Before The Dawn, Wolfheart in Lahti

May 19, 2023 Finlandia-klubi at Sibelius-Talo, Lahti, Finland

What, it’s been 10 years ago? The official funeral of Before The Dawn and 3 other band projects of the manic-prolific multi-instrumentalist / mastermind Tuomas Saukkonen at the very same venue (see our archive REPORT) and his following project Wolfheart with the debut album “Winterborn” … surely something to be celebrated thoroughly. No wonder that in spite of considerable “competition” (Steelfest, Sonic Roots Festival, … in Lahti AND an important ice hockey match) the venue filled quickly right after the doors opened.
More about that a little later… As both bands used very atmospheric light, the few sortof-useable snapshots
IN THE GALLERY

First, the Wolfheart guys – Vangeliss Karziss (lead git/voc), Joonas Kauppinen (drums), Lauri Silvonen (bass/voc) and Tuomas as frontman (git/voc) – celebrate the Winterborn album anniversary with their fans by performing the whole album – not sure about the order,eg for the neckbreaker “Ghosts of Karelia”. Those who hoped for encores from the current  “King of the North” album hoped in vain. But this material should be the focus of the various summer festival gigs, the Finland tour in September and the EU/UK tour in November with BTD – check the BANDWEBSITE).

Then, after a short changeover, the show many have been eagerly awaiting: Before The Dawn. Yes, an official reboot, not just one of those rare special shows at festivals they had played in recent years… How come, well: There was one of those singing competitions on TV in 2022, and in Finland several heavy vocalists take part as well – and this happened:

Naturally Tuomas became aware of this Paavo Laapotti, recorded a single with him… and one thing led to another until the official BTD comeback – besides Paavo with Juho Räihä, lead git, and Pyry Hanski, bass – plus a new album! At this presentation of the new line-up in Lahti, there must have been a few people crying in the audience, just like 10 years ago, but this time tears of joy. Paavo is a real asset, as he masters growls and clean vocals equally, so that Tuomas could retreat behind the drums once again.

Although at first you could sense a certain tension on and in front of the stage – and indeed, not everything went as smoothly as intended – you can only congratulate this BTD reincarnation. Great show, even in the back the fans joined the party right from the start, so that the band became more relaxed after a few songs. Hats off to Paavo’s vocal performance, now all that’s missing is a bit of routine, making the old stuff his own, the same way he did with the Deadsong.

This show proved once again that BTD had created a bunch of timeless classics (eg. Dying Sun, Winter Within, Disappear) – and the new material fits right into that. Simply awesome! Destroyer turned out to be major ear candy, and extremely sticky, couldn’t get it out of my head for hours …

Welcome back, guys – looking forward to more BTD shows!

Setlist Before The Dawn:

Unbreakable
Destroyer
My Darkness
Faithless
Dying Sun
Chains
The Dark
Downhearted
My Room (Acoustic version)
Winter Within
Morning Sun
Disappear
The Black

Encore:
Wrath
Deadsong