Domingo 28 Out 2007, 5h:26

Wed 10 Oct – Eastpak Antidote Tour 2007

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2021/1540043545_d6bda7f198.jpg?v=0
EASTPAK ANTIDOTE TOUR 2007
date: 10/10/2007
band(s): Soilwork (SWE), Dark Tranquillity (SWE), Caliban (GER), Sonic Syndicate (GER)
location: Tivoli Oudegracht, Utrecht, Netherlands
attended with: Zlut & Bouwe
special: Heard stuff about it being Sold Out, but don't know for sure; Dark Tranquillity replaced Chimaira who were originally on this bill

Pre show
It's been a while now when I type this so I will try and remember as much as possible, but be ready for some edits along the way ;p. Since Bouwe and Rene had to work until around 17:00 we decided that it would be more practival if I would already go to Utrecht on my own, so they could make their own travelling schedules and didn't have to wait or look for me. This also meant I was at the show a lot earlier then they were. After I bought 'Blood Diamond' (awesome movie btw) in the city I decided to proceed to the venue where people were already queing up. While waiting we saw guys like Bjorn (Soilwork singer) trying to get in the artist entrance. They were just minding their own business so I didn't go into autograph hunting mode (Soilwork has already signed my frisian flag anyway :P). Also, nobody else was doing it and I didn't want to be "that guy" :). After a while we could finally get inside the venue where Eastpak and Vans had dumped all kinds of crap (like buttons, key-hangers, wallets, flyers etc). The kiddies were quick enough to grab most of it and shove it into their backpacks. I myself proceded to hanging my coat and bag and get my first drink because the first band was about to start

Sonic Syndicate
As I am not their biggest fan I decided to watch Sonic Syndicate from the back of the venue, where I could actually see everything very well, as the lighting engineer made sure nobody was standing in front of me and the ground was a little elevated. This also assured me not getting deaf right away in my left ear like at the Paradise Lost show three days earlier. Sonic Syndicate's performance was a nice opener. They were energetic, really trying to get their message across, but the music itself was a little boring at times (at least for me). I encountered a guy I used to go to school with (and his brother) and we had a small chat and some drinks. At this point Bouwe & Rene had also arrived at the venue, looking for me. When I met them people were already setting up the stage for the second band..

Caliban
As Caliban was also not the reason we were here we decided to move to the upper bar in the venue, to relax a bit and watch the show from there. Caliban actually got the crowd going a lot. I think they're getting quite popular amongst the more youthful audience. And since their music is pretty much more of the same I credit this popularity to their live show. If you look up "Caliban - Wall of Death" on YouTube you're bound to get a lot of movies and tonight they didn't exclude it from the set (obviously). Being up on the balcony really gave us a nice overview look of all the kids going mental on the floor, not just during the wall of death, but for the run of the entire show. There were pits everywhere and a huge amount of stagedivers and crowdsurfers. Some girls/guys sank to the floor right away as soon as they jumped on stage, other made some VERY unfortunate landings. There must have been quite a few injuries, I can't imagine there weren't. I know this is the second time I'm reviewing a Caliban show and also the second time I'm not really saying anything about the music, but here's the deal: I don't like the music all that much, the vocals annoy me and the songs and riffs bore me to death, so the live performance is really the highlight of their set, and the fact that they're up there like professionals, doing the best they can. At least they deserve an applauding for that.

Dark Tranquillity
And now, for the highlight of this evening (well, my highlight anyway)… Dark Tranquillity were up next. I knew they were gonna play a lot of new stuff, which was very ok with me, as their latest two releases rank amongst my DT favourites (only topped by projector and the mind's eye, the gallery comes in fifth, don't hate me :P). And where the original bill were basically 4 young guns playing their metal (ok, soilwork have released 7 albums, but they released them in only 10 years), now with Dark Tranquillity there was an actual groundbreaking and genre pioneering band on the bill. One of the originators of the Gothenburg sound of which so many new bands (melodic death metal and metalcore) nowadays recycle their riffs. But these guys were never followers, they've always been underground leaders and tonight they showed once more why that is. Not leaning on their solid back catalogue, but instead they presented their latest opus in a big way. The latest video was up first (with the LEGO's :D). I made a video of this actually, but 'Terminus (where death is most alive)' was to big (in Mb's) to upload on to YouTube. It's on my pc though. Terminus was immediatly followed by another new song before they kicked into the catchiest outing of the 'Damage Done' album; 'The Treason Wall'. Lots of headbangers up front with us as we all witnessed the next epic, which was 'Inside the Particle Storm', which sounds even more awesome when played live than it does on album. The heavy distortion created a huge soundscape, it blew me away. Definetly a highlight of the set. After 'The Wonders At Your Feet' it was time for another filming moment for me, as I knew 'Misery's Crown' was up next. This marked the first clean vocal appearance of tonights set (also the last one) and I knew that this was my chance to record something which you could actually recognize (see below for the result, the harsh parts are still blurry, but at least the clean parts kind of come through :P). It could also have been a chance for Stanne to shine, but this guy doesn't need it, because really, he shined the entire performance. I think DT made some 'Stanne masks', all with gigantic smiles on them and their frontman is wearing them everytime they go on. This guy does NOT stop smiling. I think he also likes crowd surfing! Very cool to see a frontman getting so involved in a show, even after some guy with military boots accidentally kicked him in the face xD. He still kept on smiling (and touching his lip checking for blood :P). After 'Misery's Crown' we jumped back into time to everyone's favourite DT song 'Punish. My. Heaven'. This is the 'Behind Space' (In Flames) of Dark Tranquillity. A Gothenburg classic in purest form and everybody went nuts. It was followed by the first single of the latest album, called 'Focus Shift' which got followed by their most epic song to date, 'My negation'. This also proved to be an awesome "set closer". But as people were hungry for more, so returned DT to play one more furious monster, also from their previous release ('Character'). 'The new build' literally blasted this set to a close. I kind of expected 'The Final Resistance' since that has been a set closer for a while now, but I'm making the case for the new build here and now, what a great way to end an awesome show! I knew Soilwork wasn't gonna be able to top this for me, but I was obviously still excited about their headlining spot.

Soilwork
I think Soilwork pretty much got the same set length as their Swedish brothers (maybe a few minutes longer, but as their songs are shorter I don't think their was much difference). They tried overrunning the crowd immediatly by opening with a ferocious 'Bastard Chain'. The movie I got is pretty much useless since you can't make out anything from the sound. This was actually pretty much the same when they played it live. I was heavily wondering which song it was and I only recognized it when Strid sang the "Bastard Chain" part of the chorus. Luckily they fixed the sound after this (steadily), so we could actually recognize the songs ;). This wasn't really necessary for the next song, as everyone in the room knew it and loved it. It has been the encore for quite a while, but today 'As We Speak' was the second song of the set which also meant right away that the new catchy hit song at the end was gonna be 'Nerve' (hurray!). But more on this later :P. Soilwork played a few newer songs after this before grooving into 'Follow the Hollow', also of the 'Natural Born Chaos' album. After this Dirk showed us his grooving skills on new song 'Distance'. This song is almost a new standard for grooving, love it! It also provided us with actual singing parts again; "Is that your only e-heeeeeeentertainmeeeeeeeeent?". And now it was time for a 'classic'. The uptempo opener of the album of the same name 'the Chainheart Machine' made sure some guys got some bruises again as the pit was (still) going crazy. The crowd really didn't get a lot of breathers this evening and I never saw so many people on stage as I did this night. I think at some point 30% of the people must have been side-to-side with Strid to share some hugs before diving back into the crowd again. Up next was 'Rejection Role', the fast and catchy opener of the 'Figure Number Five' album and after this we got the expected new song, which was obviously (new single) 'Exile'. See below again for a (crappy) video of this. 'Exile' sadly wasn't a real highlight of the set for me, but I will blindly purchase the new album anyway. Hoping for that one (or two?) highlights which Soilwork always seem to bring (The Pittburgh Syndrome anyone? :D). After 'Exile' one of my favourite new songs got performed, this being 'Stabbing the Drama' (title track of the last album). Again an awesomely groovy song. Not so obvious set closer was 'Stalemate', but as I mentioned earlier, there was still one song left and 'Nerve' did what it had to do. Eventhough lots of people already left (it got a little late and Dutch trains still travel way to early) 'Nerve' tore the roof of the building. Having a song like that definetly makes sure people will go and see your shows, as will we somewhere in the future, hail!

Setlist Dark Tranquillity
Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)
The Lesser Faith
The Treason Wall
Inside The Particle Storm
The Wonders At Your Feet
Misery's Crown
Punish My Heaven
Focus Shift
My Negation
The New Build

Setlist Soilwork
Bastard Chain
As We Speak
One With The Flies
Light The Torch
Follow The Hollow
Distance
Chainheart Machine
Rejection Role
Exile
Stabbing The Drama
Stalemate
——————————
Nerve

\m/ for Zlut and Bouwe \m/ and 'Blow the horns' for Ultima-Ratio festival is up next! xDDD

for the pictures I took, check the flickr pics when you click the event, or just click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14709225@N02/sets/72157602362281586/

Movies I made with my phone (uploaded to YouTube, so quality is a little weaker):

Caliban's Wall of Death (it starts somewhere half way)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeKnCIAma1U

Dark Tranquillity's 'Misery's Crown'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIVWMDPaXrk

Soilwork 'Exile'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMmnHXrYwpE

UP NEXT: definetly means tickets are ordered/in
(maybe if we WIN the tickets ;p) 01/11/2007 - Iced Earth (w/ Annihilator, Turisas) @ 013, Tilburg, NL
(definitely) 03/11/2007 - Ultima-Ratio (Moonsorrow, SuidAkra, Korpiklaani, Eluveitie, Equilibrium & more) @ Turbinhalle, Oberhausen, GER
(definitely) 23/11/2007 - Amorphis (w/ Swallow the Sun, Insomnium) @ Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht, NL
(definitely) 30/11/2007 - The Black Crusade (w/ Machine Head, Trivium, Dragonforce, Arch Enemy, Shadows Fall) @ Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, NL
(definitely) 01/12/2007 - Rodrigo Y Gabriela @ Melkweg, Amsterdam, NL
(maybe) 05/12/2007 - Porcupine Tree (w/ Anathema) @ Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, NL
(most likely) 06/12/2007 - Ensiferum (w/ Chthonic, Insania) @ Romein, Leeuwarden, NL
(maybe) 07/12/2007 - Manegarm (w/ Skyforger, SuidAkrA, Slechtvalk) @ Hedon, Zwolle, NL
(definitely) 09/12/2007 - Apocalyptica @ Oosterpoort, Groningen, NL
(likely) 15/12/2007 - Riverside @ Plato, Helmond
(likely) 17/12/2007 - Therion @ Melkweg, Amsterdam, NL
(most likely) 24/01/2008 - Epica (w/ Elexorien) @ Romein, Leeuwarden, NL –> Zlut & r1Co Birthday gig! Agenda's people! :D
(definetly) 06/03/2008 - Evergrey (w/ Brainstorm + support) @ Melkweg, Amsterdam, NL
(definitely) 30/07-02/08/2008 - Wacken Open Air (w/ Iron Maiden, Kreator, Carcass Reunion!! & many more tbc) @ Wacken, GER