ALESTORM

Avast!  Shiver me timbers! How’s abit of pirate metal in the Pacific Northwest for ye?

This month of April, we will be getting our fill of Folk, Pirate Metal and Viking Metal in the Pacific Midwest.   Tonight’s show is with Glyph, Elvenking and Alestorm and all are land ahoy at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.   Later this month we get Korpiklaani, Visions of Atlantis, Amon Amarth and thereafter Windrose.  Loudflash.com will be in the ol’crows nest and spouting ye stories and photo booty for all of them!

Tonight, we have headliners Alestorm to talk about as theses scallywags hail from Scotland.   They are a five piece consisting of Christopher Bowes (Vocals, Keytar), Gareth Murdock (bass), Peter Alcom (drums) , Elliot Vernon (Keyboards, backing vocals) and Máté Bodor (guitars, backing vocals).

They have produced 7 full length albums and 6 EPs, with the latest recording being a EP called Voyage of a Dead Marauder that was just released a few weeks back in March of 2024.  I might add that this latest EP is fabulous, as I gave it a few listens and highly recommend it.

Upon looking at the stage, they are blowing up a humongous inflatable rubber duck, normally where the drummer is centered in the middle of the stage.  Can you imagine what the drummer thought of this stage plan for the first time?  Having his place taken by a big rubber duck?  I bet that duck has its own fanbase as it got wack of cheers and chants as it was inflated.

These whelps hit the stage at 10:30pm, which is pretty late for a show for a Monday, and start off with “Keelhaulted”.   There is a fast polka-like beat on this one that gets the audience jumping right away and singing along with the chorus “yo ho ho!”.   Then on to “No Grave but the Sea”, which is a more of a metallic song where we hear more of Máté’s guitar work.

The SOLD OUT Commodore was already steaming from a incredible performance from Elvenking as the relentless party atmosphere engulfs fans with more accordion spiced (well from a keyboard at least) folk metal like “The Sunk’n Norwegian”, “Alestorm”, “Under Blackened Waters”.   Thereafter, at song 6 with another catchy one that has the fans in a drunken disco with glee is with  “Hangover”, which is a cover song from Taio Cruz.  I think Alestorm’s spin on that is a blast, and fits rather well in their repertoire tonight.

These guys don’t dress the part though, with exception of lead singer Christopher who wears a plaid kilt which is not too swash buckling but unlike say Visions of Atlantis who take that a little farther.  The rest of the guys are pretty much in party clothes you would see at a frat party.

Song 7 literally hits home for all of us here in Canada from the new EP Voyage of Dead Marauder.  “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate” about a Saskatchewan farmer losing his farm to the bank and getting screwed by the government.  So he decides to become a pirate on the Saskatchewan River and steal grain and barley on the way to Saskatoon.  Too funny and the lyrics are very relatable to everyone in this Canadian  mosh pit.

“Wenches & Mead” from 2008’s first album, Captain Morgan’s Revenge was a very unique version this time around.  Christopher sings the last half of the song in dog language and barks the rest of the song.  Crazy.

Song 11, we got another new one off the new EP, with “Voyage of the Dead Marauder”.  This sea shanty on the recording has Patty Gurdy singing on it with them, but tonight we get Barbara Blackthorne from the band Empress.  Her voice is just about identical to Patty’s so don’t fret!  She does a great job at it.

Another highlight this night at song 15 was P.A.R.T.Y. and the Commodore gets it roof blown off with the entire dance floor jumping in their glory.  It’s no wonder this show is sold out, and on a MONDAY, near 11:30 pm, and the place is still packed.  Do these people not work?

After 1741 (The Battle of Cartagena), and Shit Boat, the band takes a breather and the audience hangs in there for 3 more with “Drink”, a return of Barbara with them on “Zombies ate My Pirate Ship”  and lastly their most crude song with “Fucked With an Anchor” to end the almost exhausting 20 song set.

This was an incredibly impressive performance from Alestorm tonight.  IF I had one minor beef, it would be that we didn’t get their latest hit “Uzbekistan” from the new EP which is a super fun brain worm song. However,  Alestorm has definitely put itself on the treasure map for me this night along with their stage antics, and sing along chorus’s that put the fans in a frenzy.   With the folk metal shows coming this month, this one will be a hard one to follow.  OMG see this one!