Lamb Of God
Forum, Copenhagen - 2023
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
After several failed attempts, it was finally here - the State of Unrest tour!
I can hardly count the times this show was postponed. Not saying it wasn’t for a good reason, one we’re all too painfully aware of, but it’s impressive that the bands involved didn’t just cut their losses at one point or another - to me, that shows some tenacity on their part, which is admirable.
“It only took us three years to make this tour happen! I know some of you bought tickets years ago, thank you for your patience!”
- Randy Blythe (vocals)
Given their high status among the fans, I wasn’t surprised about Lamb Of God holding the main position of the evening - I was only happy that the Copenhagen crowd had shown much love and support for Kreator and Municipal Waste as well.
The band kicked things off with Memento Mori, cleverly using the calm beginning of the song as a taped intro, with the band coming in and taking over when we reached the first scream about a minute and a half into the song.
After this, Lamb Of God went on about their business at a high speed, Blythe didn’t talk much, instead letting the music speak for itself. Well, except for a few calls to action in the crowd, with requests or demands for moshpits, circle pits, and crowd surfing - all of which he got an admirable response to. Thressure was actually thus, that already in the second song of the evening, Ruin, I could literally feel the floor swaying under my feet!
Yes, despite some recurring technical difficulties (they kept changing the cymbals at several points during the show) and the horrifying fact that Willie Adler was chewing gum on stage (don’t, just don’t!), Lamb Of God had a tight grip on their fans. As a body the Forum visitors were raising hell as best they could, and when Blythe didn’t come with requests from the band, they just made it up as they went along. As with the rest of the evening, there was an impressive amount of crowdsurfers, or maybe there was an impressive amount of crowdsurfing from a select few - I don’t know, but I do know there was nearly always someone up there, sailing by.
The band gained a few extra cheap points of course, when dedicating Now You’ve Got Something To Die For to the fans who’d kept their tickets from way back when, as well as their good friend who works in Christiania. Blythe managed to squeeze a bit more shouts out of the crowd, as he finished the dedication by saying that the town should stay open and free.
Ending the show on a strong note, the whole crowd was invited to flip the band off in Laid To Rest, and when Redneck came round, it was time for the usual circlepit of insanity. What I liked best, was that relatively new drummer Art Cruz had the presence of mind after the show, while sending drumsticks flying, to notice a very young kid on the shoulders of his father - the kid’s father, not Cruz’s - and sign a drum skin which he then handed personally to him.
With the risk of sounding like a broken record, I felt Lamb Of God delivered pretty much the lively kind of performance they’re known for - certainly a bit less jumping from Blythe, and the guitarists were ever so fond of looking at their toes - but they have yet to win me over musically. If you’ll excuse the expression, they feel like a poor man’s Pantera to me. Lot’s of heaviness, lot’s of chugging, very little in way of recognisability and distinction between songs and riffs.
Still, it had been a good night, and while Lamb Of God was the weakest point for me, I’ll accept that they were, by the looks of it, the fan favourite.
Setlist:
Memento Mori
Ruin
Walk With Me In Hell
Resurrection Man
Ditch
Now You’ve Got Something To Die For
Contractor
Omerta
Omens
11th Hour
512
Vigil
Laid To Rest
Redneck
I can hardly count the times this show was postponed. Not saying it wasn’t for a good reason, one we’re all too painfully aware of, but it’s impressive that the bands involved didn’t just cut their losses at one point or another - to me, that shows some tenacity on their part, which is admirable.
“It only took us three years to make this tour happen! I know some of you bought tickets years ago, thank you for your patience!”
- Randy Blythe (vocals)
Given their high status among the fans, I wasn’t surprised about Lamb Of God holding the main position of the evening - I was only happy that the Copenhagen crowd had shown much love and support for Kreator and Municipal Waste as well.
The band kicked things off with Memento Mori, cleverly using the calm beginning of the song as a taped intro, with the band coming in and taking over when we reached the first scream about a minute and a half into the song.
After this, Lamb Of God went on about their business at a high speed, Blythe didn’t talk much, instead letting the music speak for itself. Well, except for a few calls to action in the crowd, with requests or demands for moshpits, circle pits, and crowd surfing - all of which he got an admirable response to. Thressure was actually thus, that already in the second song of the evening, Ruin, I could literally feel the floor swaying under my feet!
Yes, despite some recurring technical difficulties (they kept changing the cymbals at several points during the show) and the horrifying fact that Willie Adler was chewing gum on stage (don’t, just don’t!), Lamb Of God had a tight grip on their fans. As a body the Forum visitors were raising hell as best they could, and when Blythe didn’t come with requests from the band, they just made it up as they went along. As with the rest of the evening, there was an impressive amount of crowdsurfers, or maybe there was an impressive amount of crowdsurfing from a select few - I don’t know, but I do know there was nearly always someone up there, sailing by.
The band gained a few extra cheap points of course, when dedicating Now You’ve Got Something To Die For to the fans who’d kept their tickets from way back when, as well as their good friend who works in Christiania. Blythe managed to squeeze a bit more shouts out of the crowd, as he finished the dedication by saying that the town should stay open and free.
Ending the show on a strong note, the whole crowd was invited to flip the band off in Laid To Rest, and when Redneck came round, it was time for the usual circlepit of insanity. What I liked best, was that relatively new drummer Art Cruz had the presence of mind after the show, while sending drumsticks flying, to notice a very young kid on the shoulders of his father - the kid’s father, not Cruz’s - and sign a drum skin which he then handed personally to him.
With the risk of sounding like a broken record, I felt Lamb Of God delivered pretty much the lively kind of performance they’re known for - certainly a bit less jumping from Blythe, and the guitarists were ever so fond of looking at their toes - but they have yet to win me over musically. If you’ll excuse the expression, they feel like a poor man’s Pantera to me. Lot’s of heaviness, lot’s of chugging, very little in way of recognisability and distinction between songs and riffs.
Still, it had been a good night, and while Lamb Of God was the weakest point for me, I’ll accept that they were, by the looks of it, the fan favourite.
Setlist:
Memento Mori
Ruin
Walk With Me In Hell
Resurrection Man
Ditch
Now You’ve Got Something To Die For
Contractor
Omerta
Omens
11th Hour
512
Vigil
Laid To Rest
Redneck
Lamb Of God
