Volbeat (Airbourne)

The very first gig of my son became one of my loudest ever.


Score: 4/5
Buddies: my son, Herb (downstairs)
Merch: just popcorn
Again? Hopefully (with my son)





If you wanna do a gig with your children, I am quite sure that you need to be fast. Otherwise 'being on a gig with your child' means that you drop her/him off the place in order to pick her/him up later again (while not being seen, cause that would be uncool for them). The Wacken experience told me that it's about time to head for my son's first gig. He is now (nearly) ten, and @Wacken there were considerably younger kids with their parents.

Step 1 - Choosing the right band: Despite my son's preference of rather electronic acts such as Skrillex, I chose Volbeat. It was a rather spontaneous choice, they are big enough to be in Wiener Stadthalle, so they provide seated places as well. They are melodic enough, and there would not be any advanced things, such as Circle Pits (Volbeat actually asked for a Circle Pit, but got none) or Walls of Death etc. And the date just fit.

Step 2 - Preparing the right equipment: What I learnt from Wacken was that you have to take great care of ear protection for the young headbangers. DIY superstores are best for getting workers' ear protection, and I ended up with a two layer solution, i.e. in-ear and over the ear protection.


Since the gig ended up being very loud, this was the exact right thing to do - we used both protection layers simultaneously. So this will be the standard equipment for further gigs.










Step 3 - Going there, Experience: I admit that I was a bit unsure about how this will turn out. My son hardly knew any of Volbeat's music, and I expected him to be one of the very youngest there, so I was unsure about whether there will be questions about his age. None of these concerns were grounded. While he definitely was one of the youngest, there were also other kids there, and the personnel of Wiener Stadthalle was particularly friendly to us. Probably also because my son already had the full ear protection attached outside of the venue - just to be on the safe side. That was nice.

(more to follow)