By Jase Walker
To tie off a week of a fantastic run of shows, I’m back at Haarlem’s Patronaat to get my ears around alt metal long serving act, Helmet! Doing the rounds for the 30th anniversary of their ‘Betty’ album and doing a hell of a run of shows throughout Europe and North America in its honour, Helmet’s stop tonight in Haarlem got upgraded from Stage Two to Stage One, so clearly Netherlands is keen!
As with a lot of shows I’ve seen this year, it’s just Helmet doing a solo run, with an early start and possibly an early-ish finish but unlikely as with a lot of “evening with…” type sets. If they’re confident enough to roll with no support and they’ve been around this long, there’s little doubt that we’ll get a bumper set out of Helmet tonight.
Admittedly they did appear on stage 15 minutes later than the venue indicated. The venue floor is absolutely rammed now so time for a massive chunk of Helmet tonight! Right from the start that iconic early ’90s alt metal sound is immediately obvious, I feel like I’ve suddenly ended up on a deep dive into my musical journey of my late teens. This sort of stuff is essentially what set the stage for nu-metal to come a few years after, the strong influence that Helmet had on so many bands that are amongst the giants today is undeniable.
It’s pretty entertaining watching their stage tech zip around fixing drum parts as they play or checking guitar tunings before handing it off, the man is super busy and eagle eyed for the slightest issue. And while the audience for Helmet definitely skews older than most shows I’ve been to this year, there’s still a bunch of younger people down the front going wild and are bouncing around like maniacs.
This is another great show that’s properly thrown me back into my teenage head and the Betty album material still absolutely rips, it sounds fresh as hell. It’s noticeable that Helmet are stomping through the ‘Betty’ album with minimal dialogue with the crowd to keep it as true to the original listening experience. One guitar swap seemingly was entirely just for one small jazzy noodling segment before a sudden blast of the next song from the rest of the band and another quick guitar swap.
I really love the sound mix that they’ve got as well, it’s just the right amount of meaty and super clear. Every member of the band is fully audible and well balanced so I can hear all those tasty riffs the guitars are kicking out but the bassy end of the sound is sti shaking my trousers.
Honestly the further we get through this set I can see where the likes of Soil, Clutch, Deftones, Spineshank, all that sort of stuff got a chunk of their influence from. It’s pretty clear that Helmet’s impact on modern music is far greater than most would probably realise. The ‘Betty’ segment of the set is done and dusted and what a ride it was, it truly made me wonder just how far Helmet’s influence to modern metal stretches. Time for a quick break and on with the rest of the set.
After a breather were back into the thick of it, more tasty riffs but now it’s a wider scope throughout Helmet’s back catalogue of music. There is barely anyone in here that isn’t enthusiastically throwing their head forward along to the rhythm, and the bunch down the front have been constantly going at it in the mosh pit from the start.
The further I get through this set the more I’m just in awe of Helmet’s stage energy, I’ve seen a few older bands over the years that didn’t quite make it to the level of say, Iron Maiden or Slipknot and the like and it’s been pretty clear they’re bored and wanted to relive the halcyon days of their youth. In Helmet’s case though this is plainly because they just love doing live shows and playing massive riffs all over the world. The band is clearly having a great time on stage and are always looking at each other and playing the odd game of chicken with each other on some parts and it’s just bloody good fun.
Helmet ends their show on a colossal run of songs that the crowd seemingly has been waiting the entire set for. Arms in the air, raised voices across the whole venue bring out the words while the energetic group in the pit continue going wild all the same. What a fantastic way to wrap up a lengthy and wonderfully entertaining show.
Fantastic performance.
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