Insomnium
Amager Bio, Copenhagen - 2024
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
On a warm late summer’s eve, Finnish death metal band Insomnium visited Amager Bio as support to Amon Amarth, but they clearly had a good traction of their own as well.
A nearly filled room was waiting impatiently for them to enter…
The show opened softly with the acoustic guitar part of 1696 used as an intro, and when the band came on stage to take over the song as it shifted, there were loud cheers greeting them.
Given Amon Amarth’s huge stage setup, there wasn’t much space left for Insomnium, who had to make do with just a small stage banner, as even the backdrop was already occupied by the main act of the evening. None of this seemed to faze the four Finns however, who delivered their music with intensity and feeling, and they even managed to move about and give a lively performance, despite the lacking space. They were clearly enjoying themselves, and I liked how they managed to chat and smile to each other through the songs.
They didn’t just keep it internally though, as frontman Niilo Sevänen was more than happy to address the crowd as well. For instance, before playing Lilian, he mentioned that the band had just played Germany and asked us what we thought of the place. He was met with a resounding boo, and quickly turned it around and asked if we were going to be the better crowd then. Not surprisingly this was met with as resounding a yeah, and thus he told us that we’d need to make a proper moshpit to prove it.
To be honest, the Danish crowd didn’t create all that big of a moshpit in the end, despite Sevänen asking for one again later in the set. Some pushing and bumping was all it amassed to, so I doubt we beat the Germans in this respect.
Still, the Danish crowd was very generous with shouts and horns between songs, and everyone was applauding along to the calm section of Valediction.
For my own part, I’m not overly familiar with Insomnium, but I enjoyed every minute of their set, and it was good to see that they took a proper farewell of the crowd before leaving. Bows, good byes, and handing out setlists to the closest fans; a good job, all in all.
Setlist:
1696
Valediction
White Christ
Lilian
Pale Morning Star
Unsung
While We Sleep
Karelia
A nearly filled room was waiting impatiently for them to enter…
The show opened softly with the acoustic guitar part of 1696 used as an intro, and when the band came on stage to take over the song as it shifted, there were loud cheers greeting them.
Given Amon Amarth’s huge stage setup, there wasn’t much space left for Insomnium, who had to make do with just a small stage banner, as even the backdrop was already occupied by the main act of the evening. None of this seemed to faze the four Finns however, who delivered their music with intensity and feeling, and they even managed to move about and give a lively performance, despite the lacking space. They were clearly enjoying themselves, and I liked how they managed to chat and smile to each other through the songs.
They didn’t just keep it internally though, as frontman Niilo Sevänen was more than happy to address the crowd as well. For instance, before playing Lilian, he mentioned that the band had just played Germany and asked us what we thought of the place. He was met with a resounding boo, and quickly turned it around and asked if we were going to be the better crowd then. Not surprisingly this was met with as resounding a yeah, and thus he told us that we’d need to make a proper moshpit to prove it.
To be honest, the Danish crowd didn’t create all that big of a moshpit in the end, despite Sevänen asking for one again later in the set. Some pushing and bumping was all it amassed to, so I doubt we beat the Germans in this respect.
Still, the Danish crowd was very generous with shouts and horns between songs, and everyone was applauding along to the calm section of Valediction.
For my own part, I’m not overly familiar with Insomnium, but I enjoyed every minute of their set, and it was good to see that they took a proper farewell of the crowd before leaving. Bows, good byes, and handing out setlists to the closest fans; a good job, all in all.
Setlist:
1696
Valediction
White Christ
Lilian
Pale Morning Star
Unsung
While We Sleep
Karelia
Insomnium
