Amorphis and Children of Bodom -
Two great performances at Via Funchal, SP
Amorphis
By: Maila-Kaarina
Pictures: Felipe Bellard
On September the 12th, 2009, the concert hall Via Funchal, in São Paulo, received Amorphis and Children of Bodom for the last concert of the bands ´ South American tour.
Amorphis Brazilian fans had to wait for many years to see them alive. The band came out in 1990 but it was in 1994 that they became really famous and since then, can be considered one of the icons of the Finnish metal, specially if the subject is doom or death metal. In spite of having a lot of followers in Brazil, they had never been here before.
Opening an amazing evening they got on stage punctually at 10pm, Tomi Joutsen (vocals), Tomi Koivusaari (guitars), Esa Holopainen (guitars), Niclas Etelävuori (bass), Santeri Kallio (keyboards) and Jan Rechberger (drums), started the concert to the sound of an intro, piece of the song “SKYFORGER”, from their most recent album, which takes the same name.
“LEAVES SCAR”, from the album Eclipse (2006), was the first song of the show followed by “TOWARDS AND AGAINST” ( Silent Waters, 2007 ) and “SAMPO” (Skyforger, 2009).
It took a little time for the sound to be adjusted and since there was a lot of echo in the place the sound of first four songs was a little messy and confused. The quality of the concert in which concerns to playing was impeccable from the beginning to the end, though.
Tomi Joutsen showed all his talent with his peculiar way of singing, varying from guttural to melodic vocals several times, inside the same musical phrase, with no pauses and always perfectly in the key.
His presence on stage is another thing that deserves to be mentioned. He doesn´t stop banging his head and shaking the rasta dreadlocks long to the knees.
Although he is very straight in the way he communicates with the audience, he is nice and knows what to do to dominate the environment. Actually, this is something Amorphis knows how to do very well even without moving a lot. The band knows how to make us bang our heads and scream.
Santeri Kallio, keyboard player, in my humble opinion is one of the best in the the style since he knows the exact time he should play and stop playing, something rare to see in keyboard players as they usually don´t know how to use the “pauses” as a part of their arrangements, something I consider a sign of knowledge, undoubtedly. Strong keyboard voices, a lot of melody, all very well played and never overplayed, the way it should be not to cut off the punch of the songs.
Another thing which deserves compliments is the set list they chose. From their 9 albums they played songs from 6 of them. On a 13-song-set list we can say it was a perfect selection. Tracks as “THE CASTAWAY” ( Tales of the Thousand Lakes, 1994) and the big “hit” “MY KANTELE”, from the album Elegy (1996), made everybody sing. The entire band should be congratulated, Esa and Tomi played really heavy and greatly, Jan and Niclas kept the punch till the last minute.
For the “grand finale”: “HOUSE OF SLEEP” (Eclipse, 2006) and “BLACK WINTER DAY” (Tales of the Thousand lakes, 1994), to conclude a really impeccable concert which compensated the fans for the long wait letting this “I want more” taste all of us expect to feel at the end of every performance we attend.
LONG LIVE AMORPHIS!
Hard Blast wishes to thank Luciana Stabile, from All Access and Anderson Belini, from the production staff for the support to our work with the press pass and also to the set list consulting given by Daniel Croce, musician from Rio de Janeiro and a big fan of the band.
SET LIST AMORPHIS – VIA FUNCHAL – SP
Intro ( piece of SKYFORGER )
LEAVES SCAR – Eclipse
TOWARDS AND AGAINST – waters
SAMPO - skyforger
ON RICH AND POOR - Elegy
THE SMOKE - Eclipse
THE CASTAWAY – Tales from the Thousand lakes
AGAINST WIDOWS - Elegy
ALONE – Am Universum
SILVER BRIDE - Skyforger
MY KANTELE, o CRASSICO - Elegy
HOUSE OF SLEEP - Eclipse
BLACK WINTER DAY – Tales from the thousand lakes
Children of Bodom
Review and pictures: Felipe Bellard
English version: Maila-Kaarina
After Amorphis concert, their countrymen, Children Of Bodom got on Via Funchal stage boiling classics fans will never forget.
The Finnish band performance began with the hit “Sixpounder”, from the album Hate Crew Deathroll, 2004, responsible for making them a mainstream band. Knowing very well what to do, the following song was “Living Dead Beat” and then they greet the audience from São Paulo. After all greetings they played “Hellhounds On My Trail”, from their last album., “Blooddrunk”, and made the metalheads go crazy, however, it was “Silent Night, Bodom Night” and “Hate Me!” that almost blew Via Funchal up!
With a set list covering all the band´s studio works, Children Of Bodom showed they still have a lot of energy and charisma for a live performance, infecting the fans with their perfect mood, making everybody have a lot of fun.
“Silent Night, Bodom Night”, “Needled 24/7”, “Downfall”, “In Your Face” and some more recent from their last album, “Blooddrunk”, the band surprised the audience even more with two medleys. “Children Of Decadence”, “Bodom After Midnight” and “Bed Of Razors” were a great surprise to the most devoting fans and proved that C.O.B´s performance wouldn´t owe anything to the previews one they did here in 2004. Alexi even apologized for his bad behavior during the last tour, when the band had several technical problems that pissed them off.
In spite of not being crowded the concert hall received a great audience who followed each detail of the performance interacting from the first to the last minute with the frontman Alexi Laiho and their band partners.
Set List:
Intro
Sixpounder
Living Dead Beat
Hellhounds On My Trail
Silent Night, Bodom Night
Hate Me!
Needled 24/7
Lake Bodom / Bodom After Midnight
Blooddrunk
Angels Don’t Kill
In Your Face
Children Of Decadence / Bodom Beach Terror
Downfall
