[b]A good night for Tilburg�s pride, a sold out 013 for the most popular Black Metal band of this time. Dimmu Borgir was about to show their performance this beautiful evening, but first we had to endure ( with pleasure) Norther and Hypocrisy.[/b] [b]Norther:[/b] A funny fact was that I had to pick up my car in a different part of Tilburg, when a dude with a backstage pass for the 013 asked me were there was a Pharmacie to be found. I didn�t know that, but took the opportunity to ask who he was, and what absolutely didn�t make sense, was that he was the bass player for Norther. He was wandering quite far from the 013, and I wondered how he was to begin on time. Luckily when I finally entered the 013 after a long wait, I saw that he found his way back because he was performing already. [img]https://upload.metalrage.com/Northerpic.jpg[/img] For fans of Children Of Bodom this surely was a feast, as Norther is an exact copy of this band, same keyboard riffs, same guitar riffs and same vocals. It just could have been Alexi and co. Songs from the Mirror Of Madness album were promoted and sounded very nicely. The band gave themselves for the full 100 % but the already fully packed 013 just didn�t react. Maybe the Children of Bodom imitation was a little too obvious. I enjoyed the band, although I haven�t witnessed every song. [b]Hypocrisy:[/b] This was more like it. Peter Tagtgren and companions found it necessary to pull out some old laundry with Roswell 47, a very unlikely chosen opening song, but so fucking brutal! There wasn�t much response from the audience, but after 2 songs the dimmu fans decided they liked it, and when Destroyed kicked in, the reaction was a little more tenser then it was with Norther. [img]https://upload.metalrage.com/Hypocrisypic.jpg[/img] The material was from old and new records, with songs from the Penetralia album, aswell as the new songs from the Catch 22 album. I must confess I liked the Catch 22 album, although many Hypocrisy fans from the first hour will negate this record. Hypocrisy played a tight set with a deadly precision. The sound was okay and it promised much for the next band, the band everyone seemed to be waiting for. [b]Dimmu Borgir:[/b] [img]https://upload.metalrage.com/dimmu band.jpg[/img] Fuck. How is this possible, how do Dimmu Borgir even DARE to enter the stage with such a crappy sound. Luckily they played a very, VERY tight set with old and new material. With a very long industrial like intro they finally entered the stage, kicking in with the song Lepers Among Us. I can whinny about the bad sound the entire review, but I won�t. Instead, let�s see what Dimmu Borgir has us to offer. Songs like Cataclysm Children, In Deaths Embrace (YEAH!), Raabjorn Speiler Draagheimens Skodde and more. Fans from the first hour weren�t disappointed, however Silenoz was busy playing guitar, and not singing on this track, as he should have. [img]https://upload.metalrage.com/Shagrath-Silenoz1.jpg[/img] What I also sensed was that bass player Vortex sang a lot better than Shagrath, who also performed pretty good. Luckily Dimmu played some old shit from the Spiritual Black Dimensions record, which I do like, instead of many other Dimmu fans. Another ear catcher was the fabulous song Stormblast, which created an urge to headbang, even to the angry looking, cross-armed, white-painted-face �true� metalhead who was standing next to me, damn, I almost laughed. As Dimmu was here to promote their new record, so they did, and how. Vredesbyrd was played neatly, and I do like the Norwegian lyrics. Luckily they played Spellbound from the Enthroned Darkness Triumphant album, as I surely enjoy this song. A little bit predicting went out quite well, as I predicted their final song as well. Not very hard to do anyways, as the song was another one from the previous named album. Mourning Palace was a good final song for a somewhat little underperformed show. [i]A little conclusion about this night is that the bands that opened for Dimmu Borgir, played a lot better than the Headliner. They had a better sound and just brought more feeling in their show. Dimmu Borgir stood like a rock with their immense and imposing track list but because of the wrong sound adjustments, it just sounded not like it had to. Nick Barker dropped some mayor faults and the guitars/bass were lost in the overwhelming sound of Shagrath and Nick Barker. I expected a lot from Dimmu Borgir, but I must confess that it disappointed me slightly.[/i]