Hopefully you guys would remember something as kick ass as this, but last week saw Behemoth‘s livestream event of songs from their latest album Opvs Contra Natvram that was shot on top of Warsaw’s Palace Of Culture And Science. It was a killer performance and “a middle finger to those pigs,” according to Adam “Nergal” Darski.
Well, it turns out the show almost had an even more political undertone attached to it, as Nergal originally wanted it to be a big fuck you to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During a recent interview with Rock Sound, the band chose the Warsaw location because they wanted “to do something big around the release date [of Opvs Contra Natvram].”
“I’ve been talking about that for months and months, [throwing around] different ideas. We even had an idea to go and perform somewhere in Kyiv, Ukraine. Yeah, we were actually making contacts with some productions out there. We were thinking, not only we can just make an artistic statement but we can also make a very important political statement.
“I use my platforms. “I use the stage and in interviews [I take the opportunity] to mention things that I consider very relevant and righteous. So we were thinking, ‘Maybe we should fucking go to Kyiv and do it on top of some building. Maybe if there’s a bombing, we should fucking go underground, like U2 did’ — Bono and Edge, they performed in a metro, underground. And we were just bouncing back all those ideas. But eventually we ended up [deciding to do it in Warsaw because it made more sense] logistically, economically… even though it was still fucking pricey.”
While Kyiv is relatively safe from the general fighting that’s been going on throughout Ukraine over the last several months, that doesn’t mean the capital city’s been completely sheltered from attack. In recent months, the city’s been hit with Russian bombs, so having the Polish extreme metal act on top of a skyrise in a literal warzone may not have been particularly enticing to their record label.
Ultimately, the livestream we got was fucking awesome and hopefully worth whatever money the band shelled out to get it done. Nergal said he hopes that sort of commitment to the fans will pan out.
“I really hope that people will pay attention and will click on that and people will appreciate all the effort that we put and invested. And, of course, it’s free of charge; we’re just giving you something extra around the record, just to build hype about the record and also hype for the upcoming European and South American tours.”
Speaking of which, Behemoth and Arch Enemy will be touring South America this November. You can check out the dates below.
Arch Enemy and Behemoth South American Tour:
11/11 – Belo Horizonte BR
11/12 – Brasilia BR
11/13 – Sao Paulo BR
11/15 – Curitiba BR
11/16 – Porto Alegre BR
11/18 – Rio De Janeiro BR
11/19 – Limeira BR
11/21 – Buenos Aires AR
11/23 – Santiago CL
11/25 – Lima PE
11/27 – Bogota CO
11/29 – San José CR
11/30 – San Salvador SV