It’s a Saturday evening and the Swedish band Normandie is back in Munich after their last headline show in May 2022. Last time, they played a 400 capacity venue. This has now changed to a 750 capacity venue and sold out show. When I arrived at the venue, I could see a long queue to get in and the entry in the venue had already started.
The evening is being opened by the Swedish band Self Deception, consisting of Erik Eklund (drummer), Patrik Hallgren (bassist), Ronny Westphal (guitarist) and Andreas Clark (vocalist). Their set is being introduced by a voice coming from a speaker saying “Welcome humans, what you will experience here tonight is a historical moment never to be replicated (…). This is Self Deception.” Already during their first song, ‘The Scandinavian Dream’, you can feel the band’s energy going from the stage through the crowd, and when Andreas says “put those hands up, let’s go”, the crowd claps along. The next song, ‘Smoke You Out’, starts with Andreas saying “sing with me” and the crowd starts to loudly sing “hey” repeatedly alongside him.
Before their song ‘Hell and Back’, Andreas talks about prioritising his needs and mentions that if life is hard, you should talk to somebody. At the beginning of the song, people held up their phones with the flashlights on. During their song ‘Hysteria’, fans in the room start clapping, and after the songs, the room cheers enthusiastically. Before their next song ‘Psycho’, Patrik says “What’s up Munich, it’s so good to be back in Germany, I fucking love it”. A few moments later he also says “We fucking love all of you” to the crowd. During the song, there are pink balloons in the crowd, and the crowd picks up the “nananana” coming from the stage and starts singing it as well. Before the band’s last song, there’s the voice coming from the speakers that says: “I want you all to remember this moment, embrace it and keep it close to your heart, until we meet again, it’s time to let loose and go fucking mental” and ‘Fight Fire With Gasoline’ starts. Andreas says “alright guys, sit down on your asses and you jump”, fans go down and then jump up again. Throughout the whole set, the band was moving on stage
Next on stage was As December Falls, a band from England, which consists of Bethany Curtis (vocalist), Timmy Francis (guitarist), Ande Jiménez (guitarist) and KC (drummer). When going on stage, Bethany says “Munich, listen up” and they start off with the song ‘Go Away’. Claps go through the crowd and Bethany says “Alright Munich, how are we doing?” After the song, Bethany thanks the crowd for the warm welcome. Introducing the next song, she says “As December Falls, this is a party that we’re all fucking invited to. We’re gonna play some more tunes for you now, this one is called ‘Join The Club’.” After the song, Ande mentions them putting out their latest album called Join The Club last July, and it going to number 1 in the world charts, to which the crowd cheers.
Right before their song ‘I Don’t Feel Like Feeling Great’, Ande highlights the importance of mental health and says “sometimes it’s okay to not be okay, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s a fucking journey.” During the song, Bethany sings “da-da, da-da, da-da”, as she points at the crowd, having them sing it back to her. Next up is ‘Everything You Say’, their second to last song. People energetically clap, jump, and do the rock and roll sign with their hand. Bethany looks happily and content into the crowd.
Right before their last song called ‘Ride’, Bethany thanks Normandie, as well as the crowd, and highlights the importance of fans by saying to the crowd “It’s you who make up the music industry.” During a guitar solo towards the end of their set, everyone’s hands in the crowd went up and showed hearts to the band. During their set I saw a person going past me and happily vibing along. After the show I quickly talked to Ande, he says “It was incredible, had the best fucking time, we love coming back to Munich, this is our third time playing the city. Every single time we come back the crowd is insane, the food is amazing, the people are incredible, we will keep coming back to Germany every single time that we can. Love you guys so much, thanks.”
After this, Normandie, consisting of Philip Strand (vocalist), Anton Franzon (drummer), Hawk (guitarist) and Jules Wildblood (bassist) are about to hit the stage. From the speakers, a voice says “Hi and welcome, thank you for visiting the Dopamine tour (…).” The crowd cheers as the band comes on stage and starts with their song ‘Serotonin’. Then, ‘Holy Water’ is on, and people are jumping, their hands going up and down. Philip says “Have you heard our new album Dopamine?” The crowd cheers excitedly, and people are putting their hands in the air doing the rock and roll sign with them.
When the band starts to play ‘Blood In The Water’, their first single of their new album, fans sing the lyrics back to them and they move energetically on stage, which transports over through the whole audience. After their song ‘Awakening Philip’, says “Good fucking job Munich!” To do things differently on the Dopamine Tour, Normandie lets fans vote on their Instagram story between two songs each time before a show, and this time around ‘Mission Control’ won. Philip describes the next song, ‘Sorry’, as the only ballad they have. During ‘Renegade’, another of their heavier songs, he says “sing it” to the crowd and points the mic towards the audience. There’s a mosh pit happening and fans clapping transport fun and energy into the room.
They also did a crowd vote on this tour: at this show, it was between the songs ‘Colorblind’ and ‘Collide’. ‘Colorblind’ won, to which the crowd reacted positively. During ‘Ritual’, towards the end of the song, fans are forming hearts with their hands, and Normandie copies on the stage. It was a beautiful moment of connection between the band and the crowd, and I felt myself smiling. After the last song of the night, called ‘White Flag’, the audience claps and cheers, and people are left with happy memories from the night.
