Volbeat & Bush culminating moments of EU tour at the OVO Arena in Wembley

On a rainy and cold November evening, all roads seemed to lead to Wembley. England were playing Serbia in a heated football match, the train station was packed, and the main parade was filled with happy revellers rocking the red and white scarves under the watchful eyes of the police. Among the crowd was a smaller yet mighty inner circle heading in a slightly different direction, to the OVO Arena to see the last show of the tour for Volbeat and Bush, culminating in sold-out performance. Supporting them was Witchfever, whom we sadly missed due to the queues outside the venue. We managed to catch only the end of their set, but one thing was clear: with that attitude, they’re bound to rise in the ranks soon. It must have been an exhilarating experience to go on such a long trip with some of the the industry largest bands and a big production that didn’t play an underground gig for a while.

Bush

For those who lived out their youth in the mid-90s, Bush was an essential listen for any lovers of the post-grunge movement. This English band has existed on this planet for as long as I have, with their highly successful debut album Sixteen Stone appearing on the music charts in the glistening year of 1994. My mum most likely heard their songs on the radio as she was clutching a baby me in her arms, not knowing perhaps that I was paying attention as well, absorbing all things alternative. My intention is not to make anyone feel old, but merely to highlight the passage of time as their musical career has spanned my whole life so far. It’s quite extraordinary when juxtaposed with all the experiences I personally lived through.

Bush re-emerged from their creative slumber with a brand-new EP, I Beat Loneliness, marking it their tenth release, and it was only fitting to promote it across Europe in partnership with Volbeat. What we got that evening was two headliners for the price of one ticket, which I would say is a bargain. The mums and dads, the aunties and uncles, the old souls excited about the re-animation of the band, my friends and their friends and complete strangers had a joyous times.

This intensely personal and vulnerable record was laid bare within the open and cold space, under venues harsh lights and high ceilings. Gavin Rossdale is the last remaining member of the original line-up, and most eyes were on him as he fulfilled his duties as the connector between the past and the present. You could see how intensely he feels their music and how deeply he immersed himself in this lifetime of work. That creativity flown through him like the blood in your veins does. It bubbled up inside so much, making him burst out in energetic jumps to the beats and rhythms of the songs instrumentals. He gripped the microphone with intensity, singing defencelessly, baring his soul in front of thousands of people. The song Swallowed summoned quite a special moment. Band left the stage and he was left alone on that lonely island with only an acoustic guitar clutched in his arms. He not only performed one of their biggest hits, but by dedicating it to the ones we’ve lost he touched so many grieving souls. After that delicate moment, what followed was a contrasting surge of thrilling interaction with the fans, as he jumped off the podium and shook as many hands in the crowd as possible, rousing everyone into a whirlpool of wild party. This was beautiful goodbye after an intense 40-nights tour.

Volbeat

The Greatest of All Tours Worldwide reached culminating moments of its long, almost two-month journey, yet the excitement and wild stamina didn’t check out just yet. The sound of a devilish sounding goat and a creepy little girl visual, as if drawn straight from the scariest horror film was what we saw first. Then the curtain dropped and the crowd let out the exasperating roar, eagerly welcoming Volbeat. People had to be enticed and challenged throughout their set, as the decibels and frenzy was never high enough for their leading vocalist, Michael Poulsen. Instrumentally, we were served an absolute treat, with strong performances from every musician on stage. Their bassist, Kaspar Boye Larsen, was a total badass, mixing showmanship and boyish attitude fuelled by the audiences engagement. Their new lead guitarist delivered solo after solo after solo without a single flinch.

This truly captivated the entire arena: those seated were dancing, those standing were flying. One kid must have crowd-surfed at least 5 times (I was counting), clearly buzzing from hearing some of his favourite songs, making the security laugh each time they escorted him out of the pit as they were leading him back into the middle of euphoria. This youthful energy was contagious; you could tell how much Volbeat enjoyed themselves on that stage. Back in July, they reinvigorated their trusty setlist by releasing a brand-new album, God of Angels Trust, which enticed them to hit the road again, and because its creation was purely instinctive, they felt as if they had dropped their debut all over again. At this stage of their flourishing, over-25-year career, they can do whatever they want, and that includes locking themselves in the studio and expressing themselves organically, with no label pressures.

Coming back to the performance, there were a couple of standout moments. Perhaps controversial for some F1 fans, Volbeat are clearly supporting Max Verstappen. I gasped a bit, knowing our photographer was absolutely not in the Red Bull camp, and seeing Verstappen’s face plastered across all the photos he had to edit was quite funny to me. To underline this allegiance, the live feed on the big screens even began with a zoomed-in image of Verstappen’s face on Poulsen’s T-shirt. And it didn’t end there, at one point during the night, the whole stadium was screaming Verstappen’s name over and over again, as their lead dedicated an elaborate Volbeat-style guitar solo to the driver. I wonder if we’ll see any band references at the next F1 race as a thank-you.

The crowd chanted quite a mouthful of a song title as well: “In the Barn of the Goat Giving Birth to Satan’s Spawn in a Dying World of Doom.” It almost resembled a moment of prayer in the church as you often recite specific mixture of phrases after the priest. For someone experiencing Volbeat for the first time, I was absolutely choking on the words, it was a lot. Their whole vibe is like a mix of the greatest yet fearful folk tales told inside a Hard Rock Café over a pint, basically just very chilled out. Openly opposing all things religion, they keep a great distance from ideology and just pull out the most devilish references with zero apologies. Between the Johnny Cash homages and the plethora of jokes, this was a thrilling evening for all the fans.

To the screams of almost 12,000 people, Volbeat finished their final night of the tour with flair. These Danish metallic hard-rockers are a real force, and without any gimmicks they can ignite a fire within the fans who are watching their shows.