Back in 1996, Finnish metal outfit and classically trained cellists Apocalyptica made a name for themselves by playing Metallica’s music through their revolutionary and mightily impressive string arrangements. Now almost 30 years and 10 albums later, they have returned to play Metallica’s greatest hits once again in their own unique style. To witness this one-of-a-kind event, we headed down to catch their show at Rock City…
Arriving to Rock City just before 8pm, the main hall and balcony are already fairly full following the support set from London metal band The Raven Age, who we unfortunately missed tonight. The venue remains at this comfortable capacity in the build-up to tonight’s main event, as we are able to grab a space on the floor with enough room to manoeuvre, should we wish to mosh the evening away. Soon enough, the lights go down and the familiar sound of Ennio Morricone’s The Ecstasy of Gold rings out over the speakers as smoke fills the spot-lit stage.
There’s a huge roar from the crowd as the trio of Eicca Toppinen, Perttu Kivilaakso and Paavo
Lötjönen emerge, accompanied by Mikko Kaakkuriniemi on drums. They immediately launch into
Ride The Lightning and from that point onwards, the whole set is just a jaw-dropping display of
expert musicianship. The three cellists shred their instruments as if they were guitars, with the
intricate and rapid plucking a dazzling sight to behold. Next up is big favourite Enter Sandman, with
the vocals being delivered by the ever-passionate Rock City choir in the audience. There’s huge
smiles from the band on stage as they provide the musical backdrop for this first big singalong – they know already this is going to be a fun night.
After scintillating renditions of Creeping Death and For Whom The Bell Tolls, Perttu Kivilaakso steps up to greet the crowd: “Hello Nottingham!” he yells to great cheers. “As you see Metallica have some cool tracks – but are you ready for something faster?” he asks, to which the audience responds with an emphatic “YEAHHHH!” The trio oblige, going absolutely full throttle on Battery which, from a pure musicianship standpoint at least, is the highlight of the night.
It's then time for The Call of Ktulu, where founding member Eicca Toppinen explains how they used Metallica’s late original bassist, Cliff Burton’s original bass track on their Plays Metallica Vol. 2 album. It is an emotional moment in the set, with Paavo Lötjönen noticeably teary as they hypnotically play through the song. It’s a stirring moment, but they soon brush off the sentimentality to rush through big hitters St. Anger and Sad But True, the audience once again providing the vocal accompaniment on the latter.
“Nottingham we are going to do something fun now” teases Eicca Toppinen in his strong Finnish accent. “When coming up with songs for Plays Metallica Vol. 2, this was one of the first we thought “how cool would it be to play with the cello?!”” Indeed, The Four Horsemen sounds made for the instrument, even with Eicca causing minor tech issues by seemingly getting so enthused, he momentarily unplugs from his amplifier. Blackened follows which is also utterly mesmerising, before Master of Puppets nearly takes the roof off Rock City.
It's then time for the band to play one of the greatest songs of all time, Nothing Else Matters, and I’ll be honest, it’s a bit of a bittersweet moment in the set. Whilst the strings are stirring and the crowd singing along is spine-tingling, during the lulls all you can hear is disrespectful audience chatter – to the point Paavo Lötjönen even mimes a “Shhh!” midway through the song. Sadly, certain members of the audience continue, preventing a truly special moment from occurring.
Not to be deterred though, Perttu Kivilaakso lifts the mood by dramatically introducing the band and jokingly revealing England and Finland are technically still in the midst of a 400-year-old war. Shortly after the band plunge into a seismic performance of Seek And Destroy, with the most mind-blowing moment occurring when Perttu drops to his knees and starts playing the cello behind his head, in true Jimi Hendrix fashion – truly unbelievable. After a brief exit, the band then perform an encore of One, with spoken vocals from the one and only James Hetfield piped in over the speakers. As the song ends, the band are granted a huge ovation, with everyone in the room clearly blown away by what they just witnessed.
It's funny how sometimes the best gigs end up being the ones for which you don’t really have any
expectations. As someone who didn’t really know Apocalyptica or their style before this show, only
going along as a casual Metallica fan, I spent most of the show stood captivated in awe. A great
Friday evening and can only recommend catching Apocalyptica the next time they come to town.
Apocalyptica performed at Rock City on 4th October 2024.
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
