16 April 2024

07-11-2008 Soilwork

Supports: Ananta, One Way Mirror; Venue: Melkweg, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
By: Sabine van Gameren

Soilwork playing the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam is a tradition now, though it has been a while that it actually happened. This year the band brought two supports, One Way Mirror and Ananta. The last one was replacing Zimmers hole, which was forced to cancel their participation with this tour due to circumstances.

Ananta is the first one tonight and the Melkweg is not that filled yet. I deeply hope that more people show up later, but I knew elsewhere in Amsterdam Slayer was also playing. Hard job for the French guys from Ananta to warm up the audience. As it is Friday night and people were really forward in seeing some music it only took a few songs before the first mosh pit of the evening started. All still very gentle though. Meshuggah influenced music was what they were giving, but due to a horrendous sound in the venue I could not enjoy it for real. The band had small interactions with the audience but mainly seem to struggle to get through the set.
Their sets is only half an hour.

Another French band came along with Soilwork. One Way Mirror is their name and they have a familiar face at the drums. Dirk Verbeuren is not only the drummer of Soilwork, but also playing in One Way Mirror. Two sets for him during this tour. They are more core influenced than Soilwork and although they were suffering from the same horrendous sound in the venue they still got people interested. It totally fits in the evening and although they played a bit longer than Ananta I could say I was positively surprised by the energetic performance.

Soilwork was finally on and from the moment they started, the hell was loose. It felt like the whole venue changed into one moshpit and it was clearly filled way more than when the evening started. People were glad to see that Soilwork was back here in Amsterdam. The band started of with the title song of their latest album “Sworn To A Great Devide”. For the fans who like the band already quite some years, they played some older material as well. The most known and appreciated songs like “As We Speak”, “Black Star Receiver” and “Stabbing The Drama” are waking up the fire. The band placed two steps up on front of the stage, which they often used to stand on and get close to the audience by hanging over it. Frontman Björn Strid is talking a lot to the audience telling them how he appreciates their response and how much he likes to be back in Holland. When he announces “Overload” he asked them to jump, which everyone did.
At the end of the set, they closed with the encore consisting of “Follow the Hollow” and “Nerve”. Both are all time favorite songs of many Soilwork fans. A nice evening, a great atmosphere, but a bit sad that sound was not that great during the whole evening.

Photo’s by: sabinevangameren.com

Links:
Ananta MySpace
One Way Mirror MySpace
Soilwork MySpace