By the time Electric Callboy released Tekkno Train in September of 2022, the band already knew they had captured lightning in a bottle. While the band had surely had its success before their sixth studio album, a change in vocals and a different direction marked a new era for the band. The group released several music videos for the album, most featuring off-the-wall characters and over-the-top premises. The songs are undeniably catchy; the videos are uniquely mesmerizing. As the anticipation reaches a boiling point, the tours started to roll out and after the first one was canceled due to illness, the Tekkno Tour finally announced stops in the United States for the fall of last year. Each show sold out including one at New York City’s Palladium Times Square, where the band closed out their tour with a show that threatened to blow the roof off the building.
That wouldn’t be a concern this time as the band elected to take their tour to an outdoor venue, Pier 17, when visiting New York City for a second go. The venue on the Southern end of Manhattan gave a crowd near the 3,500 capacity a chance to enjoy the show with the Brooklyn Bridge acting as a serene backdrop. A quick look around the rooftop also granted fans a clear view of the New York City skyline, with highlights such as the One World Trade Center and the Empire State Building. The band chose the venue as one of only six stops through the United States and Canada. The Tekkno Train was back, albeit more of an express train with fewer stops.
This time, New York was closer to the beginning of the tour, acting as the second stop. Many fans arrived early to take advantage of the venue’s unique vantage points, taking selfies and chatting it up. Many were dressed as characters inspired by their favorite Electric Callboy hits. Others proudly wore the tour shirt from the year prior, letting others know this was at least their second time boarding the Tekkno Train. As with the last tour, Electric Callboy called on the services of two perfectly complementary supporting acts, this time in the form of If Not For Me and Bury Tomorrow. An hour after doors opened, If Not For Me made their way to the rooftop stage.
The Harristown, Pennsylvania-based Metalcore four-piece came to the stage ready to have a good time with the already sizable NYC crowd. Patrick Glover (Vocals), Hayden Calhoun (Guitar), Zac Allen (Bass), and Cody Frain (Drums) came ready to show off tracks from their 2022 release, Eulogy, among others. From the start, the band had the crowd in the palm of their hands with Glover occasionally sticking his tongue out or raising his fist triumphantly.
Songs including “Everything You Wanted” and “Feel Me Now” had fans roaring along. There is no mourning over this Eulogy. The tracks are full of life and worth every bit of your time to listen to. The band has a handful of tour dates scheduled after their run with Electric Callboy ends along the East Coast. Be sure to catch them if you can. You will not be disappointed.
If Not For Me
As the sun began to set, Bury Tomorrow hit the stage. While If Not For Me resides in nearby Pennsylvania, Bury Tomorrow crossed an ocean for this tour. The Southampton, Hampshire, England-based act arrived excited for their first-ever American tour. Daniel Winter-Bates (Vocals), Tom Prendergast (Keyboards, Clean Vocals), Davyd Winter-Bates (Bass), Kristan Dawson (Lead Guitar), Ed Hartwell (Rhythm Guitar), and Adam Jackson (Drums) had already amassed a sizable following with many fans in attendance wearing shirts that donned the band’s name. The band hit the stage with an unmatched tenacity with a setlist that focused on their most recent release, 2023’s The Seventh Sun. The band opened with a track of the same name, and fans showed their appreciation by shaking the barricade and headbanging in tune.
As “Black Flame” started later in the set, Winter-Bates riled the crowd by commanding crowd surfers. One song later, “Earthbound,” had the vocalist conjuring up a circle pit with the frenzied crowd. Similar to Electric Callboy, the band is a perfect mesh of clean vocals and harsh screams by Prendergast and Winter-Bates respectively though the band takes a more raw approach to their presentation. By the time Bury Tomorrow closed out their set with “DEATH (Even Colder),” fans in attendance had earned their break in between bands. Bury Tomorrow never let the crowd come up for air as they tore through their nine-track setlist, and fans wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Bury Tomorrow won’t be wasting much time after the Tekkno Tour comes to an end. The group will make its way closer to home for a headlining tour through Europe.
Bury Tomorrow
While crew members raised the large screen Electric Callboy use as their backdrop for live shows, some fans used the time to check out the merch booth while others jockeyed for position as close to the stage as they could get. By now, the rooftop resembled a full-on party, the perfect atmosphere for the headlining act. With the sun now completely set, the venue was able to go dark as the Tekkno Train arrived at its New York destination. Soon, the crowd was greeted, via the screen, by cosplayer Tingilya, reprising her role from the “Tekkno Train” music video to welcome fans in attendance. After testing the fans by requesting they clap and then adding a healthy dose of techno to the mix, Tingilya announced that Electric Callboy were ready to take the stage.
David-Karl Friedrich (Drums), Daniel “Danskimo” Haniß (Guitar), Pascal Schillo (Guitar), and Daniel Klossek (Bass) took to their posts. Vocalists Nico Sallach and Kevin Ratajczak soon joined, and the band took off with “Tekkno Train.” Much like one of their music videos, this opening production is top notch and designed to make it impossible not to move along to. Unlike the Palladium the year before, the outdoor venue also allowed the band to make use of some smoke pyro, which blasted as the song hit its opening chords.
The band then asked if they had any ninjas in the crowd before heading into “MC Thunder II (Dancing Like a Ninja). Before the breakdown, the band riled up the crowd into a wall of death. One song later, Ratajczak asked for audience participation as he asked the crowd to join him, making tongue noises for” Spaceman.” In fact, throughout the night, the crowd was made part of the show often. Whether it was dancing with a loved one for “Hurrikan” or singing along with their cover of Cascada’s “Everytime We Touch”, the crowd was treated as unofficial members of the band throughout the night. Between most tracks, the group joked with the live crowd, letting them know they were now at least ten percent German after singing along with “Castrop X Spandau” and even taking a small break from their metal set to humor fans with their renditions of “Let it Go” and “I Want It That Way” with Ratajczak on keyboard. Friedrich even had a chance to shine with a drum solo inspired by Darude’s “Sandstorm”. Later in the set, he would show off again before Sallach humorously cut him off and said he already had his moment. Unlike the 2023 tour, Conquer Divide’s Kiarely “Kia” Castillo wasn’t in attendance so when the band unleashed “Fuckboi”, Castillo’s addition to the track was played over the loudspeakers instead. The band then closed out their main set with “MC Thunder.”
Fans started chanting for one more song, but most knew there was even more than that to come. While fans had gotten a taste of Electric Callboy’s costumed antics earlier in the set with “Hypa Hypa”, the fun kicked up a notch when overly buff versions of the band appeared on the screen with the phrase “THANK YOU” over it. This soon gave way to giant heads of Ratajczak and Sallach rallying up the crowd for more. The band soon returned in their neon tracksuits and 80’s infused wigs for “Pump It” before closing off their first encore with “Mind Reader”. The band took another quick costume change while the techno beat for “We Got The Moves” geared fans up for the final song. As the second encore came to an end, fans thought the show was over but Callach said he still had two more things he needed to do. He then removed his signature headphones and said he wanted to hear the fans sing the chorus of “We Got The Moves” one more time without the band’s help to which they happily obliged. His last request of the night started off by inviting a fan on stage that had gone above and beyond to cosplay as Tingilya’s “Tekkno Train” character and having her join the band for a photo with the raucous crowd behind them.
New York may be the city that never sleeps, but the outdoor venue’s policies had Electric Callboy calling it a night by 10 PM. While the setlist mirrored the one played during the 2023 tour, it’s easily argued that it was a case of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Fans catching the band for the first time received the show of a lifetime, already hoping for the chance to do it again. For returning fans, the 2024 outing was akin to rewatching an amazing movie you had seen the year prior and noticing new nuances you had missed the first time. From the venue to the raised productions, the 2024 New York stop was a can’t-miss event for anyone remotely interested in the band. When the “Tekkno Tour” finishes up its American stops, Electric Callboy will be heading for two shows in Japan later in May before heading into Europe.
Electric Callboy
