Another Sunday night we can spend our time watching amazing bands on stage in De Casino, Sint-Niklaas. This is all we need to refuel the batteries for the week to come.
Lives perfectly broken
Coming from Italy with love Halflives approached the stage and opened with a great song ‘everybody knows it‘ and it was clear from the start: everybody knew it was going to be hell of a night!
The audience went completely crazy when vocalist Linda Battilani announced the next song being a Linkin Park cover. We were all in for a treat with their own interpretation of ‘The Emptiness Machine‘ and let me tell you, it was amazing!
The party was far from over as it was time to hear them play their latest release ‘perfectly broken‘ which only got out days ago. For the next song I would like to quote Linda “Are you ready to get dirty?” which perfectly summarized the next song called ‘Snake‘. The set concluded on a high note with the electrifying track ‘Victim,’ introduced with the bold declaration, “I was your victim tonight, and I liked it.”
30 minutes went by so fast and was nearly enough… Luckily Halflives announced they will be back in Belgium for a brand new headliner tour next year!
Setlist: everybody knows it – Valkyrie – The Emptiness Machine (Linkin Park cover) – perfectly broken – Snake – Immortals – Crown – Victim
Germany, 12 points!
As some of us may know the German 6-piece formation From Fall To Spring made an attempt at Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, but sadly didn’t make the cut. Well, tonight we were happy to have them on stage for the very first time ever in Belgium.
The amazing interaction between twin vocalists Philip and Lukas Wilhelm was evident from the start. They treated us with a little light show before kicking off the first (and not last) rap part in ‘BLACK HEART‘. Next song could have been a ‘BR4INFCK‘ for some as this was a heavier song with more screaming and even a single pig squeal.
The beautiful high notes in Lukas‘s voice were a perfect interlude into ‘SUPERNOVA‘ which set the perfect atmosphere for Smash Into Pieces who were coming up next! Also, kudos to Seb Monzel who tilted this song to another level with a flawless guitar solo. Moving on with ‘CONTROL‘ which totally killed it with the unexpected breakdown at the end. They were excited to finally throw their newest release ‘COME ALIVE‘ out there which got released 2 months ago.
When they announced they were going to play a song everyone knew the lyrics to, they were not lying. ‘In The End‘ remains one of Linkin Park’s most recognizable and celebrated songs. With this second Linkin Park cover it almost felt like being on an unofficial Linkin Park concert. They left the stage on the notes of ‘DRAW THE LINE‘ which was their very own entry for Eurovision Song Contest 2023. It was a pleasure having From Fall To Spring on stage for the very first time in Belgium. I’m already looking forward to next year when they will be back!
Setlist: BLACK HEART – BR4INFCK – BARRIERS – SUPERNOVA – CONTROL – RISE – COME ALIVE – DESTINY – In the End (Linkin Park cover) – DRAW THE LINE
Manifestation: A feast for ears and eyes
When the crew was setting up the stage with big screens and laser lights, it was clear this was going to be an extraordinary experience. Despite some technical difficulties at the start, the band Smash Into Pieces managed to overcome them and ultimately transformed the night into an audiovisual celebration. Even the lights in APOC’s mask, the mysterious drummer, perfectly matched the laser beams projected across the stage.
The Swedish band kicked off with ‘Hurricane‘ which was released mere weeks ago. They moved on with some older songs such as ‘Wake Up‘ and ‘Glow in the Dark‘, mixed with new songs residing on their latest album Ghost Code such as ‘Venom‘ and ‘Heroes Are Calling‘ which gained international recognition when it was selected as their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.
After a little drum intermezzo by the hands of APOC the manifestation continued in sincerity with the song ‘Running Away from Home‘.
It was nice to see Linda from Halflives join the band on stage for a powerful duet which hit the audience hard like a ‘Boomerang‘. It was great to see how they both became close friends on tour.
After slowing it down for a bit with the song ‘Broken Parts‘ they seized the opportunity to kick it up a notch with more intense songs such as ‘Vanguard‘, ‘Afterglow‘ and ‘Forever Alone‘.
Of course, they could not leave the stage without playing their very own Eurovision Song Contest 2023 entry ‘Six Feet Under‘; one last opportunity for the band and fans to give every bit of energy they had left.
Before leaving the stage vocalist Chris Adam Hedman Sörbye seized the opportunity to thank everyone present for being there, confessing it was going to be good to be back home again with friends and family after touring for a month non-stop. They also had a little secret: new song is coming next Friday!
Setlist: Hurricane – Wake Up – Glow in the Dark – Venom – Big Bang – Let Me Be Your Superhero – Arcadia – All Eyes on You – Heroes Are Calling – Running Away from Home – Higher – Trigger – Boomerang – Broken Parts – Vanguard – Afterglow – Forever Alone – Flow – Six Feet Under –
We witnessed not one but two Eurovision entries live on stage. On top of that they were joined by a powerful pop-rock band from Italy. A night to remember!