| Einlass: 18:30 Uhr | Beginn: 19:30 Uhr | Tickets: 28,00 EUR zzgl. Gebühren |

Seems like AMORPHIS are caught in an ongoing anniversary celebration circuit ;) There was the band’s 25th anniversary last year, and remember the 20th anniversary of musical milestones such as Tales From The Thousand Lakes two years ago – we took part in on New Year's Eve, and this year’s 20th anniversary of Elegy. And 2016 also marks the 10th anniversary of Eclipse, which AMORPHIS consider to be one of the band’s most important records that heralded a new chapter in the band’s history and left its impact on all band members as Eclipse was the first album with singer Tomi Joutsen. You can’t deny, it’s still party time :)
And the Finns liked to celebrate with their fans in the past, and so they are going to do it again. Once more at the end of the year, AMORPHIS invited to the Eclipse 10th Anniversary Shows to play the birthday record in its entirety. Oh yeah, and once again we are happy to join the party... :)

:: pics :: LONG DISTANCE CALLING ::

Much more as the Finns chose :: LONG DISTANCE CALLING :: to be the support act for them. But the Post Rock heroes from my hometown did it without their new singer Petter Carlsson and thus their shows on this run remained pure instrumental. Too bad, I like Petter’s voice and singing on the band’s new album Trips a lot. Well, maybe next time.
Instead of the announced show time at 7.30pm, LONG DISTANCE CALLING kicked off a half hour later and presented a nice best-of set through their history, with the exception of the predecessor, The Flood Inside. The :: X-Club :: is already packed with dedicated Amorphis fans full of anticipation. Although LONG DISTANCE CALLING are quite different musically, they passed the task to enthrall the audience with flying colors. But what I personally found even more impressive was to see with what enthusiasm and passion LDC still play live: As if every show is their very first one. Guitarist Dave always grinned like a Cheshire cat while axe-man Flo rocked himself into a kind of trance with big gestures. Communication with the crowd was limited on a minimum, but that was ok, since especially the instrumental tracks are perfectly made for to close your eyes and get dragged away on a journey into other lands. Too much yak is just bothering ;) Sound was powerful and clear, and lights… well… No hard feelings. Great but short show. Those, who want more… Right after those support shows, LONG DISTANCE CALLING are going to play a handful own headliner shows, dubbed as An Evening With LONG DISTANCE CALLING. Catch them there!
Setlist: Into The Black Wide Open, Black Paper Planes, Trauma, Momentum, Arecibo (Long Distance Calling), Metulsky Curse Revise

:: pics :: AMORPHIS ::

The change-over got widely used for merchandise shopping, drinks and chats. :: AMORPHIS :: had a lot of special anniversary shirt editions to offer. And then… The Kullervo intro already caused goose bumps. As promised, AMORPHIS played their Eclipse album in its entirety, from Two Moons till Empty Opening. Aaahhh, I love it! I love this concept to play records in its entirety live. Stunningly awesome to hear Eclipse that way performed live! But of course, that was not the whole show. AMORPHIS came back on stage with acoustic guitars and performed Enigma and My Kantele. Afterwards AMORPHIS then played songs from their 2009 album Skyforger only, including the tearjerkers Skyforger and Silver Bride during the encore. If to nag about anything at all, then that I here would have loved to hear songs from birthday album Elegy instead. Well, you can’t have it all.
The fans anyway, reacted dedicated and boisterously. Singing, dancing and headbanging people with blissful faces everywhere. A concert as a whole body therapy, and for the well-being of the soul too. I’d say, the Cheshire cat was laughing out of every face afterwards ;) Out of mine too, while I was walking through a crystal clear, icy cold but starlit night on my way to my car to get home…
Setlist: Two Moons, House Of Sleep, Leaves Scar, Born From Fire, Under A Soil And Black Stone, Perkele (The God Of Fire), The Smoke, Same Flesh, Brother Moon, Empty Opening // Intro, Enigma (acoustic), My Kantele (acoustic), From The Heaven Of My Heart, Sampo // Skyforger, Silver Bride

story & pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography