Ensiferum - Nottingham, England, 21st September 2012
| Written by: | Baz Anderson |
| Published: | September 22, 2012 |
| Event: | Ensiferum: Bearers Of The Sword Tour 2012 (Website) |
| Location: | Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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Ensiferum - Nottingham, England, 21st September 2012 by Baz Anderson (26) |
The night before the Autumn equinox; the evenings are dark and the air is colder, and Nottingham were giving a welcome return for the Finnish five-piece Ensiferum.
The last few years have shown Ensiferum to be a hit or miss band live; the previous encounter in Nottingham in Spring 2011 was an enthusiastic, albeit it short set - in contrast to the lacklustre, ill performance in the Autumn of 2009. Back now with an arguably underwhelming new album Unsung Heroes in tow, what kind of band would step out on this evening?
Opening with the flagship song of the new album to a great and warm welcome, the band soon found their footing and brought the audience to life with "Guardians Of Fate" followed by "From Afar". We knew it would be a great night from here. The band were energised and all making contact with the audience, bass player Sami bouncing around especially. The band were alert and really made the effort to make this a good show.
The songs from the latest album Unsung Heroes sounded much better live than on CD, "Pohjola" especially sounding much more epic in this environment. After the ten-minute marathon "Heathen Throne", the band knew what the audience wanted to hear and dedicated the second half of the set to a good number of the older favourites.
"Blood Is The Price Of Glory" created some carnage in the middle of the busy venue, and the wonderful "One More Magic Potion" never fails to please either. The immortal opening song to the debut album "Hero In A Dream" found itself with a well-deserved place in the setlist, and allowed for a great comparison of old and new Ensiferum with the title track from Unsung Heroes following it. Audience participation was at its peak during the slightly cheesy but equally awesome "Iron", which lead into the break before the encore.
Looking back to that show in 2009, Ensiferum were a completely different band today. Lively, enthusiastic and making the effort with the audience; the baying crowd were left chanting for more. "Twilight Tavern" is not an old song by any means, but already seems to have established itself as a fan-favourite kicking off the encore. The older epic of "LAI LAI HEI" and debut album's classic "Battle Song" finished off the fantastic set to huge applause, not before a bit more mischief on stage to entertain the audience.
On this night Ensiferum nailed it. An intimate venue with a great crowd, a great band and a great selection of songs - it was only ever going to end one way. Whatever your opinion on the new album, it doesn't matter - tonight was a celebration of all things Ensiferum, and boy it was a good one.
Setlist: In My Sword I Trust / Guardians Of Fate / From Afar / Burning Leaves / Pohjola / Heathen Throne / Blood Is The Price Of Glory / One More Magic Potion / Hero In A Dream / Unsung Heroes / Iron / Twilight Tavern / LAI LAI HEI / Battle Song
Comments
| AngelofDeth Cyborg Raptor Posts: 1183  |
Wow only 2 songs from the new album??? they must know it sucks too haha. When i saw Ensiferum they were somewhat in between the lacklustre and energetic. Ive seen interviews with Petri and it just seems like hes not a naturally fast-pace or enthusiastic guy. Maybe he is bi-polar or something.
---- pewpew.. gotcha
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| Baz Anderson Staff Posts: 13254  |
Written by AngelofDeth on 22.09.2012 at 19:23 There was four from the new album - the setlist is at the bottom. In My Sword I Trust, Burning Leaves, Pohjola and Unsung Heroes.
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| Kingface Posts: 335  |
Great review Baz! Agree it was a brilliant show, the band were great and the setlist was fantastic.
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| FeskarN Posts: 872  |
Nice setlist though they should only have "In My Sword I Trust" from the new album the rest of those four songs is plain boring. Awesome that they played Heathen Throne live, looking forward to that one especially. Will be seeing them about one month.
---- The Land Is Silent... Before The Storm!
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62043  |
Heheeheh they are use to cold ... snow n cold dont make a traffic chaos in Finland how it does in UK hehhehe Good rewiew
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Ellrohir Heaven Knight Posts: 8669  |
With that setlist, it must have been great evening...but the new album sucks hard 
---- My rest seems now calm and deep Finally I got my dead man sleep 
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| Rulatore Posts: 1108  |
It was a great show indeed, the setlist is awesome. As I liked the new album, I dont have problems with these newer songs (just Pohjola, I cant feel the magic of that song)
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| chronic-headache Posts: 249  |
As much as I love Ensiferum, I wonder how they feel about the reception of Unsung Heroes? I decided not to buy it after all the lukewarm reviews and being bored by the samples I heard. Perhaps them playing few songs from it live show that they realize it wasn't their best effort, and that they'll try to return to true form in the next release?
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| Rulatore Posts: 1108 |
Written by chronic-headache on 23.09.2012 at 01:28 I dont find 4 new songs "too few", I doubt that the bands promoting their new albums are playing much more than that . From what I've seen, Kreator, Accept, Cannibal Corpse are playing 4 or 5 songs of their newer albums in their shows. Also I dont think that this is because of the reception of the new album, I think that they only played these songs cause they sound better live and suits the live atmosphere.
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| moe5512 Posts: 502  |
They played the same songs in Turku, Finland too. I've seen them live 6 times and this one was maybe their best show because they really took an effort getting the right mood. It was a good cooperation between Sami and Petri with growling parts and they seemed to enjoy i too. The new songs sounded great imo.
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| AngelofDeth Cyborg Raptor Posts: 1183 |
Written by Baz Anderson on 22.09.2012 at 19:27 Aw I didnt see the setlist. That is unfortunate then.
---- pewpew.. gotcha
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| Heissayen Posts: 28  |
What about the other bands? Did they play a good show? I didnt really hear them, but seems to me that they dont fit too much with ensiferum...
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| AngleseyEgg Posts: 4  |
I'm sure they played the exact same setlist in Manchester too. The venue was a bit small, but that made the mosh pit better IMO. Sami entertained brilliantly, he really does give off the impression he was born a thousand years ago! I'm not too keen on the new album, but like someone else said here, they made the best of it and was worth going to see them. I'll be content the time I finally see them play Wanderer. Probably have to go to an Open Air festival for that.
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