I’ve been waiting to see Insomnium since I discovered their album “Above The Weeping World” when it was first released in early 2005, so nearly 5 years later I got the chance as they were supporting Swallow The Sun at The Underworld. This gig marked another first, as it was the first gig I ever ended up attending on my own, as a friend of mine who was supposed to come was unable to, but no matter. I had waited this long and I wasn’t going to wait any logo just because I was now attending solo.
Before Insomnium, their fellow Scandanavians Omnium Gatherum took to the stage. I knew nothing of them and their music, but during their 45 minute set (a long time for an opening band) they were very, very impressive and the sizeable crowd who had come early was enjoying every song, clapping, fistpumping and headbanging along with some quality trademark Scandanavian melodic metal. Omnium Gatherum were a very nice, unexpected quality bonus to what I had come to see.
Omnium Gatherum’s setlist was:
Nail
The Perfumed Garden
Into Sea
The Return
No Breaking Point
Chameleon Skin
It Shines
A Shadowkey
Son’s Thoughts
As far as I was concerned (and a fair few others judging by the amount of Insomnium T-Shirts all around me), that was just the warm up. Insomnium took the stage around 8:30 and played for a full hour, making the now capacity crowd including myself very happy indeed. New material was mixed with old, with the bulk of the set being built around Above The Weeping World with such fantastic songs as Drawn To Black, The Killjoy and Mortal Share blasting through the Underworld. The newer material from Across The Dark (which at the time of the show I did not own and had not heard) sounded equally impressive, and you could hear why many Metal critics and journalists have touted it as one of the metal albums of 2009.
Insomnium are an incredibly tight band live with not a single note or beat sounding out of place on any of the tracks with with vocals sounding particularly impressive. My only complaint is that an hour passed by far too quickly but hopefully they will return to the UK soon, judging by their large following tonight they could easily headline a show in London if not a whole UK tour. I did not hang around for Swallow The Sun (having never planned to in the first place) but I will try to catch them in future. I did not think after such a long wait to see a band the show would possibly live up to my expectations. It was everything I’d hoped and loads more (as it was with Shadows Fall last month who I had also waited a similar amount of time to see). The UK needs Insomnium live again very very soon.
Insomnium’s setlist was:
Equivalence
Down With the Sun
Drawn to Black
Where The Last Wave Broke
The Harrowing Years
The Killjoy
The Gale
Mortal Share
Weighed Down With Sorrow
Encore:
Devoid of Caring
I (along with many others seemingly) did not hang around for Swallow The Sun, I’m sure there will be another time to catch them (most definitely as they have just been announced as support for Katatonia’s UK tour in March). Tonight was all about Insomnium and they duly delivered to the highest level of expectation.
