An Evening with the mighty Viking warriors Amon Amarth! No local support, no openers, no compromise!
The Summit Music Hall is an awesome venue but since it is literally one block away from Coors Field I was dreading to find parking (the Rockies had a home game) and was super stoked to find a spot right across the street. It was about 2 hours before doors and to my surprise there were maybe 10 people in line and I got worried that the Front Range metal heads would not show their gratitude for being included as a tour stop. Thankfully my worries were unfounded after talking to Geoff Brent from the Summit; capacity 1000 – SOLD OUT – score Denver!
Doors opened 1.5 hours before show time and most fans went straight to the merch table and to be honest this was the one thing which could have been better. The selection of merchandise was pathetic in my opinion. 5 T-Shirt designs including Surtur Rising with tour dates, 1 girlie shirt, 1 hoodie and one giant Surtur Rising flag; that was all; no CD’s, no stickers, no patches, no hats. Oh well, I guess there is always their official merchandise site to buy from.
Amon Amarth was going to play their entire new album as set one and come back to play another set of oldies but goodies. The stage set-up for the evening was actually pretty simple but powerful nevertheless. The huge amps were standing toward the side of the stage which made it appear much bigger. Fredrick’s drum kit was about a foot off the ground, flanked by two fog machines on either side and behind him a gigantic backdrop of Surtur swinging his mighty sword of flames.
They had two floor boxes sitting in between the monitors stage front that served as both standing space and spot lighting to illuminate Johan’s face when the stage was dark. 
At this point a huge shout out to their light technician Chris, who did a fantastic job throughout the entire set; but enough with the boring details and on to the show itself.
The intro music started playing, the stage was dark except Surtur and his sword were illuminated (which looked really fricking cool), everyone was screaming, the band took the stage and went straight into “War of Gods”. By the time the second song started the crowd surfers already came over the barricade and for “Destroyer of the Universe” everyone was cheering and chanting and singing the lyrics with Johan. Pretty cool since the new album has been out for just a couple of weeks.
The band obviously had just as much fun on stage as the audience had watching them, whipping out each and every song of Surtur Rising like they have been playing the material for years. There were times when all you saw was a wall of hair on stage with Olavi, Ted and both Johan’s swirling their long ass manes together in perfect harmony.
What really stands out about the band as well is that they have an immense stage presence and are so easy on the eyes. (from a female point of view..)
By shear statue Amon Amarth demands respect and oh my god did they got and deserved it that night. They are not your typical (melodic) death metal band even though the media puts them into that category. I did an interview with Olavi before the show and I totally agree with his statement that for him it’s just metal. And exactly this is why I really dig their stuff. The guitar work is so memorable and albeit Johan has that deep, low death metal growl, his vocals are so clear that most lyrics can be understood.
I was stoked to see them play “The Last Stand of Frej” which is such a groovy and heart wrenching song. Also “Wrath of the Norsemen” with its brutal sound and Johan’s vocals are phenomenal on the album as well as live. WOW! All of the songs on the new release are great but those two are by far my favorites.
The mosh pit was insane at times and a sea of head banging metal heads bejeweled the entire venue. After the last song “Doom over Dead Man” the band went back stage for a 25 minute or so break, which was much needed by them as well as the audience.
I pity all of the women who had their hair made all nice and pretty, because at this point the venue resembled a Swedish sauna and the smoke from the fog machines was heavily in the air.
Stage went black; Amon Amarth walked on and went straight into “Twilight of the Thunder God”. I thought Olavi’s head would fly off the way he was twirling his hair and I really don’t know why Johan Hegg was even on stage, because the audience was singing each and every word of the song. FANTASTIC!
“Thor! Hlödyn's son; Protector of mankind; Ride to meet your fate; Ragnarök awaits”
And speaking there of, Ragnarök didn’t have shit on Denver that night; Surtur had risen in the first set and engulfed the audience in flames. But during the second set of the night the Warriors of Midgard showed Amon Amarth what they are really made of.
Everyone went literally apeshit during “Live for the Kill” and “With Oden On Our Side” and I am pretty sure I sprained a neck muscles during “Guardians Of Asgaard”.
Johan H. went into one of his speeches with: “you know that movie Thor? It really sucks and it isn’t him, and his name isn’t even Thor. We know him as ASATOOOOR” and the mosh pit went nuts. Holy crap!
I am not going to list all of the songs they played; please do a Google search for that.
But they did perform a medley of 3 songs with “Death In Fire” being one of them. I wish they would have played the entire song but beggars can’t be choosers.
At this point of the night I was by the bar, since the temperature was about 10 degrees cooler back there. A quick shout out to the bartenders that night; they had their hands full and did an awesome job of keeping everybody “hydrated”. And not to forget the security personnel who kept things in check and made sure everyone got into the venue on time.
Then the band once again took a short, very short break and started their encore with “Cry of the Black Birds” followed by “Runes To My Memory”. After that song the audience got a minute to catch their breath and the only thing you heard in the whole venue was clapping and cheering.
Johan announced then that he wished they could play forever, blah, blah, blah and then he asked Mr. Mikkonen to start the last song of the night. As soon as Olavi started the riff of “The Pursuit of Vikings” the only thing you could see was hands and fists and devil horns thrown high up in the air. And of course this song is heavy audience-participation driven. Before the second chorus Johan gave the fans a chance to sing along, which everyone did, but apparently he wanted more.
Johan: “I want you to sing from the top of your fucking lungs. And it doesn’t matter if you don’t know the lyrics, just sing it death metal style and nobody will know the difference.” Priceless statement!
So under the guidance of Fredrick tapping his cymbals the whole venue was screaming:
“ODEN, GUIDE OUR SHIPS, OUR AXES, SPEARS AND SWORDS. GUIDE US THROUGH, STORMS THAT WHIP, AND IN BRUTAL WAR”
Amon Amarth played a bit over two and a half hours and sounded fresh and energetic form the first up until the last song. Not enough positive remarks can be made about Olavi and Johan S. shredding abilities; tight as shit and right on point. They whipped out those solos like no others, and their riffing is just beyond.
So were Ted and his bass axe, extremely audible throughout the entire two sets and Fredrick behind the drums just plain and simple kicked ass.
But who really blew me away was Johan Hegg, his vocals where unbelievable that night. I was wondering how he would sound toward the end with Amon Amarth playing such a long set, and to my enjoyment his dark low voice came over strong and confident up till the end.
I have no doubt that everybody that came out to the Summit Music Hall to see those mighty Viking looking dudes that evening had a great time.
I sure as hell did and can’t wait to see them again and until then may Oden be on our side!
(some more pictures can be viewed right HERE)
Make sure you also watch the INTERVIEW with Olavi done earlier that day!