From the concert on June 23, 2007 I have learned a few things. First - that much water will flow under the bridge before Digibath Enterprises achieve good organization and sound in their concerts. Second - that Ill NiЕ€o are great guys. And third - that this band has a killing audience.

Still before the announced for 8 p.m. beginning, there was a crowd gathered in front of the Hristo Botev Hall in Sofia, waiting patiently to be allowed in and having in mind the fact that the boys of the band were hanging around the backstage entrance, nothing was giving a hint that we were about to face another delay of a concert. This time it was modest - “just” about three hours...

What exactly was the problem we couldn’t find out, but around 9 p.m. a puffing lady came out and shared that there were missing some cables. Well, the cables arrived, brought like an armful by an out of breath man. In a quarter to ten. And somewhere in this time the promoters inside were discussing the option the supporting bands to be cut off for a consecutive time because of the mercilessly advancing time. Luckily, Ill Niňo happened to be extremely stable guys and declared that they won’t hit the stage until our bands played before them. Such a support from other “stars” I haven’t met here until now.

Anyway. The crowd was let in the hall around 10:30 p.m. And the first band for the evening, She Was Asking for It, started the show about half an hour later. They showed themselves with two singers and two songs in emo-core style.

The local metal machines Propaganda thanked the guests for the gesture and nailed their heavy hits in their well-known aggressive way. During the performance of the Bulgarian bands, it came clear that we won’t hear normal sound at this concert. First of all, it was very low, and second - really whitewashed and unbalanced. I was truly amazed when I saw on the both sides of the stage only two pairs of three loudspeakers, not higher than one meter each. It was like bringing your home hi-fi stereo and expecting to wire the sound of the hall.

Ill NiЕ€o stood in front of us a few minutes before midnight and ran directly into their interesting latino neo-metal. The engineers took care of the sound to be at least a bit louder if not clear. Besides the shitty acoustics of the hall, the resounding, and the lower vocal and lead guitars, the band performed on stage with laudable behavior. Cristian Machado and the other boys blustered, empowered by the about 500 fans of the sextet raging in the hall. The audience was really amazing and deserved admirations and the praise of its favorites. Among the people below there was not a single person to remain static - everybody was jumping, headbanging, raving and taking the maximum of every moment with Ill NiЕ€o. On stage and in front of it there were waving dreadlocks, raising fists and screams, here and there suspiciously smelling of herbs chased by the law, in other words - a party.

The songs by the guys from New Jersey sounded far more aggressive and heavy live than on CD and did not let anybody present indifferent. The mosh accompanied every track and it was like leading its own life among the crowd.

Well-known titles followed, the band presented also a song of its upcoming album, “Enigma”, we heard a short solo on drums and percussions by Dave and Daniel, and Cristian was maintaining the dialogue with the audience, sharing hopes that the band will return with a better sound system some day.

Suddenly we were pounced by the furious rhythm of “This Is the War”, the guys thanked the great public and hid. Only for a while. They returned on the stage and after the question, “Do you like metal?”, they poured over us a medley including fragments of songs by Slayer, Deftones, Twisted Sister, Scorpions and Sepultura. The fans went crazy on “How Can I Live” from the soundtrack to “Freddy Vs. Jason”, and Ill Niňo again expressed their gratitude for the warm welcome and finished the concert with the hit “Liar” from their debut. After an hour on stage, everything ended exactly at 1 a.m.

And so, with a huge delay and tragic sound quality, but also with a lot of mood passed this first (if we don’t count Korn’s) concert of a leading neo-metal band in Bulgaria. To the audience and to Ill Niňo - respect for making this show outstanding! Despite everything.

Words: Ivaylo Alexandrov.

Photos: Victor Alexandrov.

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