By Jase Walker
Tonight is one of those shows that I have quite literally watched the calendar tick by for weeks leading up to it. Silent Planet make a return to Melkweg’s MAX stage following their appearance last year supporting Polaris, it’s their turn to headline and make the show their own. Not only them though, this lineup is absolutely stacked! Along for the ride is Like Moths To Flames, returning after their previous stomp around Europe with Landmvrks, VEXED returning also after their run with Cabal, and finally AVOID.
I have been waiting a few years to see AVOID and they’ve finally made the jump across the Atlantic to tear it up around Europe with their brash brand of funky metal. Admittedly Amsterdam never seems to do fully well with early openings during the week so the venue has some early birds but people are going to really miss out on this! Undeterred and ready to properly make a scene, it’s go time for AVOID!
The sound is fat as hell and the singers stomping around and basically being his own hype man, nothing like a good pig squeal here and there either. This is how an opening band should be acting, no messing around, no pretenses, all killer no filler. Putting on a kickarse show and acting like everyone knows you already is a pretty good way to start. Cool and ballsy move to get the sound man for Like Moths To Flame to quickly jump onto the drums for a cover of Jimmy Eat World’s ‘The Middle’ too.
AVOID have properly put on a masterclass on how to take an opening slot, make it your own, then kindle the fire for the following show. Absolutely outstanding!
Next up is the fierce VEXED, these lot are gonna belt out some of the filthiest stuff tonight I just know it! Opening with ‘Anti-Fetish’ is absolutely the right move for this, absolutely love it! It’s great seeing Meyrick (Exist Immortal) on live bass duties as well, this really helps thicken out a live sound. Megan is on form tonight with her vocals too, pulling double duty between cleans and absolutely disgusting growls is no easy feat but she stomps around and absolutely dominates the stage making it look easy.
Seeing VEXED climb ever higher on stage size has been a fantastic journey to watch and them absolutely crushing it on a stage like Melkweg’s MAX gives me hope to see them go even further. Solid responses for the “call to pit” as well, Amsterdam is certainly returning the energy that VEXED are giving to this show!
I’ve seen VEXED so many times now and their non-stop vicious riff fest never disappoints. People came to the show for disgusting riffs and mayhem and this is exactly what they’re getting. I think the set was a few minutes shorter than expected but it was nothing short of quality.
VEXED are a true force to be reckoned with and seeing their response from the crowd I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the adrenaline is fully pumping now.
LMTF are no stranger to humour as they walk on to Vengabus and the singer admits he’s more than a little bit high! The moment they kick things into gear, the whole crowd is immediately alive and bouncing around, the openers have clearly done their job well and it’s go time all the way to the peak! LMTF, like the rest of the bands on tonight, are riff maestros and that’s exactly what everyone here is living for. Their singer’s vocals are absolutely beastly too, every time he lets rip there’s barely a face in the crowd that’s not twisted and contorted in a mix of disgust and reverence.
Truly seeing a fierce response to what LMTF are doing, their singer barely has to even motion he wants action and the crowd goes wild. Their singer also is a pretty damn funny guy as well with his between songs banter erring a bit closer to a stand-up routine. Whether it’s acting silly on stage or kicking out some outrageously meaty metal, LMTF are a real fantastic example of a band that is focused entirely on going every bit as wild as the crowd and then some.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a singer get a circle pit going by quite literally running laps around the stage but whatever, it worked! Probably one of the sillier sets I’ve seen but what is a good live show without some shenanigans to help remember the set? Absolutely outstanding band, fantastic set.
Silent Planet announce their arrival with a backing video and deep rumbling before kicking into ‘Offworlder’, a class choice to get things going! Garrett is a real showman as he bounces around the stage while making all manner of disgusting noises while the rest of the band belt out the music.
‘Collider’ with its catastrophic pre-chorus breakdown sees the crowd singing back the words almost as loud as the band. Garrett also mentions it’s the first ever headline show they’ve done in the Netherlands too, guess I moved here at the right time then? I’d also like to give a personal shout out to the real old fella right in the middle of the pit putting the rest of us to absolute shame.
I love the fact that Silent Planet are getting to the point of upping the ante of their live shows by including a backdrop with video animations to go along with the set. It’s ultimately a small change but one that very clearly signals that Silent Planet are truly ready to forge their own path as a true headline act with their own identity.
‘Antimatter’ was marked by someone doing a full on trust fall backwards onto the crowd that genuinely made me wince as I’ve seen it go so very wrong before. The crowd surfing is in full flow now, people constantly getting up onto the stage and diving back into it, constantly back and forth and even in some cases helping each other onto the stage before launching themselves back off.
This is all meanwhile Megan of VEXED jumps on stage for a live vocal feature, this is fully going into nutty territory now. Garrett is doing incredible work with focusing on his vocal duties, being a magnetic frontman but also making sure people get launched on stage safely as well. Something that I consistently find absolutely bonkers about shows in the Netherlands, is how rarely there’s any barriers at metal shows so crowd surfers often end up on stage and either end up stepping off politely or just launching themselves straight off.
Seeing this set unfold almost feels like I could be watching Architects in their earlier days, just as they were on the precipice of moving into Arena shows as they were finding their proper production Identity. I could easily picture the sort of videos they have playing in the background growing to far larger shows with complimentary huge light shows and I hope that in the near future that I will be there to see them break into that level, as I truly believe that Silent Planet has what it takes to do that.
For ‘Panopticon’, my absolute favourite song by them, the crowd’s response is exactly what I expected, absolute mayhem! Finishing up the encore with ‘Trilogy’ sees the crowd give one last push to fully wrap things up, this finishes a show that has been worth every single last second of waiting. Truly phenomenal.
Also I heard that air horn noise in ‘Trilogy’… it did give me a giggle.
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