2020 is the year that I finally took the time to give Green Carnation a try. Their new album ‘Leaves of Yesteryear’ was released recently via Season of Mist and it mightily impressed me (for the review go here). I’d dare to say that this might become one of my favorite albums of the year. No way in hell that I was going to miss their release concert stream while I can’t get the real thing.

For those who bought a ticket, the event already started about 2 hours before the concert was to take place. We got to see recordings of Green Carnation (****) at work in the studio for the ‘Leaves of Yesteryear’ album, followed by some of their latest music videos and interview/Q&A moments with several of the band members. A nice little extra for those who were willing to give their money to the band and a perfect mood-setter for the rest of the night.

After a short countdown, while you could see the guys getting ready to begin, the show finally started. Immediately they kicked off the show with the epic piece of work that is the longest track of the new album: ‘My Dark Reflections of Life and Death’. This reworked version of the older song really shows off how amazing this band is like. The setting in which they were playing also worked perfectly with the whole vibe of their music: big light bulbs all around them in the air, extra light rigs set up behind them and all the musicians in half a circle around vocalist, Kjetil Nordhus, creating an atmosphere of both coziness and majesty. Great visuals and video, exemplary audio; everything felt right with this concert stream.

For about an hour and a half we got to experience pure, musical bliss from the comfort of our couches and damn, did we enjoy it. 4 out of 5 tracks of ‘Leaves of Yesteryear‘ were played, of which ‘Sentinels‘ was definitely a highlight. That groovy and catchy rocker of a song is going to do well with live crowds! The only track we didn’t get live, was their cover of Black Sabbath‘s ‘Solitude‘. Instead we were served another Black Sabbath song through their rendition of ‘Sweet Leaf‘, which I’m not necessarily complaining about. The set was thickened out with songs from 2003’s release ‘A Blessing in Diguise‘ and 2005’s release ‘The Quiet Offspring‘. All were great selections and for me personally a pleasure to get to hear other work than what they had just released. It only got me to look forward even more to catching Green Carnation on a stage whenever it’s possible again.

Setlist:
My Dark Reflections of Life and Death
Sweet Leaf (electric version)
Myron & Cole
Leaves of Yesteryear
Lullaby in Winter
Rain
Sentinels
Pile of Doubt
Hounds
When I Was You