Tales of an Amorphic Destiny

The Melloboat – Stockholm to Helsinki & Back Again

March 10th, 2008 at 10:00pm James

To celebrate the 21st anniversary of Swedish prog record label Mellotronen Records, owner Stefan organised a gig that we knew we couldn’t miss. Dubbed the "Melloboat", it was to be a festival of prog rock and metal aboard a 2-day cruise, from Stockholm to Helsinki and back again.

Katatonia were on the bill, as were Opeth who would be playing their first gig with their new, revamped lineup. Other prog bands of interest were Anekdoten and Leafhound, however the biggest surprise of the lineup was the inclusion of cult British folk/prog group Comus, who last played together way back in 1973!

After another painfully early Ryanair flight we arrived in a little airfield 100km outside Stockholm. There we met an Aussie guy Adam and his girlfriend Jen who were also there for the cruise, as well as a group of English guys who were held up by their mate who’d somehow lost his passport between getting on the plane and getting off again. The following day he found it stashed in a "secret" pocket of his jacket, but that’s another story…

The bus into Stockholm was full before us Melloboaters could get on, so we scored a complimentary maxi-taxi for the 1 1/2 hour journey into town. After a quick bite to eat in a Mexican restaurant, (Swedes seem quite keen on Mexican food – there were Mexican restaurants all over Stockholm!) we made our way down to the ferry port and onto the massive Silja Symphony. We found our cabin overlooking the boat’s promenade and settled in to catch up on a couple of hours sleep.

Feeling refreshed after our nap, we made our way down to the main auditorium where the gig was getting underway. The venue itself was quite surreal – every bit the cruise ship lounge bar, but with prog rock!

We got ourselves some cider and settled in to watch the second half of Anekdoten’s set. I’d only recently started listening to their music but was glad to hear a number of tunes that I recognised. Their live sound was great, especially the mellotron which really filled the room with sound – a great way to begin proceedings.

After Anekdoten we secured ourselves a perfect spot for Opeth, even though they weren’t on for quite a while. We knocked back another cider or two from our comfy lounge on the first balcony as the room gradually filled with people eager for Michael Akerfeldt and Co’s first gig in a long time.

Of course they didn’t disappoint, the finalised new lineup sounded quite tight and clearly enjoyed being on stage again. Even though the festival had a prog leaning they didn’t shy away from very heavy tracks like Master’s Apprentices, Serenity Painted Death and Demon of the Fall, which all sounded fantastic.

We got a few special tracks too. A reworked, trippy version of Harvest was very appropriate for the prog vibe of the gig and new song "Heir Apparent" featured some extremely cool riffs that everyone seemed to dig a lot.

After Opeth we got some food and then went down to the bar stage with Adam and Jen to see Qomph. They sounded cool enough – I won’t be rushing out to buy their albums but they made a good accompaniment to a few more drinks before heading back to the main auditorium for the Mats Morgan all-star team.

This super group of various Swedish musicians jammed away on all sorts of stuff, from free-form jazz to Frank Zappa. The music was quite cool, more from a skill and musicianship perspective than as memorable songs. After another drink or two hanging out with the English blokes from the plane we hit the hay sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

The next day the ship had arrived in Helsinki, so we ventured out on foot to see the city. We’d read that snow was expected in Finland and it was nice to see white winter landscapes once more…

We walked around town and eventually found a nice little bar/restaurant where we had some lunch. Afterwards we saw the ice rink in the town square and the enormous Helsinki Cathedral before it was time to set sail once more.

The journey out of Helsinki made for a relaxing start to the evening. We found some seats by the window and had a drink while we watched the many islands of the archipelago float past, in particular the very impressive fortress of Suomenlinna. This chilled-out mood continued as we went to watch legendary keyboardist Bo Hansson. Kicking back with a cider in the cruise lounge watching Bo’s funky hammond organ stylings was a very nice way to get the musical ball rolling.

After a quick meal it was time for the most important part of the festival – the reunion of Comus! The auditorium filled to capacity – Opeth frontman and renowned Comus fan Mikael Akerfeldt was standing just by our vantage point on the stairs. Many people on the Melloboat had come from all over the world just for this moment, and so there was a great deal of anticipation in the air.

Fortunately the group of English psychadelic/prog/folk musicians that took the stage to wild applause sounded like they hadn’t been apart for 1 year, let alone 35! At first we were sure that somebody was standing in for Bobbie Watson as she looked no older than in the Comus publicity shots from 1972, but once she started to sing there was no question it was her – exactly the same as on the record!

As they broke into "Song to Comus" there was a tangible magic in the room – to hear this music live was beyond belief. Roger Wooton delivered an admirable vocal performance, using all of the crazy animalistic voices and noises that give the First Utterance album it’s utterly unique and disquietening vibe. The music was tight and Glenn Goring was simply mindblowing on his 12-string acoustic.

We were lucky enough to hear just about the entirety of First Utterance, standouts being Drip Drip

, (a personal favourite and the song from which Opeth’s My Arms Your Hearse is quoted) and The Herald, which I’d really been hoping they’d play. It’s an amazing piece of music and seeing/hearing it live was a very emotional experience.

The gig was rounded out with The Prisoner and then what was introduced as the only cover the band ever played – Shiny Boots of Leather by the Velvet Underground. Throughout the set several of the band members expressed how amazing it was for them to be back together again, especially to such a reception. They all seemed quite blown away by it all and genuinely thrilled to be back.

Just as it looked like the set was done, Glenn asked the crowd if it would be ok to reprise Song to Comus. It was almost unbelievable – we were going to get to hear it again! After this final song they left the stage, the crowd yelling for more long after the house lights were back on.

Truly an honour and a privilege to be present for such a historic occasion.

I was in something of a daze after Comus – it was such an amazing spectacle that afterwards we just sat down with a couple of ciders and let it all sink in. After a visit to the merchandise and the bar stage, we ended up back at the auditorium for the next highlight of the evening – Katatonia!

It’s worth noting at this point that since before Comus played the sea had been getting rougher and by the time Katatonia took the stage the boat was rocking quite a bit. I thought it was great fun – it reminded me that I was actually out at sea watching awesome bands, but there were one or two green-faced land lubbers about who hadn’t quite found their sea legs and may also have been feeling the combined affects of seasickness and excessive alcohol consumption.

Katatonia played a typically awesome set, especially after they got warmed up and used to the fact that the stage was rocking from side to side! Plenty of tracks from their entire career, rounded off with Mikael Akerfeldt taking the stage for a rendition of Murder - very cool indeed.

We’d hooked up with Adam and Jen again and so we kicked back for the last band of the Melloboat – Leaf Hound. This was my first time hearing their music and I later found that the band, (originally active back in the 70’s) was actually a group of new musicians with original singer Pete French. They had some great grooves and musically they were outstanding.

French’s voice was really powerful and in another cool Melloboat one-off, Per Lindgren of Opeth joined the band on keyboards. Special mention must also go to guitarist Luke Rayner – Adam and I looked/listened on in disbelief as he effortlessly pulled off perfect rhythm sections indispersed  with intricate solos and all with a guitar tone that was nothing short of phenomenal.

And so the Melloboat proper came to a close. We hung around drinking and chatting for a while longer but given that we had to vacate our cabins reasonably early when the boat reached Stockholm the next morning, we decided to get at least a couple of hours sleep.

The next day was spent slightly bleary-eyed in Stockholm waiting for our late evening flight. The old town was as beautiful as we remembered it from our last visit and we were pleased to see that the shop where we bought our viking helmet punch bowl is still there and still selling them at extortionate prices!

Back in London in the wee hours of the morning the whole thing seemed like it had been an amazing dream. A really special experience and one we won’t forget – thanks Stefan and all at Mellotronen records for making it possible. There’s a few more photos here.

Entry Filed under: Europe, Gigs