On a very hot day, Canadian Striker landed at a beer festival in the Bergamo area, well organized in a very spacious area. The stage looks definitely spacious too, bravo to the organizers. With an hour to spare and after buying some cold beers, I set out to hunt for the band members because they are known to easily wander through the crowd of people who have come mainly to eat and drink. In fact I find the bassist, charismatic, very nice guy with whom we get to talking about HEAT, one of his favorite bands. I’m glad he recognized me having communicated with them often on Instagram. “Look behind you,” he says to me at one point and I find myself greeting the singer. After a few lines I wait for them to get the beers for the band to take a selfie.
The concert starts only a few minutes late but who cares about couple of minutes. They get off to a great start and remain so for the duration of the concert: the Strikers are great, energetic, powerful, the members play in perfect symbiosis, well amalgamated despite the change of drummer before starting the European tour: it must not have been easy to learn so many songs for the drummer in such a short time, I would like to point this out because many people, not playing an instrument, underestimate. Searching in the web, the first four songs start as per their Deadwish Tour Setlist, including as third and fourth songs the new singles Deadwish and Strange Love. The sound of the drums overpowers the other instruments slightly but we can overlook that because these guys are explosive, stringing one song after another nonstop, interacting with the audience in a delightful way, not made up of just rabid metalheads, from the kid at the barrier under the stage to the people in the distance, to each a way of communicating in a polite, rockin’ way, stunning. Having to play for a full ninety minutes they stuff the setlist for the Italian date only with the most powerful and trashmetal pieces from their first albums, an exceptional choice to get across the grit, energy and style of real metal. The crowd responds well and warms up easily, those who know them sing at the top of their lungs every single song, including yours truly. The guitarists have fun together, the bassist is a character who often cheers the audience on, and the singer has a powerful, sharp, high-pitched voice when he can show it to us. In the final part they come back for the last two songs, Too Late and Fight for Your Life, on the refrain of which they pause to make us shout with them in chorus, to indulge in a selfie from the stage with us behind jubilant. A huge concert, sung from start to finish (I was voiceless), their little choices in the theater of a beer festival were as apt as the short but powerful solo by the new drummer, yes because in this contest it works super fine. These guys deserve not only that the many people bought T-shirts at the end of the concert, but a substantial chance to be sidekicks to some established metal band that would never dream of drinking beer and talking to you as Striker did. They sound great, they know how to play the scene, all the members are very talented, the songs are outstanding. Come on Sriker, don’t give up and see you at the next gig, I will be there definitely!
privateyesontheworld 