Three concerts in a month! For me, November was a great month this year, and I got to finish off the month by going to O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire to see the incredible Finnish cello metal/rock band Apocalyptica! After being lucky enough to win the chance to hear their latest album ‘Shadowmaker’ before its release in the UK earlier this year and actually meet them (all of them except Franky) I knew that I had to see them again. They are such nice guys and their music is fairly unique in that they don’t use guitars, just cellos, drums and vocals.
The support act were Vamps, the Japanese rock band (not to be confused with the pop band, The Vamps). I’d heard of them before and even given their music a listen to before but never thought much of them or understood the hype. Whilst waiting in the queue it was interesting to note how many people were speaking Japanese, and I could tell that many members of the audience were mainly there for the support act.
As the queues were disorganised, I ended up queueing in the wrong queue (seated tickets, not standing) and then had to go to the back when a member of staff told us which was which. Darn!
Vamps JPN were kinda interesting. I mean, I didn’t really understand them and they were kinda crazy, but they were a lot of fun, getting the crowd to sing along, shouting out ‘BLOODSUCKERS!’ and ‘Sex, Blood, Rock ‘n’ Roll!’ I’ve never seen such enthusiasm for a support act before.
Then on came the brilliant Apocalyptica! The band consists of cellists Eicca, Perttu and Paavo, drummer Mikko and singer Franky.
The setlist included many songs from their latest album such as ‘House of Chains,’ ‘Riot Lights,’ ‘Shadowmaker,’ ‘Sea Song’ and ‘Dead Man’s Eyes,’ along with songs from other albums such as ‘I’m Not Jesus’ and ‘I Don’t Care.’ Of course the show wouldn’t have been complete without their famous covers such as Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ and ‘One.’
I love the energy which the guys brought to the stage, and it’s great how close they all are. The new singer, Franky Perez, is a great addition to the band and his voice is perfect for songs such as ‘Dead Man’s Eyes’, one of my favourites. Admittedly I prefer the original versions of ‘I’m Not Jesus’ and ‘I Don’t Care’ to his live versions, but probably mainly because I’m so used to different singers being used, such as some of my favourite singers, Slipknot/Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor and Saint Asonia’s Adam Gontier. Because of this, the songs don’t have quite the same effect with Franky’s voice. However, Franky still did a great job and managed to put a lot of emotion into his singing.
Apocalyptica also brought Vamps back on stage to perform their new song ‘SIN IN JUSTICE’ and it was a fun performance which the crowd got very excited about.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable show, with Apocalyptica putting their all into the performance, headbanging, waving their luscious long hair about, and lugging their cellos across the stage. Only Apocalyptica can look impressively metal when playing the cellos.