Of course I couldn’t miss out on this opportunity to see one of the best metal bands around in a small venue. We arrived at 21.30u and when we entered the venue, we immediately felt at home. The venue looked like a cozy, small (a bit dirty) living-room, with a small bar in it. And they sold Grolsch bottles for 1,50… Fuck yeah, it’s gone be a great night!! I think this venue will hold around 80/90 people. While waiting for Orange Sunshine to start off this night, the people of Morlock Gallery showed old metal video-clips on the wall. I saw some enjoyable old clips from Death Angel and the likes… Mostly in squats timetables are not that strict, and this time was no exception. I think Orange Sunshine started off around 23.15u. I’ve seen this band a couple of times before at Roadburn and those shows didn’t do it for me. But this time around it kind of got a hold of me. Musically they play 60’s blues drenched in Stoner/Fuzz-rock that is heavily influenced by a band like Blue Cheer. The backline setting was pretty low budget, with vocals being transferred through some monitors. But the sound in this small venue was absolutely great!! Loud but crystal-clear… Orange Sunshine being from The Hague, it was kind of a home match to them. Pretty good warming up for the rest of the night…

In the meantime the small venue became absolutely packed and incredibly hot. People's sweat was literally dripping down the wall and ceiling. After a small backline build up, the Fire bursts out the song 'Sons of Thunder' from their Blessed Black Wings album. And well, how can I be objective to this review??!! When I’m seeing one of my all time favorites playing in a small venue, blowing the smear out of my ears!! I simply can’t. So I will try to focus on other people’s reactions on how they seemed to enjoy the show. Matt Pike was firing riff after riff to the audience and the crowd was banging and shouting their asses off. The fact this band played in a small room, made some of the songs come across even better. Like Matt Pike said himself, “It feels like back in our beginning days… Thank you for that!!”. They played songs from all their 4 records and even songs like Baghdad and Blood from Zion from their first record sounded as brilliant as the first time I heard them. After playing for an hour, the band and crowd where covered in sweat and the band left the audience gasping for more… High on Fire being a band that seldom gives encores, that was it for the night. An incredible night and everybody I have spoken that night had the same conclusion. A unique and brilliant show !!

Pic: Metalcore.com