Anneke van Giersbergen – Knust, Hamburg; October 29th, 2013
The last time I had seen and heard Anneke play was back in April when she toured with Pain of Salvation. When she announced her solo tour I knew I wanted to see her again. First I had planned to attend on of her shows in the midst of the Poets of the Fall tour, but needed a concert break. Luckily there was one show in Hamburg just a day before the Nordic Film Days in Lübeck. It was basically on the way. 🙂 Thus, I found myself outside the Knust for the second time in two weeks, waiting to be let in. Surprisingly few people were waiting. When the doors were supposed to open there were five or six of us, when they finally did, around 30. More people arrived later, but it never got crowded. To bad, really, for the show Anneke and her band delivered, it should have been packed. support act Trillium were pretty amazing as well.
When the show started I had no idea who Amanda Somerville was nor had I heard of her band Trillium. Small wonder for someone not really knowing anything about metal. Either way, I was curious about what was coming. They rocked! It wasn’t easy to get the audience to respond, but they made it and got everyone involved. They joked with each other quite a bit too. Amanda was chatty, told stories about the songs, happy and sad ones. I much enjoyed listening to those as well as the songs. All in all a god set and the perfect warm up for what was about to come.
Setlist:
Machine Gun
Mistaken
Purge
Mayday
Point of safe return
Carnival
Bow to the ego
Path of least resistance
Coward
The break was only as long as it needed to be. As soon as the stage was set, Anneke and her band were on it. I find it somewhat annoying when bands make the audience wait so this made me happy. Most of the songs she played were new to me, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment. It was lovely! 🙂 I liked the songs she played, new and old and I liked her band too. They all know how to play and it was fun watching them. They played alone and together, depending on what the songs needed.
The setlist was just right, a perfect mix to dance along to, to rock or just to listen. Anneke did the same. She sang, she rocked, she danced and sometimes she just stood still. She let her guitar do the talking or just let her voice ring out. Halfway through the concert, Anneke sent her band away and played a two song acoustic set. It felt like I was traveling back to April. <3 I loved her energy and her charm. Anneke s so likeable, she is hard to resist. Even the members of the audience, that had not participated much in the beginning, did so in the end. She had won them over. 😀
Since the place wasn’t packed I had the chance to move a round and take pictures from the stairs as well as in front of the stage. Thus, I managed to avoid the too bright lights that had bothered me on my last visit here. I missed being able to sing along, but it happens sometimes. I watched the audience, the people who were dancing and singing along. Their happiness filled the room. The whole concert was relaxed and beautiful. It felt weird not to be as fully emotional involved as I had been in April, but it was the good kind of weird. I was glad I went there.
After the show both Amanda and Anneke were at the merch stand and up or a chat. I talked with Anneke briefly, bought he new CD and asked about the continuation of the Pain of Salvation tour next year. She said that she won’t be there if it happens in April, because her own tour is still ongoing then. Too bad, I would have loved to see them together again. Anyway, it was nice that she remembered me. 🙂 I’ll make sure to see her again the next time around.
Setlist:
You will never change
Drive
Saturnine
Treat me like a lady
My boy
1000 Miles
You learn / She
Anneke solo
Circles
Beautiful one
My mother said
Forgive me
Mental jungle
You want to be free
Stay
Shooting
Encore
Broken glass
We live on / Feel alive
The best is yet to come