By Jase Walker
With the seemingly higher frequency of bands doing album tours, it still absolutely shocked me that Billy Talent decided to choose Amsterdam as one of their stops to smash out one of the era defining albums of my late teens but here we are… Billy Talent is going to absolutely ruin my vocal chords playing every song from start to finish of their ‘II’ album and I couldn’t be more excited to do this on a Saturday night!
Along for the ride through these dates is Hollerado, who I’ve never heard of before but as we always do, there’s no sense missing the supports because you don’t know how good they’ll be if you miss them!
I’m into the venue maybe a bit later than I normally would but found my spot for Hollerado so let’s get stuck into tonight’s show!
The screen behind them lights up with an extremely bright message written in Dutch introducing themselves but we can’t quite see what the bottom part says as the stage is taken up with Billy Talent’s gear. Anyway they get things kicked off and it feels very Americana styled rock to start with, punky clean guitar along with singing that feels rooted firmly in a country style.
Admittedly I’m not mega familiar with this sort of genre, I think the closest I could think of would be Darwin Deez but even then I would say they vibe a bit closer to Franz Ferdinand with their somewhat bouncy style. I’m enjoying it but I do think they’re a bit of an odd choice to support Billy Talent but the crossover appeal is pretty solidly there. I think they’d be a solid choice to tour with Midwest emo oriented style bands like Arms Length or Hot Mulligan. I think tonight’s crowd has been a bit of a tough one to win over for Hollerado, probably also partly due to the significance of the album show as well.
The band has played super well though, they’ve sounded fantastic also but the audience tonight didn’t seem to really feel it and we’re more than likely being polite until Billy Talent starts. They’ve taken it in good stride and have given away some free CDs to try and win over some potential new fans too so I think they’re probably a bit resigned to the fact that’s how it rolls tonight but credit to them, they still went all in!
A 2026 image appears in the format of a date flipper that steadily ticks back towards 2006, and it’s time for Billy Talent to open with ‘Devil In A Midnight Mass’ as an incredible ripper to begin! Going straight in at incredible levels of energy and then following that with ‘Red Flag’, what better way to kick off a Billy Talent show eh?
I do think albums don’t always make for great setlists but for II, I don’t think it would be any better! It’s clear already by the fourth song that everyone here knows the words to every song, and they’re here to scream every single one of them! The moment ‘Fallen Leaves’ I don’t think I’ve ever seen the entire floor area of Melkweg jump in unison quite so enthusiastically as I have tonight. It’s quite something to behold with a good few hundred people going absolutely apeshit all the way back to the sound desk.
I feel like Billy Talent didn’t quite expect the whole sold out audience to be able to sing-along to every single song on the album, this becoming so much more apparent on ‘Perfect World. We’re literally running through the favourite Billy Talent album of every single person in this room.
They’re barely off stage to prep for the encore for a few seconds before the crowd is banging for more and they walk back on and open their salvo with ‘Rusted From The Rain’, we are literally at the best setlist ever for Billy Talent right here. This is an encore of the literal best of hits that they couldn’t cover with the II run, immediately following with ‘River Below’, ‘Surprise Surprise’ and then into the more recent ‘Afraid Of Heights’ but I feel we’ve got more in the tank to come to really put this show into people’s memories for years to come.
If you want a solid example of dedicated fans then Billy Talent fans are absolutely it, since the start of the show there’s been literally nothing else other than insane energy that hasn’t given up for the slightest moment. Every single song has had everyone in the room screaming out every word, nobody has taken this moment for granted in the smallest way.
The perfect Saturday night for a millennial metalhead, Amsterdam, Melkweg, Billy Talent, loads of beer, and the best setlist they’ve ever played, ever. And finishing the encore with ‘Devil On My Shoulder’ and ‘Try Honestly’ wraps up legitimately the best show I’ve ever seen them play and it’s been a few times to say the least.
This is in the running for my favourite show this year so it’ll be a tough choice at the end of the year given what’s coming up. Amazing evening, my throat hurts like hell from singing. Good night.