After a long day with lots and lots of music, the home stretch was now in sight and with it one of the years’ most anticipated shows – Amorphis doing an acoustic show in the dark of night on the Party Stage!
Special shows have proved quite effective at Wacken in the past, from Tiamat’s complete Wildhoney run-through to Moonspell’s acoustic tent-show, and having a band like Amorphis joining the ranks of the acoustic set providers, our joy was made!

“This is going to be a special show for you special people!”
- Tomi Joutsen (vocals)

The idea really was great, but sadly the actual implementation proved lacking in parts...
First of all, it should be mentioned that somewhere along the line a misinterpretation of information had occurred, and only a portion of the set was acoustic whereas that rest was delivered in the shape and sound that we are more familiar with.
Secondly, the sound may have been a bit too loud in the acoustic portion for really getting into that intimate feeling that was intended, but even so Amorphis’s crowd was still experiencing problems with the music coming from the Black Stage interfering too much and too loudly.

There were definitely good things about the whole thing though, don’t believe otherwise.
The acoustic section also saw a great deal of rearrangement in the songs it held – there may have been a conflict between fans whether this should be considered a positive or a negative detail, even here at Metalmoments we were a bit divided on the point. For the most part, I personally enjoyed the slowed down and soothing versions of the songs, although sometimes it did tend to move dangerously close to elevator music in its politically correct pleasantness. The inclusion of a saxophone player and a female vocalist may have added to this even though it also added something special to the experience. The only song I really couldn’t get to grips with was Sign From The North Side, with its dance-friendly rhythm and Joutsen going into some falsetto-like vocals in some parts.
The stage setup was definitely working in favour of the sought after feeling, what with the trays of fire and the video-backdrop showing bleak images of Finnish nature.

Probably due to the stillness of the music during that first segment of the show, the band members at the very height of inactivity; only Joutsen was seen moving, and even he took it much slower than we are used to with him. All this can of course be attributed to the style of the show at the time, but it didn’t quite work out for them and only came off as lazy and uninteresting.
When the whole thing changed tempo, and distortion and electricity was once again properly incorporated, the bubble of tranquillity burst and everyone in the band began working harder to entertain the audience. This definitely helped lift the show, as Amorphis felt more at home and in their natural element. The saxophone did appear in a few places still, and at some point it was also changed for what I perceived to be a clarinet, but overall this was Amorphis that was recognisable in style and form.

Amorphis had pulled an impressive crowd with the promise of special things, but the initial changes proved too much for some and during those first acoustic songs the herd was definitely thinning. Not that anyone who stayed behind minded, now there was more place for the rest of us and we were still closely enough packed to keep warm and comfy.
Except for one short sing along segment in Sign From The North Side, there wasn’t much response to the acoustic section of the set, but there really wasn’t any room for shouting and headbanging either so I wasn’t surprised at this. Just as the band, the crowd became much more animated with the beginning of the traditional section though, and now devil horns were proudly raised and headbanging occurred. It never got really wild, but it was late, and Amorphis’ music hasn’t really been circle pit material for some time now, even in their wildest moments.

Overall I quite enjoyed both parts of the concert, although the traditionally electrified section was without a doubt what worked best for the band. The acoustic pieces would probably feel and work better if the listener was sitting in his/her couch with the lights down, closing the rest of the world out with a pair of really good earphones.
What I really didn’t get though, was why My Kantele which sounds absolutely amazing acoustically wasn’t played until the very last and in the electrified version?

Setlist:

Acoustic set:
Enigma
I Of Crimson Blood
Empty Opening
Rusty Moon
Sign From The North Side

Electrified set:
Shades Of Gray
Nightbird’s Song
Silver Bride
Narrow Path
The Castaway
Hopeless Days
House Of Sleep
My Kantele