While we managed to catch the return of Finntroll on stage already last Summer at Saarihelvetti (check out the report here), seeing this band of trolls on an indoor stage with their proper setup is something completely else. Complete with some massive looking lights and a mic stand with a cool old school looking microphone adorned with a horned skull and some bloody rags, when they came on the with fog/smoke covered stage, a roar rose from the crowd. It being the first some kind of tour since the release of their latest album ‘Vredesvävd‘, it was not a huge surprise that they opened with ‘Att döda med en sten‘ from that release. Vreth took his spot behind his mic stand, which had the surprising extra effect of smoke coming from it at regular intervals. While people were clearly really enthusiastic about seeing their beloved trolls on stage, I felt that especially once they played ‘Ormfolk‘ from that most recent album, the room really exploded. I saw people dancing and moshing in a moshpit that you don’t see all that often in Finland and that exuded pure fun and exaltation. From that moment on, the gates were really opened and tracks like the more old school ‘Nattfödd‘ and ‘Jaktens Tid‘ only ramped up the energy! It was a pleasure to see Finntroll on a stage again and it felt like all of them were truly hungry for it!

When Insomnium was about to start, they cleared most of the stage with only the drums, 2 banners and a handful of floor lights remaining. The show got started with what has been called Finland’s saddest song in the past, which seems an all too fitting intro song for a melancholic Finnish band like Insomnium to walk on stage. To my big surprise, keeping my past experiences with Insomnium shows in mind, the guys didn’t get smothered in smoke and deep blue stage lights, but had this time very bright lights going for them. You might think this took away from the usual atmosphere, but it actually made things more interesting for me personally. Despite their music being really melancholic and sad at times, there is something uplifting about Insomnium‘s music. Seeing them play their at times absolutely epic tracks emblazoned by bright lights, somehow made it even more uplifting and bright. I truly hope that they continue down this path for shows in the future, as it really seems to work for me even better than the moody stage production of the past. Besides, actually being able to clearly see the passion and talent all these musicians bring to the stage is a big plus for a live show in my books.

After the intro, the set got opened by a nice trio of a song of their most recent full-length with ‘Pale Morning Star‘, one of their older classics with ‘Ephemeral‘ and a track of their most recent endeavor with ‘The Conjurer‘ which comes from their COVID experimental EP release ‘Argent Moon‘. Of that EP they basically sprinkled all the songs spread throughout the regular set, which was really cool to see since some of those songs are really different from what they usually sound like. And in between those, we of course saw some of their oldies mixed in with more work from ‘Heart like a Grave‘. Like the encore trio of the fan favorites ‘The Primeval Dark‘ and ‘While We Sleep‘ from ‘Shadows of the Dying Sun‘ and the title track from ‘Heart like a Grave‘. Overall, a really well balanced setlist with something for almost every generation of Insomnium fan.