Perşembe 29 Eki 2009, 9:42
Forging Europe Tour 2009 - Cracow, 27.10.09
Woah, what a gig it was! <3 Here's the story of the trip for my third Amorphis gig and definitely best of them all so far :)
At last, after almost 700km travel and 12 hours spent in the train, we (me, my girlfriend Paulina and our friend Zuza) arrived in Cracow. Since it was about 6 hours before the gig was to start, we decided to head to city centre for some sightseeing. But firstly we wanted to find the club, which was pretty easy as it is placed ca 100m from the railway station. There we found the tour bus and technicians unloading the equipment. Unfortunately, no band members yet :P Making ourselves sure that we won't have any problems finding the venue later, we left calmly, also knowing that the band got there and nothing unpleasant is going to happen :)
After a long walk in the old town, where we could admire beautiful brick-houses, monuments and magnificent castle, we returned to the surroundings of the club and entered a shopping mall in order to find some place to eat. Then, we had the first contact with the band, as we spotted Niclas in the food-area of the mall. He seemed to be very surprised when we called him, but he didn't mind having a short chatter with us, I'd say that on the contrary - as if his surprise was very positive :)
Finally, it was high time to go back to the venue. As our emotions grew with every single minute of waiting, when we entered the club our only desire was Amorphis (maybe excluding beer :D). Not knowing the support act at all, we welcomed the beginning of their gig without much emotions (unlike quite a big part of the crowd, who apparently came especially for Before The Dawn). Our attitude changed very quickly, because Saukkonen & company showed no intimidation and did a fucking awesome performance, 100% of what can be expected from supporting band. They really moved the crowd and gained many people's respect, I suppose. The technical break after the first gig wasn't too long, and then…
The most important part of the evening begun with beautiful notes of Skyforger intro, continuing band's recent gig tradition. Guys were greeted on stage with loads of enthusiastic screams and applause form the whole audience. Then it all begun with the immense power of Silver bride riff. Response from the crowd was no less powerful - the small club virtually started to shake. I must admit that it was my greatest and the most wonderful surprise - although there weren't many people (such a small club and the gig wasn't even sold out), the atmosphere was brilliant! And undoubtedly it was such thanks to both the band and the fans. I don't even have any words to describe what was happening during the moments of the greatest craziness - simply one enormous massive frenzy. However, there were also moments of "consternation" - I think that many were very surprised when they heard Smithereens intro and the pure-folk melody from Cares ;) I personally was very surprised by From The Heaven Of My Heart - it's doesn't belong to my Skyforger favourites, but live, it sounded perfectly. The basic part of the show ended with Magic And Mayhem/Black Winter Day medley - I wished that the part of the first song had been longer and had included the chorus, but anyway, the merger of these two tracks is definitely one of the band's best ideas (together with the Elegy medley).
As the audience obviously didn't feel like going back home, the chanting of the band's name begun even before all of the guys left the scene :P After a few moments, everybody went silent as Karelia's magical sound started to fill the club. Amorphis entered the scene again and took the crowd for a trip back in time kicking off with Sign From The North Side. This was followed by House of Sleep - the entire song was sung alongside by the audience and when it came time for the last chorus, they stopped playing and left it for us, getting wonderful response - it was one of the most amazing experiences I had at the gig. Eventually, we had to part with the band as the last notes of My Kantele faded, but although most of the people would surely enjoy twice as big setlist, the general atmosphere after the gig made the impression of overall joy and satisfaction.
Several minutes passed and the band members begun to appear near the merchandise stand. Although tiredness was seen at their faces, they gladly signed posters and booklets and posed for the pictures. I myself managed to get all the signatures to my Skyforger booklet and had short talks with most of the guys, who agreeably stated they enjoyed the gig no less than the audience. Unfortunately, no pics from me, as none of us possessed a camera, but I prefer memories than photographs so I don't feel regretful in any way ;)
Summing up shortly: wonderful concert, amazing audience, the atmosphere one can dream of. As I already wrote in the very beginning, I consider it the best Amorphis gig I've been to, exactly because of these facts.
Thank you all! Shine on!
PS Here's the setlist, which I acquired in almost a fight :D
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1039/setlistcracow271009.th.jpg
