Wardruna @ Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg

16.11.2024, Meistersingerhalle, Nürnberg, Germany

The full gallery can be found here

It was dark, cold and uncomfortable outside, so everyone was happy when they were able to get into the hall on this Saturday – only to find the next set of doors closed again. After all, it took some time to get to the seats. The Meistersingerhalle slowly filled up, and the only seats available were filled to capacity. Young and old, the gothic bride, the metal fan, the medieval lover, the elderly couple or the wealthy types – everyone was sitting happily in their seats at the start of the concert, impatiently waiting.

Then it got dark, and the band around singer Einar Selvik scurried onto the stage, where the moraharpa sounds of John Stenersen and “Kvitravn” kicked off. I admire anyone who doesn’t get this opening melody stuck in their head. The show continued immediately with one of the tracks from the upcoming album “Birna” – namely “Hertan”. Together with “Himinndotter”, this song is the only one that the fans got to hear from the new band – unless they were lucky enough to win a place in the rare pre-listening session. Both new songs were very well received by the audience, but at the end of the day they are also more in the typical Wardruna style and were simply made for a live show with a puristic but very well thought-out light show.

But the fact that the well-known songs are still more popular could be seen in “Skugge”, “Fehu” and especially “Solringen”. Despite the fact that seating was compulsory, the latter mentioned song did tempt some people to move – or “slide around on the chair cushion”. The audience swayed along and dived into another world with their eyes closed. And by now at the latest, the atmosphere that the band radiated had really reached everyone in the spacious hall.

It became absolutely magical with “Lyfjaberg” – which means “mountain of healing” in English: if you looked into the faces of many, they were deeply immersed in the music, sometimes visibly emotional (I was probably one of them) or simply drawing strength from the music and the performance.

Especially here, one can only say: Einar Selvik puts his whole heart and soul into every word he sings during a show – even without knowing the language, you can simply feel what the song is about. Perfectly accompanied musically, and largely simply but impressively supported by the light show. During “Lyfjaberg”, a mountain can be seen on the backdrop and the fog billows over the floor and spills over the edge of the stage into the front row. Absolutely magical interplay, for which everyone involved can only be congratulated.

However, when praising Einar Selvik’s vocal power, one should not forget that there is someone on stage next to him without whom the songs would often seem one-dimensional: Lindy-Fay Hella brings a vocal diversity to the stage, and a vocal range that you would expect from this petite woman if you didn’t know Wardruna. Particularly fascinating in this context is “Isa” – one of the songs that is relatively simple per se, but lives from the unusual vocals. It is always an experience to listen to this song live and watch Lindy-Fay (not only when singing this song, but also with all the dance interludes that show so much love for the music).

“Voluspá”, ‘Helvegen’ and ‘Snake Pit Poetry’ are also an integral part of the setlist and definitely THE songs of the evening. It’s always exciting to see how a physically not quite so tall man in a long black turtleneck sweater can stand alone on stage with his instrument during “Voluspá” and win over an entire hall with his charisma and voice. Goosebumps everywhere and every time – no matter how many times you’ve heard the song live, it’s simply fascinating every time.

“Helvegen”, on the other hand, gives you goosebumps once again with the entire line-up and burning torches – exactly how you would want such a song to be presented. The song goes straight to the heart, and the applause only dies down very slowly here too. The same applies to the concert finale with “Snake Pit Poetry” – the man, an instrument, and you have one last song full of magic, with which you are then released back into reality – unfortunately.

The band didn’t leave the stage in Nuremberg without a standing ovation, and it’s always nice to see how nobody in this band takes this for granted-  everyone is visibly touched, especially Einar Selvik, the band’s mastermind. As he says so beautifully: it’s a mutual thing, you appreciate each other, and that doesn’t need any big words. And for the most part there weren’t any, because during a Wardruna show there is no banter between the songs, you let the music take effect until the end. But here and there the singer does let a little dry humor slip through.

What else can you say? Whenever Wardruna perform, the audience sinks into another world, everyone in their own little world experiences and enjoys these 90 minutes full of power, passion, pain and magic. If that’s exactly what you’re missing in your life – you should definitely go to the band’s website and see where tickets are still available. Because even a (further) journey is definitely worthwhile with Wardruna!

 

Setlist:

Kvitravn
Hertan
Skugge
Solringen
Kvit hjort
Runaljod
Lyfjaberg
Voluspá (Skaldic Version)
Tyr
Isa
Grá
Himinndotter
Rotlaust tre fell
Fehu
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Helvegen
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Snake Pit Poetry – Skaldic Mode

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