As most of you probably know, Valfar, the lead vocalist from Windir, tragically died early this year. The rest of the band wished to honor him by arranging a final concert along with the release of their fifth, and last, album. This concert was to be held on Valfar's birthday, 3rd of September.

The concert's lineup consisted of Mindgrinder, Finntroll, Enslaved and finally, Windir, promising to be a very excellent night. Which it was.

I've only heard a few songs by Mindgrinder before, and they proved to be a very good liveband, though the sound could use some tuning, as seems to be the problem with all concerts in Rockefeller. The guitars seemed to blend with the vocals, making it hard to distinguish one from another. You couldn't even hear the bass, but the drums were somewhat ok. The crowd didn't exactly get going during this particular band either, but all in all, it was pretty much decent.

Next up was Finntroll, and most of the crowd, including me, seemed to enjoy this one . Serving one hit after the other, I almost forgot to take pictures . My two favourite tunes from this band was Jaktens Tid, a most definitive crowd pleaser. Not to mention their dedicating Ending to Valfar, and their cover of Dauden by Windir, which both got the entire crowd going. Impressive. However, the sound was, yet again, not much. The drums were pretty ok, but again, the vocals and guitars just blended together (except for a few places, where Wilska delivered a bad ass growl). Another problem was that you could barely hear the synth going, it simply drowned; which is a very vital part of Finntroll. It delivers the entire folkish feel to their music. After their last song , which was Ending by Windir (loved that one) , I drank up my beer and went out for a cigarette. Outside I suddenly saw Tapio Wilska, Finntroll's vocalist, and decided to talk to him a bit. For his part, the concert was better than presumed.
In many ways, this was a great concert, even though the sound was as it was.

When I went inside, Enslaved had already begun playing. My very first impression was that the bass drums REALLY kicked. I mean, I talked to a lot of people who started complaining. I didn't, with me enjoying of that kind of sound, and it didn't really seem to kill the other instruments. They delivered a few good songs, and since I'm not a big fan, it didn't really do it for me.
One thing I really took a note (and picture!) of, was how Ivar Bjørnson (guitars) had the best powerstance I've ever seen. Apart from that, the concert seemed to do the trick for their fans, but there was nothing spectacular.

Finally, Windir came on. I had been waiting all night for this one. Introduced by two drummers, immediately followed by Windir, things already started taking off. Excellent pyrotechnics triggered at the right spots also added to the feel of the concert, making it a lot more interesting than the three previous bands, even though they were good, too. Personally, I was a bit let down when they didn't play Todeswalzer, which was the song I first heard by Windir, but their playing of 1184 and Heidra (both sent shivers down my spine). The clean vocals were handled by Cosmocrator, and he delivered pretty well. The other guest vocalist, Valfar's brother, Vegard, has got to be the biggest, baddest vocalist I have ever seen, looking something like The Hulk. The rest of the vocals were done by Windir's lead guitar player, Strom.
The sound of this particular concert was actually pretty decent (perhaps because the sound technicians had the other bands to adjust and experiment with beforehand?). But being Rockefeller, it seems they will never get the sound exactly right, but it works for concerts like these.
Apart from that, something else worth noting was a series of pictures of Val far. This was definately the best band tonight, the crowd was in a total riot, and the show was just awesome.

To sum it all up: A great experience, and I'm glad I got to go to this FINAL Windir concert. I'd like to conclude this review by saying:

Rest In Peace, Valfar.
You will be missed.

Written by Michael Kjelbergvik Thung