Saturday evening, we were treated to an hour of good music and good times in the company of Finnish metal band APOCALYPTICA. As is the case of many of the streams happening this period on the world wide web, this was not your standard metal concert experience, but a more informal, relaxed affair.
I was a bit late to the stream and joined halfway through the first song, “Somewhere Around Nothing,” from the band’s fourth album, “Reflections” (2003)). I have to say, it was quite a blast from the past to hear this song played live. As stated in the beginning, this was more of a rehearsal type of concert and in between the songs, the band talked about their latest album “Cell-0” (2020), dealing with the pandemic, and having to cancel their tour. The setting of the stream was really inviting, warm, and stylish, very open and breezy, as you can see from the photos (screenshots).
Second track “Path” was preceded by a short talk about their third album “Cult” (2000), APOCALYPTICA’s first album to contain only original material. This led the way to them discussing their approach to writing “Cell-0” and how this piece of music is the essence of APOCALYPTICA, which was a great segue into “Rise,” one of my favorite songs from the album. Perttu Kivilaakso talked a bit about how it felt to play shows during this pandemic and about how this album came together, the emotions that went into creating the new music, and how “En Route to Mayhem” is related to the current situation. Before playing this number, Eicca Toppinen announced a new, more formal concert on May 14, 7 PM CET, with a setlist based more on fan requests. Donations for that show will be possible, with information coming soon on APOCALYPTICA’s social pages and their newsletter, plus the opportunity to get the T-shirt from the tour that never happened.
“That was beautiful, wasn’t it!” says Eicca at the end of “En Route To Mayhem” and I agree, it was beautiful. After a bit more talk about games, Twitch, and their show on the 14th of May, they played another “golden oldie” in the form of “Grace” from their 2007 opus, “Worlds Collide.” Some more quarantine talk followed after “Grace,” urging viewers to stay positive and enjoy good music, after which “Hall of the Mountain King” closed the stream on a high note.
I really enjoyed this stream, mostly because it wasn’t overly serious, but rather more casual and relaxed and viewers were able to see more of how the band members interact with each other and in general it’s nice to see artists having a good time, just chatting and having fun. When it comes to playing songs, the band showed their professional side and just kicked-ass! All-in-all, it was a well-balanced stream with equal parts playing and talking. It was an hour of revelry and delight! We’re looking forward to their formal show on May 14th.
Written by Andrea Crow
Setlist
- Somewhere Around Nothing
- Path
- Rise
- En Route to Mayhem
- Grace
- Hall of the Mountain King
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