On August 17th, 2023, INFECTED RAIN, along with ALL HAIL THE YETI hit Sage Club in Berlin as part of their Heyday Tour.
ALL HAIL THE YETI was the band to open the show. Hailing from LA, the four musicians started with the thrashy “Suicide Woods.” The band has an interesting sound combining stoner, sludge, and heavy metal. The band was rewarded with the first real mosh pit of the evening during “The Art Of Mourning.” From that moment on, not even the short technical problems couldn’t slow down the Americans: with driving material like “Witch Is Dead” and the almost obligatory “Mr. Murder” the Americans made the crowd sweat a lot on this tour.
Then the moment everyone came for finally arrived: INFECTED RAIN was up next. There was no question that the fans who arrived were obviously full of enthusiasm. There was an interesting moment about the club – Sage Club is part of a well-known iconic Berlin kinky club KitKat, so the decor and props were of erotic nature, with a huge disco ball, and the stage was designed for burlesque, with stairs and pink bulbs. The band appeared on the stage and opened with “Pendulum” and while the dreadlocks of guitarist Vadim “Vidick” Ojog and singer Lena Scissorhands whirled through the air on stage, numerous tufts of hair did the same at their feet. From “Longing” there was no holding back in the center. In between songs, Lena enjoyed the moments to high-five the fans and breathe and just smile, as the temperature was high, despite the ventilation. They presented the brand new “Dying Light” which also gave a small glimpse of the future of the new quartet with bassist Alice Lane. The subtle djent borrowings make the grooving track an absolute live hit, where the crowd of fans didn’t have to be asked twice before they jumped up and down in time. “The Earth Mantra” was a crowd’s favorite, with the band members and the fans sitting down to experience and mindful message of the song. In “Sweet, Sweet Lies,” in which Lena came down from the stage (there was no photo pit) to rail up the crowd for a massive circle pit, INFECTED RAIN said goodbye after two encores and around 70 minutes of playing time to frantic applause. After the show, the band went out for a meet and greet, which showed how down-to-earth and open the INFECTED RAIN family is.
Overall, the show was full of energy and sweat, both bands delivered a solid performance and blew everyone away. The only downside was the club choice itself. Technically, the light was poor and the sound could have been clearer, but yet again, the club was not designed for blasting metal shows.
ALL HAIL THE YETI
INFECTED RAIN
