2 Austrian hard'n heavy-bands supporting Finnish folk metal steamhammer KORPIKLAANI – a rather unusual combination on “5 years of Planet Metal” anniversary evening, but I think that nobody has ever died of a broadened musical horizon, and all three bands are worth watching them and listening to them, that's for sure.

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Nevertheless I missed most of • BREWTALITY • set and therefore I can only say that their cover version of Deep Purple's Highway Star (the last song of their set) was really very well-done. Some in the audience said that they would fit better in supporting a band like Motörhead but everyone I asked stated at least that they had not been bad. Anyway, BREWTALITY got the good response they clearly deserved.

More than just good - that's how the response on the • FIRESTORM • gig must be described. Existing since 1997, they obviously have a lot of true fans. I have to admit that I don't even know one single song of them, so I cannot say anything about the setlist. But, according to Willi from Vienna's best metal pub Escape, they played too many new songs. Nevertheless, all their fans (including Willi) cheered and applauded to every track they played. FIRESTORM look like something between Manowar, Marylin Manson and Nifelheim, but musically they are a mixture of Kiss, Judas Priest and some Melodic Speed Metal stuff. Good gig.

After that, many people moved from the front part of the hall to the back, and many more did it the other way round. The calls and screams for • KORPIKLAANI • got louder and louder. A big moshpit got started already during the intro, and when the band began their set with Journeyman, the pit grew bigger and bigger – something that does not happen too often at Planet Music. Front man Jonne told that he was a little sick and had problems with his voice, so he asked for vocal support from the audience – I think he had not really needed to ask. Nevertheless, KORPIKLAANI played a lot of instrumental songs that evening. Pellonpekko is always a highlight for me. Surprisingly, the not so well-known songs Juokse Sina Humma and Pine Woods made it into the set list, whereas, to my disappointment, the yoik-song Spirit Of The Forest was not played. Okay, you cannot expect a band to play all your favourite songs, but dropping the best three songs of the new album (Rise, which was loudly demanded by the audience, further more Kirki and – I really don't understand how they could retain from playing THAT song: Väkirauta!!!! - as they actually played at the show in Essen, Germany) was a bit too much, in my opinion. But most people were not too irritated about that and danced, “pitted” and jumped to every, really every song, even to the slower ones. Happy Little Boozer (sooo cheap, but it works!), Hunting Song (great!), Cottages And Saunas (tremendous!), the “old” classic Wooden Pints and – of course – Beer Beer where the highlights of the show. The band also introduced a new song called Let's Drink. Jonne, obviously forgetting his (physical) sickness, and 2nd guitarist Cane ran around all the time -totally in contrast with violin player Hittavainen and bassplayer Jarkko who didn't move their feet for a moment. When the gig was over, Jonne did an exercise in crowdsurfing without music before he finally went backstage – totally drunken and exhausted, just like everyone else.

The gig was really good, but I have already seen better KORPIKLAANI concerts – not only because of the strange set list. They have left those clubs that got have too little for them (obviously they had to do so) and a part of the atmosphere of their earlier gigs has got lost. Nevertheless it was a nice evening – good music, beer beer and a big moshpit. Kippis!

story & pics © Gunnar