29.5.2020 Insomnium @ Kulttuuritehdas Vernissa, Vantaa, Finland

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While Finnish melodic death metal act INSOMNIUM were on their way to the United States for their North American tour, the COVID-19 pandemic got progressively worse around the world and it forced the band to cancel their tour. Luckily, the band decided to organize a special streaming concert of their “Winter’s Gate” album on 29 May 2020.

The broadcast started half an hour before with a view of the stage and people preparing for the show, testing the lights, etc. This was a great way to create a little bit of hype before the actual concert would start. About half an hour later, an intro started playing and the band came on stage and started the adventure of playing completely through “Winter’s Gate.”

During my interview with frontman Niilo Sevänen, it became clear that when the band had their last stream, he wasn’t in a great mood. The whole band had suffered from a lot of stress that day and it was obvious in their performance. It was great to witness a lot of happy faces around the stage in stark contrast with the previous livestream and a more relaxed, easygoing feeling was visible. The band played their way through all the different parts of “Winter’s Gate,” one of their most ambitious projects so far, with ease. From very melodic, heavy sections, to the softer and more fragile parts, the whole song flowed beautifully.

INSOMNIUM didn’t only promise to play the entirety of “Winter’s Gate,” they had also told fans that they’d additionally play some rare, old tracks. “The Gale” marked the beginning of the second part of the show. The band had carefully selected tracks from “Above the Weeping World,” “Since the Day it All Came Down,” and “In the Halls of Awaiting.” Judging from the chat, the fans were extremely delighted with the selection of songs; it was hard to keep track since the comments were going extremely quickly. “The Day it All Came Down” was a highlight for me, since I had never seen the song live. It was the first time in eight years that the band played the song.

After almost two hours of intense melodic death metal, it was time for the band to play their last song, “The Elder.” The event didn’t stop there, as they quickly gathered backstage where they would hold a special Q&A, answering questions from the virtual audiences around the globe, which definitely was a fun addition to show.

All-in-all the special “Winter’s Gate” stream was definitely one of the best I have seen. Both sound and lighting were excellent and the production value of this show definitely was top-notch. For those who missed the stream, the event is still online for a couple of days and tickets to watch it are still available, don’t miss out!

Setlist

  1. Winter’s Gate
  2. The Gale
  3. Mortal Share
  4. Drawn to Black
  5. Nocturne
  6. The Day It All Came Down
  7. Daughter of the Moon
  8. Bereavement
  9. MedeiaP
  10. The Elder