Last year, Swedish rock band Smash Into Pieces toured Europe in the fall, which included a date in the Oude Zaal of Melkweg, Amsterdam. This year, the band returned to play the bigger hall on the opposite side of the same venue as part of their Manifest Tour. On November 6th, at 19:00, the doors to the former milk factory opened to let in a few hundred eager fans.
For this tour, the band decided to take with them two support acts. The first, Halflives, took to the stage only about thirty minutes after doors. While originally Italian, the band currently resides in Paris, France. The three piece consists of lead singer and guitarist Linda Battilani, bassist Enrico Bertoni and drummer Gloria Simonini. The band opened with their track ‘everybody knows it’, with Simonini ticking her drumsticks together to get the audience to clap along. Meanwhile, Battilani made clever use of the slightly raised platform at the front of the stage to stand tall and show off her powerful vocals throughout the entire track. Quite often, she also jumped off it to walk around the stage and interact with the audience, who seemed to love every second of it. The third song on the setlist was a cover of Linkin Park’s ‘The Emptiness Machine’, which fit Battilani’s voice really well, while also giving a moment for Bertoni to shine for his own vocal solo. They followed up with an unreleased track called ‘Perfectly Broken’ which talks about embracing one’s imperfections and which will be out in less than ten days. The crowd was waving along while Battalani sang how she was “broken so perfectly”. Fifth on their set was ‘Snake’, a track the band released back in 2020 which featured lots of clapping from the audience and snake-like dance moves from the lead singer. For parts of the song, she sat on Simonini’s drums, toning the energy down a notch before picking it right back up with an intense kick. The band ended the night’s set with the sapphic songs ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Victim’, the latter talking about a relationship that has been emotionally exhausting. The crowd was asked to wave along one final time before the band went off stage, but worry not: they will be back in April 2024 to play their own headline show in the upstairs room of Melkweg.
At 20:15, it was time for the second support act; German nu-metal band From Fall to Spring. The band consists of a total of six members: vocalists Philip and Lukas Wilhelm, guitarist Sebastian Monzel, bassist León Arend, keyboardist Simon Triem and drummer Benedikt Veith. From Fall to Spring has been around ever since the vocalists, who happen to be brothers, were in high school, but they only released their debut album RISE in 2023. This evening, the band members came on stage one by one, introduced by heavy instrumental music, smoke and a show of flashing lights set up on the stage. They opened with their track ‘BLACK HEART’, which already featured some amazing screams as well as a beautiful bridge. For the third song on the setlist, ‘BARRIERS’, the band asked the audience to put up their lighters or flash lights, which created a lovely atmosphere. They followed it up by asking the crowd to jump for the following song, ‘SUPERNOVA’, and everyone obliged enthusiastically. From here on out, the vibes only increased, with the crowd starting a small mosh pit for the fifth song, ‘CONTROL’. The band told the audience that their big dream is to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest one day, and that this is the song they send to the German committee this year. Unfortunately, it was not picked, as “otherwise you would have heard of us!”. They followed this song up with their album’s title track. The band stated that it is “pretty important” to them as they wrote it during the pandemic, unable to perform live. It talks about the world constantly changing and the impact of major events on one’s mental health. It is a great, heavy track that many people can definitely relate to. Next was time for “a hard” unreleased song called ‘COME ALIVE’, which picked the pace up and led the set right into an interluding light show. This created the illusion of an encore to end the 45 minute set with, which consisted of ‘DESTINY’ – moshpit included -, a cover of Linkin Park’s ‘In the End’, and finally, ‘DRAW THE LINE’, the song mentioned above, sent in for Eurovision 2023. With some final jumping and moshing, the band announced to also return to Melkweg next year; they will be performing in November 2025 again, but the date is yet to be announced.
Finally, at 21:30, it was time for the headlining act of the night. Smash Into Pieces has been around since 2008 and has released a total of eight albums so far. Their latest, Ghost Code, came out on April 12th and features their Melodifestivalen hit ‘Heroes Are Calling’ amongst others. The band is made up of lead singer Chris Adam Hedman Sörbye, guitarists Benjamin Jennebo and Per Bergquist, and their iconic masked drummer APOC. For this show however, the band’s touring manager Emanuel Magnil replaced Jennebo on guitar. A few On the stage stood screens and a raised platform for the drums to sit on, with APOC walking out first to take his seat. The band opened the night with their newest single ‘Hurricane’, released only a few days prior. Then, a voice-over spoke: “Welcome to tonight’s manifestation. It’s time to awaken your true potential. It’s time to wake up” opening up to the song ‘Wake Up’. During the entire set, Sörbye took his time to show off some of his amazing vocal range, dragging out the notes effortlessly. Both the band as well as the crowd were very enthusiastic, with guitarists Magnil and Bergquist moving around the podium, and Sörbye constantly interacting with the fans. “Are we gonna have a good fucking time tonight?” Sörbye asked, before the band played their fifth track of the night, ‘Big Bang’, with its tremendously addictive chorus that goes “I will go bang bang, with a big bang, bang”.
After the first few explosive tracks, they tuned it down a notch to perform their song “Let Me Be Your Superhero”, with Sörbye occasionally turning his microphone to the crowd to let them sing the titular lyric. Then, the band picked it back up for ‘Arcadia’, which featured a guitar solo, shining light on Bergquist’s skills.
As soon as the song was over, APOC moved from behind his drums to gather a shirt from backstage to throw into the crowd. “So soft, but so strong, and the best thing of all, it’s got my face on it” he said before it went to the hands of a fan. Sörbye threw a free t-shirt as well before the band continued with ‘All Eyes on You’ and ‘Heroes Are Calling’. APOC got a short drum solo, purple and pink graphics on the screens surrounding him. The whole band came back to perform ‘Higher’ and ‘Trigger’. The latest was released by the band as a single at the start of 2024 and mimics the sounds of a gun going off after Sörbye sings “will you be my trigger?”.
For the next track, ‘Boomerang’, Sörbye pulled-out a huge Smash Into Pieces flag from backstage which he waved around for the first verse. Usually, this song is a collaboration with Swedish singer Jay Smith, and on the Swedish part of the Manifest tour the band performed the track with Cyan Kicks’ lead singer Susanna Alexandra. However, this time, Sörbye easily carried every single note by himself. The band continued with ‘Broken Parts’ and then ‘Vanguard’, which Sörbye introduced as such: “during these hard times it’s even more important that we all stick together as one”. The crowd was asked to light up the room with their flashlights. “Amsterdam, I love you” he sang near the end of the track, before moving on to ‘Afterglow’. While a slower song, Bergquist thought this was the perfect song to interact with the crowd and went on to bump fists with some of the people in the front row. Finally, the band performed ‘Forever Alone’ before going off the stage for the encore.
Tonight’s encore began with APOC showing off his laser shooting gloves before the band played ‘Flow’, which was the first single they released for Ghost Code. The band ended the night with their song from Melodifestivalen 2023, ‘Six Feet Under’. Beforehand, Sörbye held his last speech. He told the crowd how everyone has the power to change their lives. “Life is hard and even if it feels like you are ‘Six Feet Under’, keep fighting the good fight, stay positive and everything will be alright.” It was a wholesome moment and a reminder to everyone in attendance that change starts from within. After performing their last song, the band said their final goodbyes to the fans before leaving the stage for the night.
