Early in 2022 when Burning Witches announced a co-headliner tour with Nervosa through Europe I was looking if there would be any live show near my place. And Bingo! There were some. I bought tickets for 2 on 2 consecutive days. I had these 2 bands on my bucket list for quite some time now.
So it came that on 2 April 2022 I drove to “Alte Brauerei” (in english “Old Brewery”, the name of the location) in Annaberg-Buchholz, Germany. On the ticket stood “Doors: 20:00, Begin: 21:00”. Upon arrival shortly before 20:00 I realized the show was already in full swing. But luckily neither Burning Witches, nor Nervosa had their show yet. The second support band was halfway through their set, when I arrived. I met the usual suspects in front of the stage and it was a pleasure to see them again after what felt like an eternity.
After about 20ish minutes the support band ended their set and left the stage. While the crew rearranged the stage I took a look around. Roughly 80 to 100 people found their way to enjoy the show. Now it was Burning Witches’ turn to enter the stage. Right from the start I knew this was going to be a blast. And you could easily tell that the ladies enjoyed being on stage. When Lala picked up her drumsticks and started the first song (Executed), the crowd was already going hot. After the second song (Wings of Steel) Laura welcomed the audience. And the show went on. Songs like “Flight of the Valkyries”, “Lucid Nightmare” were followed by “The Witch of the North” and a Burning Witches classic: “Hexenhammer”. The mood reached its boiling point. And not to forget: when “We Stand As One” was played, Laura invited the people to sing along for parts of the chorus. Which they happily did. But when the show came to a close with the song “Burning Witches”, the audience was a little upset. All and all the set list was a well balanced mix of all albums Burning Witches have released so far. 10 songs to enjoy. And that is what we all did. Of course everybody wanted to see Nervosa too. But the atmosphere was really good and I got the impression that people would have loved to get some more. But time was over. Laura said Goodbye and invited the audience to join them at the merch booth and have some beer together after the show.
So I was looking forward for 2 things now. First the Nervosa show and second hanging out with Burning Witches later on. Eleni Nota took her seet behind the drums and the firework started with the song “Kings of Damnation”. The set list was a well selected mix of older songs like “Into Moshpit”, “Death”, and “Masked Betrayer” and songs from their latest album “Perpetual Chaos”, like “Perpetual Chaos”, “Rebel Soul”, “Guided by Evil”, “Blood Eagle” and “Under Ruins”. Just as Burning Witches Nervosa chose to not solely focus on the newest album for this tour. And when the set list was halfway through and it was time for “Into Moshpit”, well, you get it. It was time for a moshpit. And when I thought that the atmosphere was already great with Burning Witches, it was at least equal with Nervosa, if not even better. After “Masked Betrayer” it was time for a short introduction round. As you know, Nervosa has been through some line up changes when 2 members of the band left in 2020. After that news made their way through social media I was curious as to what would come next. At this place congrats to Prika Amaral to find new band mates that quickly and keep Nervosa not only alive but to make it even better in the understanding of many. So this was the first tour with the new line up. And it was really a blast. But time flies fast. And although Nervosa really spoiled us by playing no less than 14 songs, people again would have loved to get some more.
So, now that the show was over for this day, I waited for the Burning Witches to appear at the merch booth. I exchanged some words with Jeanine and Romana, as they were the first 2 band members to arrive. Later Larissa, Lala and Laura also arrived. Merch items were signed, pictures taken (I took my chance too, of course) a little chitchat here and there. Lovely and down to earth ladies. It was really a pleasure.
When it was time to pack their unsold merch, the band members of Nervosa also showed up to help their merch buddy George. Usually it is me who asks the band members for a picture. But this time was a bit different. And you can perhaps imagine my surprise when Diva Satanica asked me for a picture. At first I was wondering how I deserved that honour, but I soon found out: because of my shirt (Death & Legacy). And I happily accepted that request. I left with my pockets full of merch and my camera full with photos.
The following day, 3 April, I drove to Leipzig, Germany. Same bands, same setlist, different town and location (Hellraiser). This time I arrived in time. So I got to see both support bands and their full sets. When I got out of my car, the members of Burning Witches walked by on the other side of the road for what seemed like a little walk. When they recognised me they waved me to say hi.
At first I was surprised to find out that the small stage has been selected for the show. But taking into consideration that we were perhaps just as many people as the day before in Annaberg-Buchholz, I can understand that choice. When the second support band, was close to finish their set, Nervosa “stormed” the stage and played some air guitar while headbanging. And as this was / is a co-headliner tour, the running order was different. Nervosa played first. But other than that it was pretty much identical to the show I saw the day before. Was it boring because of that? Hell, no! I enjoyed every single minute! The same goes for the Burning Witches set afterwards. And when I found out that there is another show not far away the next day, it was not a hard decision to make. My third and last show for this tour. So it was the second time for me to say goodbye with the words “See you tomorrow!” I left in a happy mood and with one of Lala Frischknechts (Burning Witches’ drummer) drumsticks in my pocket. The next day I was off to Reithalle Straße E in Dresden, Germany. Again there was a discrepancy between time schedule on the internet and reality. Online I read “doors 19:00, start 20:00” and when I arrived 10 minutes before 19:00 the first band was already playing. Well, at least I didn’t miss Burning Witches or Nervosa. Out of the 3 venues this was the biggest one. Not sure about the number of attendants in the audience. This time Burning Witches and Nervosa switched running order again. Not much else to say other than what I said for the previous days. All in all 3 wonderful evenings with highly recommendable bands.
Burning Witches
Nervosa
Metal Goddesses 
Love these bands!!!!
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