Finally! I haven’t been to a show (officially) since Lordi’s release gig, which is in my opinion, WAY too long, and gladly I managed to get time off to go and catch Amaranthe live in Västerås, supported by no other than Engel!
Conveniently enough, the gig was set to end at 23.15, and when checking out the buses I noticed the bus home to Karlstad would leave Västerås at 23.45. SCORE! No need for hotel, so it would be a quick trip. LOVE IT.
So anyway, I got on the bus and the busride was long and yada yada, and finally I reached my destination. To make this already convenient trip even more convenient, the arena happened to be placed just like, two minutes or LESS from the busstation. PERFECT. I spent the first 20 minutes or so walking around trying to find the entrance before I decided to go into the hotel/restaurant-lounge kind of thing to ask for directions, but was instead greeted with “Resist and Bite” echoing from the speakers and a host telling me the doors hadn’t opened yet, so I was very welcome to sit down in the lounge area with a private bar while waiting.
Like… what? Seriously? Private bar? BATHROOMS? This is how queueing ALWAYS should be. Wow, what if it was always this high-end fancy.
So, after seating down and everything, we had to wait an hour or so before the opened the doors, and after a while the manager of the place came up to me and told me they had opened so I could just go in and also showed me the way. Like, what is this place? The ticket price was SOO cheap, but this service? Like, you just sent ALL other, ALL OTHER venues to SHAME! (ticketprice was 20 euros)
After getting in I first hit the merch-stand to pick up on a “Massive Addictive” shirt. I have some plans for this one, so we’ll see how it works out. And then, finally, I got into the arena. I made it to second row, or maybe first and a half row, I don’t know how I should properly put it. It wasn’t completely stacked, but yeah. It was a small and cute little arena called the club stage, so yeah, tiny and cute.
So, after an additional amount of waiting, Engel finally entered the stage! I wasn’t familiar with this band at all prior to this show, but I must say I really liked them! I’m also a little up in the air from the fact that the singer sang one of their songs to ME, despite me not even being a fan. But then again, this might have something to do with me being the only one giving the band some energy to feed off from…
Oh yeah… I might warn you. My camera didn’t cooperate this particular night, so do not expect any fancy pancy photos. Engel played for a rough 45 minutes before they left the stage to Amaranthe.
Pretty much exactly on spot fifteen minutes past 22 Amaranthe entered the stage, and to my surprised, started off the whole gig with “Digital World”. I swear to god, this is the second time in a row I’m wrong about the opening tracks! (Lordi release gig, I were so certain they were gonna open with ‘Scare Force One’ I couldn’t even recognize what song they actually opened with). Band was on top, I was on top, small parts of the audience was on top… and most weren’t. There is a special place in hell for people who push their way to the front row and then end up there doing nothing.
Right after “Digital World” they decided to fire off “Hunger” and… ok. So here’s the deal people. It’s never a good idea at any time to bring any sort of bottles of beverages in the crowd, for your safety, for others safety, and for the right people should have to NOT have beer or anything else thrown over them. But it is the worst idea ever, to bring in a glass of red wine. And it’s an even WORSER idea to take that glass up when not one, not two but THREE singers says “EVERYBODY JUMP”. Because it will get smashed. Without warning. I panicked for a while since the glass got stuck in my earrings, but it was ok. I’m more pissed about the fact my hair and WHITE(!!!) clothes got soaked in red wine… oh well. What do you do.
After “Hunger” they had to take a small break because something was up with Olof’s guitar, in where Jake suggested Elize should sing something for us. After being a bit timid and thinking for a while, she ended up doing an acapella of “Amaranthine”. Or more like, she sang the first two lines and then the crowd sang the rest. It’s pretty much “Community Property” or “Primo Victoria” and so on… was majestetic, thinking we were only like what, 200 people in there? I don’t know for sure.
Olof returned with a fixed guitar and they fired off “Invinceble” as amazing as ever. Ok, this is only my second time seeing them so perhaps I should be easy on the love-words here, but seriously, Amaranthe is like the PERFECT metalband, much like H.E.A.T is the perfect rockband. You get my idea.
“Razorblade” was next to cut, which makes me SO happy as it’s one of my favorite songs off “The Nexus” alongside 99% of the other songs. It was followed by “1.000.000 Lightyears” before it was time for them to, according to them, do a world premiere of one of their new songs, “Over and Done” from their latest album. Jake screwed up a bit with the lyrics, seemingly forgot them, but hey! Who can blame him. Tour start and everything, I’ll give him this one.
The band had an amazing energy on stage. They connected A LOT better with the fans than last time I saw them even though there is one person in the band I still feel has a bit of a way to go, it’s improving!
“Trinity” was next on the list until it was time for THE moment. THE moment I had been waiting for all night.
“MASSIVE ADDICTIVE”.
Seriously people, I cannot explain to you how much I love this song. The heaviness, the… AAAH. I just CANNOT EXPLAIN. And when I saw in an interview with Elize that they’d be playing this live, I was just waiting for it. And it was BEYOND amazing live. Jesus Christ, this band knows how to deliver. Seriously one of the best moments of the night!
The song was followed by “Afterlife” and as the fangirl I am, I managed to have a little moment with Henrik. Like, I’ve always been bad at interacting with the band on stage, mostly out of embarrassment and shyness, but it’s getting better and better. Another favorite of mine, “Electroheart” was fired off right after this, which surprised me A LOT! I always felt this one and “Razorblade” would exclude each other, but apparently not! Ahh I love it.
An I love so much how they do this. Like, the musical part of the band – Morten, Olof, Johan – they do their thing. And then you have Henrik, being a screamer and just heavy as shit, Jake like the vocalist to bring the viewers in, and in the middle you have Elize dancing and evening it all out. It’s the perfect combination. I was always a little “huh?” about three vocalists, but this just… it’s so perfect.
Morten had his little moment after “Electroheart” to show off his skills (they are killer!) after which they returned to fire off “Leave Everything Behind” with new found energy. “Amaranthine”, this time with music, was being played afterwards and the CHILLS PEOPLE. With first having Elize embracing the spotlight all on her own with the flashlights going everywhere, and hearing like the entire arena sing with her… it’s just… I can’t even tell you. You need to go see this yourselves, and it WILL be worth it.
“Call Out My Name” was the last song for the night before the band said thanks and good night…. not really. After a little bit of collecting their breathes (At least for me, haha) they came back on and started with the song I thought was going to be the opener – “Dynamite”. This was followed up by “Drop Dead Cynical” which would also feature my second moment with Henrik (woho!) before they wrapped the whole thing up with “The Nexus”, which is like, my all time favorite song by them. After this, they thanked for the night and walked off stage for good.
The band was top notch. A few insecurities here and there, and some technical difficulties sure – but seriously, this was just… perfect. This is really a GOOD band, you know? GOOD fucking band. And I’m also soooo happy to see like, ALL my favorite songs collected in one setlist, even though it surprised me “Automatic” wasn’t on the list at all. Huh.
Right after this, Elize actually came out and greeted us in the audience. I was a little shy at first, seeing her upfront and so close, but I complimented her on the show before getting back to the merchstand to pick up the “MASSIVE ADDICTIVE” vinyl and one of Engel’s CD’s and rushing like hell to the bus. The show had been a little delayed, so they didn’t end until 23.30. At this point I had also realized I hadn’t been drinking ANYTHING since 16 or so, and I was dehydrated beyond belief…
I didn’t have anything in the wardrobe, gladly, so I just went out and ran over the driveways and caught the bus just in time. We had the funny busdriver this time, and he got so happy when I came and was like “REALLY? You got me albums?! Ohh you!!!” I love when we get this bus driver. Please never leave your job.
And this is kinda where it ends. Got on the bus. Put “Scare Force One” on repeat and slept all the way home. Ran through snowfall while hearing lines as “Grandpas footsteps in the snow are clear and then disappear…” in order to catch a bus I didn’t managed to get on anyway. After a few ifs and buts, I got home to my bed and take a quick shower, have a snack, and DRINK SHITLOADS OF WATER before falling asleep in bed.
Next week: Lordi, HammerFall, Serious Black and Orden Ogan! Can’t wait!
// Sara
Oh right. This also happened.
Sara Hammerzmith 