Sick Of It All - The Curse Is Over?!
After more than 3 years, hardcore legends Sick Of It All were on the 16th of September finally back in Amsterdam. Many hardcore kids were very pleased with this news, because in the last 3 years, 3 shows of Sick Of It All in the Melkweg were canceled. The shows were canceled due to double booking, back problems or surgeries. It almost seemed like there was some kind of curse on a Sick Of It All show in Amsterdam, but this time they were definitely playing. The band brought 2 support acts with them; No Turning Back and Wisdom In Chains.The Dutch hardcore band No Turning Back opened the show. They already opened for bands such as Terror, Walls Of Jericho and Born From Pain and they are one of the biggest Dutch hardcore acts. Too bad they played for a badly filled Melkweg. Besides a handful of moshers, the crowd present here didn�t react at all. It was obvious that everybody came to watch the headliner. With songs like �Take Your Guilt� and �This World Is Mine� they tried everything to get the audience moving, but their plans didn�t succeed. Overall they played a decent set, but they were unlucky with the crowd.
Just 13 minutes after No Turning Back ended, the second band on the bill appeared on stage. When the hardcore-punk band Wisdom In Chains started their set the audience moved a bit closer to the stage. Also there were some bigger moshpits, but still there was not much crowd participation. Before this show I had never heard of WIC, so I wasn�t familiar with their work. Eventually this turned out to be no problem, because some sing-a-long parts weren�t that difficult to sing along. At some point of the show they did remind me a bit of The Dropkick Murphys, but without the bagpipes. At the end of the set the audience was more and more convinced by the nice punk rock songs with a hardcore flavor, but still it wasn�t the band why they were in Amsterdam.
And then, after 2 decent support acts, it was time for the band everybody had been waiting for. When Sick Of It All entered the room and started with �Take The Night Off�, the crowd exploded. Almost half of the visitors were moshing there asses of and the other half was headbanging. It seemed like everybody was enjoying this last show of the tour, even the band. The four �old timers� where in a good shape and played many songs from there latest album Death To Tyrants, like �Machete�, �Uprising Nation� and �Die Alone�. Some older songs, like �Build To Last� where also played.
After celebrating the 25th anniversary of the bass guitar from Craig Setari it was time for something totally unexpected. In the middle of the show a woman showed up on stage and Lou (singer) asked the audience who knew this lovely woman. A guy was pulled on stage and told the rest of the audience that it was his girlfriend. That night at 12 pm they were 11 years together and Sick Of It All was the guy's favorite band, so the girl went down on her knees to ask him if he wanted to marry her. He said yes and after a long kiss and much applause by the audience and the band it was time for something more brutal; the braveheart. The right side of the crowd represented Wisdom In Chains and the left side represented No Turning Back. I don�t know who won the battle, but I was standing on the �right� side.
Sick Of It All gave away a great show and the best was: they saved the best for last. During the last song it seemed like a VanKatoen or Dropkick Murphys show. When �Us Vs. Them� kicked in, Lou invited everyone on stage. There even were some crowdsurfers on the stage itself. After this song everybody left quickly to mosh some more at the merch and the wardrobe.
