Charon / Schierling
Hannover – February 26, 2006
(report/ translation by Wiebke)
It
is a cold Sunday evening on which I am on my way to Hanover to see Schierling
and especially Charon. It took Charon more than two years to perform in Germany
again. In front of the venue a friend is waiting for me and still it is enough
time for a “Bionade” ( a very good fizzy drink just made off biological
ingredients) at Café Siesta which is in the front.
You can hear some guitar sounds coming out of the concert room because one band
is still doing its sound check. Then the glass doors are opened and the visitors
mostly female and well-dressed enter the room which looks with its seats like a
mixture of an old cinema and theatre. In fact that the concert will start later
some people take a seat or watch the things at the merchandise place where you
can get next to “normal” t-shirts some stranger things like hand cuffs.
A short time later the main lights get out and Schierling enter stage. The musicians are dressed very similar with red longsleeves and black t-shirts. Well, in my opinion the sound examples on their homepage where not very convincing so I am even more curious about the things I will listen to. You can see that these boys are no professionals because they seem all a little nervous. But they have a lot of fun on stage and they are proud to play for the audience. Bass player Gerrit is a wild head banger and guitar play Guiseppe plays his solos very concentrated. Guitar player/vocalist Chris shouts and sings his lyrics but sometimes his voice is not perfectly on the right tone. At some passages he is supported by Gerrit who has a warm singing voice so you can get a real goose-flash.
I think the comparison with In Flames is not well chosen but in the point of the guitar work Schierling don´t have to hide behind that Swedish band. Their riffs are well balanced and really catchy and also two voices guitar leads are not missing. Finally some people in the first row are moving in a crazy way. But the place in front of the stage is still really empty. Maybe the Gothic people in the audience don´t like this mixture of Rock and Metal. That´s a pity because this band that drummer has his first live appearance tonight deserves a positive resonance. But the boys don´t take it personally like Chris said in his welcome speech: “Hi, we are Schierling and we are here tonight to warm you up for Charon!”
Setlist: Morpheus – Stopp den Wahnsinn – Allein zu zweit – Stille Momente – Angst – Vorwärts nach zurück – „New Song“ – 17C
The brake is short and some time later the stage is full of fog. The ladies are pushing themselves in the middle of the first row directly. Could the reason of that behaviour be the front man who is entering stage earning much applause? Definitely, that´s possible because he has some attributes which let a woman´s heart beat faster. He is attractive with a charming smile and a voice which can sound very soft but also aggressive. But you can´t hear his beautiful voice the next time because of a broken microphone. It looks crazy to see him performing without hearing a single tone. He seems to be surprised the first moment, too but takes guitar player Lauri´s background microphone until the band is repeating the first part of the song to make it easier for J-P to get back into the song called “Colder”.
It reveals soon that J-P doesn´t fit in the cliché of the taciturn Finn. He tells that he is very happy that so many people came on a Sunday because that seems to be different in Finland. Concerts have to take part on Friday or Saturday because the people want to get extremely drunk. And that is the second point that satisfies him. The people don´t get (so) drunk and pay attention to the music. The band continues with “Bullet” a song from the actual album “Song For The Sinners” where J-P can use all facets of his voice. The vocals in this song vary from soft to dramatic to heavy. The guitar players Lauri and Pasi rock as well although Charon moved away from their metal roots.
My first personal highlight is “Four Seasons Rush” from the second album “Tearstained” which is introduced by J-P as a song he loves very much. Base player Teemu rolls with his eyes during this announcement maybe he gets bored…well, I think it´s enough, too. But the next minutes compensate for everything. The song begins in a calm way and gets very dramatic in the chorus. The riff is a weighty neck breaker but nobody except J-P does it. Before “Sister Misery” J-P strikes up Dio´s “Holy Diver”. There must be some fun. And it is obvious that band and audience have a great time because each song is rejoiced enthusiastically. The following “Little Angel” is the favourite song tonight. J-P stops and the fans sing the chorus as a choir. And I have to say that sounds definitely not bad.
The regular set is finished with the rocking “Deep Water”. The band leaves the stage and let the yelling fans wait for some time. Of course the applause and the “we want more”-shouts don´t end so the Finns get back on stage. Firstly Pasi appears and starts to play a melody. Hey, what´s that?! AC/DC!!! Correctly it is the first riff from “Hells Bells”. Well, I have to admit that I am really curious how the whole song would sound but they don´t continue. Charon leads over to “As We Die” which is a great song either. “At The End Of Our Day” follows which is full of pathos. “House Of The Silent” marks the final song and after that the band says goodbye.
Setlist: Colder – Guilt On Skin – Bullet – If – Bitter Joy – In Trust Of No One – Four Seasons Rush – Ride On Tears – Rain – Desire You – Sister Misery – Little Angel – Come Tonight – Deep Water II As We Die – At The End Of Our Day – House Of The Silent
But the evening is still not over because Charon invites the people for an after show party. The word party may sound a little to massive in this context because it is more like an “hour with the band”. The band but mostly J-P tells funny tour stories and signs everything that the fans give to them. It is also enough time to get some pictures with the band members.
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