E-Werk, Cologne, Germany9th October 2024
Apocalyptica - “Plays Metallica Vol. 2 Tour 2024/2025” - Support: The Raven Age
When the founding members of APOCALYPTICA (Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, Max Lilja and Antero Manninen) met at the Finnish Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in the 90s and decided to play tracks by their favourite band METALLICA on the classical music instrument cello and also to use four pieces from METALLICA’s repertoire as an exam at the academy, the young Finns certainly didn’t think that this flash of inspiration would still stand them in good stead 28 years later. But in 2024, the follow-up to the band’s debut album was finally released. The album bears the obvious name “Plays Metallica Vol. 2” and forms the backbone of the current tour, on which the band is focusing exclusively on the US metal band’s material.
The Raven Age
However, the British Rock band THE RAVEN AGE, founded in London in 2009, supported the Finns first. With guitarist George Harris, the son of Steve Harris, bassist with IRON MAIDEN, the young formation has a prominent member in its ranks. To the surprise of the audience, the quintet took to the stage fifteen minutes before the officially announced time and began their half-hour set. As the E-Werk was already very well filled at this time, this was unlikely to have caused any annoyance. Musically, the Brits certainly knew how to convince. Stylistically, the band moves somewhere between melodic Groove Metal and Metalcore, attaching great importance to melodiousness and shining above all in the quieter pieces, where the lighting conditions were ultimately also much more pleasant (i.e. quieter). All in all, a confident performance from the English band.
Setlist
01. Serpents Tongue
02. Nostradamus
03. No Man’s Land
04. The Day the World Stood Still
05. The Journey
06. Essence of Time
07. Grave of the Fireflies
08. Fleur de Lis
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Light: 5
Sound: 7
Total: 7 / 10
Apocalyptica
The Finnish band APOCALYPTICA, whose drummer Mikko Kaakkuriniemi aka “Hulk” has been holding the drumsticks in his hands for a few months now, then served us a setlist of 13 songs, every single one of which was written by METALLICA. The three cellists Perttu Kivilaakso, Eicca Toppinen and Paavo Lötjönen, all dressed all in black, spread out at the front of the stage across the entire width of the stage. While Eicca Toppinen stood in the middle of the stage and acted as the band’s spokesman between songs, Perttu Kivilaakso sat stoically on his stool for the entire performance. There was a sad reason for this: the youngest of the three cellists had been ill for days and didn’t have the energy for a lively performance. However, his playing on the cello didn’t suffer from this. The Finn played his way through the set with routine and ease. At this point, however, we wish him a speedy recovery. It certainly sucks to fall ill during a tour.
With songs such as ‘Enter Sandman’, ‘Nothing Else Matters’, ‘Master Of Puppets’, ‘Seek & Destroy’ and the encore ‘One’, the band’s setlist included a number of highlights that they have been performing live for over 20 years. However, thanks to their new album, on which APOCALYPTICA have once again expanded their METALLICA repertoire, the band now have the opportunity to add more METALLICA songs to their setlist. And so, the quartet performed some songs that they had never (or hardly ever) performed in public before 2024. ‘Ride The Lightning’ to open their set was one such example. ‘The Call of Ktulu’ is also one of the new songs. What was interesting here was that APOCALYPTICA got the approval from METALLICA beforehand to use the original bass tracks of the METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton, who died in 1986. During the performance of the track, a portrait of the late bassist on the back screen complemented the band’s logo. A nice gesture.
The band’s performance was spot on. You could literally see the joy of playing in the healthy cellists. Paavo Lötjönen in particular was grinning almost without exception during the whole set. They were also quite active on stage despite the somewhat unwieldy musical instrument, with the three cellists often forming up around their sick member and providing a nice scene. The light show during the main act was also much more sophisticated than during THE RAVEN AGE’s support slot. APOCALYPTICA’s set was also hectic and flickering, but here the sometimes very aggressive light went perfectly with the heavy sounds. All in all, both the Finns and their support offered a well-rounded show - bravo!
Setlist
01. Ride the Lightning
02. Enter Sandman
03. Creeping Death
04. For Whom the Bell Tolls
05. Battery
06. The Call of Ktulu
07. St. Anger
08. The Four Horsemen
09. Blackened
10. Nothing Else Matters
11. Master of Puppets
12. Seek & Destroy
13. One
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Light: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10
All Pictures by André Wilms
