“Enjoying your day so far? I know you haven’t, you all have terrible hangovers! We haven’t got a hangover.”
- Ville Sorvali (vocals/bass)

Yes, those who hadn’t been up drinking the entire festival certainly did look fresher than the rest of us as Moonsorrow opened up as the first band on the last day of Wacken this year, but was it really so necessary for Sorvali to rub our noses in it?
Soon enough, the band members would also prove that they weren’t all talk but that they really meant it; after a bombastic intro over the p.a., the show shot off with the fairly fast track Kylän Päässä and the band put their money where their mouth was by showing extraordinary strength and energy for such an early morn. Actually, it was guitarist Mitja Harvilahti who impressed me the most, as he did a really fine job in trying to wake the worn out audience up to some sort of life. He had some luck with the immediate front, but the rest of the widespread yet loosely packed crowd seemed more or less asleep even with the bands strongest efforts.
As a side-note, I’d like to add that there is also simply something about live-guitarist Janne Perttilä which works extremely well on the stage. I saw him and Sorvali in the crowd during the Sepultura gig later in the day and at that time he blended in with the rest of us just fine, but when he is on stage he spreads a sort of aura around him which is impossible not to be affected by.

Luckily for the band, and unusual for the festival, the sound was really well mixed for Moonsorrow’s concert. The vocals could have been a bit higher, but now I’m really just nitpicking, overall it was just as good as the band not only deserves but when it comes to music like that of Moonsorrow, it also really needs to come across in a good way. Sure, the stuff they play on stage is specially constructed for the stage and not always as multi-layered as they would have it on an album, but even so it does run a high risk of just coming of as muddy and confusing. This was what happened the first time I saw Moonsorrow (Brutal Assault 2010) and it really didn’t give the band the start for me they deserved. Not so here at Wacken though, this was a delight to hear and even though I haven’t spent the time familiarising with their music yet, I could still stand proud and nod along to the most part of the concert (of course, it helped I had also seen them just recently at Metalcamp, generously reviewed here at the site by the very people who convinced me to give the band a second chance).

There is no doubt that Moonsorrow works best in the light of the moon on dark night, but for some reason festivals tend to put them in the earliest of slots anyway. I’m just glad to report that the hard work of the band-members paid off, and even in the blazing midday sun at Wacken we got to taste some of the atmosphere which you undoubtedly feel treading through the Finnish wilderness with the stars as your only guide.

Setlist:

Kylän Päässä
Tähdetön
Kivenkantaja
Sankaritarina
Köyliönjärven Jäällä (Pakanavedet II)