Finnish Battle Metal pioneers Turisas played at Apollo Nightclub in Turku on Saturday, 13.4. Although they haven’t released new material in about six years, the old songs never get old, and the crowd was as enthusiastic as ever!

The band began full force with “As Torches Rise”, Mathias jumping on stage a moment before the vocals started. Next was “Portage to the Unknown” – enter their new touring violinist Caitlin De Ville. She walked on stage and performed an elaborate and attention grabbing intro. As soon as the rest of the band joined in, the new energy she brought with her  truly shined.

Through the rest of the gig, the mood of the crowd was tangible, through both older classics and songs from the “newest” album (though at 6 years old, its debatable how new it is). I’m sure many in the crowd were wondering if they might play new material. Though they did not, nothing was left for wanting at the end of the gig. Not only was the crowd moving and jumping around nonstop (including a conga line snaking through the crowd during “Rasputin”), the band seemed to genuinely be enjoying themselves as well.

They did a somewhat acoustic rendition of “March of the Varangian Guard” which sounded really nice, and also gave a nice break from inevitable  desire to jump and dance non stop. Towards the end of the set, they realized they had more time and seemed to be asking for requests from the audience (I couldn’t catch what Mathias was saying but people were shouting songs and he was looking back at the band seemingly asking what they thought). After shedding some layers of costume, they returned for an encore of “Five Hundred and One”, “One More”, “Stand Up And Fight” and of course the finale, “Rasputin”.

Turisas has never let down live, they always have great charisma, but this show was probably one of the best I have seen thus far. The band not only were interacting with the crowd but with each other on a level I don’t remember seeing from them before. I have a feeling Caitlin is partially to credit. I personally was look forward to the gig but not expecting anything new. Caitlin brought an amazing and unexpected chemistry and energy that kept up through the entire gig, feeding into the band themselves as well as the crowd.

Setlist
1. As Torches Rise
2. Portage to the Unknown
3. We Ride Together
4. To Holmgard and Beyond
5. In The Court of Jarisleif
6. Greek Fire
7. March of the Varangian Guard (accoustic)
8. Hunting Pirates
9. Battle Metal
Encore
10. Five Hundred and One
11. One More
12. Stand Up And Fight
13. Rasputin