As Finland’s premium drinking team rolled into town together with Estonian folk’sters Metsatöll, Pumpehuset had really gone all out to secure an experience for all the senses. They had found a local band befitting the bill as an extra support band, Heidra, they had acquired an open air hot bath for free usage before entering the hall, and they had stocked up their bar with the finest mead around.
Both support bands had performed admirably, and now it was time for Korpiklaani to take the home-run...

There had been a large amount of people throughout the night, and although it had improved over time, the atmosphere had been good all night long as well – most likely a combination of the thorough work put in both by concert hall and support bands.
Still, from the first second there was no doubt as to which was the main act and who the crowd was there for – already during the intro there were loud cheers heard all over the room, and they didn’t exactly lessen when the band members entered one by one.
Tuomas Rounakari on the violin was beginning to be a familiar face by now, but since the last time we saw Korpiklaani they have acquired a new accordion player called Sami Pertulla, bringing me to think about just how many metal oriented accordion players there are around the world... Pertulla was ever smiling and made a very good impression though, and seemed to make a good fit with the rest of the band.
The next surprise was to see Jonne Järvelä enter without a guitar, this has never happened before at the shows we have attended. He has sometimes been drunk enough to lose it throughout the concert, but I’ve never seen him give it up completely, and truly e didn’t put it on for the entire show. Kalle ‘Cane’ Savijärvi did as good a job as he could, now being the only guitarist, and I must give him credit for the way he managed, but it was still rather odd. Definitely another little brain-teaser this gig offered up.

As he didn’t have to concentrate on playing some kind of guitar, Järvelä was for this show more free to do other stuff, and he wasn’t about to hold anything back! Not that he usually does that either way, but now it didn’t affect the music in the same way.
Free as he was, he danced around the stage, and at several times he stretched out over the narrow security pit to get in contact with the closest fans, and he looked like a kid who had just been released in a new playground – he couldn’t get enough!
The rest of the band was also very lively this evening, putting their best foot forward so to say, and there was nothing negative to say about the performance.
The setlist may have split the waters with its heavy emphasis of material from the latest record, Manala, but that’s to be expected on a tour such as this. There were classics that I missed, certainly so, but Korpiklaani did give us a large amount of older songs as well as the brand new ones so I’m not complaining, and the end of the set which gave us a massive alcohol infusion with Vodka, Wooden Pints, Tequila and Beer Beer didn’t leave an eye dry (although it did leave many a glass empty...).

Above, I have already mentioned that the audience was wild when the band entered, and from my description of the concert so far it should come as no surprise to you that things didn’t exactly slow down as we went tumbling along the Finnish outback with the horn-clad Sami man whom all Korpiklaani fans should know by now.
Pumpehuset was quickly filling up with heat and sweat as the audience danced, moshed and jumped along to the jolly tunes of the band, and I daresay that the barkeeps probably had their work cut out for them as the 500+ large audience craved the wet nourishment they were offering. Oh, that accursed mead and its alluring sweetness!
The aforementioned drinking suite was probably the period of the set which heard the most sing-along singing of the evening, maybe because most of these songs are in English and easier to understand, and in the same way this was also the period of the evening which saw the most action from the crowd. To the guards dismay a hearty crowd surfing was taken up in Vodka and continued to and fro throughout the rest of the evening. This, together with all the other antics on display, made for one wet audience that left Pumpehuset late but smiling this night...

I have written nicely about this concert, and yet it wasn’t the wildest Korpiklaani show I have ever attended.
It was a great one though, no arguments there, and it was equally great to see them up close after only seeing them at festivals before. Try as I might, I have no complaints about this! Ok, maybe I didn’t try that hard, but why should I when I enjoyed myself?

Setlist:

Tuonelan Tuvilla
Ruumiinmultaa
Juodaan Viinaa (Hector cover)
Metsämies
Midsummer Night
Kipumylly
Metsälle
Sumussa Hämärän Aamun
Husky Sledge / Solo (Rounakari)
Vaarinpolkka
Viima
Uniaika
Iron Fist (Motörhead cover)
Lonkkaluut
Uni
Vodka
Ievan Polkka
Rauta
Wooden Pints
Pellonpekko
Tequila / Solo (Johansson)
Beer Beer