Bolt Thrower was touring Europe during the month of January and couple of days into February. The final show of this tour just as the first took place in the Netherlands. This gig was held in the Patronaat in Haarlem. A place I had never been before. I had been at the Rotterdam gig before, so this was my second time seeing them on this tour. Unlike that night, this place wasn’t entirely sold out, although it was quite full. Then again this venua was at least twice as big.

Opening was Necrophagist who played the exact same set list as before. And like in the Baroeg, they had a rather mediocre sound. Nevertheless it was still more than enjoyable, to watch these guys pulling off their very technical death metal. Once again, there performance made a big impression on them and confirmed what I already know. This is a very good band!

The same wasn’t true for Nightrage who once again failed to impress me, with a rather dull performance and dull songs. Although, I dig their debut album and their second was also quite alright, it doesn’t meet up live. Perhaps this has something to do with the departure of the singer Tomas Lindberg and the fact that Gus G was not participating.

Another band that I didn’t enjoy much was Malevolent Creation who played their mediocre death metal clichés in about 40 minutes.

The singer of Malevolent Creation dressed in a Bolt Thrower shirt, and Karl Willetts returned the favour by wearing a Malevolent Creation shirt. Does Bolt Thrower ever fail to deliver one can wonder. The question is answered by a firm “no”. This show was like all their gigs before I went to awesome. From the intro and the first riffs of At First Light to the final tones of …For Victory they proved once again that they’re one of the finest live acts around. And though their albums are quite good, this stuff works best on a stage. The band were seemingly enjoying themselves and it was obvious that the majority of the crowd also came for this band. I guess it was put as a final-gig gag, to put chairs for all of them on stage after Bolt Thrower went off-stage, before returning a short while later for the encores.

Set list

• At First Light
• Entrenched
• Mercenary
• World Eater
• Cenotaph
• The Killchain
• Powder Burns
• When Glory Beckons
• Those Once Loyal
• IVth Crusade
• When Cannons Fade

-encores-

• Contact – Wait out
• …For Victory