While Ryujin’s and Eleine’s shows were new to us here in Berlin, once we hit Ensiferum we were back in familiar territory, as we had seen both them and Pain the day before in Hamburg (sadly we had been late to the show there, and missed the first two).
Now, while both of the first two bands had gotten a very good welcoming here in Berlin, there was no missing the shift of energy that came over the crowd as the Finns show was announced by some nicely picked intro songs.

“We’re gonna have some punk, some rock, and some Saturday night disco party!”
- Petri Lindroos (vocals/guitar)

The finishing intro was some kind of drums of war sounding clip, and immediately the crowd was cheering loudly as the band members hit the stage.
Already in the first song, Andromeda, the fans were raising a rhythmic “HEY HEY” along to the music and then enthusiastically helped Pekka Montin with the chorus. When In My Sword I Trust rolled around after that, the floor erupted in a wild moshpit that only got larger and more chaotic as Run From The Crushing Tide came crashing in - and, damnit, we were only three songs in at this point! Needless to say, the Berlin crowd absolutely loved Ensiferum!

The interesting and dare I say positive thing I have to say about Ensiferum themselves, is that they too felt chaotic in their performance. That’s not a negative in any way, in fact it was a relief compared to the prior two bands which both had suffered from seeming far too planned out in every small movement - Ensiferum were all over the place, seemingly following the whim of their own inspiration as they moved about - especially so sami Hinkka and Markus Toivonen of course, as they were less tied up than the rest of the band, but Lindroos and certainly Montin got to play around as well as the show progressed.
Hinkka was as per usual the one primary one to engage the crowd (as if that needed any help), and among other things, he got everyone to jump for For Sirens.

One word that I kept reusing in my notes for the show was “magic”. There was overall just a magical feeling of how well the band played, and how engaged the crowd was. The sing-along for Twilight Tavern rivaled what came from the stage in pure volume, and you know that when it was time for LAI LAI HEI, that crowd singing only got louder and wilder!

There’re no two ways about it. Ensiferum had delivered an absolute killer of a show the day before in Hamburg, but somehow they managed to outdo this tonight in Berlin; they were just so damned energetic, fun, and engaged, so it was impossible not to be swept away by their performance. There was even something completely unique, to my knowledge at least, at the end - when the band was saying thanks after the show, and they were throwing drumsticks and guitar picks to the crowd, there was one lady that managed to catch a stick - with her hair! How’s that for an impressive ending to an impressive show?

Setlist:

Andromeda
In My Sword I Trust
Run From The Crushing Tide
For Sirens
Twilight Tavern
Heathen Horde
One Man Army
LAI LAI HEI
Two Of Spades