Here’s another round of Bad Omens. Yay. This review is split into two halves, one for each show, but since there isn’t that much difference to say I guess it’s not worth making two seperate posts
Offenbach: Poppy
Poppy for the third time was a cool experience, especially because this time I could actually see her. And at this part of the tour, a larger part of the audience was ready and willing to indulge in her music and performance. Also since this was the first time I could see, this was the first time I noticed her biting a piece out of an apple and then tossing it into the crowd (I think after Bite Your Teeth). While we hadn’t seen much during the first shows and somehow Poppy had seemed a bit like … a doll, we saw her actually show emotions this time. She seemed to enjoy her performance and I loved her energy. What I still didn’t like was the start-playthrough-end of her set. There still wasn’t really any kind of interaction with the crowd, but somehow it fits her vibe I guess. So all in all, I had a really good time during her set this time.
Offenbach: Bad Omens
I have to say it again: THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME I COULD SEE SOMETHING! I was completely enlightened. While at the first Cologne show I started crying the moment I saw Nicholas Ruffilo basically because that was the first time I could see anything, I had a very good view on him in particular in Offenbach. We were somewhere in the 5th row, or maybe a bit further to the back, but not very far from the stage. So that was really cool. And it was definitely worth it, because we got the fun part of the tour.
Fun part of the tour? Yeah, I guess every Bad Omens fan has seen the videos of Nick performing What Do You Want From Me in the black Matrix-like coat Poppy later wore for V.A.N. and with black sunglasses – and Noah crawling between Nick’s legs đ It felt very special to get this unique moment on tour. And since I could see a lot more, I could enjoy the set a lot more. Also there either wasn’t much of a moshpit (I personally think that the venue’s not meant for moshpits anyway) or it didn’t reach us except for right at the beginning of the show. Which gave me a slight advantage because the pressure pushed me through some very tall dudes that had sneaked in front of us before the set (oh, yeah, gotta love how many total assholes there are that arrive late, stand in front of much smaller people on purpose and then mock you if you ask them to move a little. It’s one thing if you queue early and get into the front rows, but can we please agree that sneaking in later and then stopping in front of smaller people is a dick move and karma will hopefully kick your ass if you do that? Thanks. The same thing happened two days later in Tilburg and if I needed one more proof why I hate people from the deepest bottom of my heart I got it there.)
So this time I got to genuinely enjoy the show instead of being tossed around in a poorly executed wannabe-moshpit. And it was great. And I have nothing else to say actually.
Tilburg: Poppy
Laaaast round. And this time the crowd was really having it. At none of the shows we’d been to I’d seen so many people not just vibe to her songs, but to sing along and scream „POPPY WE LOVE YOU“ in between. And her performance was really good. Also I loved her dress at this show, was definitely my favourite outfit out of the four shows. Still, there’s not much to add in comparison to the other shows.
Tilburg: Bad Omens
When Bad Omens started, the moshpit started – and the pressure got so much that we basically were pushed through again and I somehow ended up somewhere in the 4th row? Which felt very intrusive when I noticed that the people around me had numbers on their hands, which meant they had queued significantly earlier than us (we didn’t get any numbers so someone must’ve given up on giving them to people). But since the pressure from behind was so big and there was no movement back there was no way back for me either and even if I wanted to for a moment I had zero chance to go back again. Also this had meant that I was now in front of the assholes that had pushed in front of us and to be honest I enjoyed that.
My spot meant that I couldn’t move much because it was so tight, but it also meant that this time I had a very good view on Jolly, which was kinda nice as well. Another downside was that now I was surrounded by absolute die-hard fans that sang along so loudly that I heard more of their voices than of Noah’s. Also I felt almost bad because I am anything but well-educated concerning Bad Omens lyrics and I can hardly sing along more than the choruses, no matter how much I love a song and I felt a bit like a weirdo because I was not screaming my lungs out (also I was starting to feel tired because that was the third concert that weekend, so I didn’t feel that much like singing along anyway, I just wanted to vibe and enjoy).
All in all I enjoyed it. Once again I’ve seen a lot of their performance, although I apparently missed some of the best parts as I was told after the show, but since I was feeling really drained (and also post-concert depression and hormones started kicking in) I was feeling really down already throughout the show, so sometimes I just stood there with my eyes closed while trying not to cry.
At this show, they left us waiting for quite a while after Just Pretend before they came back for the encores. Actually the unexpected waiting time took so long that a girl next to us had to leave before the show was over to catch her train. That was weird and also extra exhausting and I think people around me must’ve asked themselves why I was there in the first place because I must’ve looked so sad and disinterested that some of them started checking in on me. I promise I had fun, I was just slowly sinking into a deep mental low – and I was very tired.
But after those two shows I can say that … I love this band. I love them from the deepest bottom of my heart. Which is fun, because I used to skip their songs on Spotify when I heard them for the first few times because I wasn’t a big fan of Noah’s vocals in The Death Of Peace Of Mind or Just Pretend. It wasn’t until I heard Artifical Suicide and Dethrone that my interest grew and it was the guitar riffs in Miracle, IDWT$ or What Do You Want From Me that made me like them. And now I love them a fucking lot. I might not agree with everything they do. I hate the VIP upgrades with a burning passion, especially at this tour, where they were basically a rude scam since you didn’t get much for the amount of money people paid. I also hate their „limited merch drops“ and I think they’re exceptionally bad at communication.
But I could not not love Nicholas Ruffilo in a matrix coat with sunglasses. (Yes, this is a friendly reminder that not all Bad Omens fans are Noah-fangirls. đ)