28-01-2009 Dragonforce

Supports: Turisas; Venue: 013, Tilburg (Netherlands)
By: Elvira Visser

Slowly the crowd entered the venue 013 until there were enough people to open the balconies and hearing that the venue was sold out. In the first rows of the crowd there were clearly some Turisas fans present who began to cheer when the light finally faded. An intro started and a voice said: “Brothers and sisters of Holland, there is a time to fight and there is a time to feast. This is what you have come for. This is why we are here. Now, let yourselves be heard. This is Battle Metal!”

Accompanied by a drumming march the band Turisas from Finland entered the stage. Mathias, the vocalist starts the evening by screaming: “BATTLE METAL!” Then the support act started, and personally I came to see this band. When people come to see Dragonforce they expect guitar solo’s and waving hair, at least that is what I expect. Well, Turisas is a bit different. Dressed up like bloody Vikings they lead the way to the party. For me their music is very powerfull. With choirs, trumpets, accordion, a violin and much more creating the battle sound of Turisas. The band is easy to recognise in their sweaty fur outfits and blood painted faces with black stripes and blood stained arms. They are known to give away a good energetic show and the same counts for tonight. When some guys in the audience handed “Warlord” (Mathias Nygård) a true Dutch beer (a can of Hertog Jan), he was very thankful for that, took some sips and continued. Olli Vänskä plays some amazing solo’s on his violin and Netta Skog did so on her accordion. Other members of the band that deliver to the Turisas sound are Tuomas Lehtonen, Hannes Horma and Jussi Wickström. The highlights of the show for me were the starting song: “Battle Metal”, and later on “One More” and “Rasputin”. Although they asked us to dance on “In the Court of Jarisleif”, I think the audience went wild on Rasputin, which is one of those tracks you just have to move to. People were dancing and jumping up and down. Still I think the crowd was a bit tame, although Turisas deliverd a great show which they ended with “To Holmgard and Beyond”. The end of their performance came way too soon, and I hope they come back to the Netherlands to headline a tour soon.

Then, after a short change over, the power metallers from London, Dragonforce, took over the stage. For me time to get a beer and just experience the show. I have to admit I never heard one song from this band from the beginning to the end because it is not after my liking. So I did not really know what to expect except for solo’s. And that is what I saw on stage. Something that resembles this band to Turisas is their live show. Both bands entertain on stage but in completely different ways. For Dragonforce you need an extra pair of eyes, because there are two guitarists (Herman Li and Sam Totman), a bass guitarist (Frédéric Leclercq), a singer (ZP Theart) and a keyboard player (Vadim Pruzhanov) that do not stand still on one spot for far too long. Vadim does not get stuck behind his rack of keyboards but jumps up and down behind this rack. Runs to the front of the stage to play, jumps some more and before you know someone else is standing in front of you playing his solo. I came to the conclusion that I do not like their music. I miss some melody build up frame or whatever you like to call it but they seemed to please the many people in the audience. At one point the band left except the keyboard player so he could perform a one man show. Which means everything I said earlier but then a little bit faster and on his own on his keyboard, a bit comecal as well, clearly having fun. Just like the other band members, they really seemed to enjoy themselves playing in front of a sold out venue. Vadim received a well earned applause. Sam and ZP know how to interact with the audience by giving them looks and gestures. Herman and Frédéric are a little bit more occupied with their own play. I can say each band member had its his time to shine although the drummer (Dave Mackintosh) was hidden behind his drum set, but he kept pace during the entire set. I did like their show but the music did not make my blood run any faster.

More pictures of this gig available at photographicretentions.nl