After the, to me, unknown band Wisdom, it was time for the more well-known band Eluveitie to handle the Copenhagen crowd in support of Sabaton.

I admit to not being the worlds’ biggest fan of this particular band, but I was in a good mood, and Wisdom had done a good job of it, so why not also the pride of Switzerland? I mean, I have grown to recognize and under certain conditions enjoy their super-hit Inis Mona…
The show began with a short spoken intro coming out of the speakers as the band got into position on stage. Just as had been the case for Wisdom, also Eluveitie had only a small strip (approx. 1 metre in depth) of stage to stand on because of Sabaton’s equipment, and just as Wisdom, Eluveitie also used part of this place for stage banners (Eluveitie also had a backdrop though). The main difference here was of course that where Wisdom had had the usual four men in front and a drummer on a podium, Eluveitie had the drummer and then six other persons who had to fight for space in the front! You can see that this was a bit crowded I suppose.
It wasn’t just the stage that was crowded though, also on the audiences’ side of things it was getting to be a bit cramped, and this was even though we had no restrictions about where we could stand! Already at opening time I had been impressed with the large amount of people visiting Amager Bio, but now it felt like it was closing on sold out status! I have no idea exactly how many tickets were sold of course, but the place was warm and sweaty even here in October, and even the often closed down balcony was filled with people tonight.

“København, it’s great to be back in your beautiful city! Are you ready for some pure fucking folk metal?!”
- Christian ‘Chrigel’ Glanzmann (vocals/various instruments)

Yes, he actually did say our city name in well-sounding Danish, whereas the rest was in English.
But what did all the people who had shown up get? Well, I’ll tell you one thing – it sure wasn’t pure folk metal! Although, this should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever heard the band, regardless of whether you are a fan or not. Eluveitie is, and has always been as far as I can find out, a melodic death metal band with strong Gothenburg influences, which has thrown a bunch of non ordinary metal instruments into the mix to add on their sound. This, in combination with the lyrical content should then somehow prove their folksiness, which if you ask me, is utter rubbish. And yes, this is coming from someone who holds both metal and folk music in high regards individually, and feels that when done right, they make a magical combination.

“I think it is time to get your motherfucking asses kicked!”
- Glanzmann (vocals/various instruments)

But I’m not here to discuss genre-labels, I’m just here to write about what I got from the show, so let’s get on with that, yes?
What we got was a band blasting out music, and regretting to admit that they weren’t able to do much else because of the small stage they were on, and a request for us to move in their stead.
That proved not to be a hard wish to fulfil; it would seem Eluveitie had a lot of fans in Amager Bio this night, and straight from the start there was a lot of enthusiastic shouting, raised arms and horns, and lots of good old headbanging. Inis Mona especially also got a good sing-along going, where I admit even I tried to join the party, and photographer Lunah Lauridsen later mentioned to me that she was impressed with what Eluveitie had been able to get out of the concert.
I will not claim to understand what she was talking about, nor do I claim to understand the reason the world seems so taken with this band. For this once, I do excuse their lack of performing (with the exception of Glanzmann, who did try to reach out to the audience) due to the impossibility of doing so, but on the other hand I have seen them on much larger stages where they didn’t much more. I miss the Kirder brothers, they made the show interesting...
Anyway, it wasn’t just the lack of action that got me down, I was also quickly reminded about how I can’t stand the singing of Anna Murphy, who also plays the hurdy gurdy. This was not helped by the fact that Eluveitie had A Rose For Epona on the setlist, a song which she sings almost exclusively...

Fairs fair, the band seemed to enjoy themselves, as did the fans, and I even saw Glanzmann sneaking out into town together with some fans after the show was done.
For me though, this was a complete and utter waste of time, and I can’t see why they were even slotted into this tour. Maybe to sell tickets, as it would seem that a lot of people had shown up just for their sake; the hall was clearly less occupied for Sabaton’s show at least, which just brings another question-mark to the big pile I already have regarding this particular orchestra...

Setlist:

Helvetios
Luxtos
Neverland
A Rose For Epona
Divico
Inis Mona
Alesia
The Uprising
Havoc