Kulturhotel Guggenheim, Liestal, Switzerland - 07.08.2021

Farewells are part of life. It’s like the air you breathe or death that will come to you sooner or later. There are farewells that are easier and harder. The last category includes for example. Painful breakups, deaths of family members, friends, pets, or bands that have provided beautiful moments with their music and suddenly announce their breakup. This is what happened to me when I discovered the farwell show from the Swiss band Frijgard on Facebook and I couldn’t believe it. This band was founded twelve years ago and the demo CD „Morgenrot“ was released in October of the same year and the first concert was played. The album „Nebelwacht“ has been issued in May 2011 and „Bellum Aeternum Est“ in April 2014. The third album „Chapter Zero“ was published in 2019. I was able to see them live twice at Rockfact Music Club and both performances were crowned with success. The Kulturhotel Gugg-

enheim in the capital of canton Basel-Country was chosen as place of event for their farewell show. The two local bands Headless Project and Freakings were announced as support acts on the poster. I had to be there for this musical farewell and set off  to Liestal. In advance it was announced that the entrance would be allowed only with Covid certificate with status vaccinated, recovered or tested. After these formalities were completed, one entered the premises with a protective mask on the face. After showing the certificate, one was allowed to take off the mask and move freely. This was a relief, because anyone who has to wear such a mask for eight hours a day at work knows how exhausting it is. At 8:10 PM the band Headless Project from Liestal went on stage. After the departure of ex-singer Martin Grieder, they found the new man behind the mic in Flo and he was very much looking forward to the gig. "A Case in Point" opened the show and gave the musical direction: an explosive mixture of rock and metal with Metallica/Pantera influences and a deep, rocking voice of frontman Flo. The sound was great and unleashed its effect on the audience, which reacted with a lot of applause. You could feel how much live music was missed and the audience got involved. Frontman Flo shone with a super vocal performance and stage presence while guitarist Alex came up with guitar solos. Bassist Andi made a good figure on the bass and was allowed to prove his skills on this instrument and complemented the sound with groovy bass lines. Although guitarist Alex shined with guitar solos during most of the songs, the second guitarist Juri was allowed to use the spotlight during the last song "Deadline" to demonstrate his skills as a guitarist. Great gesture from the guys. The "Headless Project" shouts were justified, because it was a pleasure to watch them play. Besides the new member Flo, there is also a new drummer named Luc and he was allowed to present himself with a drum solo. This was extremely cool and great played by him and marked the end of the performance of the metal band from Liestal. They were adopted by the audience with a lot of applause, which they really deserved. Setlist Headless Project A Case in Point Warrior Endless Greed No Last Man Standing Deadline A short interruption followed and the stage was changed. For me it was a relief, because of the sweaty performance of the first band, I had to refresh myself with a drink and take a breath. The break ended at 9:15 pm when the second band of the evening Freakings was on stage. The trio around singer & guitarist Jonathan Brutschin, bass player Tobias Straumann and drummer Simon Straumann played their first concert since October 2020 this evening. With "Gladiator" the first song rang out. Singer Jonathan Brutschin announced a faster song with "Rise of Violence" from their latest album. He and bassist Tobias kept changing sides of the stage to present themselves to the audience and engaged in guitar duels. Despite the musical harshness, humor also found its place in the set, as "Nuclear Attack" was jokingly renamed to "Corona Attack" and provided for laughs. Thrash metal in Slayer style was played without time to catch a breath, because giving full throttle is part of the program for this trio. There were also special effects with artificial fog, which harmonized with the changing light in the hall. This went well until the song "Friendly Fire". In the heat of the moment Jonathan Brutschin broke a string on his guitar. This misfortune he solved sovereignly in that he re-installed a new string in the guitar. The song was played again and then came the announcement of the last song with "Psychedelic Warfare". The audience disagreed and asked for an encore. It was followed by "King Reigns". 60 minutes of playing time was enough to convince with a load of Thrash Metal. This music will never die as long as bands like Freakings exist. Setlist Freakings Gladiator Rise of Violence Price of Freedom Nuclear Attack Timebomb Thrash Will Never Die Brainwash Dictator of Hate Violent Disaster Friendly Fire Psychedelic Warfare King Reigns Another interruption followed. At 22:50 the lights went down and an intro sounded. Headliner Frijgard opened their show with "Blurry Horizon". The five-piece from Fricktal with guitarist Alex (Headless Project) celebrated their own mixture of Heavy Metal, Pagan Metal, Black Metal and Death Metal, which was shown very interesting with play of light in the hall. The music had spherical and melodic moments, but also gloomy when singer Sandro Schreiber breathed his death lead blackened vocals into the microphone. The members often changed positions on stage for guitar duels and to present themselves to the audience from different sides. A medley followed after "Bellum Aeternum Est" with songs from the band's various albums. Because the audience celebrated the performance and showed that loudly, they were rewarded with praise from Sandro. "Nebelwacht" should have been the last song to end the performance. Due to the positive response of the audience, not one encore, but two encores were played. True to the German slogan "Double holds better". "Warriors" and "Aftermath" followed and ended Frijgard's performance. It was a pleasure again seeing them live and sadly the last time. They left the stage drenched in sweat and received a lot of applause for their performance today. That was amazing! Setlist Frijgard Blurry Horizon Falling Stars Bellum Aeternum Est Medley Blazing Ark Haven Crimson Skies Rabenwald Nebelwacht Warriors (Cover version of I) Aftermath Conclusion: It was worth participating in this event. All bands showed their skills that evening and left an excellent impression on the audience. I enjoyed the performances very much and left the venue with a laughing eye, because of the positive effect of the metallic sounds on soul and spirit and with a crying eye, because it‘s a pity that Frijgard said goodbye. Many thanks to Kulturhotel Guggenheim for hosting this event in times of Corona. Another thank goes to the bands from tonight. Livereport by Dominic Latscha