Apocalyptica was closing the second day of Wacken, meaning they were playing the Black Stage between 2 and 3 at night. I can’t think of many better reasons to stay awake...

Actually, I had already begun to feel the strain of being up too long some time ago, and the fact that I didn’t know the first couple of songs, which I’m guessing came from their latest album, 7th Symphony, which I haven’t really gotten round to listen to yet, well it didn’t help much. Still, the performance of these Finns was obviously awesome as always, and all I needed was something recognisable I could sing or hum along to, and it was first presented in the form of the Metallica cover Master Of Puppets. Finally I got the release I was looking for, and energy came surging back into my body with every stroke of the heavily riffing cellos.
After this, Apocalyptica stayed for the most part to songs I knew more or less by heart, with only a few exceptions here and there.
As you all know, it’s been quite some years since Apocalyptica abandoned the idea of doing everything on cello alone, and however much I do miss those good old days, I can’t deny that the songs with vocals are easier to sing along to and certainly easier to digest after a long day of metal. They certainly weren’t going to be left out of the set either, and the first song to appear was again from the newest album, namely Bring Them To Light. On the album the vocals are handled by Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier, but here on the live stage Apocalyptica had brought along Tipe Johnson (Leningrad Cowboys), a man whom they have been using for some years now when it comes to playing live. Johnson was only in for that song, but he would later on return and sing I Don’t Care for us, one of the better vocalised songs Apocalyptica have made in my opinion.

Even with the late hour, there was still an impressively large crowd around me, and rightly so; this is one band which knows how to deliver a great show! Still, the action had been turned down a little since the earlier hours of the day, but we did have some loud and lovely sing-along sessions, Seek & Destroy being a perfect example of this.
There was no mistaking that the atmosphere was just right for Apocalyptica, and that they had fun playing for us. Speaking to the audience was divided somewhat equally between Eicca Toppinen and Perttu Kivilaakso, but all of them were equally invested in making the show look good. As this was my first time seeing Apocalyptica with only three cellists, I did miss the cool and relaxed counterweight Antero Manninen usually provides, but apart from this the band seemed to be doing fine; as it was a live setting, and Wacken at that, it wasn’t really possible to hear if the music was lacking the extra set of hands or not.

Frankly, I was not as impressed by Apocalyptica this night as I have been at other occasions; it seems to me that they are missing a bit of the edge and the energy they used to have.
This being said, I still loved the show, and it only goes to show that Apocalyptica have a pretty damn high bottom standard!

Setlist (incomplete):

Master Of Puppets (Metallica cover)
Bring Them To Light
Nothing Else Matters (Metallica cover)
Last Hope
Seek & Destroy (Metallica cover)
Inquisition Symphony (Sepultura cover)
I Don’t Care
Hall Of The Mountain King (Edvard Grieg cover)