A grinning skeleton with madness in the red, piercing eyes adorns the banner above the stage of the Frankfurt Festhalle.

With a helmet that says "Billy Talent" on it, it seems to race towards the glowing red sea of ​​people on a motorbike.

A hell of a ride through the Canadian rock band's greatest hits awaited the fans at the Germany start of the "Crisis Of Faith" tour, which takes place in Frankfurt.

Doreen Dormehl

Editor for Social Media.

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Already from the first, sharp guitar sounds of "Devil in the Midnight Mass" the audience seems to be on fire.

People jump to the beat, scream or rather shout along at the top of their lungs.

Red Mist rises from the stage, glides across the floor and takes first drummer Loel Campbell, then bassist Jonathan Gallant and guitarist Ian D'Sa, finally taking in singer Benjamin Kowalewicz as well.

It looks like the devil is after them.

But Kowalewicz always fights his way through the sidelines by climbing onto a box and presenting himself to his followers like a preacher from the pulpit.

Demons in everyone

Red is the dominant color of the evening – since her breakthrough with "Red Flag" it's probably also a color that you simply associate with Billy Talent.

The energy that jumps from the band to the audience could also be described as red.

As if demons had entered every single one.

But these spread no mischief, but euphoria and ecstasy.

A closer look into the auditorium is worthwhile.

It turns out that this music is for all ages.

There are the typical supporters with black band shirts and long hair, in between small children with their parents and aging rockers with long white beards.

The youngest fans in particular can probably sing along to every single line.

Unfortunately, the support bands Pabst from Berlin and Johnossi from Stockholm were only able to release a fraction of the energy in the audience

Earlier this year, Billy Talent released Crisis of Faith, their first album in six years.

They released a few songs from the record in 2019, but then the corona pandemic came and the album was put on hold for the time being.

Singer Kowalewicz tells how he and the band are doing with the pandemic: "We've had a few fucked up years.

For a long time I thought we couldn't do anything like today.

Now I'm overwhelmed.” The words hit many listeners, because cheers are loud.

There is one thing he has learned from the pandemic: “You have to take it every day.

as it comes and make the best of it.

The beauty is in the little things.” Even if Billy Talent processes her anger at the world with screaming guitars in her lyrics, you can still tell

that even in the seemingly hard rocker hearts there is a gentle side.

They are very grateful that they can be back on stage live and feel the connection to their fans.

Beware of the death wall

The musicians are very concerned about their well-being.

Because their shows can get rough at times, like pogo bumping into each other, or fans splitting into two groups to form a wall of death and bumping into each other in a row, Kowalewicz keeps asking everyone to look out for each other.

"We look out for each other tonight.

If someone falls, please help them up as soon as possible.” And his supporters take that seriously.

In general, one is very concerned about the well-being of the individual.

The security hands out water bottles to the people in the front rows.

The Billy Talent concert was one big party featuring favorite songs "Fallen Leaves", "Surrender" and "Devil On My Shoulder".

The quartet donates the fuss for an encore in agreement with the fans.

Until the last chord of "Red Flag", Billy Talent celebrates life and arguably an end to the pandemic restrictions.

After around 90 minutes, it's over and the fans stagger elated – and probably also partly tipsy – out of the Festhalle.