Arriving at the Melkweg at the exact time that was given as “doors open”, was a bad idea. The waiting line was about 30 meters long and filled with a (not really) surprisingly young majority of hardcore/mallcore kids. It was cold and rainy so we made the best decision possible; we made a 180 degrees turn and headed for a local rock pub. A few beers later, we finally could make it inside, we were ready for the first band.

His Statue Falls is a young band from Germany, who played their first gig in 2007. According to their biography they make “Techcore” which is basically the right description for the music. Techno combined with hardcore.
When the band appeared on stage, the first thing that popped into my mind was that the singer (Alex) looked really like the “popcore dork” character from yourscenesucks.com (I’m not suggesting anything here!). Anyway, as soon as the first song was over, my opinion was set. The trance music passages combined with the excessive screaming, directly followed by a cliché post-hardcore part make you think that His Statue Falls found their inspiration in only one band; Enter Shikari. I’d rather say they copied the Enter Shikari formula and then failed to use it right. The audience seemed to share my opinion, as it stood still like the silence before the storm. One or two stage dives, but that’s about it.

The second and last band of tonight, Enter Shikari, starts quite early (20:30). This was clearly the band where the majority of the audience came for, looking at the sudden density of emo haircuts in front of the stage. The two times I saw Enter Shikari before were crazy. The guys of Enter Shikari are known for giving a little extra between the “real” songs. Acting like idiots, dancing and climbing in the stage lights and on speakers.
Tonight was a little different. They seemed to have lost their Mojo. The big hits from Take to the Skies are always a success. There were LOTS of stagedivers. But the band clearly has played the old songs too often by now, and filled half of their playlist with new songs from the oncoming album. Which will be released in April. Those songs were received with less enthusiasm than the older ones. If this was due to the quality of the songs or to the fact that no one knew the lyrics, remains yet to be seen in April. The band finished the night with the mosh favourite 'Okay, Time for Plan B'.

In this clip you see 'Havoc', one of the new songs, while Rou (vocals) hangs on the balcony: