Live Music Hall, Cologne, Germany 7th November 2026
President - “Blood of Your Empire” Tour 2026 - Special Guests: Dreamwake, Vianova
PRESIDENT is a band that, from the very beginning, has relied on mystery, sheer force, and total sensory overload. With no recognizable faces and no music releases, they suddenly appeared on the Download Festival line-up - instantly causing a stir. Their dark visuals, apocalyptic language, and cinematic, metallic soundscape hit a nerve: powerful, mysterious, and highly dramatic. Turns out that this was exactly the secret sauce which propelled the band to stardom, and drew scores of people to sell out the venues for the tour promoting their first album ‘Blood of Your Empire’ in no time.
Dreamwake
Emerging from New Haven, Connecticut, DREAMWAKE has carved out a unique space in modern heavy music by fusing heavy metalcore with nostalgia-drenched synthwave and 80s dream-pop aesthetics. Their heritage is rooted in the early 2020s wave of genre-bending American underground Metal, releasing their defining full-length album ‘Virtual Reality’ in 2022 alongside its full instrumental companion piece. In 2025, they expanded their discography with the critically praised album ‘The Lost Years’, continuing to showcase their affinity for neon-soaked synthesizer hooks, roaring breakdown riffs, and soaring saxophone melodies. https://unfdcentral.com/artists/dreamwake/.
Music & Performance
Taking the stage for earlier than advertised around 7pm, meant that I missed the first half of their gig, especially as the parking situation around the Live Music Hall in Ehrenfeld is getting more difficult by the day. What immediately caught the eye - and ears - was the presence of an uncommon instrument in modern metalcore: a live saxophone. The blend was surprisingly seamless, cutting through heavy distortion with liquid smooth tones.
Visually, their guitarist took theatricality to a hilarious yet epic extreme by positioning a high-powered electric fan directly at his feet on full blast. For the entire performance, his long locks flew majestically through the air like a 1980s Rock video setup, while I just found myself hoping the poor guy wouldn’t catch a severe cold from the draft before hitting the next tour stop. But nonetheless it was a very ambitious and polished sounding start into the night.
Vianova
Next up was VIANOVA, representing the local German scene with a sophisticated, progressive metalcore sound, or as they brand it: “Angry Dance Music”. Founded in Berlin in 2014 by brothers Felix and Paul Vogelgesang, VIANOVA has spent the last decade refining a technical yet soulful brand of heavy music. Their heritage is deeply tied to the Technical Djent movement, but they’ve avoided the trap of being “math-y” for the sake of it, instead weaving in influences from soul and 80s Synth-Pop.
Their discography is a testament to this evolution, from the raw energy of early EPs to the polished, expansive sound of their 2025 full-length ‘Hit It!’. Tracks like ‘Melanchronic’ and ‘Whatever Alright’ showcase a band that isn’t afraid to let a groove breathe, using syncopated rhythms and atmospheric textures to create a sense of scale that feels much larger than a typical club show. https://vianovaofficial.com
Music & Performance
VIANOVA brought a focused, professional intensity to the stage. With their white shirts and beige trousers, they reminded me of INVENT, ANIMATE. Initially it started with a Dinner Jazz like rendition, which made people at the bar go “Wut?”, but very quickly all hell broke loose, and VIANOVA descended into kabuki chaos, with Djent elements that made MESHUGGAH sound like clockwork.
Their performance was a masterclass in technical precision; every polyrhythm landed with surgical accuracy, even if initially it sounded genuinely chaotic. The interaction with the Cologne crowd was warm and genuine, with the band clearly feeding off the “home turf” energy, especially after singer Alexander Kerski, who was wearing his signature white, Cossack-like fur hat, revealed that this was a “Heimspiel” for their bassist Raoul.
When they played ‘Uh Yaya’, the lighting turned the venue into a strobe-lit cathedral of sound, and the audience responded with a rhythmic sea of nodding heads and massive sing-alongs, and it felt as if JAMIROQUAI overdosed on Djent guitars and massive sudden rhythm changes. To top off an unpredictable performance, DREAMWAKE’s saxophonist sauntered out to join VIANOVA for their final song, blending sax harmonies over crushing lower-tuned riffs into a surprisingly cohesive climax, so DREAMWAKE need to take care that their band member is not poached by the guys from VIANOVA to jump ship.
President
Anonymous UK heavy band PRESIDENT burst onto the international scene in 2025, blending heavy Metalcore with electronic Pop, Industrial textures, and high-concept political theatricality. Releasing their debut EP ‘King of Terrors’ in 2025, they skyrocketed through the charts with hit singles including ‘In the Name of the Father’, ‘Fearless’, ‘Rage’, and ‘Destroy Me’. In September 2026, they dropped their landmark debut studio album ‘Blood of Your Empire’ via Atlantic Records, featuring massive tracks like ‘Angel Wings’, ‘Mercy’, ‘Doom Loop’, ‘Dark Heaven’, ‘Dionysus’, ‘Sleepwalker’, ‘Pink Noise’, and ‘White Devil’. Check out their official campaign site at https://www.presidentband.com/.
Music & Performance
The venue was filled to the brim with fans eager to see their idols. As a sign of the times, PRESIDENT - besides your run-of-the-mill merch such as T-Shirts and Hoodies also sold black and pink balaclavas, which some bought for hilariously frightening looks. Around 9pm, the 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 circumstances inside a venue with a relatively small stage. The music 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 ‘Doomloop’, which showed of the musical prowess and cohesion of the band. However, after two 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 60 minutes of playtime.
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. Just a little downer at the end: No photographers were allowed…
Setlist
01. Fearless
02. Dionysus
03. Destroy Me
04. RAGE
05. Pink Noise
06. Angel Wings
07. dark heaven
08. Conclave
09. Mercy
10. This Will Divide Us
11. DOOM LOOP
12. White Devil
13. In the Name of the Father
Written by Christian Beyermann
