The day before, Pain had rocked Hamburg, but were they up for the task again today in Berlin? That question would soon be answered, because now both Turmion Kätilöt and Engel had had their time on the stage, and it was time for the main event of the evening...

Much like Pain always have new interesting support acts with them when they go out touring, Berlin almost always seem to offer up new interesting concert halls every time a tour passes by there. From what I hear, Knaack, where Pain’ve played before when visiting the German capitol is no more, so it was time to find a new location and the choice fell on Lido, a concert hall located slightly south-east of the town centre, near Schlesishes Tor. The place itself was quite nice even though it was placed in a rather run-down neighbourhood; it was split in two with a bar/concert hall, a short corridor and a bar/lounge in approximately the same size as the concert hall. The hall itself was quite interesting as neither room nor stage felt especially deep, but on the other hand they were both quite wide, and just like in Markthalle in Hamburg, Lido had steps on both sides of the main floor so that you could either have a sit if you felt like it, or just stand a head or more taller than the frontline.

But we’re not here to discuss the place in any long manner, what was important was the show.
And what a show it was! Just like the other night, Pain entered and quickly blasted us with Let Me Out and went quickly from song to song in the beginning. Interestingly, Pain was actually the only band tonight which had not changed a single song on their setlist; a bit odd considering both of the support bands had done so, but what the heck, you can’t have it all.
The most likely reason for this was that it was André Skaug (Clawfinger) and not the more permanent Johan Husgafvel who was handling the bass on this part of the tour, and thus the band needed to concentrate on the songs he knew well from the time he had been in the band and the few new ones he had had to learn for this time around.
Not that they needed to worry about his playing though, from what I saw and heard it was impeccable. In fact, it was once more Skaug who also delivered one of the most engaging performances of all the band-members, and it looked like he was even more comfortable and relaxed this night.
Both Michael Bohlin and David Wallin displayed what looked and felt like a great mood, and Peter Tägtgren had upped his performance as well. Not that he was really doing more than the other time, but he felt more present and into it. But again, Skaug was the one who really kicked ass!

The crowd was also something here at Lido! Turmion Kätilöt hadn’t had much luck with the Berliners, except for a chosen few, Engel had gotten a better response, but it wasn’t until Pain came on that people really began to let go of whatever inhibitions had held them back so far and just let the music take them away; there was moshing, headbanging and shouting in a very pleasant mess. Tägtgren wanted more though, and came with a slightly studied line about how we should all jump unless we were nailed to the ground (a grand prize if you can guess what song came next).
The Berlin crowd was also very receptive for the little gag with the acoustic guitar and the mini drumkit in Have A Drink On Me, and it was obvious that the band-members themselves also enjoyed this part to the fullest! I quick glance revealed that Bohlin had kept the panties from the other night, as they were still hanging from the headstock of his acoustic guitar, but as no word was made of it I doubt how many of tonight’s crowd got the joke.

So were Pain up for the task two nights in a row, could the show stand the test of time?
Yes, yes it could. I’m hard pressed to make out a favourite of the two; Hamburg had held the element of surprise, whereas Berlin saw the band function slightly better as a unity. The only thing I can say with any certainty is that both shows were great, and for the fans sake I do hope that we here at Metalmoments were not the only ones who took the time and effort to see both shows.

Setlist:

Let Me Out
Dancing With The Dead
Psalms Of Extinction
Dirty Woman
Zombie Slam
End Of The Line
Suicide Machine
Nailed To The Ground
It’s Only Them
The Great Pretender
I’m Going In
Monkey Business
Have A Drink On Me
Supersonic Bitch
Fear The Demons
Same Old Song
Shut Your Mouth