Concert Review: CALLEJON + BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, 02/10/2014 in Cologne By Kai vom Stein
2014 has just begun. I know that it’s gonna be a good year for me. I will see the Scorpions, Max Herre and of course Linkin Park (and many, many more) at Rock am Ring coming up. So I know 2014 will be a blast!
But there is always a first show. For me, the year 2014 began at Palladium, Cologne with BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE (BFMV in the following) and their „support acts“ COLDRAIN and CALLEJON. The latter was my personal main act!
I really loved to listen to BFMV 9 years ago, when they released their first albums. I have never seen them live though and even stopped listening to them in the meantime. It’s not that I got bored by them, there were just too many other bands who impressed me more in the long run. Still, I always listened to their new albums and it was always nice to listen to them again.
But: I’d never pay for a BFMV single concert ticket. When I heard that CALLEJON would support them I told myself „OK, you LOVE Callejon and you always wanted to see how BFMV play live, so go and get the tickets!“ And so I did.
I went to the Palladium in Cologne with my three band mates of mine, Ronnie, David and Tobi. Ronnie and David went to see BFMV, Tobi and me were the CALLEJON fans. After drinking the first beer and talking about our own band, the first band started to play: COLDRAIN from Japan. I guess since not a lot of people have known them before, everybody was watching and listening carefully. But I can say, they really impressed everybody! They make a mix of Metalcore and Post-Hardcore with very melodic vocals in between. The atmosphere was amazing and people already started moshing around. Very professional, great sounding and talented band from a country where you almost don’t expect such a kind of music. I will definitely get some of their music and give them a listen in the future!
Now it was time for my personal main act and one of my favorite bands in general: CALLEJON! (Callejon = spanish for „Impasse“) If you don’t know them, here is a little summary about them: German Metalcore! You like Metalcore? You like German lyrics? You like CALLEJON! I really fell in love with them when I started listening to their music in 2010. Awesome albums, awesome lyrics, awesome sound and awesome shows! Before this night I have already seen them live for 1 ½ times. Yes, exactly, 1 ½! Why the ½? Let me tell you: It was November 2012 when I entered one of their shows for the first time, at Live Music Hall in Cologne. The crowd was sweating, the show was amazing, when suddenly…. parts of the ceiling fell down! No joke, the ceiling above us was just falling down and I was there! Fortunately nobody got hurt badly back in the days, but of course the concert was stopped. The band themselves made a great job this evening by calming the crowd and telling them to get out very slowly and carefully. Everything went fine. This incident was even in the daily news on TV xD. So, three months later (February 2013) the make-up date of this show took place. Also in Cologne, but not in the Live Music Hall. This time it was the E-Werk. This one was free for everyone who joined the failed one before. And we all had a good time, one of the best concerts I ever visited!
So, now, on 10th Februaury 2014, I expected a lot. And I have not been disappointed! They started their show with the song „Atlantis“, which made me go into the mosh pit and go nuts. I stayed there during their whole show, because it was just amazing. CALLEJON played a short collection of their best songs like „Dieses Lied macht betroffen“, „Sommer. Liebe. Kokain.“, „Zombiefied“, „Lass mich gehen“, but also their very emotional ballad „Kind im Nebel“ and a few more. Each song was making the crowd go insane, keeping the mosh pit alive and singing/screaming the songs. Especially the wall of death was very bad this time. The crowd (myself including) made a huge space and one side just attacked the other. Everybody was pushed around like crazy. It’s a miracle that nobody got hurt. Well, not really true. In the „battle“ of this wall of death there was an elbow which hit my ear VERY badly. I lost my balance and got unconscious for about 10 seconds. A few seconds later I felt fine again, just a little pain in the ear. I pushed myself together and just enjoyed the rest of the show by staying in the mosh pit. I just couldn’t stop! The last two songs were „Schrei nach Liebe“ (Cover by „Die Ärzte“) and „Porn from Spain 2“. Amazing show with an amazing end! You guys have to go and give CALLEJON a listen!
So, now I was really fucked up. I definitely spent all my energy for CALLEJON and I knew I wouldn’t stand this for BFMV. So, Tobi and me decided to go a few steps back to watch BFMV from a comfortable place and enjoy their show. And I honesty have to say that I was really impressed, the band from Wales made an awesome show!
They were playing a perfect list of their songs. There were „Your Betrayal“, „Scream Aim Fire“, „4 Words“, „All These Things I Hate“, „Temper Temper“, „Raising Hell“, „Dirty Little Secret“, „The Last Fight“, „Pleasure and Pain“, „Waking the Demon“ and also a great Medley, which included „Hand of Blood“, „Riot“ and „Hearts Burst Into Fire“. Really very, very nice stuff and a good performance. Of course, the crowd was going crazy again, I saw how much they love this band. And they love BFMV for a reason. I really didn’t expect them to be THAT good live. Their last song was my very favorite: The epic „Tears Don’t Fall“! What I really like about their show was the sound. Very clear and pushing. And front man Matt Tuck made a really good job with singing and playing hard guitar riffs at the same time. Nice stuff!
I really had a huge load of fun watching them. It’s possible that I will listen to them a little more often in the future!
To summarize the whole night: A blast with a small quantity of pain! I got what I expected and was even surprised by an unknown band from Japan and an old band that I have almost forgotten. Thank God for these bands who make this awesome music and combine it with amazing performances!
