Lineup: ENSIFERUM / TURISAS / TYR / ELUVEITIE / EARTHEN
My love for Folk Metal started with SKYCLAD and their excellent second album "A Burnt Offering For A Bone Idol" back in 1992. So, I was more than eager to cover Chicagos Pagan Fest for the METAL TEMPLE with the help of my fellow templar Ian. I got at The Pearl Room and met Ian who told me that I had just lost the local band EARTHEN who were the latest addition to the festivals billing.
(Ian talks) EARTHEN was the opening act and actually they were pretty good. An interesting mix of female and male vocals with the Folk Metal vibe that was consistent throughout the evening. It was in my understanding that the male vocalist was a fill-in since their original vocalist couldnt get off work; whatever the case was I thought he did a great job. The female vocalist had all kinds of stage presence with headbanging and actually getting the crowd involved.
(Dimitris reports) ELUVEITIE was the first band for me to watch and I can say for the very beginning I was totally surprised. During the preparation of the stage I counted 8 persons that were setting up their gear! They had some non-Metal instruments (some of them I could not identify) like the custom made "Hurdy-gurdy" (I learned about this on their website), a gaita, a violin and several types of flutes. The 8 piece band was full of energy and was dancing all over the stage that turned to be too small to hold them. The strong melodic lines combined to the harsh vocals and solid guitars really heated up the atmosphere. I really enjoyed the catchy and up-lifting melody of "Inis Mona" and banged my head during the groovy and faster "Gray Sublime Archon". I am sure that the band earned some supporters that night and they totally deserved it.
(Ian adds) I agree with Dimitris 1000% on ELUVEITIE. Lots of moving, lots of energy and lots of rocking out done by the crowd. Everyone in the place was moving in some way. Its truly awesome to see people having fun at Metal shows without having to mosh and do stupid shit even though there was some moshing that I could see. "Inis Mona" was totally the highlight of their set, which is why they opened with it. I was only familiar to 3 songs from their set list so I didnt enjoy the set as much as I could have.
(Dimitris speaks) Next, on the program were TYR a band that hails from the non-traditional Metal country Faeroe Islands (thanks Greg). This band was kind of unlucky to play after ELUVEITIE who had performed with that high energy and spirit. Although, they had a solid sound with some pretty good guitar leads they failed to follow the already high spirit by choosing mid tempo songs. This eventually held back the audience that seemed to have lost some of their interest. The only exceptions were the excellent "Hail To The Hammer" that made most of us sing the chorus lines and the Epic "Ragnarok". I bet that in different conditions the band would have a better luck. I will definitely check them out!
(Ian notes) I have been a fan of TYR for a long time and I was kind of afraid how they would go over after watching ELUVEITIE as well as the poor reports that was I hearing from the East Coast shows. I thought musically they were great, but they just followed the wrong band and lost the interest of the people. Though they did try to get the crowd involved with a decent amount of movement about the stage. The bassist made a variety of ridiculous faces that brought a smile to my face and a fist in the air.
(Dimitris words) I was kind of expecting to see live TURISAS especially after the very good impressions from "The Varangian Way" that sounded way better than their debut "Battle Metal". The band from Finland entered the stage in their barbaric outfits with leather and fur and painted with red based colors. The energetic entrance met the audiences excitement and created a really heated up atmosphere. Mathias Nygεrd turned to be a very good frontman who built a straightforward connection to the audience. The songs were excellent to sing along and so we did, during "To Holmgard And Beyond" and "A Portage To The Unknown" while we danced our asses off with the accordion driven "In The Court Of Jarisleif". Mathias said some bad things about the US beers (I totally agreed with him!) and praised the European ones just before "One More". Of course, the hit of their performance was their cover version to "Rasputin" that was enthusiastically welcomed by almost everyone. Their setlist ended with "Battle Metal" leaving excellent impressions to everyone especially with their vigorous on-stage performance.
(Ian says) Can you say "stole the show"? That is precisely what TURISAS did. They were absolutely amazing from the face paint and fur to the chanting choruses and overall presence on stage. They were everything I could have hoped for and more except they didnt play "Cursed Be The Iron". They redeemed themselves by playing "One More" and "To Holmgard and Beyond". The accordionist I was sure how that would work live, but of course it fitted just like a glove. You have to see this band if love to drink and have a great time at a metal show.
(Dimitris...)The headliners were ENSIFERUM a band that also hails from Finland. I was quite surprise to realize that this band had some pretty solid fan base here at Chicago who were anticipating to watch them on stage. The five piece band entered the stage wearing something like kilts made of the Finnish flag. Even though their on-stage presence was nothing really special (especially the singer was kind of stationary) their performance and sound was solid as hell. One exception from the mediocre on-stage presence was the beautiful keyboard player that disappointedly remained on the back during the whole show. Without many or long pauses the band played songs like "Token of Time", "One More Magic Potion", "Victory Song" and "Dragonheads" that gave an the US metalheads the perfect excuse to form some mosh pits and sweat a little bit more. and "Battle Song" that comes from their debut album was the last of their setlist that I think satisfied everyone (including me).
(Ian talks) The Finnish Folk Metal masters ENSIFERUM were fucking great as well to continue the trend that was the entire evening. Easily the highlight was "One More Magic Potion" getting everyone that was in attendance (approx. 700) on their feet and shaking their asses. Their presence is where I have to disagree with Dimitris, I thought they did a great job even though there was little movement. Even when they were stationary they were still ripping apart their guitars. I would have liked to see the keyboardist come to the forefront though.
(Dimitris concludes) To sum things up Paganfest was way better than I expected with some of the leading bands in the growing Folk Metal scene. As a conclusion I can say that this kind of music is million times better to listen live since you can sing and why not dance to.
(Ian closes the report) Paganfest was one the best concerts I have been to and I thoroughly hope there will be a another Paganfest tour soon. And according to the rumors that I heard stirring about the venue was KORPIKLAANI will be headlining a tour this fall. :crosses fingers: I also want to thanks CR&J Promotions for bringing the show to Chicago and putting our metal asses on the guest list.
My love for Folk Metal started with SKYCLAD and their excellent second album "A Burnt Offering For A Bone Idol" back in 1992. So, I was more than eager to cover Chicagos Pagan Fest for the METAL TEMPLE with the help of my fellow templar Ian. I got at The Pearl Room and met Ian who told me that I had just lost the local band EARTHEN who were the latest addition to the festivals billing.
(Ian talks) EARTHEN was the opening act and actually they were pretty good. An interesting mix of female and male vocals with the Folk Metal vibe that was consistent throughout the evening. It was in my understanding that the male vocalist was a fill-in since their original vocalist couldnt get off work; whatever the case was I thought he did a great job. The female vocalist had all kinds of stage presence with headbanging and actually getting the crowd involved.
(Dimitris reports) ELUVEITIE was the first band for me to watch and I can say for the very beginning I was totally surprised. During the preparation of the stage I counted 8 persons that were setting up their gear! They had some non-Metal instruments (some of them I could not identify) like the custom made "Hurdy-gurdy" (I learned about this on their website), a gaita, a violin and several types of flutes. The 8 piece band was full of energy and was dancing all over the stage that turned to be too small to hold them. The strong melodic lines combined to the harsh vocals and solid guitars really heated up the atmosphere. I really enjoyed the catchy and up-lifting melody of "Inis Mona" and banged my head during the groovy and faster "Gray Sublime Archon". I am sure that the band earned some supporters that night and they totally deserved it.
(Ian adds) I agree with Dimitris 1000% on ELUVEITIE. Lots of moving, lots of energy and lots of rocking out done by the crowd. Everyone in the place was moving in some way. Its truly awesome to see people having fun at Metal shows without having to mosh and do stupid shit even though there was some moshing that I could see. "Inis Mona" was totally the highlight of their set, which is why they opened with it. I was only familiar to 3 songs from their set list so I didnt enjoy the set as much as I could have.
(Dimitris speaks) Next, on the program were TYR a band that hails from the non-traditional Metal country Faeroe Islands (thanks Greg). This band was kind of unlucky to play after ELUVEITIE who had performed with that high energy and spirit. Although, they had a solid sound with some pretty good guitar leads they failed to follow the already high spirit by choosing mid tempo songs. This eventually held back the audience that seemed to have lost some of their interest. The only exceptions were the excellent "Hail To The Hammer" that made most of us sing the chorus lines and the Epic "Ragnarok". I bet that in different conditions the band would have a better luck. I will definitely check them out!
(Ian notes) I have been a fan of TYR for a long time and I was kind of afraid how they would go over after watching ELUVEITIE as well as the poor reports that was I hearing from the East Coast shows. I thought musically they were great, but they just followed the wrong band and lost the interest of the people. Though they did try to get the crowd involved with a decent amount of movement about the stage. The bassist made a variety of ridiculous faces that brought a smile to my face and a fist in the air.
(Dimitris words) I was kind of expecting to see live TURISAS especially after the very good impressions from "The Varangian Way" that sounded way better than their debut "Battle Metal". The band from Finland entered the stage in their barbaric outfits with leather and fur and painted with red based colors. The energetic entrance met the audiences excitement and created a really heated up atmosphere. Mathias Nygεrd turned to be a very good frontman who built a straightforward connection to the audience. The songs were excellent to sing along and so we did, during "To Holmgard And Beyond" and "A Portage To The Unknown" while we danced our asses off with the accordion driven "In The Court Of Jarisleif". Mathias said some bad things about the US beers (I totally agreed with him!) and praised the European ones just before "One More". Of course, the hit of their performance was their cover version to "Rasputin" that was enthusiastically welcomed by almost everyone. Their setlist ended with "Battle Metal" leaving excellent impressions to everyone especially with their vigorous on-stage performance.
(Ian says) Can you say "stole the show"? That is precisely what TURISAS did. They were absolutely amazing from the face paint and fur to the chanting choruses and overall presence on stage. They were everything I could have hoped for and more except they didnt play "Cursed Be The Iron". They redeemed themselves by playing "One More" and "To Holmgard and Beyond". The accordionist I was sure how that would work live, but of course it fitted just like a glove. You have to see this band if love to drink and have a great time at a metal show.
(Dimitris...)The headliners were ENSIFERUM a band that also hails from Finland. I was quite surprise to realize that this band had some pretty solid fan base here at Chicago who were anticipating to watch them on stage. The five piece band entered the stage wearing something like kilts made of the Finnish flag. Even though their on-stage presence was nothing really special (especially the singer was kind of stationary) their performance and sound was solid as hell. One exception from the mediocre on-stage presence was the beautiful keyboard player that disappointedly remained on the back during the whole show. Without many or long pauses the band played songs like "Token of Time", "One More Magic Potion", "Victory Song" and "Dragonheads" that gave an the US metalheads the perfect excuse to form some mosh pits and sweat a little bit more. and "Battle Song" that comes from their debut album was the last of their setlist that I think satisfied everyone (including me).
(Ian talks) The Finnish Folk Metal masters ENSIFERUM were fucking great as well to continue the trend that was the entire evening. Easily the highlight was "One More Magic Potion" getting everyone that was in attendance (approx. 700) on their feet and shaking their asses. Their presence is where I have to disagree with Dimitris, I thought they did a great job even though there was little movement. Even when they were stationary they were still ripping apart their guitars. I would have liked to see the keyboardist come to the forefront though.
(Dimitris concludes) To sum things up Paganfest was way better than I expected with some of the leading bands in the growing Folk Metal scene. As a conclusion I can say that this kind of music is million times better to listen live since you can sing and why not dance to.
(Ian closes the report) Paganfest was one the best concerts I have been to and I thoroughly hope there will be a another Paganfest tour soon. And according to the rumors that I heard stirring about the venue was KORPIKLAANI will be headlining a tour this fall. :crosses fingers: I also want to thanks CR&J Promotions for bringing the show to Chicago and putting our metal asses on the guest list.
