Chewing gum is mega! Tour 2023: HEAVYSAURUS @ Arena, Vienna (December 17, 2023)
“Chewing gum is mega!”…. “That’s a stupid title” and “How untrue!” the run-of-the-mill metalhead would think – unless he has children of kindergarten or primary school age. Then HEAVYSSAURUS might be a well-known term from the children’s room. The children’s heavy metal band consisting of four dinosaurs and a dragon have announced a whopping three shows in the Vienna Arena. Like right now? The arena where the moms and dads battled it out on several nights? The arena, which is full of graffiti and stickers, where it smells a bit strange? Right there!
There has been a German-language offshoot of the concept from Finland for more than five years, which aims to introduce kids to metal and rock, handmade music and child-friendly lyrics. Behind the dinosaur costumes there are also some well-known musicians such as Christof Leim (Riffi Raffi on guitar, from THE NEW BLACK and well-known German music journalist) or Michael Voss (Mr. Heavysaurus on vocals, including MADMAX and well-known producer), which reflects the quality and also enhances authenticity. Two albums have been released so far and an extensive tour played in 2023 before album number three is released next year and around 70 tour dates are planned until the 25th year.
For the pre-Christmas weekend I “only” got more tickets for the additional show on Sunday evening, the ones for Saturday and Sunday afternoon were completely sold out. So we set off with all our children, instead of a greasy kebab before the concert, bananas and drinking bottles were packed as provisions.
When we arrived in the courtyard of the arena under the striking chimney, we saw a familiar sight: a long queue in front of the entrances. And yet there was one difference from normal concerts, namely a clown who made and distributed balloon animals (arena-appropriate in ALICE COOPER devotional make-up). The kids were immediately happy about the stamps that they received at the entrance and then quickly handed their jackets over to the cloakroom inside. At the front of the large hall, which was already full half an hour before the start, a barrier tape could be seen in the first third of the stage, which marked the “children’s zone” with yellow flags – only young fans were allowed through here.
At 5 p.m. sharp the time had come: an intro from the tape told the story of the creation of the heavy dinosaurs (in which witches were also involved) accompanied by the Jurassic Park melody. Then the four dinosaurs and the dragon wobbled onto the stage and started with “Chewing Gum Is Mega!” Between the songs there was a lot of joking, the children were asked about their career aspirations (which led to “Was Willst Du Mal Werden”) and an embarrassing call was taken from Mr. Heavysaus’ mom. “Stark Wie Ein Tiger” was a, no-well, “Eye Of The Tiger” cover and during “Treasure Hunt” packs of gummy bears were handed out from a large treasure chest.
As announced, the volume was adjusted to the small listeners with a maximum of 85dB. Some still had exemplary hearing protection with them. Of course, a band performance couldn’t be missed and well-known classics were played. So that girls also felt addressed and encouraged, the keyboard triceratops girl Milli Pilli was allowed to take over “Dino Disko” on the microphone. As expected, there were also spark pyrotechnics and garland cannons on display and on “Heavysaurus Day” huge balloons were thrown into the crowd of children – great fun!
After the encore “Dino-Metalheads” (the concept had to be explained first), it was over again after a good 70 entertaining minutes. The dinosaurs also announced their presence for the coming year and were sent into the shower to loud applause.
Setlist HEAVYSAURUS:
Chewing gum is mega!
Yeah, Heavysaurus!
What would you like to become
Stark Wie Ein Tiger (Eye Of The Tiger)
Dino Disko
The Forest Fairy
Medley: Savior Of The World / UFO Workshop / Spaceship Juranoid / Treasure Hunt
(Introduction of band members)
Hit-Medley: Seven Nation Army / Jump / We Will Rock You / Don’t Stop Believin‘)
Rarrr
Laser Ninja
Heavysaurus Tag (Dinolied)
–
Dino-Metalheads
The HEAVYSAURUS show was actually fun for the whole family and there weren’t many noticeable differences from an “adult” concert.
The biggest one was probably that the arena never sells more apple juice than beer.
Band-Links:
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