The 4th edition of Bauskas own Zobens Un Lemess Open Air festival was held the 15th-17th
of June 2018. With headliners like Skyforger, Moonsorrow and Ereb Altor the
audience was sure to get their pagan heavy metal needs fulfilled!
Friday the 15th
Upon arrival at the medieval castle ruins and the festival site we were greeted
by a tight security group that checked every single bag for alcohol, drugs and
whatnot. Big thumbs up for such a professional approach!
The camping area was situated between to rivers that linked together a few hundred meters further down and what weather they had ordered for us! Nothing but sun and warm temperatures!
The festival site was rather small, but extremely cosy and definitely gave you a welcoming feeling. Merchandise stores, bars and food trucks surrounded the tables. As we assume the majority of the festivals audience are from around Riga it makes perfect sense to have the first band start as late as 18:30, even for a Friday at a festival.
We will include the band setlists if they are available online, or if we remember them 100% correctly.
Deodium
The first
band on stage was Latvian pagan metal band Deodium, formed in 2008. The young men played a great, tight set and we look forward to see what these guys will bring in the future, what a start for a festival!
Darrva
Next up was Latvian death metal band Darrva with the same drummer and guitarist from Deodium (talk about double duty!). Darrva delivered a facebreaking artillery of death metal tunes. More of that please!
Cruachan
By 20:45 it was time for the first international act of the festival, Cruachan from Ireland! Formed back in 1992 and were celebrating their 25th anniversary and their first concert in the Republic of Latvia. Thankfully Cruachan were here with one mission. To party! They kicked the audience straight in the ass, made them dance, mosh, jump and maintain an almost constant circle pit from start to finish with their Irish folk metal madness!
Gods Tower
Next up was Gods Tower from Belarus formed all the way back in 1989 under the name Chemical Warfare, were back again after having already played at the festival in 2015. They played an hours worth of what they themselves call, Pagan Folk Doom. Very unique band that we can highly recommend for anyone! Gods Tower has got to have one of the most enthusiastic and genuinely happy front members we have ever seen and the audience was loving it! He couldn't stop headbanging or keeping his hands down!
Moonsorrow
At 23:45 it was time for Fridays headliner, Moonsorrow from Finland, formed back in 1995. Heathen Pagan Metal is the only real term for this band that continuously deliver highly intense concerts and release album after album of pure gold. Sadly, this day was that one time where everything wasn't like it should be. A clearly visible drunk frontman, Ville Sorvali, had too much of Latvia's great, cheap alcohol. It happens to the best, but at least it was more to the hilarious side rather than the awkward one. The band still delivered what can easily be said as above what many other bands deliver on a 'daily' basis. There is no stopping the Moonsorrow! Well... Except for Baltic booze!
Setlist:
Pimeä
Ruttolehto incl. Päivättömän päivän kansa
Suden Tunti
Kivenkantaja
Mimisbrunn
Kuolleiden Maa
Rāva
After the headliner, Zobens Un Lemess had put in the Latvian dark/experiemental folk band Rāva to close the stage. Sadly we were way too tired after Moonsorrow and the trip from Denmark, so we headed for the camping area.
Saturday the 16th
After a great nights sleep that wasn't disturbed by campers partying till' 5 in the morning, since there was no allowed self brought alcohol on the camp site, we headed to center of Bauska for some breakfast and provisions. By 11:00 it was already burning hot, so most people were seeking towards the shadows or the river for some cooling.
Auļi
We returned to the festival site around 16'o clock right in the middle of Auļi's set. Auļi from Latvia attracted a huge turnout and insane amounts of dancing and moshing to their bagpibe & drum folk music!
Symbolic, Asphodelia, Oceanpath, Ūkanose, Vilki
The following hours brought folk rock/metal from Latvian Symbolic, two symphonic metal bands, Asphodelia from Italy and Oceanpath from Latvia, folk metal from Ūkanose and folk from Vilki, both from Latvia. It was an instense afternoon with all kinds of music and especially the two symphonic metal bands brought a good break with some epic opera music in-between all the folk music. Especially Oceanpath who reminded us a lot of the old Nightwish back when Tarja was the front woman. Vilki as well was a nice touch, pure old school folk singing without too many instruments.
Metsatöll
At 21:50 it was time Estonian folk metal band Metsatöll, formed back in 1999, to bring their extremely deep vocals and folk music about war and nature! Something that the audience was clearly looking forward to, because they sure were festive!
Ereb Altor
After Metsatöll it was time for something completely different. From Gävle, Sweden, Ereb Altor, formed in 2003, had set sail towards the Baltic shores to burn the villages to the ground! With their Bathory-esque style doom/viking/black metal and flaming background behind the drum kit they delivered an insanely intense performance that is sure to be remembered for a long time by all those not too drunk from the €2 beers and €3 ciders! Let's just say that we, Metal To Go, hope they will continue to write songs in Swedish, because it just fucking works!
Setlist (not 100% correct order):
Intro: Völuspá
En Synd Svart Som Sot
Av Blod Är Jeg Kommen
Ulfven
Dark Waters
Nifelheim
Bloodline
Midsommarblot
Skyforger
At 00:45 it was time for the final band and what a special one that was. Skyforger, probably the most well known metal band from Latvia. Formed back in 1995, Skyforger celebrated their 20th anniversary of their debut album Kauja pie Saules released in 1998, by playing it in its entirety with several guest appearances from previous members. It was an amazing sight to see a band like Skyforger perform in their home country and draw several thousand people to the country side for a 75 minute show. This was a night we will not soon forget.
Setlist:
Zviegtin' Zviedza Kara Zirgi
Kauja Pie Saules. 1236
Senču Ozols
Viestarda cīņa pie Mežotnes.1219
Kurši
Kalējs Kala Debesīs
Kam pūšat kara taures
Kauja Garozas Silā. 1287
Svētais Ugunskrusts
Encore:
Kad Ūsiņš Jāj
Velnukāvējs
Akmenī Iekaltās Zīmes
Gada Īsākā Nakts
With this we would like to sincerely thank the organisation behind the festival Zobens Un Lemess Open Air for delivering such a great festival. We hope to return to beautiful Bauska, Latvia in the future.
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