system, welcoming the visitors as part of the “chosen few” to this unique experience and assured them, that PRESIDENT would be arriving shortly. However, the longer the wait lasted, the more irritating these announcements got…
Finally, around 20:50h, the excruciating wait came to an end, the lights went low, the stage was bathed into magenta light, and the four band members walked on stage. The three musicians were clad in black overalls, wearing a black fabric mask covering their whole head, while singer Charlie wore the tuxedo, white gloves, and the eerie looking face mask, making the president costume complete. The band kicked off their set with their hit single ‘Fearless’, and what blew me away from the first note was how dialled in the band sounded especially in these difficult circumstances inside a crammed club with a small stage.
The smaller ensemble (single guitar, bass & drums + backing track) worked incredibly well live, very similar to the radio play version of the songs. So kudos to the sound engineers, as they managed to pull off this miracle. The band ploughed through their setlist without any crowd interaction at all, which played again into the whole presidential theatrics. The crowd feedback also was rather limited first because there was absolutely no room left to move (let alone start a circle pit), and every second person was busy capturing this gig on video, which was a bit of a turn-off.
One highlight of the setlist was the DEFTONES cover for ‘Change (In the House of Flies)’, which came very close to the original, and showed of the musical prowess and cohesion of the band. However, after three more songs including their uber hit ‘In the Name of the Father’ with the last notes the band members left the stage one by one, the lights went up again, and PRESIDENT called it a day after 30 minutes of playtime, making this the shortest headline show I ever witnessed. Duration aside, this was a very impressive performance, both in terms of musical as well as theatrical dimensions.
Let’s hope the hype and overstretched expectations do not come to collect for this band, so that they will be able to keep their current trajectory while still maintaining this as a healthy outlet for their creativity. Certainly, this band will be followed closely by many.
Setlist
01. Fearless
02. Dionysus
03. RAGE
04. Change (In the House of Flies) (DEFTONES cover)
05. Conclave
06. Destroy Me
07. In the Name of the Father
Pictures by Christian Beyermann
