And everyone enjoyed a very melodic, heavy, fun and sold out night of Nordic metal music in the city of Toronto.
OPENING ACT: Fires In The Distance
One day after a beyond wild night with Hatebreed, Toronto hosted another brilliant metal extravaganza with DARK TRANQUILLITY and AMORPHIS, plus very special guests FIRES IN THE DISTANCE, at the always cozy The Opera House, again organized by the one and only Noel Peters of Inertia Entertainment. And let me tell you that I wasn’t expecting the venue to be so jam packed on a Tuesday night, proving once again how passionate the fans in the city are about heavy music. Seriously, I think someone forgot to stop selling tickets after the venue’s maximum capacity was reached, because it was really hard to move around the venue and to get downstairs to the floor section to enjoy the shows, with a lot of people just standing close to the bar at the back, behind the sound table. Even raising our horns or clapping our hands in the pit was difficult, but of course, nothing that would have made the night less enjoyable.
One major problem before the show was the insane traffic to get to the city, plus the fact there were absolutely no parking spots available anywhere near the venue, and because of that I sadly missed the show by Newington, Connecticut-based Melodic Doom/Death Metal act FIRES IN THE DISTANCE. I was dying to see those guys live as both their albums, Echoes from Deep November (2020) and Air Not Meant for Us (2023), both available on Spotify, are a thing of beauty and I’m sure their songs sounded even more powerful on stage. At least my buddy Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi was there to take some crazy photos of their concert, and I promise next time they visit Toronto I’ll skip work if needed to get to their show on time.
Setlist
Harbinger
Wisdom of the Falling Leaves
Crumbling Pillars of a Tranquil Mind
Idiopathic Despair
Band members
Craig Breitsprecher – bass, vocals
Kristian Grimaldi – guitars, vocals
Yegor Savonin – guitars, keyboards
Jordan Rippe – drums
I was just able to get inside the venue around 15 minutes before the first headliner of the night, Helsinki, Finland’s own Melodic Heavy Metal/Rock institution AMORPHIS, kicked off their ultra melodic, vibrant and colorful show, and I say colorful because the way they set up their stage was very appealing to my eyes. Also, the talented frontman Tomi Joutsen and his henchmen did a very good job in blending their new material that’s clearly more inclined to Progressive Rock, like the songs Northwards, On the Dark Waters, The Moon and The Wolf, from their 2022 album Halo, with old classic including the always stunning Doom Metal aria My Kantele, and that fusion of past and present was really well received by all fans that were almost smashed on the floor section. The entire band sounded sharp and spot-on, and their connection with the crowd was also fantastic during the whole show.
Setlist
Northwards
On the Dark Waters
Sky Is Mine
The Moon
The Castaway
Silver Bride
The Wolf
Wrong Direction
My Kantele
Magic and Mayhem
Black Winter Day
House of Sleep
The Bee
Band members
Tomi Joutsen – lead vocals
Esa Holopainen – lead guitar
Tomi Koivusaari – rhythm guitar
Olli-Pekka Laine – bass
Santeri Kallio – keyboards
Jan Rechberger – drums
As a lot of people left the pit to grab some merch, a beer or go outside for a smoke, I could then find a spot on the floor section to enjoy the other headliner, the unstoppable Gothenburg, Sweden-based Melodic Death Metal entity DARK TRANQUILLITY, and fortunately I had my concert earplugs with me because those guys were maybe too loud for such a small venue. The multi-talented, iconic, awesome Mikael Stanne alongside his band of first-class musicians also did a beautiful job mixing songs from their excellent new album Endtime Signals, like Shivers and Voids and Not Nothing, with their older material, and all songs sounded so electrifying the circle pit formed in the middle of the floor section looked like one from a pure Death Metal show, putting a huge smile on everyone’s faces including of course Mikael, who was visibly touched by the beyond warm reaction from the sold-out venue. Everyone was singing along with the band, raising their fists, headbanging, and so on, fueling those Swedish rockers to keep hammering our heads with their top-notch metal music until the very end of the night, and after all was said and done it was visible on their faces that it won’t take long for the mighty Dark Tranquillity to take the city of Toronto by storm again.
Setlist
Shivers and Voids
Hours Passed in Exile
Forward Momentum
Unforgivable
Atoma
The Last Imagination
Nothing to No One
Wayward Eyes
One Thought
Cathode Ray Sunshine
Not Nothing
Empty Me
Phantom Days
Lost to Apathy
Misery’s Crown
Band members
Mikael Stanne – vocals
Johan Reinholdz – guitars
Christian Jansson – bass
Martin Brändström – keyboards
Joakim Strandberg-Nilsson – drums
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 