Sometimes you just buy concert tickets for the sake of going to a concert I guess. And this one wasn’t even a tactically clever choice. When we read that Architects would play their only show in Germany in Münster, which is not far from where we live, we decided to go there although none of us is that much of an Architects fan. I occasionally have them in my Spotify mixtapes and I honestly don’t know many of their songs, but we’d also seen Spiritbox at Full Force before and thought they were cool, so why not? So we bought the tickets and went for a surprise.
The venue
The concert took place at Halle Münsterland in Münster, which we’d never been to before. It’s close to the Sputnikhalle though where we’d been to several concerts already, so we knew that a) getting to Münster and b) getting to the venue wouldn’t be too troublesome (it’s ten times easier than getting to Cologne, although there isn’t much of a difference distance-wise). The first thing we noticed when we arrived was that their website was not up to date and that the costs for parking had risen 🙄 Halle Münsterland has a huge parking lot that is open during events and parking there costs 5€. If you’re early enough you can also park at the side of the street for free, but we weren’t early.
The venue is quite big and modern. They were opening from two sides and we were lucky to queue at the back entrance (on the side of the parking) because that queue was much shorter than the one in the front when we arrived. The toilets were clean (and according to some other people the early queuers even had been allowed to use them before the doors were opened) and in a good condition. We didn’t use the cloakroom, so I can’t judge the costs. They offered some food (we had fries but I think there was also other stuff available) but it was a little overpriced. Small portion, but tasty (but ketchup/mayo costs extra). Drinks were also a little overpriced, but I’m not even expecting anything else from bigger venues at this point.
We decided to go up on the ranks and sit down because I was recovering from a cold. There was free choice, if we had wanted we could’ve gone to the standing area as well, but since we got in early, we got seats quite far at the front on the left side of the stage and in the first row of seats. The view from there was excellent and since I didn’t feel very fit sitting was just fine for me.
I’d say the sound was good as well, but to be fair I am writing this review several weeks and 5 concerts later, so my memory might not be of the best quality.
So basically… Halle Münsterland is a nice venue I guess. Not one of my favourites, but not bad either.
Loathe
I want to keep this short: Not my taste. Not at all. It wasn’t as hard for me to endure as other support acts I’ve seen, but it was a „Let’s go get some fries“ sorta support act. And from watching the crowd I felt like I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t overly excited about their performance. There’s not much more I can say. To be honest, I can hardly remember their performance. So much for that.
Spiritbox
Spirtbox was an act I was actually looking forward to. I had seen them before at Full Force – from afar and on a very hot day. But I liked their performance back then. I’m not actively listening to their music, although they have a few songs that I quite enjoy and also each time I read their name I immediately have one of their songs stuck in my head. Since I don’t know any song titles I can’t even tell you which one, but they somehow slap and I think Courtney LaPlante is an incredible vocalist and I love the tone and timbre of her voice.
The crowd energy during Spiritbox was so different already than during Loathe that you could see this band was perceived ten times better than the opener. Given their current popularity I wouldn’t be surprised if there had been a lot of people who had bought the tickets mainly to see Spiritbox.
Yet, although I kinda enjoyed their set, there was something rubbing me the wrong way the entire time and it wasn’t until halfway into the set that I found out what it was: Courtney’s stage performance. As I said, I think she’s an incredible vocalist and she seems like such a badass chick that I developed some kind of hate-love for her because I personally think she’s just too cool to be true. And during this concert I noticed why I often thought this way: Every single movement seemed staged. Every step was choreographed. And that made her look like a puppet. Or a robot. Except that her movements were smooth, but it was so learned by heart and for me, it seemed unemotional and lacked passion. And I just didn’t like that. For me, each time she left the stage and then walked back it seemed like a Roomba returning to its base for charging between the songs and when I was made aware of how she took the exact same path each time, that impression got even worse. One exception was when they performed Yellowjacket with Sam Carter, where Courtney didn’t seem as … otherworldly.
So … yeah, I guess I am torn. I would go see them again and I plan to listen to them a bit more because I definitely like their sound. But for me, they’re definitely not the best live performers. And yeah, a band consists of more than one member, but Courtney is outstanding in a way, so she will draw your attention to herself. So honestly, I didn’t really notice anyone else on stage but her. Anyway, I might see them again at Summer Breeze and then I’ll see if their performance bothers me as much as this time.
Architects
Let’s get to the main act. Once again I have to state that I’m not much of an active listener. I know like 2 songs I’m well aware of, which are Animals and a new moral low ground. The latter is mostly stuck in my brain because my girlfriend misunderstood the lyrics as „Free sex for the cavalry“, which made it impossible for me to forget about this song ever again. So this concert was like a nice surprise box because I didn’t come with any expectations.
I liked their set a lot. To me it seemed like a good mix of different songs. Some which I suspected to be older songs gave me a slight poetry slam-vibe though, but altogether I guess I have to listen a bit more to them. The thing with bands you don’t listen to that much is that you can easily get bored during their concerts if there aren’t that many songs in the set that you know. I had that last year with Smash Into Pieces and I Prevail (although in case of I Prevail I went to the concert for the support act anyway). I didn’t have that with Architects, because there was enough variety to keep me entertained although I couldn’t sing along.
And it was fun to watch the crowd because people definitely had their fair share of fun. The moshpit looked massive from above, there were tons of crowdsurfers, altogether the energy was just great. And I also liked the band’s stage performance. I was seriously impressed though for how long Sam kept wearing his hoodie because holy cow, how didn’t he melt?
For me personally I also gotta say that I loved the live vocals. Actually I liked them more than on record, which is fun, because afterwards I’ve read comments on IG complaining about Sam’s voice or stating that he wasn’t in his best shape that evening. Honestly, I didn’t notice 😂
So all in all, I’m looking forward to (hopefully) seeing them again at Summer Breeze. Except that there’s one little detail that, for me, overshadows the whole thing a little and makes me personally have a more critical look on them: Adam Christianson’s slip on X is something I personally found alarming, I didn’t buy his excuse and I thought Sam’s statement at the beginning of their tour was shallow at best. I’m not saying „cancel Architects“ and I give zero fucks about anybody else’s decisions on which artists to support or not. All I am saying is that for me personally that is something I’ll keep in mind when it comes to them.
But all in all, it was a good show and I’d do it again. Maybe next time after having listened to their music a little more because it’s still more fun if you know the songs.