Marduk @ Sonar, 6/02/2012

Milla and I went to see 1349 and Marduk last night at Sonar in Baltimore, MD. I was not terribly familiar with either band, but thought it would be a good show from what I heard about the shows and from youtube. I don't go to many black metal shows either, so I wanted to expand a bit :3 I believe this was the first night of the tour (at least in the continental US, I think they played Puerto Rico the night before).

Got there around 9:20 or so, got the advertized free drink ticket for corpsepaint (there were about 7 people in corpsepaint, including me). Just as we entered the room, Weapon played their last note X___X; OH WELL. We made our way to redeem the free drinks and checked out the merch.

Merch: A bunch of stuff, 1349 had a bunch of CDs, $15@, 3 or 4 shirts (I got one) ($20), a beanie ($15), a DVD, LP. Marduk had a few shirts ($20), their new album, and I think an LP. Withered and Weapon had various shirts, CDs, and LPs.

Crowd: It was pretty packed, Sonar had them on some sort of side stage instead of the big warehouse stage I've seen. About 150 or so people. There was a guy in a polo shirt and plaid bro shorts in the pit X__X; A good number of Spanish/Mexican/Latin fans too. My cousins?

Withered looked like some generic dudes, but had a good atmospheric sound going for them. I couldn't make out anything in the vocals, and their crowd communication was limited to THANK YOU BALTIMORE \m/! I don't know why the bassist was in the middle of the stage, and the 2 guitarists/vocalists were on the sides. Odd. I thought they sounded good, and they set the tone well. The pits, I thought, would only get crazier for 1349 and Marduk!

1349 came on around 11, and the crowd got a bit more lively for them :3 They had a bit of a different sound, more of a galloping or the like to them. Whatever the case, I really enjoyed them. I again could not make out any words, and couldn't remember which songs I had previewed on youtube. I assume they played "Aural Hellfire." Their stage presence was pretty strong. I liked the bassist in his sith robe, and all the corpsepaints.


Marduk came on about 12:15 and we left around 1, so there were def more songs played. The crowd got really rowdy for them, and the pits got intense- almost all the way back to the merch tables. I was nearly caught in a mosh, and later discovered that my shirt had ripped. Ripped in that there was a chunk missing of it from the back Perhaps to be converted to a back patch? At one point some chap who was an uberfan was headbanging and generally enjoying the show and trying to get us a bit more pumped. Fun times \m/ I regret not knowing a single lyric X__X; Marduk, sonically, sounded a lot clearer than the other bands on the bill. I noticed a few songs where the BASS was clearly heard. I thought that was a bit different.

CorpsePaint
Withered
1349
Marduk


Horribly incomplete setlist (please let me know if you were there and know more detail)

Marduk

• on darkened wings
• Nowhere, No-One, Nothing
• The Black Tormentor of Satan
• Serpent Ceremony
• Still Fucking Dead (Here's No Peace)
• Souls for Belial
• ? (left around this time)
• materialized in stone
• baptism by fire
• azrael
• womb of perishableness
• the sun has failed
• panzer division marduk
• with satan and victorious weapons  

Paganfest @ Sonar 3/29/2012

Went with Milla, Ulrich, and Trigger to see Paganfest North America. This was the first stop on the tour. And the first time that Turisas has done/is doing a headling tour in North America. Pretty cool. Angie, one of Milla's friends from a bit ago, was also there. I recall saying something like "Angie, like the Rolling Stones song?" and "Steve, like Stevie Nicks...but different." Milla and Ulrich had Turisas facepaint. I might do some for Behemoth or 1349.

We parked near city hall (seemed same) and walked over. Actually was the easiest time I've had going to Sonar, somehow. When we got there some band was playing, I was thinking it was the last localish opener. It was actually the 2nd. We later learned for some reason everything was 1.5 hours late. That's right, we arrive around 8 and only one band has been on. It was a LONG night.

There were a lot of interesting people including

• People in Turisas facepaint
• really fat guy with bunny ears
• girl in white booty shorts getting groped by the guy she was with
• someone with some sort of spear
• kilted people
• various armoured people (including a dude in chain mail
• some chick with a short sword
• some guy with a batman tattoo on his chest and some DIRTY ass sweatpants with stains

Second opener was Deranged Theory , they were alright, the vocalist was in a kilt and a wrestling type belt. He had a polearm, a sword, some God of War blades, and maybe a dagger at various points during their set. They kept on mentioning different video games (Castlevania, God of War, etc.)


So Huntress finally came on and I was pumped to hear them live. Their singer, Jill Janus aka DJ Tusedae aka Penelope Tuesdae, was def working her um...sexy angle. After 30 seconds into their set I was convinced that she had to be a stripper or something previously. She reminded me of a thinner, bustier Doro (not a bad thing). I liked their slightly thrashier more classic sound. Some sort of Wiccan or witch theme, and Jill drank some 'blood' at one point...that sloppily dripped down her mouth and onto her ample cleavage.

I got a photo with Huntress (but had not turned on the flash WTF) and then Arkona came on. They sounded alright, about as good as last time I saw them (with Kamelot), but maybe better since I was a bit more familiar with their songs. I still don't think their songs are really good to mosh to. They sound better on the album, but it is still nice seeing them live. <3 Russian chicks. The crowd was pretty receptive to them, despite some resistance to moshing (and a reported ignoring the request for a wall of death).

Alestorm creeped on around... 11 I think. They came on to some amazing 8bit version of Wenches and Mead. The crowd got a bit more rowdy here. They sounded really good, but their setlist order was kind of odd- it didn't flow as well as last time (again, with Kamelot). I would have rather heard "HUNTMASTER" or "Captain Morgan's Revenge" instead of "Midget Saw," but it was nice to hear that live (hadn't been played before live here). I enjoyed their set the best of the night.

Finally, Turisas came on at like 12:30. Yeah, it was a ridiculously late night- so late that it felt like a Jaxx show. They sounded really good, but a combination of factors (tired, anxious about work, anxious about car, violins lulling factors, not THAT familiar with their songs) had me a bit underwhelmed. The violin parts sounded beautiful, especially when it was their solos. However, I really was in the mood for something less epic and more um...brutal maybe. Too many strings and synth strings too late. Epic is a good word to describe Turisas and their grandiose vision (reminded me of Rhapsody, but less narration). The songs I did recognize sounded good, but just lacked a bit of umph, IMO. They were very professional and tight (and all in facepaint :3 ), which I totes appreciated. The frontman was talking about Pabst blue ribbon and we all booed when he joked about judging Baltimore by this beer. I really wanted to hear Rasputin :(

Picture wise I realized I didn't get any of Arkona somehow. I got a bunch of Huntress (tho I coulda used a damn flash...). Alestorm's ones came out blurry and unusable. And then my phone died right when Turisas came on. Like what happened at damn Iced Earth.

Overall, this was probably my second 'worst' concert of the year so far. First worst being Deicide, so far. But I still enjoyed it for the most part. Just the whole lateness thing killed a lot of enjoyment X_X,
ALSO EX DEO was supposed to be on this tour, but they were not, for some reason :/

Facepaint hyjinx
Huntress photos
me and Huntres

Setlists






Deranged Theory

• song about the Headless horseman
• song about Darksiders
• song about Castelvania
• song that sounded like Powerslave
• song about God of War ("Abandoned by god"?)

Huntress

• ?
• ?
• Aradia
• Spelleater
• 8 of Swords

Arkona

• Pokrovy Nebesnogo Startsa
• Goi, Rode, Goi
• Yarilo
• Stenku Na Stenku
• ?
• ?

Alestorm

• 8bit intro
• Shipwrecked
• Wenches and Mead
• Sunken Norweigen
• Nancy the Tavern Wench
• Back Thru Time
• Keelhauled
• Midget Saw
• Rum

Turisas

• Intro
• The March of the Varangian Guard
• Take the Day
• To Holmgard and Beyond
• Violin Break
• The Dnieper Rapids
• One More
• The Great Escape
• Violin interlude 2
• Five Hundred and One
• Rex Regi Rebellis (Finnish version)
• Hunting Pirates
• Stand Up and Fight
• Battle Metal

 Originally posted: http://www.metalsetlists.com/showthread.php?t=19974