Eluveitie in Gothenburg
Eluveitie at Pustervik, Gothenburg, January 24th 2025.
It’s been five long years since the mighty Eluveitie graced the beautiful city of Gothenburg, Sweden with their presence, the last time being in 2020 and pre-pandemic, a time almost unimaginable after those strange few years. The long wait was finally over and I know it’s a well-worn cliché, but the atmosphere was tangible as support act, Ad Infinitum played the last note of their unremarkable set. The crowd filling Pustervik that night wasn’t there for them. We wanted Eluveitie.
Eluveitie have been consistently great, both on record and live, for 20 years now and have only been improved by the relatively recent addition of Fabienne Erni (Celtic harp, mandola and female vocals) back in 2017. In the intervening eight years, she has slotted perfectly into the band and has become an integral part of their sound. You can hear this on 2019’s Ategnatos (her debut album with the band), but it is on the stage in a live setting where she really shines. With her commanding stage presence and powerful voice, she absolutely steals the show. Chrigel Glanzmann might be the band’s founder, chief songwriter and lead vocalist, but he plays second fiddle to Fabi in a live setting. And I’m absolutely certain that he is more than happy with that arrangement.
After a very short interval, the lights went down, and the cheers went up as the band trooped onto the stage. For the next 90 or so minutes, Eluveitie were untouchable. They delivered hit after hit without missing a beat or pausing for breath. There were no lengthy monologues and little between songs banter. Not tonight. The band merely got on with the job at hand. And that job was to deliver a blistering set of Folk Metal bangers from every era of their history. The crowd were equally as ecstatic to hear new material in the form of The Prodigal Ones and Premonition as they were to hear established classics such as the one-two punch of The Call of the Mountains and Ambiramus and the all-conquering fan-favourite and show closer /stealer, Inis Mona. As the lights went up and the crowd filed out into the frigid winter evening, there wasn’t a disappointed face to be seen.
Setlist
- Helvetios
- Ategnatos
- Tarvos
- The Prodigal Ones
- Exile of the Gods
- Slanias Song
- A Rose for Epona
- Epona
- Ànv
- Aidus
- Deathwalker
- The Call of the Mountains
- Ambiramus
- Havoc
- King
- Premomotion
- Inis Mona