Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
As Katatonia singer Jonas Renkse remarked at one point during last Tuesday’s show in Tampere, the band began the tour for their previous album “Sky Void of Stars” in the very same city in 2023. For a while it seemed like history would repeat itself, as Tampere was initially billed as the opening night for their “Waking State of Europe” -tour. With the later addition of Turku to the date right before Tampere the opening night slot was stolen from my current home town, which did little to dim the anticipation of seeing one of my all time favourite bands play a few hundred yards from my front step. Supporting acts for this tour are Evergrey and Klogr.
Due to a scheduling mishap, I arrived at the venue just as Klogr had finished their set with plenty of time to spare before Evergrey hit the stage. While waiting for the band I mused how I never got around to fully familiarizing myself with Evergrey’s music. At face value their schtick should be right up my alley: melodic, melancholic and sentimental with a heavier side as well. The Gothenburg-based act has been quite prolific since 1998, with fourteen studio albums under their belt and a fifteenth one well on its way. The seven songs heard last Tuesday in Tampere represented less than half of these albums, so I resolved to make it a homework of mine to delve deep into the Evergrey discography before the year is out.
One of the songs in Evergrey’s set was “Cold Dreams“, which features guest vocals by Jonas Renkse in the studio version. Curiously enough, the Katatonia frontman didn’t join Evergrey on stage for his parts in the tune. Perhaps the Tom Englund and Jonas Renkse -duet is something they will reserve for special occasions, such as the shows in their home country of Sweden. Tavara-asema wasn’t overtly populated during Evergrey’s show, but people kept trickling in by the minute and their enthusiasm grew as the gig went on.
After Evergrey the tension in the hall, and in my gut, seemed to intensify by the moment. It had been nearly three years since I saw my favourite band live, and with them promoting a new record and the addition of two new guitarists, I couldn’t wait to see how it would all pan out. I wasn’t a fan of “Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State” upon its release last June, but during the following months the record grew on me song by song, and now the album stands shoulder to shoulder with everything else the band has released in their stellar career.
Katatonia began their set at nine p.m. to the dot with “Thrice“, the opening track of their new album. With its mellow beginning, quirky chorus and a long instrumental part in the middle, the song may not have been optimal as a set opener, but I was already having a great time nonetheless. “Thrice” segued seamlessly into “Soil’s Song“, a chugging rocker from their 2006 classic album “The Great Cold Distance”. Despite being served one treat after another from the get-go, the audience didn’t seem to fully wake up until the opening notes of “Leaders” ripped through the air. From then on Katatonia had the crowd’s full attention, and the 90-minute set just seemed to fly by with one dose of melancholic goodness after another.
It should be old news to Katatonia fans by now, but the band has indeed switched both of their guitarists. Roger Öjersson and founding member Anders Nyström have been replaced by Sebastian Svalland and Nico Elgstrand (formerly of In Mourning and Entombed, respectively). Both of these new players seemed to fit right into the group, trading solos between them and Svalland even performing some backing vocals. Niklas Sandin, whose bass guitar was very pronounced in the mix, was all smiles most of the show, and his energy was infectious. Daniel Moilanen’s drum kit was set up high above the rest of the band, whence he provided the sonic backbone for the rest of the group. As usual, vocalist Jonas Renkse hid behind the veil of his impressively long hair, albeit he performed with gusto, gesturing and moving around actively.
One reason for the rift between Anders Nyström and Jonas Renkse was the former’s desire to include early Katatonia songs in the live set, and the latter’s unwillingness to do so. Most everyone should know by now how this particular beef ended, and so it should’ve come as no surprise that the seventeen-song setlist leaned heavily towards material from the year 2006 onwards. Still, someone in the audience hadn’t gotten the memo, and took it upon themselves to scream their song requests as loudly as possible, often interrupting Renkse when he tried to address the crowd. There’s nothing wrong with crowd members trying to interact with the band per se, but repeatedly shouting over someone just seems like bad behaviour, even at a rock concert. Thankfully, this didn’t go on the entire night, and most of the time there were warm and appreciative vibes between Katatonia and the gathered listeners.
Katatonia’s gig in Tampere drew to a close with “In the Event Of” and “Forsaker“. Overall I was very happy with the show. The new guitarists fit in without a hitch, the band sounded greater than ever, and the setlist was a decent mix of reliable bangers and more daring selections. Unfortunately, “Wind of No Change” didn’t quite reach the heights I expected it to in a live setting, but this could be due to the audience being quite unfamiliar with the song as of yet. Despite the unfortunate break-up of the long-standing power duo of Anders Nyström and Jonas Renkse, the latter seems musically more inspired than ever. With the entire Katatonia -crew seeming determined to soldier on undisturbed by line-up changes or anything else, the future looks bright for the Swedish masters of musical darkness.
The setlist of the Katatonia show in Tampere can be found here.
Pictures: OutoKuva
