Now, if you as a band had your own festival, which you ran, and it was named after you, why wouldn’t you hire yourself as headliner? I mean, it’s only logical.
Månegarm was in the enviable position of headlining both days, but to change it up, the first day was an all acoustic concert, and that’s what we were about to hear.

Månegarm is of course no stranger to acoustic music. They have their all acoustic outing in Urminnes Hävd - The Forest Sessions, but they also have acoustic tracks sprinkled on their more regular albums as well, so to have an all acoustic day at the festival is well in line with their style. To further this, Ellinor Videfors joined the band on stage this evening, and her participation definitely heightened the experience, as she is also their go-to female vocalist on album for the last several years. There was also a live violinist, Martin Björklund (Mercury X), and a bassist, Tobias Rydsheim (Wormwood), as Erik Grawsiö played guitar this evening. Finally, there was a guest appearance by Ted Sjulmark (Grimner) on vocals in Eld.
Actually, the bass was the only instrument that had not been replaced for an acoustic counterpart, and even though they’re acoustic in nature, had Jacob Hallegren changed his regular drums to a few bodhran.

Now, even though this was an acoustic show with mainly slightly calmer songs on the setlist, it didn’t mean that the show was any less intense. The band was shining bright on the stage, Grawsiö was gladly engaging with the crowd between more or less every song, and the performance was, while not really rocking, highly fitting to the atmosphere of the night. Among other things, Grawsiö took the time to thank the viking reenactors of Ulls Vikingar, the fire artist Angela Dellamorte, and the other bands with a special shoutout to former Månegarm member Janne Liljeqvist who now plays in Suttung, the band that had occupied the second stage for the day. There was also a very special shoutout to their sound technician, whom I only remember being named ‘Legend’; special since they had printed a special t-shirt with him on it. If that’s not a proper way to thank your crew, I don’t know what is!

While you might be correct in assuming that the crowd action was lower than that which we would see the following day, it in no way meant that the crowd wasn’t active. Those times between songs where Grawsiö wasn’t talking, there was a loud ‘Månegarm’ chant rising from the fans, and it didn’t take long before they were chanting and humming along to the songs as well, culminating in the crowd being allowed to take some of the ‘oh oh’ parts of the final song, Segervisa. Another noteworthy section came at the end of Sveablotet, the last song of a triple track mash-up they played of otherwise not acoustic songs, but which worked very well in this guise as well.

It’s hard to convey in words just how impressive this show was, as descriptions fall short of the experience, so you’ll just have to take my word for it - this was without comparison the highlight of the evening! What a way to go out, and what expectations it set for the day after!

Setlist:

Himmelsfursten
Vigverk, del II
Blot
Allfader
Bärsärkarna Från Svitjod
Delling
Utfärd
Hemkomst
Hemfärd / Krakes Sista Ord / Sveablotet
Eld (feat. Ted Sjulmark)
Döden
Mother Earth Father Thunder (Bathory cover)
Segervisa