Behemoth -- Chicago, IL -- April 13th, 2012

[GWAR654]

FUCKKKKKKKK i so wanted to go to this show but when I saw the setlist im not really that angry that i missed the show.. Very predictable and basically the same as usual with a couple different songs..

Setlists.fm

1.Ov Fire and the Void
2.Demigod
3.Moonspell Rites
4.At the Left Hand ov God
5.Conquer All
6.Slaves Shall Serve
7.The Seed ov I
8.Decade of Therion
9.Chant for Eschaton 2000
10.23 (The Youth Manifesto)
11.Lucifer

Is it just me or does this not seem like a headlining set list? It seems like this should be a coheadlinging set. When I saw them on there last US tour it seems there set was a lot longer. like 4 or 5 songs more. I dont remember.

[John The Drummer]

Someone in the comments section said he left out a few songs because he forgot what they played.

[treghet]

Wow, that's a pretty disappointing set. Aside from Moonspell Rites and a couple others it's all songs they had played on their last US tour. And here we thought this would be a sort of "rebirth" of the band... guess not.

[mankvill]

>Nergal gets leukemia
>goes through extremely painful chemotherapy and comes close to dying
>his long-time girlfriend leaves him, and he loses all of his muscle mass
>makes a miraculous recovery
>first tour back, people bitch about the set

god damn

[treghet]

Originally Posted by mankvill

>Nergal gets leukemia
>goes through extremely painful chemotherapy and comes close to dying
>his long-time girlfriend leaves him, and he loses all of his muscle mass
>makes a miraculous recovery
>first tour back, people bitch about the set

god damn

They played 16-17 songs on their return shows in Poland... and they said they would come back stronger than ever with a new set list. If you're going to make a statement like that then you better keep your word, or yeah, of course people are going to complain.

[kalfitegrdan]

That set was pretty disappointing, but Behemoth is just so great live. Nergal didn't interact with the crowd as much as I would have liked and the set list didn't have much diversity, but the sheer intensity of Nergal & co. made up for it. The drums just sounded so intense compared to the last time I saw them which was outdoors at Mayhem Fest '09.

All the opening bands were pretty good. Wolvhammer was my favorite. They're black metal with a hint of sludge influence and they put on a pretty intense live show. In Solitude was really awesome too. They were kick ass traditional heavy metal and blew me away. I thought it was funny that the singer came out wearing corpse paint. The Devil's Blood was okay, not as good as I was hoping. There was TOO MUCH jamming. The singer would just like fuck off and the band would play like a couple ten minute jams. Plus, three guitarists seemed a little unnecessary, although it did create a pretty nice wall of sound.

Behemoth had a bunch of shirts, the cheapest of which were $25 and some of them ran up to $30 (!!). The shirt that I liked the most was the Zos Kia Cultus album shirt, but that was $30. They had a white Behemoth baseball jersey for $35 and hoodies for $45. They had Evangelion on CD and vinyl and I think they had their last live CD/DVD (?). The Devil's Blood had a white tour shirt and some other shirts and their latest album on CD and vinyl and an import CD for $20. In Solitude had some shirts for $20 and their last two albums on CD and vinyl.

Anyway, all in all it was a pretty fun show.

[GWAR654]

Originally Posted by mankvill

>Nergal gets leukemia
>goes through extremely painful chemotherapy and comes close to dying
>his long-time girlfriend leaves him, and he loses all of his muscle mass
>makes a miraculous recovery
>first tour back, people bitch about the set

god damn

Yeah i understand about all the shit he has gone through and I am glad that he is back and strong but like the other guy said there return show to poland was 16-17 songs. Nergal even said that the us tour was going to be something to remember and was going to be like the greatest behemoth tour the states has seen. I mean dont get me wrong I wouldve fucking loved to be there last night because either way behemoth kicks so much ass but still they shouldve had some more old school shit and jsut more songs.

[mankvill]

oh i forgot, my show is the first date that watain is playing

[dcmetal108]

With that short set and no Watain; I'm happy I skipped it.

[jd091]

Originally Posted by GWAR654

1.Ov Fire and the Void
2.Demigod
3.Moonspell Rites
4.At the Left Hand ov God
5.Conquer All
6.Slaves Shall Serve
7.The Seed ov I
8.Decade of Therion
9.Chant for Eschaton 2000
10.23 (The Youth Manifesto)
11.Lucifer

The set I got (from y'know, actually being there and writing down each song they played) was:

Ov Fire And Void
Demigod
Moonspell Rites
Conquer All
The Thousand Plagues I Witness (I'm pretty sure)
Alas, The Lord Is Upon Me
The Seed Ov I
Decade Of Therion
At The Left Hand Ov God
Slaves Shall Serve
Chant for Eschaton 2000
--------
23 (The Youth Manifesto)
Lucifer



Which is almost the same set that they were playing in Poland right before coming over here. Now you can sit here and preach at me all you want about how miraculous it is for them to still be playing shows, that Nergal is alive, etc, but that does not excuse the fact that that set just doesn't cut it for me. There were a couple really cool tracks to see (Moonspell Rites and 23 in particular), but:

• Still opening with Ov Fire and Void for some stupid reason.
• Still closing with Lucifer for some stupid reason
• Sill including a lot of tracks that they always play (Conquer All, Slaves Shall Serve, etc) that I wouldn't mind them excluding for once.
• No Shemhamforash?!
• Only an hour long set.
• Left out some of my favorite tracks from Evangelion and played some I don't care about from that album.
• Pretty much ignored Demigod and Zos Kia, 2 albums that deserve a fuckton more respect live.
• No Christians To The Lions.

And to top it off, despite it being a sold-out show, the pits were pretty weak. Though I won't judge a band's performance based on the audience. Behemoth were amazing live as always, so spot on and really fucking evil and cool. At one point they all had blood in their mouths and spat it out all over themselves, and Nergal had on a crown of thorns (from the Alas the Lord video) on for a couple songs. So fucking cool. My only real complaints are about the setlist, which is unfortunate. Still killer live.

In the end, though... I kinda wish I either went to Mastopeth OR Ceremony that night. I really like both the new Mastodon and Ceremony albums and have yet to hear shit from 'em live. Oh, and In Solitude and The Devil's Blood were totally not my thing. I kind of hated them, honestly. So I won't go on about them. Really wish Watain could have set the mood instead.