After opening for fellow Finns in Nightwish not too long ago, it was time for the boys of Amorphis to once again prove their strength with a headlining tour in support of their new album, Under The Red Cloud.
They had brought their own support band, Poem, along for the ride, but that’s really enough about them.

“Good evening my friends! How are you today?”
- Tomi Joutsen (vocals)

Already before the band hit the stage, we could see that this was big deal kind of show – massive backdrop, sidedrops to match, and at the front of the stage, there were metallic boxes with iron cast Amorphis styled Thor’s hammers at the front. Also, we could see that Tomi Joutsen’s ever-growing microphone had taken another turn at the local blacksmith, as it was now equipped with a steampunk styled microphone stand. Yup, this was going to be something special!

The crowd had grown considerably by this time, and when the band members entered, they were greeted by shouts of excitement and anticipation.
In return, we were greeted to a score of songs from their latest album. Amorphis was brave enough to open with three new songs in a row, something that’s quite unusual in these circumstances. Since Amorphis holds a very even level of quality, and there is a very clear thread to their style, this was never a problem, and we felt at home from the very beginning.
The new tracks got a good response in the form of shouts and applause, but it was, not surprisingly, in the classic live songs that things really heated up. One very special part of this was Drowned Maid, where original vocalist, turned guitarist in later years, Tomi Koivusaari, was to share vocal duties with Joutsen. This was a bit of a miss however, at least for us standing on the opposite side of the stage from him – you see, for us, there was no sound coming from his microphone, so we got half vocals from Joutsen’s parts, and then silence and a mime show when Koivusaari was supposed to sing. I’ve heard that his vocals did come through to those who stood closer to the middle or on the other side of the stage, but that did little to help about half of the crowd.
In all, Amorphis was actually struggling far more with their sound than their support band, Poem, had done. It wasn’t terrible, but the guitars were overall quite low in the mix, and as I mentioned, some of the vocals were not present. Amorphis deserves better than this.

“I’ve heard there are great signers in the audience, let’s check it out. Let’s sing the next one together!”
- Joutsen (vocals)

If the band’s sound was missing in parts, the same could certainly not be said about the audience.
When we weren’t randomly shouting in excitement, or giving it the old “oh oh oh” chanting, singing could be heard near and far. Not always good, but very enthusiastically! Even if it was a standard comment from Joutsen’s side, and let’s be honest here, it most likely was, it still fired up the ante in the crowd, and My Kantele and Silver Bride, among others, got an impressive sing-along going. My Kantele had the added fun of seeing Joutsen bang away on a tambourine for a while, although this was another one of those moments that were, to put it in fine terms, sonically challenged.
We had a great old time though, and Amorphis proved beyond doubt that they are still certainly strong enough to hold their own. Not that anyone was in doubt. Under The Red Cloud was a welcome addition, both to the discography, and the tour list.

Setlist:

Under The Red Cloud
Sacrifice
Bad Blood
Sky Is Mine
The Wanderer
On Rich And Poor
Drowned Maid
Dark Path
The Four Wise Men
Silent Waters
My Kantele
Hopeless Days
House of Sleep
Death Of A King
Silver Bride
The Smoke