A couple of weeks ago I was already writing about how I was trying to get tickets to the sold out show of Moderat in the AFAS arena in Holland. The AFAS arena was formerly known as the Heineken Music Hall (HMH) and this is known as one of the best indoor settings for music throughout Europe. Getting the tickets was a drag and it took me way too much time and refreshing websites, but finally I got my tickets.
And finally….the show was there. With some friends coming in from different countries we had a nice little meetup, but not with that much talking because we had some dancing to be done. First we had to wrestle ourselves through the opening act of SYLVERE, let’s say it is just not my style. But then quickly after that the combo of Mode Selektor and Apparat entered the stage.
And wow I couldn’t have been blown away more than I was. From the second that the song Remember started vocals from Sasha Ring were on point and the crowd was super willing (something that isn’t always the deal in Holland as we tend to be ‘too cool’ for dancing) to go for it. And the setlist was brutal! Even through Moderat just has a new album out this year, usually that would be a good reason to tour with just those new songs and only have some occasional oldies in there.
But this wasn’t the case. The mix was good! And wow the visuals accompanied to the show just gave this whole vibe in there. Often I have heard that Moderat would love to make a soundtrack for a movie, and with how they can create a whole dark setting in there with lights and atmospheres, they totally would be able to do this.
Having the new song MORE LOVE (I don’t know why the new album only has caps as titles) blend into Animal trail was sweet. Ghostmother was a calming moment in the show (maybe too calm even) but afterwards the combination of the lighting and the visuals with the xray hands at a new error were totally on fire again.
Eating Hooks was back with vocals again, and by this time I was already a bit zoned out in my own world because the show was so consuming which was awesome. Running came after this, leading into one of these new songs which I didn’t recognize yet (need to listen the new album more for sure). ’When I was dead asleep’ the visuals intertwined with the song on the big ass video wall while Last Time was playing. As we reached the end of the set you felt there was still more in store..
Of course there was an encore, there always is. Can’t we just stop doing this? Milk started to play and only one person got back on stage and this was just a really easy but intense song. This went over in Bad Kingdom as the climax and I was surprised that they played another song after, which I really enjoyed.
For me this truly was the show of the year, but maybe this is also because this one of the first bigger shows indoors I have been to since I moved back to Holland. Does this make me biased? Who knows! Does it matter? Hell no, if I had the option to go again tonight I would for sure!
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