LIVE REPORT: Redemption Festival at the Tivoli Theatre

The crowds congregated in their masses to spend a sunny Saturday in the Tivoli theatre, relishing in all that is dark and heavy with a consortium of new and well-established talent. Bringing their A-game in support of their latest effort “Exile Amongst the Ruins”, Primordial give a passionate and rousing homecoming performance.

With such a cracking line up it is to no surprise that the venue has a considerable amount of pint-swilling attendees by the time Dublin act Death the Leveller take the stage. Opening the days proceedings with their sprawling epics, vocalist Dennis Dowling comments on how strange it is to see people in the Tivoli at that time of day. Fighting a self-proclaimed hangover, Dowling puts serious emotional intensity into his delivery on ‘How to Break Pernicious Spells’, successfully captivating the room. Off to a flying start, the crowd are quickly at the hands of Dublin death metal act Vircolac. A brutal rendition of ‘The Cursed Trails of the Dementer’ is followed by a dedication to everyone sinful - a suiting tribute for the day residing. Followed by new song ‘The Long Trail’, vocalist Darragh O’Laoghaire apprises the audience of how the track is about the divisions of Irish that fought in the first World War. Unfortunately the sound for their set was not as clear as the aforementioned act, but did not detract Viroclac from giving a pulverising performance.

By the time Mourning Beloveth take the stage, the room has filled out considerably and the crowd have loosened from their weekday shackles into pure enjoyment (beer may have helped). The Irish veterans take the stage to much appraisal, and immediately dive into a tirade of pummelling rhythms with ‘The Words that Crawled’. Always an interesting act to experience live, Mourning Beloveth galvanize diverse crowd reactions due to the non-linear atmosphere their glooming anthems curate. Frank and Pauric’s pummelling guitars command the audience into a unified frenzy of headbanging and horn-throwing throughout. Finishing with ‘Nothing Has a Centre’ the band vacate the stage leaving the audience chanting the tracks brooding melody - always a good sign.

When it’s time for our headliners to take the stage, the room is electric with anticipation for the homecoming of Ireland’s metal titans after their overseas release. The sense of longing and excitement is quickly transformed to triumphant euphoria when A A Nemthanga and the rest of Primordial walk onstage. There is a proud sense of ownership and pride for our homegrown acts that make it big elsewhere, that makes it even more special when they come home to play. The crowd go practically ape-shit during new track ‘Nail their Tongues’ and classic belter ‘Gods to the Godless’. The emotive intensity of Nemthanga is unrivaled, almost taking time to captivate each member of the audience at a time - between copious swigs of red wine.

“In this video, this man shoots me in the head. Something people have wanted to do for a very long time!” Nemthanga proclaims before they charge into a gripping performance of ‘Exile Amongst the Ruins’. The new album sounds great live, with a stadium sized sound to match the bands larger than life personas. A relentless and mighty rendition of black metal classic ‘Journeys End’ brings the crowd to a unified roar, with Nemthanga stating how 20 years feels like yesterday. Closing with titanic track ‘Upon our Spiritual Deathbed’ and fan favourite ‘Empire Falls’ the crowds commendation is profound and seems to say - you’ll never beat the Irish.

Photography by Simon Ward