I got to know this German band a while ago because they released their last album through Roadrunner Records. When you’re into Metalcore I’m sure you’ll like this band. The album is great so I had high expectations of these Germans.

On a way too small stage they started to play their set with ‘The Beloved and The Hatred’, a great opener! The stage was actually cut into two pieces because the drum kit stood right in the middle and front of the stage. Therefore vocalist Andy had to choose one side of the stage, which was, in my opinion, a bit of a pity for the audience on the other side. But hey! Let’s not make this a bigger problem then it was, because Caliban played an awesome set! Most of the songs were from their new album ‘The Opposite From Within’ and as a warm-up band they did a great job to actually get a mosh-pit started in the middle of the venue. A good interaction with the audience, a superb sound quality� and a refreshing setlist convinced me and I think with me lots of others, too. Definitely worth your money!

So, as this night already started out pretty good, the waiting for God Forbid had begun. I saw the band earlier this year in Utrecht together with Killswitch Engage, Chimaira and Shadows Fall and even though the audience wasn’t really moving back then, now the people surely were! Again a mosh-pit was created and with great songs like ‘Antihero’ and ‘Better Days’ this New Jersey-based quintet must have made new fans. Funny thing was the announcement of ‘Antihero’ which is about President George W. Bush. When vocalist Byron Davis asked for the opinion of the audience Bush got lots of middle fingers put into the air.

During the God Forbid gig, the stage was still as small as with the Caliban gig and again the vocalist choose the left side of the stage. Bummer! But again, I’m not going to complain about this because I knew the stage was that small because of the equipment from the band that had to follow, “Machine (f*cking) Head!”

Note: the sound quality was a little bit rawer during the God Forbid show, so to me it seemed that the quality had been decreased a little bit. Fortunately it wasn’t all that bad.

After a way too long break, Machine Head finally hit the stage. They started with ‘Imperium’ so the audience immediately turned into one big, boiling, chaotic and mosh-pitting mass. Fortunately the band played pretty many songs from their latest album ‘Through the Ashes of Empires’. Songs like ‘Days turn Blue to Gray’ and ‘Descend the Shades of Night’ passed by and everybody sang along as loud as possible. The sound was just great and I totally freaked out on that. The atmosphere was getting better and better and the whole venue (except from the stairs on both sides of it) turned into a pushing and moshing mass. And to prove that this show was one of the most energetic and powerful ones in my whole life, here’s my little story: I went into the mosh-pit a couple of times because I was very excited and a bit agressive, too. During the moshing I bruised my wrist badly, so unfortunately my wrist is covered in gauze dressing right now. Besides that I almost passed out, so I think these two things are definitely the proof that Machine Head once again kicked everybody's asses. Machine Head rocked Amsterdam like they never did before! Great night! Great show! Horns in the air for Machine Head!