12-02-2009 Children of Bodom

Supports: Cannibal Corrpse; Venue: Paradiso, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
By: Elvira Visser

After seeing Children of Bodom playing as support act for Slipknot back in November it was time to see this band as a head liner. To me their show back then was way too short and I just got into their vibe and before I knew it was over. Now I got the chance to see this band playing a full set and it was up to Cannibal Corpse and Diablo to get the crowd ready, to get the right atmosphere out there.

After meeting up with a friend I came in a bit later than planned and I missed Diablo. Which I wanted to see, because I had heard good things about them, being a good live band. When Cannibal Corpse climbed up the stage the crowd cheered already and I think there were also some people specially to see Cannibal Corpse. During the third track of their set, I got a crowd surfer on my head and my camera, which was using my nose as an air bag. I went to the side of the stage and tried to focus on the show, because I had already missed out on Diablo. Cannibal sounded pretty much how I imagined: hard & brutal. Although you do not really understand what singer George Fischer is growling, you know they are not sweet lyrics or the most nice lyrics around. People in the crowd seem to enjoy this band, but I felt worse by the minute. Little stars appeared and before getting completely dark I managed to get out the hall. Got myself some water, and told myself to sit down. When I got back in Cannibal was already playing their last track. That sucked big time. Missed out on the second band of this night, more or less. Luckily I did not miss out on Children of Bodom.

When the guys of Children of Bodom enter the stage the audience cheered like they just came back after their encore…nothing of that was true they were just starting. In full speed they played many known tracks of course they played some track from the latest album “Blooddrunk”, but also those that brought them (more) fame like “Follow the Reaper”, “Lake Bodom” and a song that most people seem to be able to shout along “Hate Crew Deathroll”. They guys seem to enjoy the gig, make some fun with each other on stage and clearly make the atmosphere even better. The temperature got hotter and people in the audience start to crowd surf like mad men. Some funny moment during their set: Alexi getting some bunny ears, he puts them on and laughs a bit before he throws them to the back of the stage. Another funny moment was when Alexi asked for an applause for Jaska, the drummer. Not only because of his drum skills this evening, but more because his achievement of falling out of his buck 3 times on a row, the night before. The crowd started to laugh. Also I had missed out on something during Cannibal Corpse but the crowd started to sing: Bier en tieten, tralala la…which mean beer and tits. They had done this during Cannibal Corpse as well. Jaska seemed to like it and accompanied the audience with some rhythm. After an encore and Alexi and Henkka without t-shirts making the girls on the front row happy they left the stage. I made my conclusion already before they were done playing. This gig kicked some serious ass. Maybe because it was my first complete Children of Bodom set list but the audience and atmosphere in the venue were good as well, which clearly contributed to the overall feeling

More pictures of this gig available at photographicretentions.nl

Links:
Children of Bodom MySpace
Children of Bodom Official