No mic sound???? Oh crap, that's the first thought I got when the lights went out and Israel's Power Metal crew
DESERT hit the stage, and no, that's not a joke.
DESERT's
Alexei Raymar sang the first song without us being able to hear him, the fault as it was later assessed falls on the sheer amount of instruments that
ELUVEITIE play during their show, but that's truly the only negative of the entire night, the Reading 3 crew are professionals and within 10 minutes the sound was perfected and didn't fail us again.
DESERT put on a fantastic opening show full of energy, their set included their most popular and well known track "Massada Will Never Fall" and a surprising cover of AMON AMARTH song, "Guardians of Asgaard", with guest vocalist Yotam "Defiler" Avni of Israel's PREY FOR NOTHING. DESERT once again proved why they are Israel's finest, working through technical difficulties and putting in a fantastic and energetic set.
But the main course was still to come, as the intro played and
ELUVEITIE took the stage the crowd went frantic,
"Helveitos" opened the bands set and the audience showed the band exactly why they came here, as
Chrigel Glanzmann showed his excitement over being in Israel, the crowd didn't even think of dying down. The band pulled no punches as they went through their heaviest and best. A real highlight was
Anna Murphey's rendition of
"A Rose of Epona". Frontman
Chrigel Glanzmann never let the audience down and kept urging the already wild crowd to go even wilder including what was probably the first ever wall of death I've ever seen in an Israeli club.
Towards the latter half of their set the bass drum gave out (just proof of how hard this band played) and while the drum was being changed Anna Murphy once again took the lead performing "Scorched Earth" on her own. The band said goodnight after "Alesia" but they weren't done yet, ELUVEITIE came back for an energy bomb of an encore with the highlight being an incredible rendition of "Inis Mona" a song which totally blew up the Reading 3.
This was without a doubt a fantastic show, if you've never seen
ELUVEITIE I strongly suggest you try and catch them when they are in a venue near you. There's nothing quite like seeing 8 musicians on stage playing instruments from flutes to bagpipes and even the hurdy gurdy, a great show. I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank
Yishai Shwartz and the entire
Raven Metal and Reading 3 crew for their professionalism and for providing us with such a great show.
Setlist:
1, Helvetios
2. Luxtos
3. Neverland
4. Uis Elveti
5. Thousandfold
6. A Rose for Epona
7. Meet the Enemy
8. The Uprising
9. Slania's Song
10. Kingdom Come Undone
11. Havoc
12. Tarvos
13. Quoth the Raven
14. (Do)Minion
15. Scorched Earth (while fixing the drum pedal)
16. Uxellodunon
17. Alesia
18. Encore:
19. Nil
20. Inis Mona
21. Omnos
