Amaranthe at the Opera House

Swedish heavy metal band Amaranthe brought their Maximalism tour to the Toronto Opera House on March 5th, 2017.

The supporting acts for the evening where: Failure Anthem, Citizen Zero, Cypher 16 and Smash.

Waiting backstage to conduct an interview I could hear the opening acts talking about how the members from Amaranthe were so kind and friendly. I got to witness that first hand as front woman Elize Ryd walked in with her huge smile, beaming from ear to ear and giving me a genuine hug. I thought WOW! I was surprised by her very kind and gracious demeanor. I would later find out during the interview just how humbled they are about their success.

I had only discovered Amaranthe during their Massive Addictive Tour. I was asked to cover for another photographer and agreed. Watching them perform gave me chills. I don’t generally experience that especially since I was not being familiar with any of their material, however that day forward I became a fan.

They are notable for having 3 lead vocalists: Elize Ryd, Jake E and Hendrik Englund Wilhernsson, each presenting a different vocal style. Their music is a mixture of melodic, fast paced, techno with a metal sound.

Fittingly the show started off with the song Maximize. Amaranthe came out and displayed their typical super high energy show, with kicks, simultaneous jumps and of course the headbanging. Boomerang was next, this song is their official release for the Maximalism album and the crowd got excited.

The 6th song wasTrinity, I felt like the crowd was more familiar with their material from the Massive Addictive album. There was a good variety from the last 3 albums, keeping the audience engaged.

Midway through the set, they slowed it down with the song Endlessly. A beautiful heartfelt song performed by Elize. She dedicated this song to her fans.

Drummer Morten Lowe Sorensen performed a super kickass drum solo. His skills and timing were impeccable. For once it didn’t feel like a drum solo that was popped into the set as a time filler.

Between their set and the encore, bassist Johan Andreassen came out to entertain the crowd with his “who gives a f*ck” attitude, while Elize was doing a wardrobe change. He told jokes and engaged with the crowd.

Out of the 4 songs performed during the encore, 3 were from the Massive Addictive Album: Digital World, Dynamite and the crowd favorite Drop Dead Cynical.

One thing that stood out to me about this performance was how each member from the band would make prolonged eye contact with individual fans. It felt like they were performing specifically for that person at that moment. It was something I noticed immediately and witnessed throughout the entire show.

I loved the show and Amaranthe’s everlasting energy.