Twilight Burials Tour
Haarlem, The Netherlands

17th of February 2023

After being postponed for a long time, Katatonia and Sólstafir finally were able to start their Twilight Burials Tour. As support they brought along SOM from the United States. On Friday the 17th of February, the bands played in a sold out Patronaat in Haarlem, The Netherlands.

As I entered the venue around 6.15 PM, (doors were open since 6PM), the floor wasn’t as packed as I expected yet. This gave me some time to check out the merch, which was located at the balcony. Sadly, maybe because of the delayed tour, the bands did not bring any specific tour merchandise. Still, the t-shirts had some nice designs and it’s always good to support the bands you like with some merch sales. I still had some time left to grab a beer, check out the settings in my camera and play a quick match in Marvel Snap on my phone before SOM kicked the night off around 7PM.

As the venue was slowly filling up, SOM played their hearts out. For me, the band came as a surprise. At some moments the vocals were a bit hard to hear, yet the whole vibe around the music they played was quite something to walk into. SOM’s most recent record, “The Shape of Everything,” can be best described as gloomy and gritty, with hints of doom, mixed with some Deftones. We got treated to three songs of that record, of which the music video for “Wrong” can be found below. Extra respect to SOM’s drummer, who is performing a double duty during this tour. Not only is he drumming, but also provides the lightshow during Katatonia!

After a short break, it was time for Sólstafir to enter the stage. The venue was filled to the brim by now and the Icelanders were cheered on by a roaring crowd. Their latest release, “Endless Twilight of Codependent Love” is filled with tales of murder, suicide and revenge. Most of their songs have Icelandic lyrics, which might make it hard for some fans to sing along, but tonight there was no lack of trying! The energy on stage vibrated into the whole area, as we could feel the emotions flow through us. Lead singer Aðalbjörn “Addi” Tryggvason performs the songs with such passion, it can’t be helped but to stare in amazement.

During the show, one of the fans had the night of her life, as Tryggvason grabbed her phone, started recording and kneeled right in front of her. Moments like this will be remembered by someone forever and this connection with the crowd made the show even more special. Near the end, he also climbed up on the drums! Fan favorites like “Fjara” and “Ótta” were played, during which iit was clear that people didn’t want this night to end.

Not too long ago, Katatonia’s latest record “Sky Void of Stars” was released and it once again set the band into a new direction. This made the Swedes the heaviest sounding band this night. The lighting during the show was adjusted to this it seemed, as the drummer of SOM mostly used dark tones and flashing strobes. Originally, this tour was supposed to be timed during the release of “City Burials,” but now the main focus was on the new record, with a total of five songs played from it.

Sadly, guitarist Anders Nyström could not be there during this tour because of personal family reasons. Katatonia found a great replacement in the form of Nico Elgstrand of Entombed, who did a stellar job.

Lead singer Jonas Renske talked to the crowd a few times, as he mentioned that Haarlem was a beautiful city and how he believed they haven’t performed here yet. He also announced their only hit single, which I think might be the most known song by them, “My Twin”

After a short encore, the night had come to an end way to quickly. For me, highlight of the evening definitely was Sólstafir, and I’m sure the fans who were here this evening had their hearts filled by all performances.

Katatonia and Solstafir feb 2023