Live report BODY COUNT & SLOPE, Inselpark Arena, Hamburg – June 7th, 2024

Hamburg instead of L.A. and South East instead of South Central – that is the place to be today when being interested in Body Count‘s massive crossover metal.

Ice-T and bandmates are currently on tour in Europe, playing some of the bigger festivals like Rock im Park / Rock am Ring. The band will also play two headliner shows in Germany: one in Berlin and one in Hamburg. Tonight the crossover trailblazers stop at Inselpark Arena ( formerly known as edel-optics Arena). With them on tour are their label mates Slope, an exciting young band from Germany that just released their latest album a few weeks ago.

As exciting as Slope’s latest album is, the band has a few issues tonight. First of all, the sound in the beginning isn’t the best and there is some power lacking. Also, the guys seem to be either impressed by the big crowd or it was supporting a band like Body Count, which leads to a performance that feels a bit tense or unsettled. At least that’s the impression you can get although the four guys give the best they have in the tank. Nevertheless, the guys from Duisburg battle their way through these 30 minutes with willpower and dedication, leading to a deserve a solid applause at the end. And it might be that Slope at a small and beer-soaked venue is an even better experience.

Time for Body Count. The stage is set and the Grim Reaper stares at you from the backdrop with a gun in his hand. The same image frames the drumkit when the band enters the stage at 21:00. It‘s a pretty smart move to put the Slayer cover “Raining Blood / Postmortem” very early on the setlist. Such a metal classic sets the tone for tonight and the fans go wild for the first time. The way Body Count start the night is a blast and kicks off 85 minutes of finest crossover.

Rock, metal, punk and rap all come together in the Inselpark Arena for one night and everyone in the hall is thrilled. But it’s not just the music that excites. It is also the show and the performance as a whole. It all fits and seeing Ice-T and his bandmates on stage is a great thing. The presence of the frontman is just impressing while Ernie C. to his left deliver a guitar wizard performance. A real shred master.

A highlight is certainly the addition of “Disorder” to the setlist. Introduced as a mix of Slayer, Exploited and Ice-T, the cover version is originally from the “Judgement Night” soundtrack and unfolds its own thrill during such a live show.

And as a new Body Count album has been announced for quite a while now, and the fact that the tour is the “Merciless” tour, the band introduced “Merciless” another new song after “Psychpath” has been revealed already. I guess it takes a while for the fans to get used to it, because it’s not the song that makes everyone wild and crazy.

Things change when the first riff of one of the most popular Body Count songs is thrown into the crowd. “Copkiller” is what the fans want to hear and it’s this musical blast that turns the place into a madhouse.

Ice-T also checks who the youngest fan in the audience is. He starts this ‘check’ before the aforementioned ‘Merciless’, but actually it was supposed to come one song later, just before ‘Talk Shit, Get Shot’. And the youngest fan tonight is … Ice-T’s daughter, who comes on stage and obviously enjoys being there during the song.

Body Count present songs that reflect the different phases of the band, from old to new and back again. This of course includes tunes like “Manslaughter” as well as “No Lives Matter” and not to forget the loudly shouted “Born Dead”.

Ice-T and Body Count brought a South Central vibe to Hamburg’s south-east this evening. With a well composed setlist the band delivers and even if you can’t always be sure what’s authentic and what’s show, tonight’s show provided a lot of entertainment and showed why this band belongs to the spearhead of crossover.