After waiting for a long time, Pain was finally back on tour, with the aptly named I Am On Tour. We knew we had to go see them, and as the Hamburg and Berlin shows were slated one right after the other, a German trek was undoubtedly afoot.

"Let's have some fun! It doesn't all have to be so fucking serious!"
- Peter Tägtgren (vocals/guitar)

The show opened up with the same cartoon video we saw introduced last year, which was ok, because it is still seriously funny to see. The young Painhead lighting a match, revealing the band logo, and then the older, more sinister Painhead showing up out of the shadows, grinning wickedly to itself before the match goes out and the band enters the stage.
While things certainly moved along at a crisp pace in the beginning, and it was clear to see that while the band was present and involved, you would have been forgiven for thinking that this might turn out to be a standard, middle of the road show. While being energetic enough, the show felt a bit rushed, as if they had to get through it without having time to dwell on the moments along the way. Spoiler alert, it wasn't so. It absolutely wasn't so!
While the cartoon kept popping up between songs, developing the storyline between the two characters, this clearly wasn't the only trick in Pain's arsenal. Peter Tägtgren, Sebastian Svalland, and Jonathan Olsson turned out to be extremely playful once they got over that initial rush - and they had to rush, because of that long and impressive setlist they had put together for us. No less than 19 songs ensured both a width over time, but also that pretty much all the live favourites could be included, as well as the new single, Revolution.

“You guys like blues? (murmured, non-committal responses) Well, fuck you then!”
- Tägtgren (vocals/guitar)

The brilliantly funny videos, where especially the Super Mario Bros. pastiche during Bye/Die grabbed all of our attention (to the point that we forgot to listen to the song, so that was slightly unfortunate), weren’t the only gimmick the band had in store for us this evening. The Joakim Brodén section in Call Me was preluded by an argument between Tägtgren, Svalland, and Olsson, as they seemingly didn’t know who forgot to invite the Sabaton vocalist; while this was certainly a fun little skit, I wonder how many got it, as they fought in Swedish at a German show.
There was also the thing for Have A Drink On Me, where they all sat down on chairs, except for Olsson, who got a small wooden crate. That joke was good, but for my sake, they could have taken the style even further, and reworked the song into something much bluesier; that would have been great.
One song with which they did push the joke to the limit was Party In My Head. We’ve seen them in costumes before, but they were upgraded this time around, and I have to admit that I fell absolutely in love with Svalland’s furry guitar - it was hilarious! Definitely cool that the crowd was in on the game as well, with at least a couple of girls in the front row putting on hair bands with horns with blinking lights in them, festive and fitting for the song.
No Pain show would be complete without an appearance from the band’s own Eddie, the Painhead! This unfortunate creature showed up in most of the video material of course, but for Shut Your Mouth, the last song of the set, it also showed up in person, first wreaking havoc on stage, and afterwards it was standing up on the balcony, overlooking the band finishing the song off.

It has to be said, Gruenspan was jam-packed with people this evening, and the Hamburg fans weren’t holding back in their admiration for the band. While being highly responsive to Tägtgren’s chit chat between songs, shouting and applauding, they also proved their worth in singing along to the songs for most of the way, and Same Old Song got a monster of a welcome when the title showed up on screen, and everyone was giving it their all when the song began to move.
If my favourite part of the show was the furry guitar, the best part of the audience experience came with Shut Your Mouth. After Painhead left the stage, Tägtgren turned the mic round to the crowd, letting them take the song over, and they had a blast with it! The temperature was so high, it was literally dripping from the ceiling!

After the song ended, it wasn’t surprising to see the entire string section of the band keel over and lie in heaps on the floor. Sebastian Tägtgren, being the youngest and most tenacious member of the band, took this opportunity to deliver a short drum solo before the night truly came to a close.
I may have been apprehensive at the beginning of the show, but as you can tell, that fear was quickly and soundly put out of my mind, and we all ended up having a great old time. The only thing keeping the sadness of it being over at bay, was of course that we knew we were going to see them again the day after in Berlin.

Setlist:

Let Me Out
End Of The Line
Nailed To The Ground
The Great Pretender
Call Me (feat. Joakim Brodén on video)
Revolution
Zombie Slam
Suicide Machine
Monkey Business
Coming Home
Have A Drink On Me
Same Old Song
It’s Only Them
Bye/Die
Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones cover)
Party In My Head
On And On
I’m Going In
Shut Your Mouth
My Way (Frank Sinatra song)