Helloween returns to Brazil in early October with the United Forces Tour 2022 , for two shows in São Paulo. The current (and robust) lineup of the German power metal band will perform for the third time on Brazilian stages: the first was in 2017, the year of their reunion , and the second in 2019, including a performance at Rock In Rio , both part of the Pumpkins United Tour .
Bringing together the past and present of Helloween, with Andi Deris (vocals), Michael Kiske (vocals) and Kai Hansen (vocals and guitar), as well as Michael Weikath (guitar), Markus Grosskopf (bass), Sascha Gerstner (guitar) and Dani Löble (drums), this time there is more than just the joy of reliving the hits from their extensive discography, but it is also a show to talk about the future.
The band released the magnificent album Helloween last year, demonstrating that the magnetic dynamism and professionalism displayed on tour around the world over the past five years also work in the studio, capable of doing justice to their own legacy and charting new horizons. It's no coincidence that the self-titled album was chosen as one of the best of 2021 by our website and several specialized media outlets.
The band kicked off their Latin American tour last Saturday, the 24th, and drummer Dani Löble spoke with Wikimetal a few months before embarking on the highly anticipated shows in Brazil alongside HammerFall , who also spoke with us ( read here ).
In good spirits and very receptive, the drummer paused rehearsals in his personal studio to meet with the press. "I was playing and had the interview, I thought 'Oh, crap, I have to put on a dry t-shirt!'", he joked right away.
And now with 16 albums in their discography, creating the setlist is an even more delicate challenge, but Dani knows it's "simply impossible" to please everyone. "There was a show where we played almost all of Helloween's career hits. Almost all of them. It was a three-hour show and even then, we heard some fans complaining and I thought, 'Well, we could play for another five hours and they'd still complain,' so…," he said simply, without ruling out the possibility of surprises in the selection of shows here.
Helloween had been away from the stage since 2019, only returning to shows this year, and getting in shape for the marathon that professional musicians are known for, also called touring, wasn't easy. Being responsible for the most physically demanding instrument in the band, the drummer follows a routine of physical exercise and rehearsals of "three or four hours" on the drums every day.
“[Playing drums] is my life, besides my wife. This is my voice, I don’t like to talk that much, so I let the drums communicate for me. Making music and playing drums is so important that it deserves to be done in the best way I can, every night, and you need to be in shape,” he explained.
Regarding the Brazilian audience, so intense in their love for Helloween, the musician seeks to be fair to fans around the world: there is no one audience better than another. “Japanese fans, for example, are more reserved. Then we arrive in Brazil and you are more direct. You're not more passionate, but you show more of that passion, dedication, and craziness,” he observed. “I really like having people in front of me who allow me to be part of the emotion, so I'm very excited to come back.”
When the conversation inevitably turns to the uncertainty of what the future of metal will be like , since the future of Helloween itself seems to hold only happy surprises, Dani Loeble reflects on the questions that Wikimetal always seeks to answer .
“I like a lot of new bands, there are many really good ones. On the other hand, the day will come when Iron Maiden , Judas Priest and that kind of band will leave the metal stage and I wonder: 'Which of these new bands will headline Rock In Rio, for example?'”, he said. “In the new bands, I miss hits like Maiden, Priest and even Helloween have. I have many albums by newcomers, they are incredible, they are killing it on the drums, dancing, they are technical monsters, very fast and with interesting melodies, but they don't have a song like 'Living on a Prayer' ( Bon Jovi ), that 100,000 people would sing. That's a big question and I don't have an answer for it.”
Helloween's drummer also had difficulty answering Wikimetal , but who could blame him? The question is this: imagine you're listening to a rock station on the radio, driving your car, something like that, and suddenly a song starts playing that makes you stop everything to headbang. What song is that?
“Wow, that’s difficult, very difficult! It’s not fair, it would be a 10-meter list! To be honest, right now I have Sepultura ’s ‘Arise ’ in my car. So as soon as I start driving, it’ll start playing and I’ll be headbanging for almost an hour,” he said. “But tomorrow it might be ‘ Flotsam and Jetsam ,’ I was listening to ‘No Place for Disgrace’ and it’s a very good album. My musical taste is very diverse.”
Helloween will be performing at Espaço Unimed in São Paulo on October 8th and 9th. Tickets for the first date are sold out, but tickets for Sunday are still available on the Ticket360 for the general admission and premium standing areas.
READ ALSO: Interview: HammerFall talks about shows in Brazil with Helloween and the future of metal
