Powerwolf @ La Cooperative de Mai, Clermont-Ferrand, France 2/4 -16
So, the good thing about Clermont-Ferrand is that they realize that people traveling on trains might actually have luggage, and they served us with both elevators and escalators. Hallelujah! Day was saved, I guess. Or at least our arms. Sophie was a doll and helped me carry a suitcase, sweetheart.
So, once in Clermont-Ferrand we started looking for our friends and the apartment, and after walking for a little bit we bumped into our French friends who’d come to greet us! It was Marianne as front runner, and she had Nicolaus and Lea with her. So, we kept on walking for some time until we finally made it to the apartment.
Once there, we all started to get ready. Getting changed… And with that said, it was time for a few more people to do the Vegemite challenge. Marianne was first out and yeah, no, she didn’t like it. Next up was Lea, and she wasn’t a too big fan of it either, and then… last in line was the mother of it all – Sophie. She is the one who started this whole thing, and despite testing it before she figure she’d give it a try again. She did, and… it looked like she was gonna vomit. Madlen made the way to the toilet clear, but Sophie just dashed for the kitchen instead.
After this, make up time. For all of us really. Madlen has her usual make up, and since I have a weak heart for Roel, I figured I’d go for one of his versions. To co-operate it a little more, Marianne went for Attila and we gave Sophie Falk’s face. She didn’t really have much of a choice, but she didn’t seem to mind.
Once all done, we headed down to the usual place – McDonalds. We had some quick dinner and again, I always overbuy. I have a hard time estimating how hungry I really am. Sophie had waaay too much fun with her Falk make-up and kept taking photos with weird alterations to show us all.
Once done, we went to the venue. And the thing is… We see this big black crowd of people, and we all are like “is that the venue?” “But there are so many people!” and I don’t know, I just found myself wrapped up a bit of the clarity of the moment, but the confusion for us.
Directly, we found Daniel and Toni and went to say hi, and Madlen found some of her friends as well. So, basically, that’s what we did. We stood around in the line, catching up on ALL the things that had happened in the past, what, 14 hours? (sarcasm) and once the doors opened, we got inside. The interesting thing with this venue was the fact that they had different doors depending on where you’d bought your tickets. That’s a first.
So, we got inside the venue and we scored decent spots on the first and second row, together in a little group on Charles side of the stage (Amen’s, if you speak Lordi) and the wait began. And really, not too long after we got in, Serenity got on stage.
And again, FLAWLESS set! Seriously, these men keep winning me over the more I see them. Like I already wrote, flawless set and they were over way too soon. I can’t believe this is the last time I’m seeing them for now, I already started missing them as they went off stage.
I think it was at this point I asked Nicolas to keep my spot for a moment while I went out and got two bottles of water – seriously, you are always in a need of this. And then, before we knew it, Battle Beast went on stage.
Just as yesterday, “Let it Roar” was the opening song and seriously, this band live is beyond amazing. “I Want the World… And Everything In It!” “Out on the Streets” were next in line, but honestly, what made this night just a tad bit better than yesterday must have been the company, you know? We were a fairly large group this time, which made it even better.
“Touch in the Night” as next on the list.. you know, like I stated above, just better. Just perfect. In fact, the whole set was just perfect. Everything about this night is just perfect, right in this moment. All good things comes to an end though, and before we knew it they wrapped up the set with “Out of Control” and walked off stage.
You know, sometimes, when you’re anticipating a show, and the excitement builds up, and soon enough you can cut the excitement with a knife, because that’s how thick it is? You could say this is what was going on at La Cooperative De Mai between Powerwolf and Battle Beast. Exhaustion after an amazing set, but also excitement for Powerwolf, first gig for both Marianne and Sophie, so you know… bubble’s about to burst!
And then… Lights out, intro on and “Blessed and Possessed”. And this you know, this is the moment where the bubble bursts. When everything that was built up inside, inside of everyone at La Cooperative De Mai just explodes out and gets blended with the energy radiated from stage into one big mass of emotions.
“Coleus Sanctus” was next on the list, followed by “Amen & Attack”. Seriously, can we just, appriciate how fantastic this band is? I’ve probably written this already about them and others, but seriously, is there anything more glorious in this world than the men and women in front of you on stage? “Sacred and Wild” and “Army of the Night” were the next on the list.
I’m actually going to cut this a bit short, because I honestly don’t know what to say. It’s just… Everything was perfect. Best friends, best band on stage, and despite not knowing most of the people in the place, are all coming there, coming together for this. For the metal mass. And it’s in everything from howling in “Werewolves From Armenia” to the germans prank on the band, to half of the venue kneeling down for “Lupus Dei” (Thanks Madlen & co for including us in the ritual) even thought I must admit I thought the audience could have caught on a little better than they did, it’s like when people don’t sit down for “Spit it Out”. Like, come on, for the band!
Way too soon did the encores hit and the set was wrapped up with “Sanctified With Dynamite”, “Kreuzfeuer” and “All We Need is Blood”.
I headed over to the merch to pick up some Battle Beast merchandise and then Serenity, and I believe it’s somewhere here that we all sort of lose track of each other. All I know is that Madlen went out, Soph and Marianne were originally with me, but once I made it to Serenity I found myself hanging out with Cyril and one of the leaders of Serenitys fanclub. It’s strange, isn’t it, how people move around and how easily you lose each other? I got my CD signed by Serenity and went out of the venue and spotted Daniel and Toni, and asked if they knew were Madlen were. By the time we found her, the French girls were back and finally we were the group again, haha.
The rest of the night were spent spending time with each other, joking around, talking a bit, basically just enjoying each others company (well..) one last time for this time around. But, as time passed on, it became time for everyone to go their separate ways and it became one of the most heartfelt good byes in a long time.
Thank you, everyone involved in this night – new friends and old friends, and of course – the bands. Thank you!
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 
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