Richmond, VA – The date may have been April Fools Day but there were no fools in attendance as a worldly metal army invaded the Canal Club in Richmond, VA. As it turned out, this was the last US stop on the Eluveitie tour. This may be thought of as a day to celebrate foolishness, but instead we were treated to a few hours of an international pure metal performance. I was witness to one of the most complimentary shows I have experienced in my four years of listening to shows through a lens.
The night kicked off with the US tour member, Seven Spires out of Boston. Consisting of Adrienne Cowan (Vocals), Jack Kosto (guitar), Peter de Reyna (bass), and Chris Dovas (drums). The first thing I noticed was their intensity. Adrienne came out kicking with a soft intro followed by a pure death metal scream, blowing us away with “Gods of Debauchery“. One look at the expression on her face and it was obvious it was going to be a powerful performance. All was not death metal, as later we were treated to a whole lot of range with “Succumb“. At the conclusion of their set, several members from the other two bands came out to help them celebrate the conclusion of the tour. We had not seen the last of Adrienne either, as she would support the headliner in several songs later in the evening.
Seven Spires / Omnium Gatherum Gallery
Following Seven Spires was the Finnish death metal band, Omnium Gatherum. When members, Jukka Pelkonen (vocals), Markus Vanhala (guitar), Aapo Koivisto (keyboards), Mikko Kivistö (bass), and Atte Pesonen (drums) took the stage, their showmanship was mind blowing. Opening with “Frontiers” they never looked back. Between Jukka’s death vocals and Markus’ riffs, they had the crowd bangin’ heads like I had not witnessed in ages. What was really eye catching was how Jukka interacted with the audience as high-fives and fist bumps almost appeared to be part of the show. Their set included “Reckoning“, “Slasher“, and finished up with one of the most unique covers I have heard to date, “Maniac” of Flashdance fame (stay tuned for the premiere of the video in a few days). Their set may have been finished (not Finnished), but we had not seen the last of Jukka.
I have seen several performances that have included bands that complimented each other quite well. No April Fool’s joke, Eluveitie and the two supporting acts worked so well together. It demonstrated how close the bands had become on the tour (more later).
The first thing I noticed when they took the stage was the absence of founder Chrigel Glanzmann, the Eluveitie front man. As we later discovered, he had to remain home for this tour to take care of some issues. Alain Ackermann (drums), Jonas Wolf (guitar), Fabienne Erni (vocals, celtic harp, mandola), Kay Brem (bass), Rafael Salzmann (guitar), Nicole Ansperger (violin), Matteo Sisti (bagpipes, whistles) and Annie Riediger (hurdy-gurdy) wandered out to “Exile of the Gods” The instrumentals and powerful Fabienne vocals were as we expected. You could feel the folk and metal all rolled into one. It brought me back to a comment Nightwish made on their 2022 US tour saying that European metal sometimes has a lot of funny instruments. Eluveitie kept with the Nightwish tradition and it worked sooooo well.
“Epona” followed with a little native tongue. Check out the video and see how metal ‘with funny instruments’ should be done. This was the first time I had even heard of a hurdy-gurdy, and I loved it!!
Adrienne from Spires made her first appearance in “Deathwalker“. It was so fun to see it happen and eye opening to see how she could fill in for Chrigel. After “A Rose for Epona“, Jukka did his part in “Thousandfold“. They both did Chrigel proud.
Finishing up the set, Adrienne and Jukka supported “Quoth the Raven” and “King” before Fabienne concluded with “De Ruef vo de Bärge / The Call of the Mountains“, also in its native tongue.
For their well deserved encore, after a standing O, they brought out Adrienne for “Aidus“, Jukka for “Ategnatos” and both for “Inis Mona“. Others came out to celebrate the last note of the tour as well. It was an April Fools day party in an April Folk Metal part sort of way on the Canal Club stage. It was a fitting end to a three band tour with one band family at the end. Impressive!
Eluveitie Gallery
I left fascinated by how the show came together. Two bands supporting, with music that fit so well with the headliner. To top it off, the closeness of the bands showed as they all supported each other and delivered a performance for the ages. Some bands have a hard time keeping it together with just the members of their own bands. This was the epitome of how the music world is supposed to work. A truly delightful night!!
Eluveitie Setlist
Exile of the Gods
Epona
Omnos
Deathwalker (with Adrienne Cowan)
Lvgvs
Anu
A Rose for Epona
Thousandfold (with Jukka Pelkonen)
Ambiramus
Quoth the Raven (with Adrienne Cowan)
Breathe
King (with Jukka Pelkonen)
De Ruef vo de Bärge / The Call of the Mountains
Encore:
Aidus (with Adrienne Cowan)
Ategnatos (with Jukka Pelkonen)
Inis Mona (with Adrienne Cowan and Jukka Pelkonen)
Show Date: April 1, 2023
