Südpol  Club, Kriens,  Switzerland – 17.05.2025

The term “South Pole” refers to the southernmost point on Earth. However, you don't have to travel that far to experience something great. The municipality of Kriens in the canton of Lucerne has a club with this name. Why should you go there? Bad Marilyn was celebrating singer Andrea Böll's birthday that night. The support acts were King Sable and the German band Fireborn. There was a lot of euphoria and I didn't want to miss this event. Then there was curiosity, because I wanted get to know this venue. I set off to Kriens. We were allowed to enter at 7 pm. Fireborn from Lörrach kicked off the evening one hour later. I saw the band led by charismatic singer Jennifer Gruber live at the Rockfact Music Club in Münchenstein once and they made a great impression. So I was really

looking forward to their performance. The stage was bathed in blue light, the band members arrived and they started with “Young Heart Dies” after the intro Human. The guitarists Flo & Dennis provided the pressure with their riffs and often switched sides to compete with bassist Chris in guitar duels. The sound was catchy and hard at the same time and beamed positive vibes into the heads of the spectators. Another plus was Jennifer Gruber's vocals. She was able to break the ice with her Baden charm, positive charisma and a lot of rock'n'roll in her voice in no time and had the audience clapping along and making fist movements in the air. Effects such as clouds of fog shooting out of the machine and sparks shooting out in the background were another plus for the five-piece. You could feel the enthusiasm in the audience. The band is currently recording their upcoming album and Jenny pointed out the Startnext campaign to raise money. As a nice surprise, she announced “the next three songs you will hear are three new ones from the upcoming album”. These three songs were catchy and had a lot of groove. Their structure made them different from the previous ones, which was well received. Actually, “Set Off” would have been the end. Here Dennis was able to kick ass with a guitar solo. However, there were calls for an “encore” from the band. The persistence paid off and “Human” was played. After 60 minutes, Jenny, Chris, Dennis, Raphi and Flo said goodbye. They put passion, joy and heart into their performance and were met with frenetic applause. The Journey hit “Don't Stop Believing” was used as an outro.  The only bad thing was Flo played with them live for the last time and left the band. Setlist Fireborn Intro Human Young Heart Dies As Long As I Love Evil’s Fight Proud And Ashamed Deep Blue Water Pack Of Wolves Done With You You Seem So Far Malicious Rose Pull The Trigger Likes For A Life Dancing With The Villain Set Off Human The next band was King Sable from canton of Lucerne. I was able to see them with Thola as part of the “United Metal Forces Tour” at Rockfact Music Club in Münchenstein. The stage was bathed in blue light at 9:30 pm once again and almost the entire band was ready to play. An intro sounded and singer Andy Itten joined the band shortly afterwards and “Into The Hollow” kicked off the show. The microphone fell out briefly as he was about to sing the chorus. This misfortune was fixed within 1-2 minutes. Their melodic metalcore met with a positive response from the audience. There was a lot of action on stage and despite the limited space, rhythm guitarist Alexander Lorenz and his lead guitarist colleague Rob Matthys were able to compete in guitar duels. Bassist Tinu joined in as he was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of his fellow musicians. Rob's guitar solos were clean and played with a lot of feeling. In addition to songs from “Demons We Feed”, the current album “Nothing But The Truth” was also played. A good choice by the Lucerners. This was followed by a song called „Tear It Down“ about the riots at the Woodstock Festival III in Rome, New York State, USA, in 1999. A new song “Signs of Sickness” was played. Aim For The Chin" was about boxing. “Lose Control” marked the end after “I Own The World”. The outro bumped out the speakers and the members left the stage. They received applause for their good performance. They landed a hat trick with me with this show. Setlist King Sable Intro Into The Hollow Nothing But The Truth Demons We Feed Bury The Pain Signs Of Sickness Lie To Me Tear It Down Aim For The Chin Worst Nightmare Rebel Rage I Own The World Lose Control Outro According to the clock, it was 11 pm and headliner Bad Marilyn stepped on the stage. The audience wasn’t tired, but  on fire. There was headbanging, lots of movement, clapping and singing along. Guitarist Sammy Lasagni caused a  sensation with his guitar solos and seemed cool and laid-back at the same time. Keyboardist Andri Leonardo was allowed  to contribute background vocals from time to time and joined Sammy and bassist David Craffonara with his portable  keyboard. They competed to see who looked fancier and played the instrument better. A draw, all three made a flawless  impression. Drummer Stephan Felber convinced with his playing. Before “Queen of Thunder”, Andrea mixed up the  announcement about the background of the song and announced it before “Perfect Moment”. Mistakes happen, but  it  got fast and furious. The ballad “Stay Awake” helped to catch our breath. "Are you already tired or is there anything left?  It's getting faster again“ said Andrea and ”Broken Days" increased the speed. "You have to help me with the next song  and make sure you shout the following word: Retribution. Can you do that?" asked Andrea. This task was mastered with  flying colors and the word was shouted along loudly on command. Andrea left the stage and walked around the room  before returning to the stage. Then the clock showed midnight and before the encore “Revolution”, singer Andrea  received a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of champagne, which she opened, filled a few glasses and gave them to the  audience to drink. She wiped a few tears from her eyes and replied "Usually I don't  celebrate birthdays, but with you,  this is awesome. Thank you so much". Andrea also announced their debut album “Eye Of The Snake” was released on  2024 and became one year old. The encore was played and a lot of power and energy was used again before the show  ended. We were spoiled with top notch sound for 70 minutes. It would be great if this band would be included in the  program of the Wacken Open Air festival.  Setlist Bad Marilyn I Die Inside Eye Of The Snake Eternal Pain Legend Of Salvation When She’s Gone Children Of Tomorrow Perfect Moment Queen Of Thunder Stay Awake Perfect Days Retribution We Will Rise Revolution Conclusion: an evening with different genres and great live performances came to an end. Another plus point from my point of view was the accessibility of the musicians. They made time for small talk with the fans at the merchandise stand after the performances. It was also an opportunity to escape the Eurovision Song Contest terror of the last few days for a while and enjoy real music with talent. Many thanks to the Südpol team for hosting the event. Livereport by Dominic Latscha