Girl at the Rock Shows

I’ll be honest, Tuesday night’s show at Amsterdam Bar & Hall in Saint Paul was not my show, but it was a show that one of my best friends wanted to go to, and I’ll always be a good friend’s emotional support human for a concert. I get it; not everyone can be perfectly content and happy going to a show alone, and who am I to deny them the opportunity to go to a show just because they don’t want to go along. What I’m trying to say is that Tuesday night’s show that I went to may not have been my first choice, but it was a show nonetheless, and I’ll never turn one of those down.

Opening up the two-band show was Æther Realm from Greenville, North Carolina. Although I was a few minutes late getting into the show, I was instantly blasted by this band’s unique blend of death metal vocals and slightly folk metal-leaning instrumentation. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a folk metal band in the vein of bands like Alestorm (who was headlining the last time I saw Æther Realm in 2016) or Bloodywood. Their sound definitely falls more in line with bands like Children of Bodom, but there were still elements that gave their sound a slight vintage and folksy aura. Æther Realm had a sense of power behind every song they presented to the good-for-a-snowy-Tuesday-night audience, but something about it felt oddly approachable. Maybe it was the cozy atmosphere that the impending snowmageddon had cast over the Twin Cities, or perhaps it was my exhaustion due to not having time for one of my naps (all day-ers are definitely not my specialty), but I loved the fact that Æther Realm’s set felt welcoming in a scene that, at times, can be a bit less than friendly (sorry, not sorry).

The almighty Týr were the only other band to play on Tuesday night. Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way– I know that this band can be controversial. Although I think some of the controversy is unwarranted (such as the controversy behind some of their imagery), some of it does irk me– most notably, the band’s participation and complacency in the barbaric whaling that happens in the Faroe Islands. That being said, their music has very little to do with that and, at the end of the day, I understand that there are some traditions that, although they may not make sense to me and come off as quite terrible, they are traditions nonetheless. I’m not going to stand here and tell you that you boycotting or protesting this band is unnecessary, but I will say, like I have on other occasions when covering controversial bands, I was at this show for the music and for my friend. Nothing more than that.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about the staggering power Týr can bring to a stage. I mean, it was insane. Although they are no bigger than your standard band, with just four members, there’s an undeniable strength that this band can bring to a PA. Their sound is heavy but, again, like that of Æther Realm, was oddly approachable. I loved how the vocals came through loud and clear over the vicious and speedy technical-styled instrumentation. I also loved that you could hear every note from this band clearly. Although it was loud and, at times, speedy, everything this band did came through crystal clear.

The audience was much bigger than I had anticipated for the Tuesday night show, given the snowmageddon that had started raging outside, but it still wasn’t huge. That being said, the crowd was clearly excited for their chance to see this Faroese band. They don’t seem to come to the States often and come to Minnesota even less often, so this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some people, and I loved the excitement and respect that this brought to the show. Although the mosh pit never really grew beyond a few excited fans, there was an energy in the audience that matched the energy coming from the stage perfectly.

Tuesday night wasn’t my show. I definitely have some issues with Týr and some of the things they stand for and do, but overall, the concert was a great showing of folk-leaning-death metal, and it was more than an okay way to spend my Tuesday night.

Line Up:

Æther Realm

Týr

Venue: Amsterdam Bar & Hall

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 39

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 3 out of 10

Amount of Beer Spilled On Me While Walking Around- 0

Broken Bones- None Noticed

Spotted Flying Through The Air- Nothing

Sausage-Fest Meter – 13 out of 10

Fights- None Witnessed

Pukers- 0

Passed Out People- 0

Idiots Taken Out By Security – 0

How Many Times I’ve Seen These Bands Before (or at least how many times I can remember)-

Æther Realm – 1

Týr – 2

Celebrity Sightings – None

Overall Score – 7.4 out of 10

Show on Deck — Sonic Sea Turtles / Fragged Out / Cavernous Maw / In Solid Air

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