Live report HELMET, Markthalle, Hamburg – November 22nd, 2024

Birthday party at Markthalle in Hamburg as Helmet celebrate 30 years of “Betty”. It is the third album of the New York alternative rock veterans and a very successful one at that.

“Betty” was released in 1994 and marked another highlight in the band’s career. Tonight Page Hamilton and his bandmates stop in Hamburg and the band has a large fan base in the city. The show is sold out and everyone is looking forward to some great alternative rock classics.

Helmet enter the stage at 20:15. The band just walks on stage and we are on the way. The first part of the set is completely dedicated to “Betty”. Helmet play the entire album in its chronological order, which means that we start with a great version of “Wilma’s Rainbow”.

Song after song is hammered into the hall and the fans are thrilled by what they see and hear. A Helmet show means a lot of riff power and less talking. There are a few moments though when the bandleader talks to the crowd, like when he announced a 5 minute intermission after the bluesy closer of the “Betty” album – “Sam Hell”.

The second part of the set includes the other classics, from “Ironhead” to “Drunk in the Afternoon”.

Hamilton’s German is actually very good, as he was an exchange student in Stuttgart So the introduction of “Symptom Of The Universe” is almost completely in excellent German and the fans appreciate the effort.

After leaving the stage for a few minutes, the band comes back for an encore, including the band’s greatest hits. It starts with “Unsung” and the fans in the pit go crazy. Next is “Just Another Victim”, a highlight from the “Judgement Night” movie soundtrack. Before the song starts, Hamiton mentions the Ina Deter song “Neue Männer braucht das Land”, which he remembers from his time in Germany and new men are needed after the embarrassing presidential election. “Scheisse”, that’s Hamiton’s statement. The crowd goes crazy during “Just Another Victim” and gets even wilder during “In the Meantime”. The classic from Helmet’s second album also heralds the end of the show.

This birthday party was a blast. Helmet played a 100-minute show with a setlist that included all the highlights of the band and of course the full power of “Betty”. As said before, Helmet has a very strong fan base in the metropolitan city in the north of Germany and tonight’s show underlined why this is the case.