Alestorm: The Observatory - Santa Ana, CA - 4/13/24
Ahoy there, Matey’s! The pirate metal band from Scotland known as Alestorm announced their Tour of the Dead Marauder tour which would have them sailing across the USA and Canada. Touring with them is Elvenking and Glyph. More than halfway into the tour, they finally arrived in Santa Ana, California. This is most likely the only band where you’ll see fans show up dressed up as pirates. Southern California was so ready for this show that it sold out ahead of time!
Elvenking is a folk metal band from Italy. In 2023, they released their eleventh album, Reader of the Runes – Rapture. The lights went out and the now fully packed venue cheered with excitement as Elvenking made their way to the stage. The first song performed was “Rapture”, the first song from the newest album. The whole band was happy to be back in the states and you could see it as they had smiles and were happy to play in front of a crowd. They had lots of energy to give, and they showed it as they played songs from throughout their catalog which included Silverseal, “Bride of Night” and “The Hanging Tree.” Fans were actively moshing and even crowd surfers made an appearance. The last song on their set was dedicated to the bands on the tour and, most importantly, the fans. That song was “Elvenlegions.” Elvenking finished their set, then left the stage. An already wild night and the headliner had still yet to play.
Alestorm released their seventh album Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum. The album title is a reference to Iron Maiden’s 1988 album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Alestorm has grown a lot over the years from playing small venues so it’s a huge breath of fresh air to see them playing bigger venues. Even more-so that they’re selling out venues on this tour. Even before doors opened, the line for the show was already huge, so you know fans were more than excited. Alestorm came out and started their show with “Keelhauled,” one of their best and most popular songs. The fans wasted no time in moshing once again and crowd surfers wasted no time in showing up as well. One of the first things you’ll notice is that on stage, Alestorm put up a giant inflatable duck. Has any band you’ve seen live put up a giant duck on stage? I didn’t think so! The party continued as Alestorm played “No Grave but the Sea” and “The Sunk’n Norwegian.” One thing that’s mandatory at an Alestorm show is to get your drink on. Singer Christopher Bowes regularly asked the fans that were drinking to raise their drinks in the air and to drink some more. Alestorm’s songs are super fun and easy to sing along to, so it’s no surprise to hear fans singing along to all the songs. Some of those songs that fans loved singing along to included “Hangover,” “Mexico,” “Wenches & Mead” and “P.A.R.T.Y.” One of the more fun segments of the show was when they played “Nancy the Tavern Wench” and Bowes asked the fans on the floor to get on the ground and row as if they were rowing a boat. It was quite the sight to see so many fans rowing. The last song of the night was “Shit Boat (No Fans)” and it’s one of the most fun songs to sing along to, especially when they chorus is, “Your pirate ship can eat a bag of dicks! Your pirate can eat a giant bag of dicks!” and, naturally, the fans were singing at the top of their lungs. The song ended, Alestorm left the stage, and all seemed quiet. After a few minutes, Alestorm came back out for some encores. Bowes told the audience that Alestorm was here to do one thing and one thing only. That thing was drinking the fans’ beer. The first encore was simply titled “Drink.” Simple, yet effective in getting the fans to both drink more alcohol and to sing along to the catchy chorus. The next encore was “Zombies Ate My Pirate Ship” and for a special guest, they brought out Barbara Blackthorne who sings for the symphonic power metal band, Empress. To end the show, Alestorm played another one of their most popular songs and fun to song along to. The last song was “Fucked with an Anchor.” Bowes told the audience that this last song was how he felt about every single person in the audience. He started singing the song and raised his middle fingers to the audience. The audience responded by raising their middle fingers back to him. This was the last song, so the fans went all out. Between singing along, moshing and crowd surfers, it was a glorious sight. The song ended and Bowes helped himself to the audience by lowering himself to the audience to crowd surf himself to the very back of the venue. A Saturday night was perfect for this pirate metal drinking crew. So, if any of you Scallywags see Alestorm coming to your area, be sure to get your tickets before it sells out and be cast into Davey Jones’ locker. Get drunk or die!
Alestorm
Elvenking
