13 November 2024 – Riverstage, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Tam Schilling
After an incredibly successful one off show in Melbourne last year, experimental folk act Heilung made their return to Australia, for their first national tour of the country. While on this tour, the band announced after a run of shows in 2025, the group would be going on a an extended hiatus, so knowing these could be the last shows for a long time, made this show even more anticipated.
In what some online considered a prophetic event, about an hour before doors, Brisbane was hit with a massive thunderstorm. Thor truly did bless the evening, but luckily for us, did not wash it out. This unfortunately means that I missed most of the opening acts set due to these extreme weather conditions. I did, however, manage to catch the last maybe 10 minutes of Eivor’s set, and it was incredible. I hope they come back soon because I would love to see a full set from her.
Eivor – Riverstage – photos by Tam Schilling
The moment Eivor and her band left the stage, the speakers filled with ambient forest audio of native Australian birds chirping, and wind wooshing through trees. It was a beautiful tone setting for the main act, which included an acknowledgement of country from a local indigenous elder, before a cleansing of the stage, as Kai Uwe Faust, Christopher Juul, and Maria Franz joined the audience on stage to a rapturous ovation from the very wet Brisbane crowd. The show opened with a small ceremony, before the near two hours performance began with the track ‘In Maidjan’. A powerful song to open a powerful evening ritual.
Heilung – Riverstage – photos by Tam Schilling
‘Alfadhirhaiti’ is a song about the All Father Odin, so it should come as no surprise the stage became littered with Viking soldiers, chanting along to the song, marching and stamping around to the beat. The unison between performance and song was that of a singular heartbeat. And it was pure awesomeness to witness. A lot of Heilung’s set was like this, as it both lost me at times to complete and utter awe of what I was witnessing, plus being entirely enraptured by the incredible range of all three vocalists.
Heilung – Riverstage – photos by Tam Schilling
Two songs that really pulled me in, were the two songs I knew before walking in the door. One of them, ‘Anoana’, is a beautiful track. Getting to experience it live however, put me on another plane of existence. The beautiful vocals of Maria Franz lift this song to dramatical heights. The other, ‘Krigsgaldr’, is a powerful nine and a half minute song that has this unique sound in it that scratches the right part of my brain to give me pure joy when I hear it. Being able to witness these tracks live was incredible.
Heilung – Riverstage – photos by Tam Schilling
What I would consider the most impressive part of the evening however, would be the last two songs. ‘Elddansurin’ is such an impressive song live. The song is just a crack over eight minutes long, with four lines of lyrics, but holy hell these eight minutes pull you in. The final song of the evening, ‘Hamrer Hippyer’, comes in at just under fourteen minutes in length, but the song had everyone around me chanting, singing, and dancing for joy. The culture around this band is so beautiful. Everyone was having a blast. The set closed off with a final ceremony, to complete the ritual and send off this final Australian show off as a total smash hit.
Heilung – Riverstage – photos by Tam Schilling
