22-01-2009 Hanzel und Gretyl

Supports: Next Waste Dimension, Deadcell; Venue: Dynamo, Eindhoven (Netherlands)
By: Petra Ghuijs

Having seen both support acts before, about one year earlier, I wasn’t exactly sure what I thought of this line-up. Truth be told, last time I saw NWD and Deadcell they didn’t impress me that much… I was curious to see if these bands had changed their stage performance since then.

First up was Next Waste Dimension. Combining heavy guitar work and modern day dance music was what caught my attention last year, and this is still their basic style. Then on to the performance itself. Thankfully their video presentation was working this time, which greatly improved their entertainment value. Also I had the feeling the band was more at home on stage, and able to have more fun performing than a year ago. Unfortunately, NWD was a bit of a mismatch for the crowd, which had quite obviously come for the main act. They struggled to get the crowd going, partially because the venue was only half-filled, which kept the crowd closer to the bar than to the stage.
Overall NWD is still not my favourite band, but they have greatly improved their performance in the last year, and with the right crowd I do believe they are quite a success.

Next was Deadcell. Also using a visual presentation, with combined video and a dancer. The sound quality was much better than the last time I saw them, and this did wonders for their performance. Singer/lead guitarist Marcus was enjoying himself much more, and this reflected on the entire performance. The set list hadn’t changed much since last year, but of good quality. The crowd warmed up to Deadcell a lot more than to NWD, and some of them had obviously come to the gig especially for this performance.

Last up was main act Hanzel Und Gretyl, with their first performance in the Netherlands. They were obviously the act most of the crowd had come to see, and were welcomed to the stage with an immense roar of approval. Their set list was composed mostly out of songs of their latest album (2012: Zwanzig Zwölf), mixed with some of the older songs. The crowd went crazy, and so did the band! In-between songs, Kaiser Von Loopy was mostly drinking beer (out of a platform boot!), or handing it out to the crowd, which they didn’t mind. Vas Kallas had the lead vocals in most of the performed songs, and also provided the commentary during the short intermezzo’s which were occurred after every three to four songs. As an encore, the band asked someone in the crowd which song he’d want to hear and actually performed the song, going all-out with the massive party-song “Fukken Uber Death Party”. During this song, the band encouraged the crowd to climb onto the stage and ‘join them in the party’, which the crowd gladly did. Soon the stage was actually more crowded than the space in front of it, and Kaiser Von Loopy was lifted up by his admirers (as a Kaiser should be), giving additional value to the complete chaos. I had honestly never seen a gig end in such a manner, but it was completely wild and the crowd was loving it.

Having reviewed HUG’s latest album (2012: Zwanzig Zwölf), I was expecting great things from their performance. The band not only lived up to these expectations, but surpassed them by a mile. Never before have I seen any act, especially one that is new to the country, deliver such a show and receiving such a response from the crowd. This gig is definitely going straight onto my best-gigs-ever list.

Links:
Hanzel und Gretyl MySpace
Hanzel und Gretyl Official