Biohazard’s Divided We Fall tour had reached Europe and Copenhagen, Denmark. Pumpehuset was warm and sweaty, well warmed up by Sworn Enemy and Striking 13, and as they were the two supporting acts coming with to our fair town, it was now time for Biohazard to wreak havoc, hardcore style.

Showing their New York roots, Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti (a.k.a. the theme from Rocky) opened up the show, and to stick with the film theme, Biohazard had a camera crew in place, as they had picked Copenhagen for the filming of their upcoming video for Fight To Be Free. To be honest, I have no idea if they filmed in other towns as well, but that’s what they said, that it was filmed here in Copenhagen that is.
If this had any significance for the performance of the band and the reaction of the crowd is hard to say, but both were admittedly extremely lively.

Bobby Hambel was first on stage, well before anyone else in the band, and was making the rounds in greeting the fans when the rest of them showed up to start playing. That’s his special style, always there for the fans, and honestly, we like it a lot.
The show itself opened with Urban Discipline, the song, but it was also this album that would dominate the set, closely followed by Divided We Fall of course. Other than that, there were a couple of very short excursions to State Of The World Address and the self titled debut, thus skipping not only all of the albums recorded without Hambel on guitar, but even Reborn In Defiance, his return album. One might think this is the band recognising what’s their glory days, but I wouldn’t have said no to a bit more from State Of The World Address if that’s the case.

The songs were great though, of course they were, but they were also delivered all the energy and attitude one could hope for. Hambel jumped and jumped, and Billy Graziadei ran, jumped, and walked a tightrope-like walk on the narrow edge of the monitors. Evan Seinfeld was more tied to his microphone, but when he did get away from it, he proved himself as capable as any to rock out and jump, all while Danny Schuler worked up a sweat behind the drums.
While the performance was wild, the music still came across as tight and hard, and inviting chaos.

And chaos was to be had. It didn’t take long before the first person crawled up on stage to stage dive right back into the throng, all while the floor had erupted in a fast circle pit. It’s very possible that the security fence had been left in a box somewhere this night for that very reason, and security had a far more relaxed relation to the antics of the crowd than we’re used to seeing.
After one had led the way, several others were to follow, and for every song, Biohazard saw many fans come up, jump around a bit, some even inviting themselves to sing along with the band in the mics, before jumping or being gently nudged by the band’s crew back to the floor. This was better received by some than others; while Seinfeld was getting clearly frustrated with the situation, especially when fans came too close to him, Graziadei just kept doing his thing, and Hambel seemed to enjoy the turmoil. Seinfeld was even seen kicking a man lying down because he’d come in contact with his monitor, saying afterwards that if people werre going to come on stage, they were absolutely not allowed to fuck up his gear, to which Hambel retorted that they could just come over and fuck his gear up instead, he didn’t give a shit.

This sort of crowded behaviour isn’t unknown at Biohazard shows, but as mentioned, it might have been more accepted this night for the sake of the camera crew. That this was an event for them as well as everyone else was never more evident than when the band chose to play Fight To Be Free a second time right after the first, using the short interval to direct the crowd in what to scream and when for maximum effect for the cameras. While that felt more than a bit weird, as soon as the music was playing, the action commenced, and we were all having fun again.
And let’s not forget that it wasn’t only the fans that invaded the stage! In Punishment, Sal Lococo and Mike Pucciarelli of Sworn Enemy joined the band, with Lococo adding screams and Pucciarelli taking over Seinfeld’s bass, as he went all in on singing. After this, more Sworn Enemy as well as Striking 13 and crew people joined in for Hold My Own, the final track of the night.

There was absolutely nothing missing from the show, except for more songs. Playing only 12 songs, including one of them being played twice, feels a bit short for a headlining act, but at least those 12 tracks were delivered at full power. It was warm, it was sweaty, it was quite possibly a biohazard to stay in the room, and so it was with thankful smiles that the fans left quickly as soon as the last song had rung out. The band members had after all invited everyone to free drinks in the outside bar for some final shots for the video. No need to ask for that twice! The night air was warm, but the beers were frosty and just what the doctor ordered.
After the filming was done, several band members from all bands hung out, chatting with the fans in a nice, relaxed fashion for hours.

Setlist:

Gonna Fly Now (Bill Conti song)
Urban Discipline
Shades Of Grey
Fuck The System
Wrong Side Of The Tracks
Forsaken
Black And White And Red All Over
Eyes On Six
Five Blocks To The Subway
Fight To Be Free
Fight To Be Free
Punishment
Hold My Own