Amorphis
Support: Samael, Virgin Black, the Oracle
Date: Saturday October 4th, 2008
Venue: the Opera House in Toronto, Ontario
The first band of the night (the Oracle) was a local opener who I really felt bad for. They were a bunch of young guys and I don’t even remember how they sounded but they just had the worst luck. It started out bad enough that they just weren’t that good. Then the singer’s guitar string broke and he had to do three songs with no guitar. Then he gets his guitar back, plays half a song and his strap breaks. Ewww. I’m sure that show couldn’t have ended early enough for them. Thankfully there were only 50 people there.
Virgin Black I thought were going to suck. Just their look screamed lame to me. And no one in the small crowd cared expect one girl who was going nuts as they set their instruments up. During their soundcheck their keyboardist/singer started jamming A Sea To Suffer In by My Dying Bride and (even though I really like MDB) I though, “great, a lame goth band”. Then they broke into Lacrimosa (Gather Me)/ Domine and floored everyone. That song goes down as probably the one of the top five performances I’ve heard in my life. After it was done I look at my brother and say “that was fucking awesome”, all he says…”…yeah…”. They never recaptured that magic for the rest of their short set but that was all I needed.
Virgin Black
1. Lacrimosa (Gather Me)
2. Domine
3. ?
4. ?
5. Walk Without Limbs
It was hard to follow that performance up. Samael were cool enough live, better than on CD. Vorph had a pretty cool Matrix/Vampire look going on. I don’t know any of their stuff other than they opened with Solar Soul (which was the best song they played) and they played another really cool mechanical song where Vorph put his guitar down and just sang but I have no idea what it was called. And the fire department showed up during their set. I thought that was funny to see a bunch of guys in full fire gear walking through the (small) moshpit only to find that there was nothing wrong.
I was really surprised by Amorphis. I’d lost track of the band after the horrid Am Universum album and all their albums after that becoming only available on import. Then there was the change of lead singer, so I figured they’d focus on the albums they’d done with him and throw in a few older tracks. But they played a lot of older stuff that I was familiar with so I was really happy with their set. That said, I think Passi (the old singers) vocals fit much better with the songs he did (more naisly). I couldn’t complain with their set at all. I really wanted them to play Alone but like I said, the new singers delivery may not have fit that song as well. There was a surprisingly small crowd for this show and they haven’t been back in almost four years, despite releasing two or three albums since then.
Amorphis
1. I of Crimson Blood
2. Leaves Scar
3. Against Widows
4. Into Hiding
5. Towards and Against
6. Perkele (The God of Fire)
7. The Smoke
8. Divinity
9. Cares
10. Sign From the North Side
11. My Kantele
12. House of Sleep
13. The Castaway
[encore]
14. Silent Waters
[encore 2]
15. Black Winter Day
_________________________________________________________
Follow up:
I saw Amorphis this past March (2017). It was the first time they toured North America since this tour. I really wasn't as impressed by them as I was on this night though. They played a lot of newer stuff and it just didn't do it for me. I'm a "Passi guy".
I still have never been able to figure out what that one awesome Samael song was. They've played here once or twice since this show but I haven't bothered going.
Virgin Black dropped off the face of the earth after this tour. I bought a few of their albums and they were really good. But they've been silent for almost a decade now.
the Oracle are still one of the saddest performances I've seen in my life, and I've seen Butcher Babies.
A little added tidbit: looking for this concerts setlist is what originally brought me to our old home of metalsetlists.com
Support: Samael, Virgin Black, the Oracle
Date: Saturday October 4th, 2008
Venue: the Opera House in Toronto, Ontario
The first band of the night (the Oracle) was a local opener who I really felt bad for. They were a bunch of young guys and I don’t even remember how they sounded but they just had the worst luck. It started out bad enough that they just weren’t that good. Then the singer’s guitar string broke and he had to do three songs with no guitar. Then he gets his guitar back, plays half a song and his strap breaks. Ewww. I’m sure that show couldn’t have ended early enough for them. Thankfully there were only 50 people there.
Virgin Black I thought were going to suck. Just their look screamed lame to me. And no one in the small crowd cared expect one girl who was going nuts as they set their instruments up. During their soundcheck their keyboardist/singer started jamming A Sea To Suffer In by My Dying Bride and (even though I really like MDB) I though, “great, a lame goth band”. Then they broke into Lacrimosa (Gather Me)/ Domine and floored everyone. That song goes down as probably the one of the top five performances I’ve heard in my life. After it was done I look at my brother and say “that was fucking awesome”, all he says…”…yeah…”. They never recaptured that magic for the rest of their short set but that was all I needed.
Virgin Black
1. Lacrimosa (Gather Me)
2. Domine
3. ?
4. ?
5. Walk Without Limbs
It was hard to follow that performance up. Samael were cool enough live, better than on CD. Vorph had a pretty cool Matrix/Vampire look going on. I don’t know any of their stuff other than they opened with Solar Soul (which was the best song they played) and they played another really cool mechanical song where Vorph put his guitar down and just sang but I have no idea what it was called. And the fire department showed up during their set. I thought that was funny to see a bunch of guys in full fire gear walking through the (small) moshpit only to find that there was nothing wrong.
I was really surprised by Amorphis. I’d lost track of the band after the horrid Am Universum album and all their albums after that becoming only available on import. Then there was the change of lead singer, so I figured they’d focus on the albums they’d done with him and throw in a few older tracks. But they played a lot of older stuff that I was familiar with so I was really happy with their set. That said, I think Passi (the old singers) vocals fit much better with the songs he did (more naisly). I couldn’t complain with their set at all. I really wanted them to play Alone but like I said, the new singers delivery may not have fit that song as well. There was a surprisingly small crowd for this show and they haven’t been back in almost four years, despite releasing two or three albums since then.
Amorphis
1. I of Crimson Blood
2. Leaves Scar
3. Against Widows
4. Into Hiding
5. Towards and Against
6. Perkele (The God of Fire)
7. The Smoke
8. Divinity
9. Cares
10. Sign From the North Side
11. My Kantele
12. House of Sleep
13. The Castaway
[encore]
14. Silent Waters
[encore 2]
15. Black Winter Day
_________________________________________________________
Follow up:
I saw Amorphis this past March (2017). It was the first time they toured North America since this tour. I really wasn't as impressed by them as I was on this night though. They played a lot of newer stuff and it just didn't do it for me. I'm a "Passi guy".
I still have never been able to figure out what that one awesome Samael song was. They've played here once or twice since this show but I haven't bothered going.
Virgin Black dropped off the face of the earth after this tour. I bought a few of their albums and they were really good. But they've been silent for almost a decade now.
the Oracle are still one of the saddest performances I've seen in my life, and I've seen Butcher Babies.
A little added tidbit: looking for this concerts setlist is what originally brought me to our old home of metalsetlists.com
Do you like old people porn? Because I just put enough to fill an old folks home in the wrestling section!