A Fiery Cynic Paradise with Brother Firetribe and Pain in Vienna (2009)

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Author: Rok Klemše

Location: Szene, Vienna
Concert date: 10.02.2009
Attendance: 400
Ticket price: 20€

Pain, the Finnish band, or rather side project of Hypocrisy mastermind Peter Tägtgren, put out their sixth studio album, Cynic Paradise, last October. Peter and his pain-ridden crew already promoted the record on last year’s tour with Nightwish, which also stopped in Slovenia, and on a handful of solo shows, mostly played in the freezing cold of Russian cities. So it was only this February that Pain, and Cynic Paradise with them, finally got their proper headlining tour. The European Cynic Campaign 2009 tour made its closest stop to us at the Szene hall in Vienna, and Pain are joined across Europe by Finnish AOR/hard rockers Brother Firetribe.

Despite my doubts, the hall was already nicely filled before Brother Firetribe even hit the stage, and the Finns kicked off their good half-hour warm-up with the opening track of last year’s album Heart Full of Fire, Who Will You Run to Now. The fiery brothers probably earned the support slot because Erno “Emppu” Vuorinen of Nightwish plays six-string for them, and Pain built real ties with Nightwish on last year’s tour. And even though they’re not exactly the right genre for a support act before industrial/electronic metallers Pain, a crowd reaction like this for an opener, and a relatively unknown one at that, is almost impossible to come by. The crowd was eating out of the hand of charismatic frontman Pekka Ansio Heino, answering his every gesture with applause, chorus singalongs and the like. Brother Firetribe come across on stage incredibly confident, energetic and tight, and genuine emotion and eroticism just erupt from the music and the performance. In that good half hour the Finns presented songs from their debut False Metal, but focused even more on the current album, playing its central hit Heart Full of Fire, on which Anette Olzon, Nightwish’s vocalist, joins Pekka on the studio version, and which has big potential to become a major AOR classic. Brother Firetribe proved they are a rising star of European hard rock, which is hardly surprising, since an outstanding vocalist is backed by infectious guitar and keyboard melodies that only come into their own live. Brother Firetribe thoroughly deserved the thunderous applause and the Austrian chants of “zugabe”!

After about fifteen minutes of setup, the lights went down with Austrian punctuality, and an adapted and slightly odd version of Also Sprach Zaratustra from Kubrick’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey boomed out of the speakers. The members of Pain marched onto the stage one by one, Peter Tägtgren last of all, and the crowd went wild. Pain opened with the first track from the current Cynic Paradise, and you could tell the album has already caught on very well. Sadly, the very first moments of the show made it clear that all the constant touring lately hasn’t paid off well for Pain. The guys looked pretty tired, Peter especially, who only addressed the crowd for the first time somewhere in the middle of the set, and worst of all, the rigid schedules are really showing in his vocals. While the “Hypocrisy” growls still come out great, the wear shows in the clean vocals, as he often wretchedly botched the vocal lines or simply tweaked the lyrics a bit. The crowd, meanwhile, acted like they were witnessing the best concert of their lives… What could have been great back home or maybe even among our southern neighbors turned into something completely different in Vienna. The dim-witted Austrian crowd took the liberty of shamelessly moshing and crowdsurfing. First, that doesn’t even belong at a Pain-type show, and second, most of the crowd, with their spoiled Austrian hardcore backsides, obviously moshed like it was a punk gig, selfishly shoving away everyone and everything around them. On top of that, the Austrian security gorillas chipped in too, charging into the crowd like bulls several times and dragging individuals out of the hall, with no regard for the people who just wanted to watch the show in peace. It’s mostly because of this that the Vienna Pain show left a bitter taste in the mouth, even though, backed by excellent animations on two screens on stage, Pain played a setlist of their biggest hits like Zombie Slam, On and On, Dancing With the Dead, End of the Line, Just Hate Me, Same Old Song and Shut Your Mouth, and added a few more obscure songs like Don’t Care, It’s Only Them, the Beatles cover Eleanor Rigby, or the redneck anthem Have a Drink on Me from the new album. Judging by what I saw, I can say Pain played a solid and confident show, but at the same time I can only conclude this way: Peter, it’s high time for Hypocrisy!

Photos: Nina Grad