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| Photo courtesy of Basse Hallgren / Rockbladet.se |
Dalhalla is an open air theatre located in a former limestone quarry. It's internationally renowned and described as one of the most impressive and beautiful outdoor arenas in Europe.
I was there but had no intension of recording it, but decided anyway to hit ’record’ on my Iphone 14 Pro Max, so don't expect any high fidelity sound! The Video version down below is not mine.
AUDIO (THE COMPLETE CONCERT):
Audience shot
VIDEO (INCOMPLETE:
Audience shot
Audience shot
PHOTOS:
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SETLIST:
Night Vision
Devil's Blood
Black Flames March
Four Thrones
The Howling
Not Sun nor Man nor God
Before the Cataclysm
Serimosa
Stellarvore
Lawless Darkness
Enter the Eternal Fire (Bathory cover)
The Somberlain (Dissection cover)
Watain (Von cover) (Recited it without music)
Malfeitor
REVIEW:
AFTONBLADET (One of Swedens biggest newspapers) Translated
Watain's debut at Dalhalla is a milestone for both the band and the extreme metal genre.
The Swedish black metal band practically demolishes the stately framed stage with their bold and animalistic ceremony of blood, fire and death.
This almost makes me want to pinch myself.
In the middle of the gaping jaws of the old limestone quarry, Watain's home-built stage construction spreads out like the underground temple in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Damned". Animal bones, skulls, tridents, burning torches and upside-down crosses occupy the space on the stately framed stage, like a blasphemous buffet down in Dante's sixth or seventh circle. The air smells of incense and sweaty leather pants.
Over the past decade, the black metal band from Uppsala has made a remarkable journey; from a feared act that organizers don't want to take lightly to a fixture in the fine rooms of culture. Last November, the Grammy-winning band filled the Uppsala Konsert & Kongress for two nights in a row and as recently as two weeks ago they scared the mixed audience at the Malmö Festival.
Tonight it is Dalhalla's turn to be demolished beyond recognition.
Erik Danielsson enters the stage with a fiercely savage look, armed with burning torches that he later hands over to lucky audience members.
- We are going to release the powers that are down there in the darkness. The fire shows the way, says the blood-spattered singer a moment later.
The frontman is surrounded by Hampus Eriksson, Alvaro Lillo and Pelle Forsberg, whose awe-inspiring apparitions gleam with nails, rivets and leather. With their corpse-painted faces, they look like cruel ghosts from horrific folk tales.
The terrifying aesthetic, which elsewhere in the world gives rise to laughable Satanist panic, is a vital part of the band's success.
But the music is the big star. The quintet's equally elegant and raw extreme metal effectively awakens the most primitive of instincts. It is impossible to defend yourself.
“Night vision” and “Devil’s blood” immediately trigger the body’s fight-or-flight response. The bass and drums rumble like thunder, the guitars strike like lightning. The body wants to flee from danger, but the mind is as if bewitched.
The animalistic “The howling”, in which Danielsson howls like a werewolf, instead makes me stand on end like a bear in heat. It could also be the raw cold – which struck as soon as the mine shaft was swallowed by darkness – that sinks its claws into me.
“Black flames march” and the Bathory tribute “Enter the eternal fire” are also the merciless tornadoes that crush everything and everyone in their path. A little over 300 years ago, Carl von Linné called the Falu copper mine “hell on earth”. The famous scientist would probably have revised his statement if he had been there to witness the latter cover.
Towards the end of the show, an a cappella version of “Watain”, a song by the iconic black metal band VON, awaits. Danielsson hisses and roars like a shaman leading a spiritual ceremony. It’s a bold move that pays off. I’ve rarely seen a stronger stage presence.
When the final number “Malfeitor” rings out, he kneels in front of the drum podium and altar, as if to melt it all together. The frontman probably doesn’t want to leave the stage any more than the audience wants to leave the limestone quarry.
We extreme metal enthusiasts belong here too.
/ Sofia Bergström, Aftonbladet, September 1, 2004
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