That's A Wrap! The 'Apocalyptica Play Metallica Vol. 2 Tour' Concludes At Bayou Music Center On March 8th

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All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography

Spring has arrived in Houston, TX and with it the 2025 concert season is sprouting. Your truly has 4 show reviews lined up for your reading pleasure this month, the first being the one you are currently feasting your eyes upon. Finnish symphonic metal cellists APOCALYPTICA, having been out on the road in North America for a month long jaunt dubbed the 'Apocalyptica Plays Metallica Vol. 2 Tour' brought things to a close on Saturday night, March 8th at Bayou Music Center in downtown Houston. Also along for the entirety of the tour was ALICE COOPER guitarist phenom Nita Strauss who was more than up to the task of scorching the crowd as the opener. It was also only the third time in 40 years of living here that I can recall ever being in this venue where there was seating on the floor. In fact the venue has had more names than times I've seen seats on the floor (Aerial Theater, Verizon Wireless Theater, Revention and Bayou Music Center)!.

Nita and her crew, drummer and husband Josh Villalta, Johnny D Young on rhythm guitar, Katt Scarlett on keyboards and part-time vocalist Kasey Karlsen. I say 'part-time' because for those of you who haven't heard any of Strauss' material it's mostly instrumental with a smattering of vocal songs. You may have noticed that I didn't mention a bassist....that's right, because there was no bassist and honestly you could not tell one bit as the band roared to life with "Momentum", a completely apropos opener as the grabbed the night by the throat with a track from her most recent album The Call Of The Void, one of 7 numbers they would include in the night's 10 song set. The band continued with "Our Most Desperate Hour", "Summer Storm" and "Mariana Trench" as Nita engaged with the crowd often between songs, showing no signs of wear from a month-long run.

Her evening concluded with a set of 4 tracks by bringing out vocalist Kasey Karlsen (DEADLANDS) for Nita's big anthem hit, "Victorious" and then "Digital Bullets", "Dead Inside" and "The Wolf You Feed" in conclusion. Nita had stated on social media a couple of nights earlier that these would be her last shows for a while so one can assume that she's going to take a much needed break before getting on to recording a follow-up album. Based on this night's performance, she has definitely earned it!

Setlist:

• "Momentum"
• "Our Most Desperate Hour"
• "Summer Storm"
• "Mariana Trench"
• "Scorched"
• "The Quest" / Drum Solo
• "Victorious" (Kasey Karlsen Vocals)
• "Digital Bullets" (Kasey Karlsen Vocals)
• "Dead Inside" (Kasey Karlsen Vocals)
• "The Wolf You Feed" (Kasey Karlsen Vocals)

Photographer's Note: As a photographer (and I'm sure any photographer that has shot Nita will agree) she has got to be one of the most photogenic musicians around. Everything from her looks to her stage presence and poise screams 'Take my picture!' Now APOCALYPTICA has been around for over 30 years now and is comprised of 3 classically trained cellists, founder Eicca Toppinen, Perttu Kivilaakso and Paavo Lötjönen who, like Eicca, has been with the group from the beginning. They started as basically a METALLICA tribute act albeit a somewhat nonconventional one where guitars and bass were replaced with cellos. Over time they have released original material and of course covers from such acts as FAITH NO MORE, SEPULTURA and PANTERA. And although primarily instrumental in nature they have had some guests vocalists over their career including Corey Taylor (SLIPKNOT), Ville Valo (HIM), Till Lindemann (RAMMSTEIN) and Brent Smith (SHINEDOWN), to name but just a few of the artists and musicians they have worked with. But no matter what material they have done over the years their first love has and always will be the great METALLICA. In fact, 2024 saw the group release the album Plays Metallica, Vol. 2 , another collection of the guys banging their cello heads to some classic tracks.

This tour was a celebration of that album and songs so as one would expect, what we got was solid 12 song set of METALLICA covers done cello style. This was a first time for me to witness APOCALYPTICA in action and if you've never seen them, you really don't know what you're missing. I'd like to say that the band kicked things off with a 1-2 punch and list the songs but the reality was that we got treated to an onslaught for the first FIVE tracks, starting with "Ride The Lightning" and following up with "Enter Sandman", "Creeping Death", "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and "Battery" before moving to a somewhat lesser-known song, "The Call of Ktulu", and even playing "St. Anger".

Playing heavy metal cello is certainly no simple task as I witnessed it myself but the one I would call 'lead cello' Perttu Kivilaakso did seem to make it easy. What impressed me the most is how they, and Perttu in particular, can rip off a guitar solo on cello, such as the one in "Master Of Puppets". Impressive, quite impressive indeed! The band finished out their evening and tour with "Nothing Else Matters" and the blistering "Seek & Destroy" and an encore of the epic single "One".

The quality and musicianship of this trio cannot be understated. I never really thought something like 'cello metal' would catch my attention but on this night it definitely did, and in a big way! The next time they make it to our shores make a plan to check them out!

Setlist:

• "Ride the Lightning"
• "Enter Sandman"
• "Creeping Death"
• "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
• "Battery"
• "The Call of Ktulu"
• "St. Anger"
• "Blackened"
• "Master of Puppets"
• "Nothing Else Matters"
• "Seek & Destroy"

Encore: