PAIN, Kuln
25.04.2009, ‘Blue Box’ club. Sofia - Bulgaria

words by: Stefan Topuzov, photo: Metal Katehizis.

A metal show is probably the only kind of happening that could be 3 hours late with all kinds of holes in the organizers’ plan showing up, and then still leave people satisfied. Well, on Saturday night Bulgarian witnessed yet another episode confirming this thesis.

Despite the modest warning that was given away days before the show that it would be a bit late, a solid crowd had gathered in front of ‘Blue Box’ since 8 PM. The show was held back a few hours due to the fact that the venue was booked for another happening (a Bat Mitzvah, by presumption) right before when the show was supposed to begin. The organizers managed to do what they usually do in a day in only a few hours (despite some rather insulting chants from the audience waiting outside) and I assume they broke a sweat from hurrying.

Once they started letting people in, though, they did it fairly fast. I still manage to catch only the end of KULN’s set. The couple of songs I actually see being performed lead me to believe I have missed something good. The band plays well, the sound is good, lighting is co-ordinated with their music… it is not like the opening band got short on anything.

At the end frontman Boyan throws his bass which is totally rock’n roll!

After some 10 minutes of no-bullshit soundchecking PAIN’s intro sounds and moments later they are on the stage and hammer us with the energetic opener from their last album – ‘I’m Going in’.

Peter Tägtgren & CO totally crush live, all the 900 plus people in the packed venue find out. Live the band is way less Marilyn Manson and way more Ministry so to speak. METAL! The heavy riffs sound heavier the energetic songs are even more energetic… there’s no way the whole thing doesn’t grab you unless you have some sort of severe iron insufficiency in your blood.

The stage setting looks impressive as well – there is a bigass banner with the ‘Cynic Paradise’ artwork covering pretty much the entire wall behind the band, on the two sides of the drums there are also a couple of screens that flash series of electro-industrially suitable images that remind us the concepts of Pain’s past albums.

The band leaves us with the impression that they are trying to compensate the crowd for the long wait by avoiding any talking or un-necessary dicking around between songs. We also hear the fast ‘Suicide Machine’, ‘Bitch’ (addressed to all the women in the crowd, ‘nothing personal’), ‘I Don’t Care’, ‘Nailed to the Ground’ before the last song ‘On and On’.

And now, after having waited for a while and having heard a fairly long set from Pain, people still chant for more. And they get more – ‘Follow Me’, ‘Same Old Song’ and of course – ‘Shut Your Mouth’. There is also a second and final encore – ‘Bye/Die’.

Peter Tägtgren seems to have gone dumb. He probably thinks to himself ‘Damn, these guys were into it!’. ‘He bought it, now he will come with Hypocrisy’, the crowd thinks back. Well, we hope we don’t wait too long for that…

…In front of the venue, that is…