Hailstorm!

Raise your pints!

It is June, 2010 AD and Scottish Heavy Metal pirates ALESTORM embark across the seven seas to the lonesome island of Australia for their cleverly and very appropriately named, Plunder Down Under Tour. For Alestorm’s first time in Australia, the turn out at their first show in Perth was impressive, pulling in a very strong number of boozy metal fans. There was also a nice collaboration of people who dressed up as pirates for the night. It’s great to see people getting into the Pirate mood.

The night started at about 8pm when local vegan beat down band BORN INTO SUFFERING opened up the stage. I was in the lounge at the time, but the chugging riffs and fast paced drums that make BIS could be heard comfortably through the PA system. The only kink in the sounds all night was halfway through their anti Sam Neil song which resulted in a short intermission.

Up next was another local act; the almighty warriors, CLAIM THE THRONE. The Viking themed Folk Metal band is definitely the most suitable support act for Alestorm imaginable. Claim The Throne are an excellent live show. They chug down beer (ale, sorry) through funnels mid song, have ridiculous song concepts, (“This song is about a Minstrel. He was really short, lived a long time ago, committed suicide and turned into a lake.”) and have a powerful stage presence aided by their chainmail, blood and croaky voices. Lord Jim never seemed to stop milling.
The biggest cheers came from the track, Set Sail On Ail as the crowd raised their pints before consuming. The crowd interaction received created an immense atmosphere with shouting “HEY”, drinking and plenty of headbanging. Claim The Throne’s new drummer, Oscarius impressed me with his lightning fast double kicks. Last time I saw CTT live (several years ago I might add), it was with their previous drummer and I have also noticed the band as a whole tune up very neatly.
Make sure you check those guys out!

And at about 10pm, the fearless scallywags ALESTORM came on stage to an epic composition of the Pirates of The Caribbean theme tune. Very fitting! The band opened with The Quest which immediately set the mood for the rest of the night. The yelling from the track’s chorus coming from the crowd was intense even if it was a little bit drunken.
During the whole set, there were shiploads of downing ale, headbanging, yelling and raising of horns into the air.
Alestorm’s set consisted of a very satisfying balance between both albums, with each album showing equal delight from the excited crowd.
Several stand-outs of the night included;
Wenches & Mead with the chorus blaring from every single person’s lung in the room and quite possibly the loudest set of “HEY! HEY!” ’s in live concert history.
Nancy The Tavern Wench which slowed the pace down due it’s more melodic (drunk pub song) style music. There was plenty of beers going down during this track.
Black Sails At Midnight with it’s plenty of headbanging.
Over The Seas. Need I say more?
Set Sail And Conquer had plenty of drunk mosh and a huge cheer during the drum solo, which Peter extended quite nicely.
Keelhauled had a very nice response with it’s chant-based chorus. Not to mention Chris’ introduction to the track: “This song is about drinking beer, fucking girls and slaying sea monsters!”
Leviathan as being one of the latest tracks, 99% of the crowd was completely smashed. How was the mosh? Well, image lots of hairy metal heads in a pub singing, headbanging and raising their fists in the air… A lot of fun!
Black Sails At Midnight had a wall of death. Or at least an attempt. The drunk crowd made it extremely uncoordinated, but I jumped in and it was a good laugh.

Come to think of it, there wasn’t a single song on the set list that didn’t satisfy.
Chris’ vocals stayed sharp and his comments in between songs earned laughs, cheers and pints.
“You are all my friends. Especially if you have breasts.”
“Do you guys call this Winter? Do you guys call this cold? You would freeze your tits off if you went to Scotland.”
“PERTH! We are Alestorm! (Slight pause) From Perth!”
“Can we stay here?”
“Who wants to get drunk with us after the show? Stick around!”
“There is only a limited number of songs we can remember. The alcohol. It does things.”

Chris’ Keytar skills never failed as he played amazing solos and very piratey melodies.
But the real shredder was Dani Evans with his face-melting licks raising horns and pints all throughout the night.

The set was played really tight, very organised and co-ordinated. Which was impressive considering the amount of alcohol consumption that was going on.
The stage presence remained intense throughout the whole night and nobody really wanted the night to end.

They closed with Wolves of The Sea and as the track finished, the crowd broke out into a “ALESTORM! ALESTORM!…” chant in the hopes for an encore. But unfortunately, the 90 minute show had to suffice as the Amplifier staff played Lady Gaga through the PA.

All in all, it was a great show. Definitely the most chilled metal concert I have ever been to.
I hope they return to our warm waters soon!