05-11-2019 The 69 Eyes

Support: Lacrimas Profundere
Location: LOGO, Hamburg (DE)

After the recent release of the well-acclaimed “West End”, our favourite Helsinki Vampires The 69 Eyes made a stop in Hamburg as part of their European West End Tour. A sold-out show also guaranteed a crazy and perfect night!

Our evening started with Lacrimas Profundere. Even before the band started playing, we could see that the crowd was pretty familiar with this dark metal act, not only because of the similarities between the headliner and them, but also because they have a long history which started in 1993. Their latest and 12th studio album “Bleeding the Stars” was out on July this year so some new but also older songs were waiting the passionate audience. It was also our first time seeing this legendary act live so expectations were quite high!

For a warm-up act, a packed venue is always a big advantage and this was the case right from the beginning of the set. As a matter of fact, the band did not need to warm up the audience as things started perfectly right from the beginning; the front row was dancing while the others were enjoying the dark metal tunes. The interaction between the band and the audience added the extra flavour to the set, with the the biggest highlight being the vocalist/front man Julian Larre with his never-ending energy and charismatic stage appearance.

Since the latest album was released this year, some new gems such as “The Kingdom Solicitude”, “Celestite Woman”, and “Like Screams In Empty Halls” were played but the band had much more to offer such as “Ave End”, my personal favorite, and “The Letter”! Overall, from the stage show to the dynamics within the band but also with the audience, Lacrimas Profundere kept everyone entertained! Quite a show that totally met our expectations!

A band like The 69 Eyes needs no introduction. Formed in 1989, these Helsinki Vampires are basically one of the key names in the goth’n’roll scene and they keep rocking with each new release, including the latest one “West End”, released recently. The audience was colorful, consisting of young but also relatively older fans.

The energy and the pace was quite high from the beginning with the first song “Two Horns Up” from the latest release. It was such a great feeling to see these guys after a long time and to enjoy the other new songs such as “27 & Done”, “Cheyenna” (which Jyrki introduced as ‘there is a new lady in the 69 Eyes universe’), “Black Orchid”, and “Hell Has No Mercy”. We could tell by the happy faces and people dancing that the new songs were received pretty well and probably known to many in the audience already.

When it comes to The 69 Eyes shows, it’s not only about the new songs but also the classics and older songs, which the fans were familiar with and which were celebrated a bit more. It was interesting and surprising to hear songs like “Borderline”, “Never Say Die” and “Perfect Skin” but it was our highlights like “Betty Blue”, “Dance D’Amore”, “Feel Berlin” and “Wasting the Dawn” that made the show quite unique. This tradition was continued with the last three songs – “Framed In Blood”, “The Chair” and ” Lost Boys” – in the encore, which surprised us even more and sent us back to time travelling. Another interesting highlight was the memories of the frontman Jyrki with the venue, as according to him, the band played in LOGO 18 years ago so this show and this venue had a special meaning for them.

As much as the Finnish vampires delivered a perfect and dynamic show, we gotta admit that the audience could have been way more enthusiastic and ‘crazy’ (with the exception of the front-row), especially considering that half of the setlist considered of some classics. Indeed, the frontman Jyrki had to push the audience a little bit, which, however, worked later. At the time of the show, Jyrki mentioned that show-wise, there was a competition going on between Leipzig and Berlin and after this show, we are pretty sure Hamburg didn’t make it in the list but this didn’t break the magic of the show; The 69 Eyes were fucking amazing as always and it is quite impressive to see them rocking and loving what they do since 1989. As for the audience, we hope to see a more dedicated crowd in Hamburg next time the Helsinki Vampires play here. Overall, an amazing night and we can’t wait to see these guys play again as it is always a pleasure seeing them live!