Author: Urban Bolta
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: All Kart Halle / Kaufbeuren / Germany
Concert date: Feb 10, 2011
Attendance: 3000
Ticket price: €37.00
The day after Accept’s Munich show (report here), another big heavy metal event went down just ninety kilometers away in Kaufbeuren, where Helloween took over the local Allkarten Halle on a monster tour. Perfect reason to stretch the German excursion: a morning cruise through the center of the Bavarian capital and, of course, combing every record store in sight. Arriving in Kaufbeuren in the afternoon, we found that this town, about the size of Kranj and sitting southwest of Munich on the map, has a really charming old town center where you can easily rest your body and soul.
On the European leg of the tour Helloween played with Stratovarius and Avatar, but for the German leg they picked a far more attractive “support.” Opening were Pink Cream 69, the heavy rockers from Karlsruhe, where none other than Andi Deris got his start, the frontman of Helloween for well over a decade and a half now. So the chance for something big practically offered itself: Deris on stage with his old buddies, belting out one of the classics from the first three albums he cut with Pink Cream before leaving. Just as exclusive was Helloween’s 2007 “Gambling with the Devil” tour, when the Pumpkins hit the road with Gamma Ray, so that the legendary Kai Hansen, the band’s former driving force and main engine, regularly joined them on stage.
As a hometown name, Pink Cream 69 had already pulled a huge crowd in front of the stage of the halved-off Allkarten Halle, and kicked off their set at eight sharp. They opened the night with the new song Children Of The Dawn and right from the start came across as a tight, well-oiled unit, even though they played without their longtime guitarist of recent years, Uwe Reitenauer, who had to skip the whole mini tour because of personal commitments. Axxxis guitarist Marco Wriedt stepped into his shoes. With Do You Like It Like That the Germans started steering toward their earlier material, with David Readman still holding down the frontman spot. With his energetic antics and deadly delivery, he proved with every move that a frontman’s career was written in his cradle, and his voice still serves him in all its playfulness. Add a rock-solid instrumental foundation and the trademark multi-part vocals in the stompers Talk To The Moon and Shame, and you’ve got proof that Pink Cream 69 are still one hell of a stage act in 2011. The tempo kept climbing and peaked with another classic, Keep Your Eye On The Twisted, and even though we didn’t get the long-awaited guest return of Deris to his old bandmates, the opening set of the night can only be called a very positive one.
Next up were Stratovarius, who left a pale impression in Ljubljana two weeks ago, mostly thanks to vocalist Timo Kotipelto, who sounded completely hoarse. The Finnish power metal giants served up the familiar repertoire that’s been the backbone of their shows for years, and leaned heavily on a big, in-a-good-mood crowd, who won the Finns over with loud singing and cheering and made life easier for the aforementioned Kotipelto, who didn’t need any vocal heroics. The frontman looked better than a few days earlier, the cold is obviously history, though his vocal power and intensity are no longer at the level of Stratovarius’s golden years. The set unfolded with Jens Johansson’s trademark keyboard solo excursions and the unerring guitar wizardry of Matias Kupiainen, where even the pickiest nitpickers couldn’t catch a single wrong note. Tunes like Speed of Light, Forever and Black Diamond drew loud salvos of enthusiasm and cemented the Finnish power metal protagonists once more as credible heirs to Tolkki’s rich legacy.
While the stage was being set up for the final act, a giant curtain with the cover of Stratovarius’s current album “Polaris” was still hanging there, so only when it came down right before Helloween‘s show did the real size of the stage show itself, stretching far into the depth. Just like in Ljubljana, the stage design was nicely rounded out by a rotating structure with the artwork of Helloween’s latest album “7 Sinners” above the drum kit, and given the huge stage it looked even better.
Since this was my third time seeing Helloween on the current tour, and the setlist doesn’t change from show to show, the only real unknown was how the home crowd would react and receive the band on its new visit to Kaufbeuren. The very first bars of Are You Metal? and the loud response from the crowd promised a hell of a night! Everyone, from the younger generation to those who’ve followed the Pumpkins since the mid-eighties (in German-speaking countries the average concert-goer is much older than back home), fell into a concert trance and got fully involved, breathing together with the band, cheering it on, firing it up. The non-acoustic hall, primarily meant for go-kart racing, turned deafeningly loud in an instant, and from a relatively cold space the temperature climbed to the point where we had to start breathing through our teeth to survive! The familiar tunes came one after another, while the guitar trio of Weikath / Gerstner / Grosskopf and Andi Deris called the shots and strutted around with their shenanigans. These seasoned musicians are true pros at this and know how to wrap the fans around their little finger in no time, even at the expense of a quickly running clock. They conquered the above-average stage in an instant, bent it to their will with acrobatic position swaps, and passed yet another test where plenty of musicians fall like dominoes. Eagle Fly Free, March Of Time and I’m Alive set the place on fire, and the warm reception for the newest songs like Where The Sinners Go and World Of Fantasy proved in black and white that the crowd has embraced the “7 Sinners” album too.
Being tight is no problem for the Pumpkins: his eminence Michael Weikath and Sascha Gerstner confidently handled all the pitfalls of the show without breaking a sweat, and the rhythm machine with Markus Grosskopf on bass and Dani Löble on the drum stool is already considered one of the best in the German heavy metal school. As in Ljubljana and Zagreb, the closer the show got to the end, the more banter there was, and with it neatly disguised breathers, which gave Deris’s voice a chance to catch its breath. It sounded relatively fresh and reliable, and the touch of sentimentality, backed by Deris’s moves, did its usual job of keeping the women in the audience swooning. The evergreen melodies of the first and second Keeper albums dominantly wrapped up an hour and a half of hanging out together, while the skipped old-school classic Ride The Sky left a bitter aftertaste. Why? Only Helloween can say, and unfortunately this was a rare case where the German crowd got shortchanged compared to most other dates on the tour.
Drawing the line under the show gave the same conclusions as in Ljubljana. Those who came to relax and enjoy themselves got a hefty dose of the Helloween circus, and those who came looking for something to nitpick surely found it too. But one thing is certain. A big, hardcore crowd shaped the concert experience with a hellish rhythm, far more intensely than the Slovenian or Croatian ones manage to. That’s why it’s worth going to shows in Germany. And that’s why the second part of Rockline’s German odyssey gets the winner’s stamp!
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
HELLOWEEN: 1. Intro(AC/DC – For Those About to Rock/Happy Happy Halloween/Who is Mr.Madman?) 2. Are You Metal? 3. Eagle Fly Free 4. March Of Time 5. Guitar intro (Sascha) 6. Where The Sinners Go 7. World Of Fantasy 8. Drum solo 9. I’m Alive 10. Forever And One 11. Handfull Of Pain 12. MEDLEY: – Keeper Of The Seven Keys – King Of A Thousand Years – Halloween 13. I Want Out —Encore I— 14. Future World —Encore II— 15. Dr. Stein STRATOVARIUS: 1. Hunting High and Low 2. Speed of Light 3. The Kiss of Judas 4. Winter Skies 5. Darkest Hours 6. Deep Unknown 7. Phoenix 8. Move The Mountain 9. Paradise 10. Black Diamond PINK CREAM 69: 1. Children of the Dawn 2. Do You Like It Like That 3. No Way Out 4. Talk To The Moon 5. Shame 6. Lost In Illusion 7. Seas Of Madness 8. Keep Your Eye On The Twisted
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