O2 Academy Islington, London
Saturday 21st May 2022
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VOLBEAT – LONDON – LIVE REVIEW
Tonight is one of those rare occasions where you get to catch a big band in a smaller venue; this intimate show helping Volbeat to celebrate their latest album, ‘Servant of the Mind’.
Sold out instantly, it’s not a surprise to see the queue worming its way around the shopping centre that the O2 Academy Islington is held within.
Once inside, fans are already packed in like sardines before support act Benediction take to the stage. Once they do they are entrusted with a whole 45 minutes, which is handy given their lengthy back catalogue.
During this time, the band do their best to entertain and warm up the baying, crammed and sweaty crowd. By the end, they’ve done enough to earn themselves a solid round of applause.
Clearly though those in attendance are here for Volbeat and the band are given a heroes welcomes as they arrive on the stage. Diving straight into ‘The Devil’s Bleeding Crown’ and ‘Pelvis on Fire’, it doesn’t take them long to have the audience on a string.
Volbeat are a phenomenal live act with the addition of Rob Caggiano in 2013 really helping to take them to the next level. Newest member, bassist, Kaspar Boye Larsen is also now fully established and watching them move around the stage along with Michael Poulsen, you can’t help but feel the band has achieved optimum status.
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The setlist tonight is a good career-spanning mix, but with an understandable focus on ‘Servant of the Mind’. ‘Wait A Minute My Girl’, ‘Temple of Ekur’, ‘Shotgun Blues’ and ‘Say No More’ all help to showcase another quality release from the group.
There are naturally huge responses to the likes of ‘Lola Montez’, ‘Sad Man’s Tongue’, ‘Dead but Rising’ and ‘Black Rose’. But really the entire time the band is on stage, the audience are lapping it up.
As we said at the start, it’s really great when you get to witness a big band in intimate surrounds and tonight has a special feel to it. A memorable night for fans is finally ended with a rousing rendition of ‘Still Counting’.
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