Line-up

Headliner
Apocalyptica Last time in SF Bay Area: 1 year ago

Venue

Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts

10 10th St, 94607, Oakland, CA, US

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Additional details

Doors open: 20:00

Concert in your area for Metal, Classical, Pop, and Rock.

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Apocalyptica biography

Formed in 1993, Apocalyptica come from Helsinki, Finland. Consisting of classically trained cello players, they go on to create unique pieces of metal music.

The formation of the band came about when four very talented cellists came together to play covers of Metallica songs at the Sibelius Academy. In 1996, Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lotjonen, Max Lilja and Antero Manninen were the bands line up and they managed to release their first studio album titled 'Plays Metallica by Four Cellos' this album only featured covers of Metallica songs. Later albums would see original releases by the band.

By 2007 the band had successfully released their sixth studio album 'Worlds Collide' which followed suit of their prior albums and contained both original songs and covers of songs which had already been established.

Apocalyptica have worked alongide many musicians including: Corey Taylor form Slipknot, Stone Sour, Adam Gontier, Gavin Rossdale and Metallica themselves. The band performed live with Metallica in celebration of Metallica's 30th Anniversary.

Since the start of the band two of the original members have left, those being Max Lilja and Antero Manninen. New members have therefore joined, those being: Mikko Siren and Perttu Kivilaakso.

In 2008 Apocalyptica became the first Finnish band to top the US Billboard Rock Chart as they became no.1 with their song ' Don't care' This song has been incredibly successful for the band has even featured on episode 16, season 8 of the television series Smallville.

As of 2014, Apocalyptica have released 8 albums, it has been revealed that they will release their 8th studio album in 2015, the title is currently unknown.

Live reviews

Apocalyptica is one of the most unique and interesting metal bands out there, reason being that the band consists of all cello players, except the drummer who gives the band’s music a much needed punch in sound. All of the band members are also classically trained so you know you are in for a stellar performance when you see these guys live. The band initially started out as a Metallica tribute band playing all of their classic hits with some other cover songs thrown in such as Pantera’s “Domination”. Currently the band performs original songs that they composed, as well as still playing some cover songs. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that a band consisting of members who play classical instruments would want to perform in a metal band, as much of metal music has a strong classical influence.
Apocalyptica is able to create a loud, rich sound with their cellos. They run them through distortion pedals, and play rapid rhythms reminiscent of thrash metal. Although most of Apolcalyptica’s sound encompasses the metal genre, they have sometimes veered from that style and have incorporated Middle Eastern and world music into their performance. The band also incorporates theatrics that one would expect to see at a metal show into their performance. The members all have long hair that they shake around stage when head-banging, layers of fog fill the stage, and intense strobe lights flash to the rhythm of the music. The band is increasingly growing a larger fan base with already having sold four million albums. They have also gained the respect of many notable musicians who have collaborated with them in the past including Joe Duplantier from Gojira and Gavin Rossdale from Bush. Apocalyptica is guaranteed to put on an intense performance that is full of energy and that is the perfect representation of a sophisticated metal show.

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