Paganfest: Ensiferum + Korpiklaani +
Moonsorrow + Eluveitie + Tyr
Dudley JB's 8th April: Review by Sam Thomas and Steve Green: Photos
by Sam
This was our first trip to JB’s in Dudley, and after our first
experience, we’ll definitely be going back again. The only pain in
the ass is actually finding the place. But when you drive into the
huge free car park right behind the venue, |
you know this is a place
that looks after its punters. It was also very noticeable how polite
and friendly the staff were, something you rarely find in the
capital.
The venue itself is huge. Kind of like The Garage in London, but
bigger, cleaner and the beer is a hell of a lot cheaper. £2.50 for a
pint of Guinness Extra Cold. Bargain! Toilets were still absolutely
rank though, so you can’t have everything.
I missed Tyr when they supported
Amon Amarth a couple of years back as we were backstage interviewing
the mighty Amon Amarth at the time. This time I only got 4 songs and
an intro, but it was still enough to whet my appetite for their
forthcoming album, Land.
The sound levels weren't brilliant for the first couple of numbers,
the harmony vocals were as clear as could be, but the mix was
dominated by Gunnar H. Tomsen’s bass. But it didn’t seem to matter
as the knowledgeable Dudley crowd made the band feel |
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very welcome,
especially with older numbers Winds of Time and Hail To The Hammer.
Ok, they didn't have much time
on stage, but they definitely won over the crowd.
Job done.
Eluveitie’s new album Slania, has been one of my
favourite albums of the year, so apart from Korpiklaani, this was
the main reason for me making a 3 hour round trip to the Paganfest.
With eight of them on stage, they are certainly a |
| spectacle to watch: 2
ladies playing the hurdygurdy and fiddle respectively, a drummer, 2
guitarists, a frontman who plays a variety of instruments and a pair
of identical twins, one of whom plays the bass, the other plays the
penny whistle and the bagpipes. And musically, they blend melodic
death with Celtic music and create one hell of a hoedown. At times
Eluveitie were pure genius and other times, they were heading
towards oblivion as the mix did tend to get a tad messy, but they
still put on an amazing performance. Whilst Sam just didn’t get it
at all, I absolutely loved it. One of the twin brothers, Sevan
Kirder, was the star of the show as far as I was concerned. The man
has so much energy and how he could play the penny whistle as he
span around on the spot, I’ll never know. The whole band looked as
though they loved every minute on stage, as did the crowd who
started a medieval jig, instead of pit! Even though they’ve still a
few rough edges to iron out, they’ll be bigger than Turisas within
the next 18 months. Most definitely the next big thing on the
Viking/ Pagan/ Folk scene. I wish them wish well on their journey to
stardom . (Steve) |
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I must admit that I was a
bit concerned at the idea of Moonsorrow
following Eluveite, given how they’d got the place jumping around
like a bunch of off-their-faces punters at a ceilidh, but I needn’t
have worried. The complete change of pace and tone was welcomed with
a rousing cheer, and the self-deprecating comments about being from
“grim and frost-bitten” Finland raised a laugh. The seriousness of
the music, with its driving intensity, was offset by some frantic
windmilling and a pretty accurate impression of Pete Townsend, and
the blood-smeared torsos were the trimmest so far this evening.
The choice of material was a little strange, I can only assume it
went something on the lines of “Let’s play a track from Voimasta ja
Kunniasta” “OK, how about the last one?” “And we need a track from
“Suden Uni” “OK, how about the first one?” “What about Kivenkataja?”
“Title track?” “Yeah, that’ll do”, but then again, it’s difficult
when you’ve got brilliant epic works to choose |
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| from.
Moonsorrow themselves weren’t at all intimidated by the darkness of
their music, exhorting us to be “louder than Leeds and London put
together” (we tried), and the absolute stand-out moment was when
they launched into “Jotunheim” with its very deliberate, almost
ponderous start, leading into frantic-paced drumming. It was the
perfect end to the set, and has resulted in me making a note in my
diary to look out for the next album, “Tulimyrsky”, at the end of
the month. (Sam) |
| I’ve read in a few
publications that the new Korpiklaani
album Korven Kuningas is much darker than their normal “happy”
folkfests. Well it doesn’t seem like it to me, and it most certainly
didn’t transfer itself to the stage. Korpiklaani had a great time,
as did the crowd. Wooden Pints, Cottages and Saunas, and Lets Drink
got us nicely warmed up before the band shrank to just the drummer
and the seated frontman Jonne and his Finnish version of the bongo.
The band returned for the next number, but the drop in pace
certainly didn’t work for me, but maybe it was just a different way
to introduce a couple of new numbers, including the new single Keep
On Galloping. Normal service was restored with the introduction of
Pellonpekko and we all had the chance to dance around like loons
once again. The finale of their set was absolutely storming. Journey
Man was a nice surprise as I noticed their setlist |
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| was a little
different from the one they played in London a couple of days
before. The crowd were chanting Korp-i-klaani so loudly that Jonne
was left speechless and completely humbled by the experience. This
was quickly forgotten as they tore into Happy Little Boozer, Hunting
Song and a raucous Beer Beer. The band got so carried away that they
finished their set a few minutes early, so the created a little jig
and Jonne opened a load of cans of beer, took a swig and passed them
amongst the audience. A true gentleman. Absolutely brilliant.
(Steve) |
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A lot of
people had left after Korpiklanni, which was their loss. It’s been a
few years since I last saw Ensiferum,
and they’ve now got Petri Lindroos (Norther) as frontman. And as a
special treat, they were all wearing kilts made out of what looked
like a cross between the Finnish flag and my granny’s tablecloths.
Naturally this led to a bit too much speculation as to whether they
were wearing underwear, and also as to whether kilts were a wise
choice for all of them. The set was a nice selection from all of
their albums to date. “One More Magic Potion” as always had me
wondering whether the adventures of Asterix are translated into
Finnish, but it was followed by “Ahti” and then the rabble-rousing
“Lai Lai Hei”, by which time fists were being raised in the air and
plastic swords were being brandished aloft. I was waiting to see if
we’d get the mad country-dancing that had kicked off during Eluveite,
but alas, no.
“Guardians of Fate” was instantly recognisable but probably the
weirdest moment was when an odd little medley finished off with “The
Trooper”, just long enough for everyone to go “Hang on, isn’t
that…””Victory Song” looked set to slow things down a bit, but then
got going apace. After a short encore, we were left feeling dazed
and outright knackered. Well, it was twenty to twelve by then…
Ensiferum were a fantastic end to a brilliant gig, and a great
experience at a new venue. It’s taken me years to get round to going
to JB’s, but I’ll definitely be heading back there very soon.
(Sam) |
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