Another trip over to Manchester had me seeing one of the most intriguing and impressive bands I’ve heard of live.
Heilung are a collective more so than a band, and they label their concerts not as concerts, but as rituals. Their music style is incredibly hard to pin down but could be described as ancient Nordic style music.
They sing in a range of languages from English to Proto-Nordic, and many languages in between, all from around the Northern Europe to Scandinavian area.
The concert opened with what is dubbed the “Opening Ceremony”, where all the performers gather in a circle and chant out a long saying establishing that all humans are brothers under the one great being.
It was at this point I was wondering if I was joining a cult of some sort, but after the rest of the concert I wouldn’t mind joining whatever they have going on there.
The theatre was engulfed in the burning sage they were wafting from the stage and throughout the performance.
All of the performers were dressing in ritual gear, including many parts made out of deer bone, most of the bone used is animal but there is one human forearm bone used as an instrument in the mix somewhere, and I am afraid to question where they got it.
Stage Setup: 10/10, the stage setup consisted of various performers on large horse skin drums towards the back, and the main performers out front with microphone stands made of bone and wood, behind the stage was large swathes of trees and bushes. This setup fit extremely well into the theming and atmosphere of the concert.
Artist Performance: 10/10, a group about twenty-strong filled with outstanding performers, the lead and side vocalists sang in both angelic engulfing voices and deep guttural throat singing. The range of instruments went from simple drums up to harps made of bone and large deep echoing drums that gave a great backbone to the songs.
Support: 10/10, the support was a group called Eivor, all of whom hail from the Faroe Islands, not somewhere I would expect a band playing to 3500 people to be from. The lead singer has one of the most versatile voices I’ve ever seen, going from deep throat singing to soaring angelic vocals as she delivered a mix of original songs and ancient Faroese hymns.
Merchandise: 10/10, although I may be financially recovering from this merchandise stand for the next few weeks, they had probably the best variety of merch I have seen at a gig, from smaller tank tops, standard t shirts, tour t shirts, standard zip hoodies, zip hoodies with fully embroidered designs all over, large woollen cloaks and even a fully woollen jumper, also featuring CDs and Records of all their albums this was a fairly stacked merchandise stand, with prices to match.
Crowd: 10/10, my first concert I ventured to alone and it wasn’t long before I had become part of a solid group of people who all had also only met each other that night, we talked and sang and danced like friends that had known each other for years. One of the warmest feeling and most welcoming crowds I have been in the throughout my time of concert going.
Overall: 10/10, this is not a rating I give lightly, but this is also not a concert I find easy to describe, the combination of the atmosphere, the ritual performance, the ancient music, the deep guttural voices clashing against the high angelic voices, the shouting small army equipped with shields and spears. Truly an astonishing act to see live, and although they are disbanding later this year, they will be back and hopefully better than ever.
Next up: Twenty One Pilots, 3Arena Dublin, 9/5/25
Jays Concert Blog 