I arrive early at the venue and although it’s still an hour before the show starts, the church is already filling up quite nicely. People are trying to figure out where the best spots are and switching seats several times. What’s more important, being close up to the band or getting good sound? Where is a spot that is a good compromise for both? You can feel the excitement growing, as Tampere Cathedral fills up more and more. And also warms up more and more, for which I’m very grateful, as I’m a lot more used to quite chilly churches.

Then, right on schedule, the lights go out and Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso enter the stage while drummer Mikko Sirén enters a little later through the aisle with a marching drum.

Apocalytica play basically the same set as on their new live album. The music is accompanied by light installations that paint the church in a mystical light. After a little while northern lights appear above the band, of course they are only light painted, but that doesn’t matter, cause this whole experience couldn’t be any more magical even if real aurora borealis would appear inside the church.

The sound was good throughout the whole gig, at least in my location. Of course (almost) no concert goes by without any problems and neither did this one. Maybe half an hour into the show, one of Perttus cello strings snapped. Luckily, this happened almost at the end of the song and could be fixed very fast during a little speech from Eicca.

In the end, the one and a half hour playtime was over in a blink and there was absolutely nothing missing in my opinion. This was an experience I won’t forget anytime soon.