Creeper live. Saturday 15 April 2017, Melkweg Amsterdam

Photo: Kristine Naess

For their last concert of their tour, 'horror punk' band Creeper gave a show in the Melkweg in Amsterdam on the 15^th of April. They clearly are not afraid to make a lot of noise, their front singer, Will Gould, clearly is not afraid to scream, the bass guitar and the guitar can be very present, and the drummer is not afraid to hurt his drum kit. However, neither are they afraid to produce some excellent melodies. The 'noise' is used to stress bits and parts of the songs, in between it never exceeds levels we are not accustomed to through Green Day. This means you never lose out on the excellent voice of the front and second singers, more subtle guitar riffs, and the support of the bass. Together the 'noise' and the melody do allow you to lose yourself , though, while dancing and jumping.

Many of the songs were great to sing along with, which added much to the atmosphere. Yet, while some parts of the songs are great sing-alongs, the music is not 'simple', rhythms constantly change, different instruments take precedence in different parts of songs, and several melodies are interwoven in the songs at times. The temporization of the concert was excellent too, with some slower songs to allow you to catch your breath. For instance, Hannah Greenwood, the keyboard player, did an excellent duet with guitarist Ian Miles.

Photo: Kristine Naess

Although the crowd was not extremely large, the Oude Zaal of the Melkweg was not packed, of the people who were there a large share could sing along with most of their songs. There also was a quite acceptable circle pit, edged on by the band. The band was clearly very happy to play for us, which also appeared from their interaction with the public, helping crowd surfers on the stage and even letting one guy sing along with one of the songs. All in all it was an excellent concert, by a band which could become very big, if they manage to write more songs as good as their best ones so far, like Black Rain, Suzanne, Misery and Down Below.

Joes