5.1.2010 Ridglea Theater in Ft. Worth, Texas

(Beware of TL;DR.)

Last show on the North American leg of the tour, but certainly not the least. According to the theater's website, the bands included were Urizen, Earthrot, Obsidian Throne, Swallow The Sun, Moonsorrow, and Finntroll. I believe there was one more, but I can't think of the name of it. About seven hours of music in total, including some giant space robots, obligatory men-in-kilts, Vreth throwing Moonsorrow merchandise from the stage in a cowboy hat and handlebar mustache, and other such revelry.

The theater wasn't too packed, and the mood seemed light - if not a little impatient. Finntroll was guided in by Blodmarsch (and the consequent insanity of a few hundred fans). Skrymer's painting of Ormhäxan lurked behind the altogether minuscule stage. Don't have the entire song-list (or the song order, for that matter) in my head, but I do remember hearing Trollhammaren, Solsagan, Nifelvind, Nedgång, Den frusna munnen (I think), Under bergets rot, Fiskarens Fiende, Korpens Saga, Jaktens Tid, Slaget vid Blodsälv, and a couple more.

Skrymer didn't play during the show due to a bus accident that messed up his wrist, but he did make up for it by providing the occasional back-up yoiking and dancing (quite erotically, lol) on stage. Routa, despite having a cold, kept everyone near the front completely pumped up. (Must've been that lovely flower-print guitar strap he was wearing.) At one point Finntroll was attacked by members of the other bands clad in aluminum foil armor (one of them wielding an impossibly large silver dick - complete with nuts!) A couple of guys settled near the middle of the stage to enjoy a card game and a magazine while Finntroll destroyed our eardrums and downed Coronas simultaneously. Towards the end of the gig, two very energetic individuals capered about the set in Hawaiian shirts, sunglasses, and poker visors. My friend and I (wielding kazoos for our "furious kazoo army") were nearly pummeled by an errant air-born flip-flop. It was pretty fantastic.

After the show ended, we managed to run Skrymer down and get a purposefully hideous photo taken with him. He apologized for not playing and, in my opinion, verified all those rumors that he is probably the nicest guy in the universe.

No photos or videos at the moment, though. Waiting to get the computers fixed!

Will definitely be seeing them again. Even one of my Finntroll-wary friends admitted that he liked the band at least twice as much as he did previously due to seeing them in concert. Good, good times.

(Edited because I can't remember song names properly.)

The only reason my brother and I went to that show was for Finntroll. I think even without Skrymer and Routa being sick, they did an awesome job. I felt bad for Routa. I was standing about three people in front of him and he looked really sick, though I commend him for keeping it metal!

I was lucky enough to get one of the tour posters that they were throwing out into the audience and I will hang it up in my apartment with pride.

I thought the way the bands interacted with each other was fun and the fact that members of the other bands participated in Finntroll's performance.

Yeah - we saw Routa coughing and looking pretty woozy, yet he still made it through kicking ass. (Also, it sounds like we may have been standing right next to eachother, ha!) I grabbed a poster after the show, too. Need to find a good place for it. (And is it just us, or does the word "emos" show up in that troll's hair?)

Hahaha! It does! I asked my brother and he saw it too.

You might have saw me. I was wearing spiked leather gauntlets.

You were right in front of us, then! With the Hot Topic pants and "Putting the Laughter in ManSlaughter" shirt? There was a girl next to us who tried moshing during one of the songs (leaving me with an elbow in the face, lol). Small world!

Haha! Yes, that was me. I remember a chick near me try to start one :p

(My friend wants you to know that she was attempting to "actively avoid getting gouged by [your] arm gauntlets" the entire show, heheh.)

Did she have a bunch of piercings? When that mosh pit almost formed next to me, I raised my arm a bit to ward them off.

Get a room you two!

It's getting cute in here.

Sounds like it was a great last show. Went out with a bang. I'm actually quite envious