"MOTIONLESS! MOTIONLESS! MOTIONLESS!" The chant you hear in a venue full of Motionless In White fans who are waiting for the guys to take the stage. But we'll get to that in a hot second. Substage is located in a slightly industrial and artsy part of Karlsruhe, a part that is also under a bit of road construction. Makes finding the right street to turn on too a bit difficult, but the venue is easy enough to find once you have actually made it to the right street. There's very limited parking in front of the venue, so you'll have to locate curb parking or find a lot behind the building and hope it's not full of cars from the surrounding studios. My husband and I drove down, about 2.5hrs from where we live, and ended up parking behind the building since most businesses were already empty for the day(Wednesday). At least parking is free and doesn't have the exorbitant fees that you'll find in Los Angeles, which is refreshing. The venue doors didn't open til 7pm, so that means coat check and the bar also didn't open until 7pm, which sucked because with VIP for the show(which included a Meet and Greet with the band), we couldn't check out stuff until general admission was let in so we'd have lost our prime spots in front of the barrier. Security was chill and let us put our coats on the other side of the barrier on the metal stand area, working out perfectly since there were only a few crowd surfers and it wasn't a super crazy crowd like other shows I've been too. Coat check was about €2-€4 depending on your item count, and the bar was reasonably priced. The cups have a deposit fee on them so a Jack and Coke was about €6, plus the €2 deposit that you get back when you return the cup with the little token they give you. This particular Motionless In White show was a tad bit smaller then ones I've attended in the US(Colorado and California), but that's made it way more fun because we weren't being shoved or barreled into by fan girls trying to get to the front of the stage. But with this stage being smaller then most, the bands aren't able to set up fully stage displays (carved pumpkins, crying angel statues, and their boogeyman demon that appears during a few songs), but it was fun to see the band get more into with moving around the stage. The VIP experience included a photo and meet/greet with the band, so we got to chat with them for a few minutes and rehash our previous meetings at other shows, including Warped Tour 2018, and why my husband and I were in Germany(yay military). After the M&G, we were granted early entrance to the venue once all VIP were done with the experience. Also snagged early access to the merch booth. Tim Sköld and his band opened for Motionless, an amazing experience as I've been a fan of his since his days of working with Marilyn Manson years ago. He also made a guest appearance during "Final Dictvm" which he co-wrote with Motionless, a moment I'll never forget. As a long time fan of MIW, seeing them at Substage was perfect as I've seen them at larger venues and felt that it was super crowded and people were more into trying to fangirl versus enjoying the show. The employees made the entire process easy to understand, and the MIW crew came out to make sure my husband and I knew what was going on since we don't speak German(yet). We felt super comfortable even though we are in a foreign country and weren't exactly sure what to expect whatsoever. I'd definitely attended another concert at Substage now that I know how to get to the venue and where to park. The staff does speak a little English, so I'd be okay with asking for help if needed and I feel like the overall atmosphere is perfect for rock/metal concerts due to the industrial area it's located in. It's hard to judge a foreign venue when you're used to US ones and know how they work, but Substage gave me a great first experience and I can't wait to go back. read more

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Ok, I've never been to any other German gig venues so this isn't exactly the most objective review ever. However, this was simply one of the best gig experiences I've ever had in terms of the venue, and I also got to see Neurosis supported by Amenra which was one of my life goals. All in all, Substage has left me with some awesome memories. Things I liked about the venue: - maybe I'm just not metal enough, but I liked that the place didn't feel grimey, even if it's located out amongst the warehouses etc. - there's a large selection of beer. When I went (Summer 2013) there were about 10 different options, most of which were priced at around €3.00-4.00 each. Seriously? Considering that most UK venues charge £5 for a pint of Carling, this almost brought tears to my eyes. - There's also a wine SELECTION - There's food. With meat and vegetarian options. Basically, it's everything I've ever wanted from a gig venue and it makes me sad that I've not experience anything similar at a UK gig. As for the musical side - the venue could have been a bit darker, but it didn't detract from either performance. The sound system's not earth shakingly loud and I had some pretty strong ear protectors in, so I wasn't totally immersed in the sound, but it did the job. Anyway, I was really happy with my experiences here and I hope someday somewhere in the UK might try to just...serve better beer. And food. And not have heavy security who enjoy enforcing riot control as soon as the lights go up again. One day. read more