CC Muziekcafé too small for X Made Alcoholic Santaclaus

Saturday the 3rd of December was a time to celebrate AVO’s early Christmas party with the guys from X Made Alcoholic Santaclaus in CC Muziekcafé Amsterdam! It was a night to remember. Curious? Then don’t hesitate to continue reading.

Even if their band name is X Made Alcoholic Santaclaus (in short XMAS), don’t expect sweet and classic Christmas songs. Instead you can prepare yourself for some head banging and go totally crazy with their wild rock songs. With their black heavy XMAS Christmas hats on their heads the band members were ready to give the fully crowded venue a great night full of enthusiasm. From the start of the first song the mood kicked in really well and the audience was very enthusiastic. The stage had a small higher spot, this place was filled with equipment and the drum kit.

The small space in front of the stage was used by vocalist Kei, guitarist Charlie and guitarist Masaya. On the small space in front of the stage there were a couple of benches where people could sit down, ‘this was so the fans could get extra close to the artists. With the song CHOICE FOR FACE, which can also be found on their newest album Espèce à l’aventure, they made almost the entire audience dance around. Apparently the song was highly loved by the crowd. The song is very catchy and because of the strange but funny voice made by Yu-ta the whole audience started to sing along.

Guitarist Masaya did some fantastic guitar solos where he was holding the guitar above his head and kept playing, this really looked amazing. Guitarist Charlie didn’t let the chance slide and decided to stand in between the audience and laid down on the floor during his solo. The audience went completely wild when this happened and the night couldn’t get any better.

In between there was a break because the venue where XMAS played always takes short breaks. During the break there was time for the fans to buy some merchandise and to have a short talk with the band members. After the break it was time for the next 45 minutes of the concert and the audience just couldn’t wait for more.

Something quite unexpected happened during the performance. When you see a heavy rock band like XMAS you don’t expect an acoustic or unplugged performance, but they did. The band surprised their audience with some unplugged versions of certain songs. During the acoustic songs the atmosphere started to feel more relaxed and the crowd seemed to get a bit calmer after all the energetic and chaotic songs. All of the guys sat down on chairs and made some nice sounds with the unplugged versions. After this it was time to rock on and the concert continued in the normal style of the band.

The name itself says enough. X Made Alcoholic Santaclaus. And what would an Alcoholic Santaclaus be without a glass of alcohol? After they played for a while again the guys shouted to toast with the whole audience. Everyone quickly grabbed a drink and the band got a large glass of beer. After making the toast all members started to chug the huge glasses of beer while being cheered on by the crowd, it almost seemed like a competition! After this the band played a few more songs and they played so energetic that it almost seemed like the venue would explode. Ofcourse the audience wasn’t ready to say goodbye to XMAS and with a loud applause the band said goodbye to their audience.

After the show of X Made Alchoholic Santaclaus another band played. The Nirvana Tribute band played some nice Nirvana songs and while they played you could enjoy some more music and talk a bit about the concert.

To keep it short. It was a night full of energy, loud rock, enthusiasm and some beers during the concert of X Made Alcholic Santaclaus in the CC Muziekcafé Amsterdam! All of this together made it a night to remember. Let’s hope that the guys of XMAS come back soon and are ready to surprise us with something completely new.

Setlist:

01. Keep on March
02. ZOMBIE
03. CHOICE FOR FACE
04. not today
05. アリバダ (Aribada)
05. Raise Up Your Flag
06. THE GIFT (akoestisch)
– Pauze
01. THE GIFT
02. Outcome
03. Over the time
04. Grow
05. Clock Tower
06. Throw Away Tonight

Fotografie: Giovanni Thielman en Kimberly VK (Chachamaru)