Actually we’d never heard about this band before. Not very weird, because the night before I found out that this was actually the first tour overseas for these guys. And that’s strange, really strange. Why? Because these guys kick ass! Buzzin Hornet and I found out that the best way to describe the music He Is Legend plays is: Rock ‘n’ Metal. What to imagine by Rock ‘n’ Metal? Well just imagine catchy rock ‘n’ roll riffs mixed with the right doses metal oriented music. Got that? Then imagine a frontman with a beard twice the size of Santa Claus’ beard in his younger years, dancing like he was standing in a country-line-dance class. Really great to see! Although the vocals were a bit overruled by the music (or the vocalist didn’t have the power to overrule them, but I think it was the first option), the music made up that little minor. Great varying songs combined with a great sound and a pretty good response from the crowd, He Is Legend is definitely a band we’ll be hearing more about in the future! At the end of the show Atreyu bass player Marc entered the stage to shout some lyrics with the band. The entire show realy impressed us and we are looking for a way to ask these dudes some questions sometimes.

 

 

The second band entered the stage, Norma Jean. I think the best way to describe their music is metalcore, only a bit more powerful than most bands play metalcore though. They got a great response from the crowd and again a very energetic show was thrown at us. The band played with a lot of enthusiasm and Buzzin and I were surprised by the great show these guys gave away. Again I gotta say that this band really has a lot of potential and if this band gets the promotion and the attention they deserve, this certainly wasn’t the last time we saw Norma Jean in the Netherlands. Some songs that were played are: ‘Face:Face’, ‘Shotgun Message’, ‘Vertebraille : Choke That Thief Called Dependence’ and ‘Dilemmachine : Coalition, hoax’.
Before the show Travis told us he was kind of embarassed because they were headlining and in some way he was right about that. The band is producing an enormous vibe with the audience which results in total maddness.

 

 

Headliner Atreyu started after a small sound check. Later it turned out that not everything was checked that well though. Pity! The band started with a song that probably everybody who was in the venue could have sung along with, ‘Bleeding Mascara’. A great opener because the crowd immediately awaked from the break between Norma Jean and Atreyu. Other songs of their latest album ‘The Curse’ were played and the crowd went completely crazy. A huge moshpit with the most insane people beating each other like they were playing a kind of kung-fu match was created and wouldn’t disappear until the very last song. And people stage diving like they actually wanted to break their own necks were all over the place. Though, Atreyu didn’t fulfil our expectations. A lot of (bass) guitar changes were done during the whole set and the worst thing was that the last three songs the bass guitar didn’t work at all! Additionally to that I’ve got to mention the great, professional way bassist Mark McKnight dealt with this. Another great point of Atreyu, they were all dressed in white blouses, which gave a great effect with the right lights pointed on them. Most memorable moment of tonight’s show was definitely the last song of the night. Both He Is Legend and Norma Jean vocalists entered the stage to scream along together with Atreyu, which of course got a great response.

 

Over all I think I’m not saying anything weird when I say that these three bands didn’t play in the right order. Why? Because the supporting bands were playing a better show then the headliner, which can’t be that good. I hope next time Atreyu will do better and my advice is that they should do a better sound check next time, because all the technical problems take most of the enthusiasm away.