13-04-2013 Silverstein

Supports: The Tidal Sleep, Funeral For A Friend; Venue: Live Music Hall, Cologne (Germany)
By: Sabine van Gameren

A heavy night in Cologne, the Canadian band Silverstein was scheduled and they had Funeral For A Friend and The Tidal Sleep as a support with them.

Post Hardcore formation The Tidal Sleep were the ones that would open the night. While the venue is sold out, most people entered the venue in time to see also the supports so that immediately brings the atmosphere to a good level. In the beginning the audience seem to be a bit hesitating towards these German guys, not really responding on the request to mosh, but not rejecting them either. They give the guys some time to work for appreciation and luckily the boys seem humble enough to go for it. With the energy given the band shows some good skills and outstanding are the guitars in the show for giving it some extra vibe. That works in their advance as towards the end of their set they have set a convincing show that got honoured with some well-deserved applause.

Coming from Wales there is Funeral For A Friend scheduled. It is clear that the band has its fan base present here as only after the third song the audience was shouting what they wanted to happen and the crowd surfers were surfing by faster than you could imagine. What makes the band special is the way they work together, the band seem to have a great joy together and while one missteps, another falls in. And missteps may happen, the band tells the audience that they have no intentions to play the album just like that as that would not feel right for them which resulted in an applause from the audience. So to say, Funeral For A Friend comes out very well tonight. Perhaps an easy job with such dedicated fans around but besides that the band shows that they are real and have a great energy for their live performances. Such a positive surprise to see them doing what they did here.

Headlining was Silverstein. The band released their latest album “This Is How The Wind Shifts” this year and is now on tour. The album certainly made its impact as people were singing along from the start. Here as well, some crowd surfers, some moshing and the band has the audience eating out of their hands. The band plays around with them, some silly mimics some wild energy but above all they make an impression with their show. Drummer Paul Koehler has it space to add a strong base here where the two guitarists are setting the vehemence.
As the band plays the track “Smashed Into Pieces” , which got released in 1995 already, the audience cheers loud. Obviously a crowdpleaser and when the track “Massachusetts“ follows the party gets even wilder. Silverstein impresses with their energy and sound, the audience was easy to convince but when the reviewer is pleased as well, you certainly did a good job. The band leaves with the promise to return soon, which seems plausible after such a show.