Presented by Rockfact Music Club & IRON-T21

Rockfact Music Club, Münchenstein,  Switzerland – 16.09.2023

The summer passed by too fast again. The memories of Open Airs and festivals remained mentally preserved. Autumn announced itself and the concerts returned to the venues. The Metal band Aeonblack from Lörrach announced their 20th anniversary this year and this had to be celebrated. How cool that Rockfact Music Club had been chosen for this party. Re:Loaded was added to the program as support act. A tasteful event, which I couldn’t miss and that’s why I  participated in the concert. It started at 8:45 pm and the  Re:Loaded members entered the stage. It was their second gig after their premiere at Phönix Rockkeller in Muttenz in February 2023. One wondered how the four-piece would present itself. A determined „Yeah“ came as respon-

se to the announcement „Are you ready ?“ by singer A.C. and „Eye of the storm“ oppened their appearance. The band of main man A.C. gave full throttle from the beginning. Their mix of classic and modern hard rock and heavy metal was well-received by the audience. Thanks to the good mixing, the songs were convincing in their structure and catchiness. The band members spreaded much fun and passion during their performance and was rewarded with much applause. Moreover A.C. explained the background of songs to the spectators for example „Something“ was about what’s going wrong in the world today. „Gimme More“ was about the spoiled society. After so much social criticism it was cool that a positive song "This is us" about what makes us as humans was played. A new song „Get A Life“ was played live for the first time and a video clip was shot recently. The makers of this work Goran and Yanick got a round of applause when A.C made this public. Things got really wild with „Wasted Cowboys“. The chorus was sung with much enthusiasm by the spectators and a little moshpit occured in one of the back rows and seemed pretty cool.  The spectators answered with „Yeah“ to the question „Are you excited? “ and a great cover version of the Pointer Sisters evergreen „I’m so excited“ followed. This version was done in a brilliant way. A.C. with his dirty voice and the guitar tunes of Marco were a good match. Lead guitarrist Dumbo could show his skills with guitar solos and did a great job. After that "Mirror" was against people who always condemn others immediately. Recently, this was the case of Rammstein singer Till Lindemann, who faced a shitstorm. As it should be for any band, there should be a song about love too and "Lovesong" got played . Actually, the gig would‘ve ended here, but the performance was so good that an encore was demanded. No sooner said than done and "Break Out" rang out. After that the show was over and the band members of Re:Loaded were adopted with applause. It was a good performance of the band and I‘m looking forward to more gigs. Setlist Re:Loaded Eye of the storm Something Gimme More This Is Us Get A Life Wasted Cowboys I’m so excited – Pointer Sisters Mirror Lovesong Break Out A short interruption occured before headliner Aeonblack appeared. I was very keen on this group because I only knew their name and had no experience so far. Furthermore it’s great to see there’re still small bands which keep up the flag of heavy metal together in today‘s fast-paced world. The members stood on stage at 10:05 pm and an intro rang out. „Specter in black“ sounded as first song and no prisoners were taken. Singer Holger convinced with a great vocal performance and had nuances of Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson and Judas Priest singer Rob Halford. In addition you could notice these influences in the tunes of guitar players Floyd and Ferdi. The music was more old school in contrast to the opening band. Both guitarrists Floyd and Ferdi changed with guitar solos time and time again. That was great from my point of view because every guitar player could enjoy the spotlight for a moment. Holger and his comrades spread joy and passion during their show and it reflected in statements like "Last weekend we played at a festival in front of 2500 people, but you guys kick more ass than them". The top-class music was served to the audience and really unfolded its effect with hits like "Nightwalker", "Warriors Call", "Metal Machine" or "Conquistadores". A treat that was welcomed by the concertgoers. Bassist Roland played his instrument without a pic and demonstrated his dexterity. Holger told that a video clip was realized for the song „Phantom of Pain“. Although the audience enjoyed the performance, they also had to their part. Holger wanted to find out their singing qualities and let them imitate some words "ohohohoh yeah" or "Hell Yeah" by first showing how it works. He was happy to notice the audience didn‘t only step in with a lot of enthusiasm, but also elicited a smile. The Lörracher wanted to leave  the stage after "This is" and "The Time Will Come" but this was prevented immediately with determined, loud encore shouts. The persistence paid off because the Iron Maiden  „The Trooper“ followed and rounded off the great peformance. So Holger, Ferdinand, Roland, Floyd and Klaus said goodbye. Setlist Aeonblack Intro Specter in black Metal Bound Raw, Loud and Furious Nightwalker Warriors Call Metal Machine Conquistadores Phantom of pain This is The Time Will Come The Trooper – Iron Maiden Conclusion: It was a great evening with a lot of good music from both bands. However, there was also one negative point of criticism. From my point of view, it wasn‘t okay going to a concert and leaving it after the opening band without even giving the main band a chance in terms of music. If you don't like it, that's understandable at any time, but what happened this evening isn‘t acceptable at all. Tobias Schäublin was responsible for the sound as a mixer and Stefan Walker took care of the light. Livereport by Dominic Latscha