Welcome back on The Flood Inside Tour 2013 :) It is the sixth day of the tour and my second tryst with LONG DISTANCE CALLING, SÓLSTAFIR and AUDREY HORNE. For this I hit the road little spectacular towards Cologne and the • Essigfabrik • I am in high spirits what mainly is due to a serotonin overdose. Two days of sun left me brimming. As usual I have to struggle through some traffic around Cologne and lag an academic quarter behind yet manage to do the interview and show up on time in front of stage ;)

:: Muenster :: Esch-sur-Alzette ::

The venue is like doubled in size compared to the Muenster show. I did not expect a sold out show but though was surprised how many people came in. I guess the next big headliner tour will see LONG DISTANCE CALLING playing in crowded and sold out big locations.

:: pics ::

At 8pm :: AUDREY HORNE :: get on stage to kick off and ignite a sparkling firework of racy songs, sing along refrains, catchy harmonies, doubled guitar runs and solos. The hall is still clearly attended but it takes just two tracks and everybody is in and hooked. Singer Toschie pulls out all of the stops and closely interacts with the crowd. The perfect entertainer ;) His mates also have a lot of fun on stage and finally enough room to pose and to go wild. It’s a hell of a show, pure energy, pure fucking rock’n’roll! Toschie once again jumps among the audience singing along with them much to their surprise and pleasure. There are two camera people running around and film the entire show. I don’t know for whom they do this job, so watch out for some live footage soon. Unfortunately time flies by way too quickly. After around 40 minutes AUDREY HORNE finish their set. If I had to say something they would have to play 2 hrs ;) I can’t get enough. Even worse AUDREY HORNE will leave the tour after the Prague show as Arve Isdal has to go back to start the European tour with Enslaved. From Budapest on Sagh will join in. Another great Norwegian band. But as for now I’m left with mixed feelings. It was once again a fabulous show but the last one for me with AUDREY HORNE on this tour *sighs*.
Setlist: Redemption Blues, Youngblood, Pretty Little Sunshine, This Ends Here, There Goes A Lady, The King Is Dead, Straight Into Your Grave, Blaze Of Ashes

Next up is :: SÓLSTAFIR :: who once again start with Ljós I Stormi after the intro. Unfortunately light was dimmed to nothing and the stage full of smoke. So not that much to see or to take photos of. Best thing you can do is to close your eyes and to follow the Icelandic guys on their journey through the frozen lands of their home country. So I do and the atmosphere is hardly to top. Thanks to Dave ov Long Distance Calling Aðalbjörn and Sæþór can play their own guitars again. Finally I can also see the brand new SÓLSTAFIR banner on the back wall (that has its own story ;)). For the ceremony Mr. Tryggvason gets out his bottle of Whisky to fill it in the bass player and himself. Again the show finds its end way too fast. Full-throated encore calls got disdainfully ignored by the organizers. But I can tell you that SÓLSTAFIR will play full headline shows directly after the tour. Germans watch out and grab their tickets for SÓLSTAFIR on March 28 at Vortex, Siegen.
Setlist: Náttfari Intro, Ljós I Stormi, Svartir Sandar, Fjára, Goddess Of The Ages

Last but not least it is up to :: LONG DISTANCE CALLING :: to rock the Essigfabrik down to hell. And they do! Crowd is pushing hard towards the stage and the hall now really packed. The spoken words samples of Waves lead over to Nucleus while the stage gets bathed in apocalyptic blue lights. Audience downright freaks out, welcomes every song frenetically. The band can hardly believe what happens there, thanks the fans always again while the smiles on their faces get bigger and bigger. Yes, I have to say that the feedback here in Cologne is much more enthusiastic than in my hometown. Setlist is still the same but there is little change in the performance. At Tell The End singer Marsen left his platform and sung in front of the audience. Fans love it! I love this song! Once again shivers and goose bumps run up and down the spine. It’s such Über song, a hymn. At least for me. With only one encore LONG DISTANCE CALLING say good night and release the fans into this cold night.
Setlist: Waves Intro, Nucleus, The Figrin D'an Boogie, The Flood Inside, Black Paper Planes, Ductus, Tell The End, Arecibo (Long Distance Calling), Aurora, The Man Within, Metulsky Curse Revisited // Apparitions

Tonight’s show was just AWESOME! An evening of awesomeness. Incredible. Merchandise flies off the shelves and I’m deeply impressed to see SÓLSTAFIR manager and merchandise lady Erin whirling around between umpteen boxes, always polite, always nice and serving hundreds of fans the right thing they want, if they know what they want, because the variety of goods is huge. And the musicians of all bands don’t get tired of small talks with the fans and signing their stuff. Did I already mention how fkg amazing this evening was?
Now I wonder if this can be topped as I got confirmed for my last show of the tour in Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg :) Can hardly wait and I’m much looking forward. And I tell you, no snow or ice can keep me away from this! So!

story & pics © Dajana