After a relaxed yet entertaining day, it was time for the headliner Amon Amarth to burn down the main stage at Metalcamp.
This was the fifth time seeing them this year for us, and so far we had had a pretty good run, something we of course expected to continue this night…

“Do you feel like destroying this place?”
- Johan Hegg (vocals)

To begin with, things looked like they were heading in the same direction as they had at Rockharz and Wacken, what with the classic intro quickly moving over to War Of The Gods, with the band blasting away in front of a background depicting the giant Surtur mow down his enemies during the battle of Ragnarök with a fiery blade, and having a pyro-show at the front of the stage to match the volcano on the backdrop.
I had no problem with that, it had worked before and it seemed to work again. With my drinking horn filled by my side, I was ready to once again board the dragon ship and sail to war with these mighty Vikings.
Something happened during the journey though, and Amon Amarth ended up taking quite a different route than I had expected – as they had a longer time on the stage here than what they had had at least at Wacken, the band were kind enough to throw some extra tracks into the fight as well, and change from the given standard helped keep things even more interesting!

Not that the band couldn’t keep things interesting on their own, they know their business inside and out by know, and knows all too well what makes an audience go.
Hegg wasn’t late to compliment the breaks with some tasty comments and observations, some heard often before and others new and improvised, and the musicians played their role well in keeping things lively. Still, I would say that the performance as such went a bit too much by the numbers this evening. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t boring or anything like that, far from it actually, but in comparison to the extremely well executed Rockharz gig from about a month earlier, this gig paled somewhat…
Even so, Amon Amarth was generously handing out a professional and engaging gig, where once again especially Olavi Mikkonen caught my eye with his intense playing and performance. Earlier in the day I had been surprised that Edguy hadn’t been handed the headlining slot, but seeing these Norsemen slay the stage with scorching fire and crushing heaviness left me with no doubt as to why the choice had fallen on them instead. This show was just so much bigger in every way! Still, did Hegg really have to parade around with that ridiculously large hammer of his during the encore with Guardians Of Asgaard..?

“Hey! Just checking if you’re still out there…”
- Hegg (vocals)

Not surprisingly, Amon Amarth had managed to pull together one of the largest crowds the festival, and with their experienced hand they led us right where they wanted us.
The action was beginning already in the first song, and when Runes To My Memory came along as the second song of the set, so did the loud sing along from the audience. Here the crowd wasn’t content with letting their voices reach the stage though, and as the band was massacring us with Live Without Regrets, a torrent of crowd surfers washed in over the guards, much like the Vikings must have done it in the past as they reached the English shores. Or not, who really knows?
Anyway, the crowd surfing was shortly interrupted when we reached Varyags Of Miklagaard as Hegg had us all jumping along as though it was a Korn gig all over again (but with a bit more aggression this time around), and everyone was clapping their hands enthusiastically at the same time. This was not how an Amon Amarth concert should be conducted, Lunah (Lauridsen, our photographer) proclaimed desperately, but the sheer fun, coupled with the large amount of alcohol that a good drinking horn could provide, drowned this out for the time, and it wasn’t like she didn’t enjoy herself either. Just no jumping.

When the last giant had been slain, and the horn squeezed for its last drop of beer, we were left sweaty, ravaged and smiling on the shore of the Soča in the warm summer night, and we could wave goodbye to the mighty Vikings warriors as they sailed on to new conquests. Here in Slovenia, they had won with banners held high.

Setlist:

War Of The Gods
Runes To My Memory
Destroyer Of The Universe
Death In Fire
Live Without Regrets
Cry Of The Black Bird
Prediction of Warfare
Live For The Kill
The Fate Of Norns
The Pursuit Of Vikings
Under The Northern Star
Varyags Of Miklagaard
For Victory Or Death
Victorious March
Twilight Of The Thunder God
Guardians Of Asgaard