Right around the beginning of the pandemic, French extreme metal act IGORRR released their new album, “Spirituality and Distortion.” Regarding the first few months, this record was one of my most-spinned of the year, so when it was announced that they would visit Helsinki on their tour, we knew we had to be there. Unfortunately, the show was postponed a few times, but the final date was set on April 25th, 2022.
The opening act of the evening was the American IDM and breakcore musician, Otto Von Schirach. Before heading to Tavastia, I briefly looked into what sort of music he plays and found out that if his show would be half as crazy as his music videos, we would be in for a killer warm-up. That turned out to be quite of an understatement… I have to admit that I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a similar performance in my life. While Otto Von Schirach‘s music clearly isn’t my thing, it’s his attitude on stage that delighted me. His songs had similarly crazy themes, ranging from the Bermuda Triangle to dinosaurs and during the whole show, he urged people to – instead of doing the famous horns up – make a triangle in the air. Towards the end of his performance, he even convinced some people to do something he called the Pterodactyl dance. He would go from left to right on the stage doing the dance himself. While some people clearly were excited about his show, the other half seemed a tad confused and the front row, formed some kind of half a circle in front of the stage because it seemed like some people were a bit anxious it might become a participatory performance. However, considering the huge applause at the end of his act, it seems like even Otto Von Schirach can make Finns forget that they are shy for a while.
Then, it was time for the main act of the evening, IGORRR. After the pandemic hit, the band went through a major lineup change, and thus the Greek soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou, vocalist JB Le Bail, and guitarist Martyn Clement, were added to the ranks of the avant-garde metal machine. The stage looked really interesting, as there are very few metal bands that need a DJ-set in their lineup. In the middle of the stage, the turntable was put on a platform adorned by stage props that made it look really cool, thus, the drum kit was placed on the right side of the stage. The band focused mostly on material from their latest album and it was truly a great experience to hear gems like “Camel Dancefloor” live, but they also played a couple of their biggest hits; of course, the emotional “Tout petit moineau” had to be included – thankfully. The concert was also a great opportunity to see the new lineup in action. Even though it was my first time ever seeing an IGORRR show, I was truly impressed by the enchanting vocals of Aphrodite Patoulidou, who makes a worthy replacement for soprano Laure Le Prunenec. Altogether this made a very magical evening with incredible music and breakbeats in a sold-out Tavastia.
Check out our photo gallery below…
Otto Von Schirach
Igorrr
