Gloryhammer
Amager Bio, Copenhagen - 2019
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
Few support bands can amass even close to the same interest as the headlining act, and when the headliner is something as popular as Powerwolf, this is even harder.
Even so, this was exactly what Gloryhammer seemed to pull off this dark November night in Copenhagen.
“It’s good to be back in the land of eternal winter!”
- Thomas ‘Angus McFife XIII, Crown Prince of Fife’ Winkler (vocals)
To be perfectly honest, as Gloryhammer was about to take the stage, it felt like it was the headliner we were waiting for. The floor was packed, and the room was brimming with anticipation. Not surprisingly, the band was met with immediate cheers, and as they threw themselves into the first song of the set, The Siege Of Dunkeld (In Hoots We Trust), the party erupted, and the Danish fans sang and drank to their hearts delight.
Knowing Gloryhammer, the party was no less prevalent on the stage, as it was off it. Winkler spoke of how glad the band was to be back here, and congratulated themselves on bringing the best new album about Dundee with them - referring of course to Legends From Beyond The Galactic Terrorvortex, because let’s be honest, how many other albums have there been released about Dundee in recent days?
Gloryhammer’s show was built mainly of cheese, just as it should be. Everyone was in full costume, it didn’t lack in theatrics, and the show itself was climaxed by a mighty hammer fight between Winkler and Zargothrax, Dark Emperor of Dundee (his hood was up, so I couldn’t tell if it was Christopher Bowes or his live stand-in Michael Barber under there), in the song The Unicorn Invasion Of Dundee.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. No Gloryhammer show would of course be complete without Questlords Of Inverness, Ride To The Galactic Fortress! (man, must all titles be such a mouthful?) and its crowdsurfing bit. Unbeknownst to Winkler at first, he’d managed to pick a Norwegian out as his champion, and this didn’t fall well with the native fans, although I doubt this was the reason he chose to walk to the bar and get a beer instead of crowdsurfing there, as the command had been. Handing the beer to Winkler, he proceeded to pour it down the throat of James ‘The Hootsman, Astral Demigod of Unst’ Cartwright (apparently they do need to be this long), who’s thirst was apparently not abated by this, as he threw down yet another beer shortly thereafter.
“How loud can Copenhagen be? (Yeah!) Wow, that’s pretty damn loud!”
- Winkler (vocals)
No matter how hard the band tried though, it was still the audience that provided most of the action and noise here, which was pretty damn impressive given what they were up against.
I would even go so far as to say that Gloryhammer saw more audience action than Powerwolf did afterwards, and again, that’s saying something!
So who knows, next time maybe they’ll be back as headliners? If that’s the case, I’d love to see Grailknights supporting them - that would be so epically cheesy, that they’d need to put a warning label for lactose intolerant people on the ticket!
Setlist:
The Siege Of Dunkeld (In Hoots We Trust)
Masters Of The Galaxy
Angus McFife
The Land Of Unicorns
Gloryhammer
Hootsforce
Questlords Of Inverness, Ride To The Galactic Fortress!
Universe On Fire
Goblin King Of The Darkstorm Galaxy
The Unicorn Invasion Of Dundee
Even so, this was exactly what Gloryhammer seemed to pull off this dark November night in Copenhagen.
“It’s good to be back in the land of eternal winter!”
- Thomas ‘Angus McFife XIII, Crown Prince of Fife’ Winkler (vocals)
To be perfectly honest, as Gloryhammer was about to take the stage, it felt like it was the headliner we were waiting for. The floor was packed, and the room was brimming with anticipation. Not surprisingly, the band was met with immediate cheers, and as they threw themselves into the first song of the set, The Siege Of Dunkeld (In Hoots We Trust), the party erupted, and the Danish fans sang and drank to their hearts delight.
Knowing Gloryhammer, the party was no less prevalent on the stage, as it was off it. Winkler spoke of how glad the band was to be back here, and congratulated themselves on bringing the best new album about Dundee with them - referring of course to Legends From Beyond The Galactic Terrorvortex, because let’s be honest, how many other albums have there been released about Dundee in recent days?
Gloryhammer’s show was built mainly of cheese, just as it should be. Everyone was in full costume, it didn’t lack in theatrics, and the show itself was climaxed by a mighty hammer fight between Winkler and Zargothrax, Dark Emperor of Dundee (his hood was up, so I couldn’t tell if it was Christopher Bowes or his live stand-in Michael Barber under there), in the song The Unicorn Invasion Of Dundee.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. No Gloryhammer show would of course be complete without Questlords Of Inverness, Ride To The Galactic Fortress! (man, must all titles be such a mouthful?) and its crowdsurfing bit. Unbeknownst to Winkler at first, he’d managed to pick a Norwegian out as his champion, and this didn’t fall well with the native fans, although I doubt this was the reason he chose to walk to the bar and get a beer instead of crowdsurfing there, as the command had been. Handing the beer to Winkler, he proceeded to pour it down the throat of James ‘The Hootsman, Astral Demigod of Unst’ Cartwright (apparently they do need to be this long), who’s thirst was apparently not abated by this, as he threw down yet another beer shortly thereafter.
“How loud can Copenhagen be? (Yeah!) Wow, that’s pretty damn loud!”
- Winkler (vocals)
No matter how hard the band tried though, it was still the audience that provided most of the action and noise here, which was pretty damn impressive given what they were up against.
I would even go so far as to say that Gloryhammer saw more audience action than Powerwolf did afterwards, and again, that’s saying something!
So who knows, next time maybe they’ll be back as headliners? If that’s the case, I’d love to see Grailknights supporting them - that would be so epically cheesy, that they’d need to put a warning label for lactose intolerant people on the ticket!
Setlist:
The Siege Of Dunkeld (In Hoots We Trust)
Masters Of The Galaxy
Angus McFife
The Land Of Unicorns
Gloryhammer
Hootsforce
Questlords Of Inverness, Ride To The Galactic Fortress!
Universe On Fire
Goblin King Of The Darkstorm Galaxy
The Unicorn Invasion Of Dundee
Gloryhammer
