It’s been a minute since Firewind went on tour Stateside, but the long-lived Greek power-metal phenoms are back and making their mark as direct support for the Finnish Viking crazies in Turisas. We were there for their New York stop at Gramercy Theatre on Wednesday, and between those two and the bill’s cool avant-garde curveball in California-based opener Stolen Babies, it was certainly an entertaining time.
Stolen Babies’ nightmarish cabaret and sharp rhythmic turns did a fine job winning over a more old-school crowd, with impressively idiosyncratic singer/accordionist Dominique Persi standing in stark contrast to the guitar-dueling keyboard leads of Firewind’s Bob Katsionis (of course, when the guitarist you’re tasked with dueling every night is a virtuoso like Gus G, you’d better know how to shred some keys). Turisas never fails to impress live, however, and the band’s warpaint and strong hooks helped explain their intensely devoted following to the uninitiated. With more than a few people in face paint of their own and drinking out of horns, the crowd clearly got every ounce of the Viking power they paid for.
Photographer Derek Soto from Sinestra Studios was on hand to document the entire evening. Check out the gallery after the jump for pics from all three bands’ sets.
