LIVE REPORT: Nestruction & Crimson Sun
On the Rocks; October 3rd, 2024
If you follow along with me in any way, shape, or form, you should know that I spent September 23rd-October 3rd, 2024, finishing a manuscript for a novella that I published on October 4th. My personal goal was to finish and release the book on October 4th, with enough time to go to see Crimson Sun’s “Sorrowbreaker” album release show at On the Rocks on the 3rd. With Nestruction as the warm-up act, this ended up being the best way I could have imagined celebrating the completion of my work, so it was good that I finished on time!
You can find both Crimson Sun and Nestruction as guests on Gathering of Geeks!
I was meant to have two friends join me for this show, but one of them wasn’t ready in time to get to town for Nestruction and the other looked too young to get into On the Rocks without an ID (oops), so she headed off home to fetch it and missed their set. This was really a shame, because Nestruction don’t play very often and they’re so much fun to watch. Band front Emil Pohjalainen is really energetic, enthusiastic, and talkative; he spoke a little bit too quickly for me to follow most of what he was saying beyond the song introductions, but suffice to say that the crowd was very entertained.
One thing that’s cool about Nestruction is their commitment to the LED background board. I’ve only seen them a handful of times and I know what persnickety beasts big LED boards like that can be, but they don’t seem to go anywhere without it and it worked perfectly all evening. I was able to enjoy some vague PTSD while rewatching clips from those impossible retro games from the original NES era (mostly Castlevania). I will admit that, at times, I was getting distracted from the music by the videos, but on the whole, I enjoyed the extra bit of substance it added to the performance. It’s certainly something unique!
One of the coolest parts of their set was when they performed an ‘evolution of video games’ medley, which included some familiar tunes from games like Tetris, Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, Morrowind, and Overwatch, as well as some unfamiliar material from Dig Dug, Doom, and Crash Bandicoot. I have to give them some credit for throwing some nonstandard games in there! Usually, the big-name video game symphonies stick to the same famous material, so it was really refreshing to hear something other than Legend of Zelda and Megaman music (as great as those OSTs are).
Nestruction have only actually released one song at the time of writing this, “Cyber Shadow - Chapter 1,” which I’m guessing is from the eponymous video game. This was the song they used to wrap up their set, definitely leaving me wanting more and lamenting that my fellow geek friend was not yet present.
I went over to load up on merch after Nestruction wrapped up, because my merch mama, Lady Enslain, was of course behind the counter. Let me add here that more bands need to have shirts with wrap-around print! Signed copies of the new album seemed to be flying off the shelf like hotcakes, so I had to nab one before they were gone.
My other friends made it to the venue in time for Crimson Sun’s set to kick off with “The Mark Stays On” and “Strive,” both of which proved that the new material is just as good live as it is on the album. The performance was really tight and energetic, with Sini Seppälä acting as a fantastic band front.
I was doubly impressed with them for shouting out Lady Enslain as the lyricist on a couple of tracks, before playing a few of the songs to which she contributed (“Retrospectator” and “Sailing Home,” for example)—most bands don’t talk about lyrics when they don’t write them themselves, almost as if they’re embarrassed or something. Crimson Sun, however, weren’t at all shy about shouting out their crew and encouraged us to all go see her at the merch booth, where they would join after the show.
The atmosphere in the crowd was also really pleasant. People were enthusiastic to see these guys on stage… I, for one, can’t remember when I’ve last seen them, so I get it. “Neon Lights” seemed to be one of the big hits for the night (Sini even left the stage briefly to retrieve the shiny blue blazer she wore in the music video for it), and boy howdy did that song really pop live! It’s amazing on the album but it was out of this world hearing it in the audience!
Crimson Sun; Samsung Galaxy S20
I only wish the show had been a little bit longer, as “Nightsky” and “Aluminum Crown” were not heard from the new album. Okay, hearing all but two of the new tracks is great, but I would’ve actually liked to hear more of their older material too, so I think they could have just played longer generally. The new material on the setlist was interspersed with other songs from their previous albums, like “We Are One” and “Essence of Creation” from “Fates” (2020) and “Awaken” from “Towards the Light” (2015), but it would’ve been awesome to get a few more songs in there, especially since they didn’t have an encore in their set.
On the Friday morning after the show, I was pondering about how great of a time I had, leaving me to write a little something about why I think Crimson Sun deserves more attention, but suffice to say, I think these guys are one of the best bands that Finland has to offer at the moment, so I hope people give their new album a spin and I hope more shows are coming up in the future.
Setlist
The Mark Stays On
Strive
Retrospectator
Feed the Fire
Sailing Home
Sorrowbreaker
Neon Lights
We Are One
Awaken
The Tide
Sylvan
Essence of Creation
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