Primordial
Månegarm Open Air - 2024
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
Apart from being one of only two non-Swedish bands at the Månegarm Open Air festival, Primordial was also one of the two bands we were looking the most forward to seeing here.
As remembered by A.A. Nemtheanga, Primordial had toured with Månegarm back in ‘06-’07, and they had later been asked several times to come to the festival - and now they were glad it finally happened.
“We are Primordial! We come from the republic of Ireland! Are you with us? I said are you fucking with us?!”
- A.A. Nemtheanga (vocals)
Primordial made a strong start of it, kicking their set off with the live favourite As Rome Burns, and Nemtheanga wasn’t late in letting the crowd handle the lyrics, which gave him more time to sample the bottle of wine he had brought with him on stage.
We also noticed a new guitarist in the group, live helper Gerry Clince (Death The Leveller), replacing long-time member Michéal O’Floinn who parted ways with the band in 2023. Rather uncharacteristically to the band, Clince took a highly active part in the performance, going to the front of the stage and looking to make contact with the crowd. What we are used to here, is that the musicians stay a bit more in the background, giving Nemtheanga room to be the obvious frontman, which he is quite capable of taking on by himself; nevertheless, this was an interesting and not unwelcome development, and I wonder if this will influence future performances by the band? But that’s speculation for another day.
“You wanna hear a story? (one guy: no!) Well then, fuck off!”
- Nemtheanga (vocals)
Nemtheanga was still taking the lead here, keeping an assiduous attentiveness on the crowd, keeping eye contact and giving personal remarks to the gathered fans. Mostly, this was in a strictly positive tone, or as in the above comment, with a clear wink in the eye, but there was one thing he wouldn’t stand for, quite understandably, and that resulted in the comment; “Do that one more time, and I’ll come down there and kill you.”, after someone threw a beer cup at the band. I don’t remember if it actually hit someone, but regardless, that’s no way to treat a performing artist.
On the flip side of this, when Nemtheanga asked someone in the frontline if he could get a sip of the person’s beer, Nemtheanga then rewarded him with a wholly fresh beer from the stage - you get what you give, as the saying goes.
The setlist consisted of a few older songs, well-worn live staples by now, up to a couple of songs from the latest album, 2023’s How It Ends. Both We Shall Not Serve and Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is An Orphan were received well by the audience, and I wouldn’t necessarily want to give up any of the other songs, but I did miss a contribution from the sadly overlooked Where Greater Men Have Fallen album. But of course, the band only had so much time to play for us.
The time they had was well used, and the crowd got in on the fun at several points. I’ve already mentioned As Rome Burns, but the fans will to sing didn’t lessen during the concert, and so classics like The Coffin Ships and the showstopper Empire Falls especially saw a lot of audience participation as well - especially in the latter, where we got to do the “Where is the fighting man?” line by ourselves.
Primordial may have left the stage hurriedly after a hasty thank you, but the impression their concert left in us lasted far longer than that. This was another top notch gig from their hands, easily proving why they were lined up right next to the headliner of the night, the self-written Månegarm.
Setlist:
As Rome Burns
No Grave Deep Enough
We Shall Not Serve
To Hell Or The Hangman
Gods To The Godless
The Coffin Ships
Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is An Orphan
Empire Falls
As remembered by A.A. Nemtheanga, Primordial had toured with Månegarm back in ‘06-’07, and they had later been asked several times to come to the festival - and now they were glad it finally happened.
“We are Primordial! We come from the republic of Ireland! Are you with us? I said are you fucking with us?!”
- A.A. Nemtheanga (vocals)
Primordial made a strong start of it, kicking their set off with the live favourite As Rome Burns, and Nemtheanga wasn’t late in letting the crowd handle the lyrics, which gave him more time to sample the bottle of wine he had brought with him on stage.
We also noticed a new guitarist in the group, live helper Gerry Clince (Death The Leveller), replacing long-time member Michéal O’Floinn who parted ways with the band in 2023. Rather uncharacteristically to the band, Clince took a highly active part in the performance, going to the front of the stage and looking to make contact with the crowd. What we are used to here, is that the musicians stay a bit more in the background, giving Nemtheanga room to be the obvious frontman, which he is quite capable of taking on by himself; nevertheless, this was an interesting and not unwelcome development, and I wonder if this will influence future performances by the band? But that’s speculation for another day.
“You wanna hear a story? (one guy: no!) Well then, fuck off!”
- Nemtheanga (vocals)
Nemtheanga was still taking the lead here, keeping an assiduous attentiveness on the crowd, keeping eye contact and giving personal remarks to the gathered fans. Mostly, this was in a strictly positive tone, or as in the above comment, with a clear wink in the eye, but there was one thing he wouldn’t stand for, quite understandably, and that resulted in the comment; “Do that one more time, and I’ll come down there and kill you.”, after someone threw a beer cup at the band. I don’t remember if it actually hit someone, but regardless, that’s no way to treat a performing artist.
On the flip side of this, when Nemtheanga asked someone in the frontline if he could get a sip of the person’s beer, Nemtheanga then rewarded him with a wholly fresh beer from the stage - you get what you give, as the saying goes.
The setlist consisted of a few older songs, well-worn live staples by now, up to a couple of songs from the latest album, 2023’s How It Ends. Both We Shall Not Serve and Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is An Orphan were received well by the audience, and I wouldn’t necessarily want to give up any of the other songs, but I did miss a contribution from the sadly overlooked Where Greater Men Have Fallen album. But of course, the band only had so much time to play for us.
The time they had was well used, and the crowd got in on the fun at several points. I’ve already mentioned As Rome Burns, but the fans will to sing didn’t lessen during the concert, and so classics like The Coffin Ships and the showstopper Empire Falls especially saw a lot of audience participation as well - especially in the latter, where we got to do the “Where is the fighting man?” line by ourselves.
Primordial may have left the stage hurriedly after a hasty thank you, but the impression their concert left in us lasted far longer than that. This was another top notch gig from their hands, easily proving why they were lined up right next to the headliner of the night, the self-written Månegarm.
Setlist:
As Rome Burns
No Grave Deep Enough
We Shall Not Serve
To Hell Or The Hangman
Gods To The Godless
The Coffin Ships
Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is An Orphan
Empire Falls