Manowar @ Circus, Stockholm 2025 (report)
So, my fourth visit to central Stockholm and my first concert this year.
The day was relatively warm, but drizzly. It felt more like November that like the end of January. No signs of even remnants of the snow and snöclockor are everywhere.
Manowar performed at the Circus, and the concert was sold out. I paid 1209 SEK for a resale standing ticket.
I arrived at six, and the doors opened at seven, but I made it only to the second row, because the line at the second entrance was moving faster.
The average age of the audience was pretty high, so I didn't feel myself left out, but there were a lot of drunk aggressive Swedes. One of them went so far as to pushing out a Pole who sttod in front of me in the first row and taking his place LOL.
So yeah, there were a few foreigners here and there, like a pair of Germans who stood behind me in the line, but I didn't notice any "Ukrainians" at all, fortunately.
At half past seven a warm up act, a Swedish band Tungsten started their set quite unexpectedly. The band is mostly known for the fact that their drummer performed as a drummer of Manowar from 2019 to 2022.
They performed for half an hour, till eight, and then the audience had to wait for fifty minutes tili Manowar started their set. Needless to say everybody got pretty drunk by that time.
So yeah, Manowar.
Their long time drummer committed suicide in 2011, aged 54, and their recent guitarist serves his sentence for being a paedophile since 2022.
So, a great band, I guess.
The black curtain which covered the scene fell, and March of the Heroes Into Valhalla started to play from the tape, and as it ended, the four band members appeared, all dressed in black thick leather costumes, reminiscent of middle age or ancient body armour, their singer changed his one before the last song or the last few songs.
All still with their long hair, but not that young anymore, their singer is 72 years old.
The stage looked like a scene in a theatre, with two scenery flats covered with pictures to the left and to the right, both with hidden entrances, and a giant backdrop depicting a faceless warrior.
After like the tenth song the pictures and the backdrop were removed (it seemed to me that the pictures were attached to the flats they were displayed on with some kind of velcro, so they could be removed easily), and changed with dynamic projections till the end of the show.
I was a bit surprised they didn't use any pyrotechnics/confetti, as I watched a few videos from their recent performances on Youtube, and they clearly did it there, but not during this concert in Stockholm.
As for the public's behaviour, it was pretty rough, as one can guess, not so rough though as at the IDLES show I attended a year ago, dut to Manowar's audience being older than IDLES' one, I guess. But yeah, a lot of pushing each other, although without any fights breaking out. It got a bit more calm towards the end of the show, because everyone tired themselves out during the first songs, I guess.
As for the band - well, they are pretty old, so there were no jumping or acrobatic tricks of any kind, more like walking from one part of the scene to the other.
Anyway, it was nice to attend a concert of another legendary band.
There were neither setlists nor guitar picks throwing, unfortunatelly, at least as long as I stayed in the venue. In fact, I haven't seen their (paper) setlists at all, so I'm not sure if they used them.
The concert lasted till quater to eleven, but I'm not sure if I should say "with encore(s)", because the band left the stage and returned to it a few times during the show, and they did it before/after each of the last few songs.
The bassist also delivered a pretty long speech thanking all who were involved in their current tour and especially this concert in Stockholm before one of the last songs.
So yeah, a way to start a new year.
Other bands play, Manowar kills.
But regardless their lyrics' themes, they sound (almost) too rock'n'rollish, I have to admit.
1. Manowar
2. Kings of Metal
3. Fighting the World
4. Brothers of Metal Pt. 1
5. Army of the Immortals
6. All Men Play on 10
7. Sign of the Hammer
8. The Oath
9. Kill With Power
10. Each Dawn I Die
11. Guitar & Bass Duet
12. Mountains
13. Hail to England/Hail to Sweden
14. Sons of Odin
15. House of Death
16. King of Kings
17. Fight Until We Die
18. Warriors of the World United
19. Hail and Kill
20. Black Wind, Fire and Steel
The day was relatively warm, but drizzly. It felt more like November that like the end of January. No signs of even remnants of the snow and snöclockor are everywhere.
Manowar performed at the Circus, and the concert was sold out. I paid 1209 SEK for a resale standing ticket.
I arrived at six, and the doors opened at seven, but I made it only to the second row, because the line at the second entrance was moving faster.
The average age of the audience was pretty high, so I didn't feel myself left out, but there were a lot of drunk aggressive Swedes. One of them went so far as to pushing out a Pole who sttod in front of me in the first row and taking his place LOL.
So yeah, there were a few foreigners here and there, like a pair of Germans who stood behind me in the line, but I didn't notice any "Ukrainians" at all, fortunately.
At half past seven a warm up act, a Swedish band Tungsten started their set quite unexpectedly. The band is mostly known for the fact that their drummer performed as a drummer of Manowar from 2019 to 2022.
They performed for half an hour, till eight, and then the audience had to wait for fifty minutes tili Manowar started their set. Needless to say everybody got pretty drunk by that time.
So yeah, Manowar.
Their long time drummer committed suicide in 2011, aged 54, and their recent guitarist serves his sentence for being a paedophile since 2022.
So, a great band, I guess.
The black curtain which covered the scene fell, and March of the Heroes Into Valhalla started to play from the tape, and as it ended, the four band members appeared, all dressed in black thick leather costumes, reminiscent of middle age or ancient body armour, their singer changed his one before the last song or the last few songs.
All still with their long hair, but not that young anymore, their singer is 72 years old.
The stage looked like a scene in a theatre, with two scenery flats covered with pictures to the left and to the right, both with hidden entrances, and a giant backdrop depicting a faceless warrior.
After like the tenth song the pictures and the backdrop were removed (it seemed to me that the pictures were attached to the flats they were displayed on with some kind of velcro, so they could be removed easily), and changed with dynamic projections till the end of the show.
I was a bit surprised they didn't use any pyrotechnics/confetti, as I watched a few videos from their recent performances on Youtube, and they clearly did it there, but not during this concert in Stockholm.
As for the public's behaviour, it was pretty rough, as one can guess, not so rough though as at the IDLES show I attended a year ago, dut to Manowar's audience being older than IDLES' one, I guess. But yeah, a lot of pushing each other, although without any fights breaking out. It got a bit more calm towards the end of the show, because everyone tired themselves out during the first songs, I guess.
As for the band - well, they are pretty old, so there were no jumping or acrobatic tricks of any kind, more like walking from one part of the scene to the other.
Anyway, it was nice to attend a concert of another legendary band.
There were neither setlists nor guitar picks throwing, unfortunatelly, at least as long as I stayed in the venue. In fact, I haven't seen their (paper) setlists at all, so I'm not sure if they used them.
The concert lasted till quater to eleven, but I'm not sure if I should say "with encore(s)", because the band left the stage and returned to it a few times during the show, and they did it before/after each of the last few songs.
The bassist also delivered a pretty long speech thanking all who were involved in their current tour and especially this concert in Stockholm before one of the last songs.
So yeah, a way to start a new year.
Other bands play, Manowar kills.
But regardless their lyrics' themes, they sound (almost) too rock'n'rollish, I have to admit.
1. Manowar
2. Kings of Metal
3. Fighting the World
4. Brothers of Metal Pt. 1
5. Army of the Immortals
6. All Men Play on 10
7. Sign of the Hammer
8. The Oath
9. Kill With Power
10. Each Dawn I Die
11. Guitar & Bass Duet
12. Mountains
13. Hail to England/Hail to Sweden
14. Sons of Odin
15. House of Death
16. King of Kings
17. Fight Until We Die
18. Warriors of the World United
19. Hail and Kill
20. Black Wind, Fire and Steel