Apocalyptica are one of modern music's phenomena: Four Cellists from Finland, who started off by playing cover versions of the biggest Metalband, Metallica, are now one of the most popular bands in Europe, selling milions of records and filling concert halls all around. Increasingly, they are relying on their own compositions, which are definitely much more than a novelty joke: To Metal and Classical Fans alike, this is a band to stay tuned to.

Here's a report of their concert in Bielefeld on April, 7th:

At 21:20, the sounds of the very long intro were acknowledged with applause by the 1.500-strong crowd. I was really curious about the vibes. I had seen these Fins on every single tour and up to know they always managed to “turn up the heat”, no matter whether they were playing in front of 100 or a 1.000 people.

With this in mind, the four Cellists and a drummer went full-force right away, winning over the audience immediately with their first hit “Path”. And one did not have to wait long to be treated to the guy’s trade mark: Coverversions by Metallica! The well-known “sing along”-passage in “Master of Puppets” didn’t really work out, however, as a rather large part of the mob had apparently taken notice of the band only with “Path” and “Bittersweet”. There was a total of nine cover versioons, including well-received renditions of “Nothing else matters", “Enter Sandman” and Edvard Griegs “Hall of the Mountain King” and off the new album, seven pieces were performed.

The show was visually brilliant as well. Each Cellist seated himself on a kind of throne, which was ornamented in the style of the “Cult”-albumcover. But there was no keeping these Fins on their seats. Perrttu and Eica frequently moved over to the edge of the stage, banging and raising their instruments in the air and firing things up. During “Inquisition Symphony” and “Refuse/Resist”, one even had to worry about the safety of his Cello, with Pertuu playing it rather roughly. Which didn’t seem to bother founding member Antero,  who had returned for live duties. He remained on his throne for the entire time and didn’t respond to encouragements by his collegues to join in the action. This lead to several laughs, as band leader Eicca first asked the fans, whether they were having fun and then turned toward Antero, asking him with his peculiar accent: “Antero, do YOU having fun?”. I was surprised to find this old/new member take over the majority of the lead parts on the old, as well as the new songs. The light show was great, too, adding to the mood by some impressive lighting.

The traditional finale “Hall of the Mountain Kings” closed the concert after just over 100 minutes. The crowd cheered extatically and asked for one more encore, but like on previous occasions, one could see that the guys were just not capable of continueing after such a show. Which didn’t keep them from standing at the edge of the stage and thanking all present. Some may have complained, when paying 25 Euros, but Apocalyptica once again showed that they were worth much more than that. Can’t wait to see them again!

Written by Fafnir
Pictures by Andreas Fliß

Source: Apocalyptica Bielefeld, April 7th
Homepage: Apocalyptica