3.2.2018 Fear of Domination & Pain @ Virgin Oil co, Helsinki

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Over ten years ago I made my way into the industry by writing album reviews for a small online magazine, Psams of Extinction of PAIN was the first album that I ever reviewed. I didn’t know so much about Peter Tägtgren‘s solo project back then, but was already fan of Hypocrisy. After one spin already of the album, I was amazed by the project and ever since then I’ve considered myself a fan. So when it was announced that on 3rd February, PAIN would perform at Virgin Oil co, I knew I had to be part of it. I’ve seen PAIN play at festivals, as a support band, but never as the headliner. Check out the gallery here.

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The support band of the evening was Fear of Domination, a Finnish industrial metal act. I never had seen the band live, but I was excited to do so, as they have a good reputation in Finland. Newest additions to their line up are second vocalist Sara Strömmer and a secondary percussionist, Miikki Kunttu. And even though the Virgin Oil stage is small, somehow the eight-piece didn’t bother, and gave us a very energetic performance.

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While often in Finland, people don’t really come out that much to see the support bands, Fear of Domination was an exception to the case. The venue was already really packed. The band played 8 songs, which the audience seemed to know very well. With their energy vocalists Saku Solin and Sara Strömmer manage to hype up the crowd very well, which becomes very clear in the last song of the evening “Bad Touch” when they join in the crowd, to sing the last chorus. The overall atmosphere of the gig was thus very great. When a band has that much fun performing, their fans usually do as well. It goes without saying that Fear of Domination couldn’t possibly be a better band to open up for a band such as PAIN, because basically they have the same anima on stage, where the only thing that matters is that you have a blast together with the audience.

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Setlist

1. Primordial
2. The Last Call
3. Adrenaline
4. El Toro
5. II
6. Paperdoll
7. Tool of God
8. Deus Ex
9. Bad touch

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The audience was warmed up enough and 5 minutes earlier the tones of “Rebel Yell” marked the beginning of PAIN’s performance. As mentioned I have only seen PAIN perform on festivals and in very huge venues as a opener, needless to say that this was the first time I saw them in a quite intimate venue. I am not sure if they always perform in clubs like Virgin Oil co, but it goes without saying that the atmosphere was awesome, because the interaction and energy between the band and the crow was so good. Normally I’m not the biggest fan of Virgin Oil co, there’s a lot of pushing around usually and as a photographer it’s kind of annoying sometimes, however the crowd seemed to enjoy a different way, jumping, dancing, everything, but luckily pushing others stayed out.

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After the intro the band came on stage with “Dancing with the Dead” and showed us immediately what they’re made of. Even though the setlist contained a lot of songs from their latest album “Coming Home”, the usual hitparade couldn’t be stopped from happening either. Older songs like “Suicide Machine”, “Dirty Woman”, “Zombie Slam” and “Nailed to the Ground” together with classics such as “Same Old Song”, made a very interesting good combination. The newer songs are as great live as the older ones, especially the emotional “Coming Home”, was really touching. “Call Me” this time happened without the help of a Joakim Brodén on tape and you know what? I didn’t even miss him! After “On and On” it was time for PAIN to leave again, but not before treating us with a grand encore. “Shut Your Mouth” finally ended the gig in the best possible way.

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Peter Tägtgren is really great to see perform. He’s a really charismatic, funny character and he uses that usually in his performances, for instance at some point during the setlist he was genuinely confused about what’s next up on the setlist and he even mentioned it’s basically all the time like that. It’s this tiny in between moments that make his performances with PAIN even better. They could just be any other band, playing their music and not doing anything else, and sure there might be not much of a “show aspect” to their concerts, but sure as hell this band is one of the best live bands that I know of in existence. A PAIN concert is always worth it, wherever you are.

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Setlist

(Intro) Rebel Yell
1. Dancing with the Dead
2. Monkey Business
3. Black Knight Satellite
4. Suicide Machine
5. The Great Pretender
6. Dirty Woman
7. Just Hate Me
8. Zombie Slam
9. Same Old Song
10. Call Me
11. End of the Line
12. Nailed to the Ground
13. Coming Home
14. On and On
ENCORE
15. You Only Live Twice
16. Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles cover)
17. Shut Your Mouth
(Outro) My Way