Author: Urban Bolta
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Cvetličarna MediaPark / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: February 21, 2011
Attendance: 900
Ticket price: €23.00
We finally got them back! Apocalyptica, the Finnish “cello-rock” quartet that has been thrilling fans with a unique fusion of classical and metal music for quite a few years now, is back in our neck of the woods. The Finns were frequent guests on our stages over the past decade. Way back in 2001 they guested with Siddharta as the band presented its second record “Nord”; two years later Apocalyptica wallowed in the mud at Rock Otočec; then in the summer of 2004, together with Danzig, they headlined the first edition of the now-traditional Metal Camp; and they warmed us up before Rammstein at Hala Tivoli in ’05. Their last standalone show on the sunny side of the Alps was in 2006, when they promoted their self-titled fifth studio album at Križanke, and in 2008 another festival return followed, to the confluence of the Tolminka and Soča rivers. Thanks to all those visits they’ve built up a sizable mass of fans, so, with the band’s big name behind it, Cvetličarna was understandably sold out a week before the show.
With the Ljubljana show, Apocalyptica kicked off the extensive “7th Symphony” tour in support of their current studio album (review here), which will take in numerous dates both in Europe and across the Atlantic. After several months of rest the Finns were fresh and charged with energy, so the evening promised a lovely get-together.
Warming up the packed Cvetličarna before the Finnish neoclassicists were Germany’s A Life Divided. In a forty-minute set they showed themselves to be a distinctly live band, proving with a professional approach, emotional charge and a ferocious exchange of energy that they know every trick on the stage. Sadly, that good form faded against the band’s average style: heavier, almost metal riffs laid over an electronic backing, serving listeners music they’ve heard umpteen times before. A Life Divided merged the new wave heritage of the eighties with guitar phrases typical of the alternative nineties and seasoned the result with melancholic touches. In places the Germans veered stylistically close to the rich Nine Inch Nails legacy, but for anything more than a support slot on mid-sized tours, A Life Divided will need to take a more heartfelt approach to writing music. All in all, the German goths did a solid job, though they fell on deaf ears among Apocalyptica’s supporters.
Then it got real! The trio of cellists up front took the stage and kicked off the show with On The Rooftop With Quasimodo. Their energetic stance introduced them right away as a band with a tight, driven performance, and thanks to the small stage and the closeness of the crowd, the energy shot straight into the first rows, where real euphoria broke out. Next came 2010, where the drumsticks on the original recording are wielded by one of the most respected metal drummers around, Dave Lombardo (Slayer), while the technically demanding transitions gave Mikko Sirén no trouble whatsoever. I was watching Apocalyptica for the first time on such a small stage, so I’d never before noticed Mikko’s incredible skill, reliability and innate feel for playing, which is hugely important in Apocalyptica’s music, where the drummer alone is in charge of keeping the rhythm. After Grace (“Worlds Collide”, 2007) came the first of the Metallica classics, Master of Puppets, which went down especially well with casual fans of the band, and as a result Cvetličarna went off in all its might for the first time that night.
The show raced on at the speed of light, just like the sweat running down the brows of the four on stage. Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjöjen and Perttu Kivilakso, standing in the front line face to face with the first rows, stepped slightly aside during End of Me and I’m Not Jesus to make room for guest vocalist Tipe Johnson. With their latest releases Apocalyptica have produced so many hits with vocals that they were, like it or not, forced to bring a guest singer on tour. Uncle Johnson is a vocally trained musician and as such well prepared for his new role, but in performance he lacked a pinch more charisma and enthusiasm to wrap the crowd around his little finger.
After Sepultura’s Refuse/Resist came a collage of colorful orchestral-instrumental sounds with a distinctly emotional edge. For Beautiful and Sacra, drummer Mikko joined the trio up front as a fourth cellist, though he played a purely cosmetic role and the bit came off cheap, even pathetic. The gorgeous heartbreaker Bittersweet was sung by the crowd itself, before the evening tipped into its final phase and Apocalyptica shifted up a gear with Last Hope. By then the guys at the mixing desk had finally got the sound dialed in; despite all of Cvetličarna’s pitfalls, the sound techs managed to balance the cannon-shot drum hits with the deep tone of the cellos. Eicca, Paavo and Perttu carried on with their dynamic performance; their trademark is running around the stage (no mean feat with massive cellos in hand) and using every single centimeter of it, though over the years that part of their show has turned from a youthful habit into plain routine. Seek and Destroy and Inquisition Symphony rounded off the collage of covers in the main set, when the four (too) quickly said goodbye and left the stage. For the encore Johnson rejoined the Finns and sang I Don’t Care together with Cvetličarna, and the get-together was finally sealed by Grieg’s Hall of the Mountain King, the standard closer at Apocalyptica gigs ever since 2001.
Let me say a word or two about the set list. Apocalyptica have already released five albums of creative, inspired original music, so the complaint that Metallica covers should have been more heavily represented is more than laughable. The Finnish horsemen of the apocalypse focused mainly on the last two records and consequently cut the airtime for earlier works, including my personal favorite “Cult” (2001), which was totally overlooked.
Tuesday night will surely stay a fond memory for the band’s sworn supporters and the young concertgoers who dominated this time, while a more experienced concert eye noticed far too much routine and a lack of emotional dialogue. But that’s how things get served these days, and Apocalyptica still proved to be a textbook example of modern stage language, guaranteeing a great time for everyone hungry for quality entertainment.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
This report was produced in cooperation between RockLine and Rock Hard Slovenija.
Setlist
1. Quasimodo 2. 2010 3. Grace 4. Master Of Puppets 5. End Of Me 6. I’m Not Jesus 7. Refuse/Resist 8. Beautiful 9. Sacra 10. Bittersweet 11. Last Hope 12. Seek N’ Destroy 13. Inquisition Symphony —encore— 14. At The Gates Of Manala 15. I Don’t Care 16. Hall Of The Mountain King
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