What falls to me is to describe something that by definition cannot be described. By tradition one should begin with a brief introduction of the band. But not this time. I will say instead that people had prepared thoroughly for the arrival of the most cheerful metal project called ONKEL TOM — as evidenced by the number of empty cans and glass bottles within a 30-metre radius of the entrance to the Tochka club, where at least 600 people had gathered that day to let loose under beer thrash.
The t-shirts worn by those who came were generally identical: first place — green official ONKEL TOM shirts, second place — MOTÖRHEAD shirts, and a considerable contingent also, for entirely understandable reasons, wore SODOM shirts.
The mood of the people was not merely cheerful but riotously, recklessly cheerful — everyone was ready to meet the legendary SODOM vocalist Tom Angelripper, who in the second half of the 90s, while continuing his main project, decided to devote his solo output to mayhem and beer.
Shortly afterwards beer flowed like a river inside the club. It should be noted, however, that the behaviour during the entry process was somewhat unreasonable: one of the security guards began explaining to everyone that the face control was of the strictest kind, and anyone security didn't like would not be admitted. The stated reason: extreme intoxication. In reality, quite a few people were somewhat drunk — which is entirely normal given the nature of the concert — but thoroughly incoherent individuals numbered at most 1–2. Security was, however, yet to demonstrate its complete inability to adapt and read the situation.
Starting off that day were the gentlemen from the project BeerMen Game — what to call this is difficult. Generally heavy metal with thrash elements, and in terms of style and spirit — practically punk: not-so-young people singing about drinking and fun, employing the full vocabulary of folk expressions so familiar to us all.
They played for a comparatively short time. The queues at the bars grew, a process catalysed by the availability of free whisky samples. Beer, beer, and more beer — everyone had some, it was everywhere. Then friendly shouts greeted the drummer, bassist, and guitarist of the project, and finally a tall man with long fair hair in a green tank top appeared — he opened a can of beer, took two gulps, and handed it into the crowd. During the concert he dispatched countless more such cans into the audience (the guitarist surpassed him with a single gesture — more on that below). The ONKEL TOM set began.
The most unexpected thing was the fact that after a few songs Angelripper switched entirely to German in his communication with the audience — and to my great surprise, most people understood him. The crowd knew the song lyrics brilliantly — it was very evident: Tom spent almost the entire concert crouching at the front of the stage. He would sing himself and constantly hold the microphone out to the front row so they too could participate in this wonderful process.
Stage-diving — a rare case where it was absolutely on point. I recall the KREATOR concert where Mille was furious with people jumping and getting in his way, but here the opposite was true. Even at the start one girl climbed up — and Tom danced with her for half a minute. People were not merely climbing up and jumping but embracing the musicians and dancing alongside them. When during the encore the security guards attempted to take aggressive measures against a person who had nearly knocked over a speaker cabinet, the guitarist briefly stated that if security hit fans he would stop playing. He was the most cheerful member of the band from start to finish — midway through the set he produced a bottle... not of beer but of vodka, took a couple of swigs, and the bottle passed into the hands of the audience.
The band played for nearly 2 hours and performed all their hits. There was also a MOTÖRHEAD cover, during which Tom even picked up his beloved bass guitar.
The concert receives 11 out of 10. I had genuinely never in my life seen musicians so warmly disposed toward their audience. If only the security on stage had shown a little more presence of mind and sense — it would have been entirely perfect.
One could describe the concert endlessly — you simply had to be there and enjoy this celebration.
Report by Alan
Special thanks to DMC for the accreditation provided.