Friday night, cheap entrance and good live music, I thought that would draw quite a crowd. Apparently I don't have a clue, The Rock wasn't completely empty but I understand if the bands inspiration didn't peak for this crowd.

URBAN PRIMATES introduced themselves as brutal yet melodic, both old school and new Metal and that's pretty much what it was. Pure monkey business, steals a little from KORN, borrow from LIMP BIZKIT and add a little grunge and Heavy Metal to it together in a mish-mash. I can't say they impressed me very much and sure, this type of music isn't my favorite but even taking that into count it still wasn't very impressive.It always shines through when bands try to be something they're not, it gets forced and it's never nice to watch. The thing though, on a few songs they turned over more to grunge and it became something completely different. Benjamin Frank Jensen sounds a lot like John Bush and when the music turned more towards ALICE IN CHAINS or the softest parts of ANTHRAX, URBAN PRIMATES actually sounded decent. But still, when it's this mess of styles and expressions it's very hard to determine if it's good or bad, if they actually has potential or it was just a bit of luck when they felt real, when the music sounded really good.

URBAN PRIMATES setlist:

1. "A Price To Pay"
2. "Complicated"
3. "On Your Way"
4. "No Return"
5. "At Last"
6. "Take The Pain"
7. "Broke"
8. "Tell Me Your Lies"
9. "You're Blind"

It's not very often it's my first time to see a band live anymore so I was really looking forward to see EVIL MASQUERADE. I really like their records but since they're not the most frequent live act in the world I'd never gotten the opportunity to see them. I had a feeling that it could go either way this night, either I would be truly disappointed or extremely thrilled. I wasn't blown away but it's more towards the latter at least. And the thing is, EVIL MASQUERADE could be a great live band but it felt like the show never started. There was this bunch of super musicians, having a good time and playing a few songs… It doesn't take much to create a good live show, sometimes a little planning is all it takes. I can't pinpoint what felt strange, probably the order of the songs or that there were no natural flow through the concert. There were some awkward dead silent moments, and the band lurking in the darkest corners of the stage, behind Apollo Papathanasio. He though did a great performance as usual. Damn he's good! He can do anything from high pitch power metal to really soulful ballads to copying Ronnie James Dio and it always sounds absolutely perfect. I never thought he would suite in this quite theatrical outfit but he sure do. I guess it was just that he never been having an opportunity to show off all he can do with FIREWIND. Everything he does, looks so easy and effortless.

It was great to see EVIL MASQUERADE though, musically there's nothing to complain about at all. Perfection from the band, the outbound sound had more to wish for but since the place unfortunately didn't get crowded it was easy to move forward and listen to what came out of the amplifiers rather than the PA. Mixing both the stage sound and the PA made everything more intense, with that the sound got decent at least.

That all of the members of EVIL MASQUERADE are fully aware of what they're doing with their instruments no one can question. One great addition to the show was that all of them got their chance to shine. A short bass-solo and keyboard solo baked into songs is always a pleasant surprise. Apollo overdid his Dio impression a bit but with a voice and a range like that no one should complain about a little too much whaling. Henrik Flyman sat down at the edge of the stage for his guitar solo. Just that little thing, when he really connected with the audience everything got so good. He should really show a little more of that confidence and attitude throughout the whole set. It could be that, only Apollo showed off with great confidence and if the band doesn't show that they truly believe in what they do, how can the crowd do that? But all in all EVIL MASQUERADE did a good gig, just a little detail as place a candelabras with real candles on the stage did a lot for the atmosphere. I still think it's strange that this event didn't attract more people, there were fans from Germany, Sweden, Lithuania and UK but where were all the Danish people? Next time, I would really love to see EVIL MASQUERADE with the right prerequisites, they should have decent lights, a setup exclusively made for them and then I think it will be much better. Then they will match the stage show with how they sound.

EVIL MASQUERADE setlist:

1. "Intro"
2. "Third Act"
3. "But You Were Smiling…"
4. "In A Dungeon Close To Hell"
5. "The Darkness Within"
6. "Children Of The Light"
7. "I'll Make You Burn"
8. "The Ultimate Game"
9. "Different Shades Of Black"
10. "Oh Harlequin"
11. "Other Ways To Babylon"
12. "The Dark Minstrel Plays"

Encore #1:
13. "Hollow Soul"
14. "Black Ravens Cry"

Encore #2:
15. "I Believe In Sin"

(photos masqueraded by Erika)