Apocalyptica World Tour
HOBs Cleveland
September 18, 2022
by Andrew Latshaw
This past Sunday, Apocalyptica made the trek from Finland to make a stop at the House of Blues in Cleveland. They had Wheel who are also from Finland, and Leprous who came from Norway to put on a hell of a show!
I want to start of by saying that seeing Apocalyptica for the 1st time after having listened to them for over 20yrs, it was just jaw dropping to see these guys in person after more than two decades CD’s, YouTube, and magazines, it was just phenomenal!
Wheel took the stage first and started the evening. They were definitely a different sound to me. It was not bad, just not a sound I had heard before and I was having a hard time putting my finger on why I was not into them. I was absolutely in the minority there that night, the crowd was digging them, and it was obvious!
Next up was Leprous, and I would describe them as more of a goth-rock genre if I were made to pigeonhole them. They were a fluid and melancholy sound. It was so melodic and soothing, which is not what you want to hear about a band at a concert, but the truth is they were fun! It is meant in the highest of compliments when I say that they were also quite soothing to hear in person, please know they were very entertaining as well! Another nod I must give to Leprous was when all their members were taking turns and changing places on their instruments throughout their set.
Their cellist was playing the keyboards at one point. Their vocalist was playing keyboards, then the drums, and the drummer came up on the keyboards at one point, then he picked up a guitar at one point. At any given moment, they were all playing a different instrument than they were 5min prior.
Next up, the one and only APOCALYPTICA! You could see the staff getting Mikko Sirén into his drum kit and then Perttu Kivilaakso was the first of the cellists out on stage, then came Eicca Toppinen, and Paavo Lötjönen! After a few moments of the crowd screaming and cheering them on, they got to work with a passion!
I have no idea what their bows are made of, but to watch these guys play in person, I cannot fathom how they did not spontaneously combust! The ferocity in which they play their cellos is unlike anything I have ever seen. As they started off their set with “Ashes of the Modern World” I saw these guys playing and I was blown away at the fluidity of their movements with one another, and as they played their cellos.
Their second song was “Path”. It was one of those times where you thought you saw it all and realized how wrong you were to think that! When they started trading places on the stage, all the while not missing a beat of the songs!
In all my years of listening to Apocalyptica, I have had mixed emotions about their adding vocals to their work. I have loved their collaborations in the past, with bands that had vocalists knowing that was part of the collaboration.
On the third song of their set is when Franky Perez came out to add vocals to the evening! He reminds me a lot of George Michael in the 80’s! His voice to me with the leather jacket and old school bad boy persona he was branding onstage was an absolute throwback.
In addition to all the rest of the pleasantries of the evening, I was the only photographer in the pit that night, and to be able to capture the evening as I did without clamoring over other photographers was an absolute rare treat.
After my 3 songs in the pit, I ran my gear to my car as agreed upon with the House of Blues. I was only missing about 2 songs for the evening when I got back to enjoy the rest of the show. After all these years of listening to and following Apocalyptica, to be able to not only see them in person and photograph the show was on another level! For the first three songs, I was in work mode! For the rest of the night, I was an absolute fan boy!
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