By David O’Neill
After a beautifully sunny early spring afternoon in the south west of England/south Wales, what could be a fitting way to end the day? Oh yes, another opportunity to see the truly outstanding Finnish rockers The Von Hertzen Brothers in one of the regions smaller venues, The Fleece in Bristol.
This was my tenth opportunity to see the band and the second time I have photographed and reviewed them gig in The Fleece. This definitely fitted with the ethos of the new Über Rock podcast, ‘Small Stages – Big Sounds’ (an episode with an interview with Mikko can incidentally can be found on Spotify, Amazon, Apple and YouTube).
Without a support act, the start of the evening with the Von Hertzen Brothers started at 8.30, so how long was the set going to be we wondered?
Opening with the track ‘The Relapse’ from the latest album ‘In Murmuration’ was a breathless start to the proceedings. ‘A Good Life’ slowed things slightly before a very retro upbeat track ‘Freedom Fighter’ (from ‘Love Remains The Same’) picked it back up and all the energy exerted by the new drummer resulted in his first broken stick of the evening.
The introduction to the newest band members Markus Pyakaala (multi instrumentals including flute and saxophone) and drummer “Simon Siren” raised a laugh from the crowd (his real name is Mikko Siren).
With all the energy exerted the first ballad from ‘In Murmuration’, ‘Beneath The Silver Stars’ was next up. Never ones to take things too easily, ‘Insomniac’ was next up, re-invigorating the audience after their slight breather. The band’s changes in style was no more prevalent than in ‘Angels Eyes’ from ‘Stars Aligned’ and ‘All Of A Sudden You’re Gone’ – the latter a song that still brings a lump to my throat.
Mikko mentioned that they were feeling optimistic when they wrote the next song, ‘War is Over,’ considering the current global situation; however, it is still brilliant live. The rationale for the writing of ‘The Change’ was explained. Given the beautiful early spring weather Mikko explained it was probably time for the feelgood track ‘Ascension Day’ before the much older ‘Kiss a Wish’ from the 2004 album ‘Approach’ gave Markus the opportunity to demonstrate his superb talent on the flute solo from the almost ten minute track.
One of my personal favourites ‘Snowstorm’ from ‘In Murmuration’ was the brief reduction in time to over six minutes but the rise and fall of the track live literally sent shivers down my spine. ‘Let Thy Will Be Done’ was the second track from ‘Approach’ before ‘Flowers and Rust’, which is a staple of the set list.
Mikko then introduced ‘Sunday Child’ because it was Sunday and he wanted the audience participation to raise the roof of the 200 year old building, and boy did it!
With ‘New Day Rising’ bringing the two hour set to its incredible conclusion, the small stage had certainly had a very big sound on it and there were very many happy fans in the building chanting for more.
Never being ones to disappoint they band returned to the stage to finish with ‘Peace Patrol’, a great way to end over more than hours of superb musicianship.