Madball, 21st June 2024, Pandæmonium, Copenhell Festival, Denmark

Photo: Goran www.urbanmescalero.com

Previous day at Copenhell we got to see Biohazard and then we were treated by another New York City Hard Core band, Madball. Heaving its roots in late 80’s the band was formed as by Agnostic Front vocalist Roger Miret on bass, and Vinnie Stigma on guitar, as a way for Miret’s 12-year ol half-brother Freddy Cricien to get his own band. These days Cricien is the only original member and after parting ways with long-time member Jorge “Hoya Roc” Guerra, the longest serving member in the band besides Cricien is drummer Mike Justian who has been with the band since 2011. This afternoon Madball were set to play same stage Miret and Stigma played with Agnostic Front couple of years back. 

As the band kicked off their show not many people found their way to Copenhells third stage Pandæmonium, but that was quickly going to change. Well, maybe not that quickly, but some three songs in, the place in front of the stage was filled up nicely. The band and Cricien in particular did their best to get the crowd going and over the course of their show they underlined the importance of hard work and dedication. The entire time Cricien was pacing the stage, running, jumping, going down in the crowd and which each next song the crowd got bigger and wilder.

Much like on that Biohazard concert the day before, there was a such positive atmosphere at the concert, with humble opinions and messages of unity. The band’s and especially Cricien’s enduring display of energy was infectious, and it was hard not to get involved and be part of Madball’s Copenhell-bobble.

There were a few technical glitches here and there, and it did take band few songs to really involve the crowd, but overall this was a street-level celebration and an ode to the importance of hard labour in live music.