It was a very rainy Sunday and I will not lie, for a very brief moment I considered staying home. A very brief moment. But good concerts don’t exactly rain down on Bucharest, and this one was one of the few I had circled on my calendar for the whole year. I am so glad I did go!

Quantic was packed and the crowd came dressed like this was a Gothic Comic Con. I don’t ever want to hear a single word about girls being sparkly and pink for Taylor Swift. The goths showed up and they showed out.

Ad Infinitum

I have seen Ad Infinitum before and they keep getting better, which at this point feels almost unfair. Melissa Bonny has an aura and last night it was turned up to something I can’t fully explain. She was just glowing in a way that wasn’t there the last time, and it showed in every single song.

The Swiss symphonic metal quartet has been building a serious name for themselves with Melissa’s powerhouse vocals layered over these almost cinematic, orchestral arrangements. The setlist pulled from across their discography and highlights included Upside Down, Aftermath, Unstoppable. I will always, always complain that they are not playing Marching on Versailles. I know they have released a lot of music since their first album and I genuinely enjoy it, but nothing quite hits that spot for me like See You in Hell and Marching on Versailles. Those two songs live in a specific part of my brain and I will be asking about them at every show.

I think Melissa’s voice could have been a little more isolated in the mix. She is that powerful and she deserved to fill the room completely. The band was tight, the energy was there, and they made the whole thing look easy.

The guys in Ad Infinitum were rocking some leather jackets throughout the concert. They must have been running so hot. Fashion requires sacrifice, I guess. My microfeminism act of the day is reviewing men’s outfits.

I love Adrian’s weird little guitar and I genuinely do not understand the hate it gets online. Let him cook.

And then, mid-set, Lord of the Lost started entering the stage one by one like it was a catwalk, after which they gathered to take selfies, all while Ad Infinitum were singing their new single, which is a banger. Apparently pranking the headliner on the last night of a tour is a tradition and the whole thing felt chaotic in the best way. I feel like this set the tone for everything that followed.

Lord of the Lost

I have seen Lord of the Lost before as well and the same thing applies: they keep getting better and it is starting to feel like a personality trait of theirs. The Hamburg band has been around since 2007, building a devoted and very theatrical following across Europe through their blend of gothic rock, industrial, and metal. They represented Germany at Eurovision 2023, which brought them a whole new audience, me included. Their bass player couldn’t make it for health reasons, which was sad to hear, but the show went on and it did not slow them down.

They opened with Kill the Lights and My Funeral, which is a statement of intent if I have ever heard one, and kept the energy going through more than 20 songs, which included Drag Me to Hell, On This Rock I Will Build My Church, Loreley, and closed with Light Can Only Shine in the Darkness. As they said, they are not a band to go out of stage and pretend to come back if the public shouts “We want more”, as that is a waste of time and they are so German, so efficient.

The song that I think exemplifies them best is I Hate People. They have this ability to hit the nail on something that speaks to everyone, that is fun, that feels a little bit commercial, and I do not mean commercial as an insult. When we listen to music, go to a concert, buy a record, that is its intended purpose. We want to enjoy it and delight in it, and they want us to do exactly that. After all, who is not going to have some fun chanting I Hate People at the top of their lungs in a packed room on a Sunday night?

Ad Infinitum came back out shortly after to return the favour and have some fun on stage, bringing joy and warmth with them.

Doomsday Disco is giving full German rave and I am pretending it is completely normal to be out at this hour enjoying a light show on a Sunday. The light show was such a great part of their set… and absolutely not safe for anyone with epilepsy. Blood & Glitter into Cha Cha Cha, a Käärijä cover of their Finnish Eurovision counterpart, really gave us what we came for.

The balance between talking and performing was just right, the crowd interaction was genuinely fun, and the whole thing had this energy where even if you didn’t know a single song, you ended up joining in anyway. It’s like a horă at a wedding where you don’t know when one song ends and another starts but you’re dancing regardless and nobody is questioning it.

They had a fun little moment where they threw an axolotl plushie and a t-shirt into the crowd. Best way to advertise your merch line. I love myself a fun little gimmick for the public, and I love it even more when it’s a bit unique. There’s only so many ways you can make the crowd sing oooOOOOoo in turns, so I appreciate the ingeniosity.

Final Thoughts

People will say Lord of the Lost sounds like that other famous German metal band. I won’t dignify that with an answer, but Lord of the Lost are better, and they don’t even need to burn kerosene or show porn on stage.

As a side notion, tickets were 100 lei presale for two bands of this size, which still does not fully compute in my brain. Especially when you think that you sometimes pay that for local bands that bring no special production. It’s getting insanely unaffordable to go to concerts, so kudo to Lord of the Lost and Ad Infinitum for letting us afford to see them.

Quantic needs to fix the ventilation before I fully forgive it. There was genuinely no air during the show unless someone opened a door for a brief moment. And it wasn’t even summer.

But the night itself? Completely worth it, very worth the rain. Would do it again without thinking twice.