Blind Guardian and Ensiferum: The Wiltern - Los Angeles, CA - 12/13/25
German power metal band Blind Guardian and Finnish folk metal band Ensiferum teamed up for an amazing tour of European metal. Joining them on tour as support was Seven Kingdoms. Blind Guardian would mark this special tour by performing their fourth album Somewhere Far Beyond in its entirety for the first time. The final stop of the tour was at the Wiltern in Los Angeles, California and fans were lined up to see a few amazing metal bands.
Ensiferum (Latin for “Sword Bearing”) released their ninth studio album Winter Storm in 2024. They had just recently visited US soil earlier this year, so it was great to have them back so soon. The now fully packed venue cheered as the lights went out and Ensiferum made their way to the stage. The first song performed was "Winter Storm Vigilantes", the first song from the newest album. Ensiferum wore their usual stage outfits making them look like as if they were ready for battle. Up next was the fan favorite “Way of the Warrior” and the fans loved singing along to the chorus as well as moshing to the fast folk metal music. Singer/guitarist Petri Lindroos would alternate between traditional metal growls and clean vocals. Regardless of the style, it would send fans into a frenzy as they moshed and even crowd surfers would make an appearance. Several more battle tunes were played including “Heathen Horde”, “Andromeda”, and “Token of Time”. At the end of their set, Ensiferum played one of their best songs, “In My Sword I Trust”. Fans loved singing along to its catchy chorus and the mosh pit never slowed down. It gave the audience one last chance to give it their all and show their appreciation for Ensiferum. The show ended with Ensiferum waving goodbye to the audience and thanking them for spending time with them. Now, it was time for the headlining band of the night.
Blind Guardian released their twelfth album The God Machine in 2022. On this tour, they would be focused on performing Somewhere Far Beyond in its entirety. The venue was packed almost to capacity by the time BG came out. The lights went out, and the members of BG came out and started their show with “Into the Storm.” Fans were ecstatic to see them and started to rock out and mosh. The next song was “Blood of the Elves” from the newest album. The third song was one of their most popular songs, “Nightfall.” It had the crowd singing along to the chorus. After a couple of greatest hits were played, it was now time for the Somewhere Far Beyond album to be played in full. Starting with “Time What Is Time.” The fans continued to mosh and sing along. One of the highlights of the show was when they played “The Quest for Tanelorn” which is another fan favorite and singer Hansi Kürsch let the audience sing the chorus for him. A few more songs from the album were played which included “Theatre of Pain,” “Journey Through the Dark,” and “Ashes to Ashes.” The band had a couple of acoustic guitars brought out and it was now time for one of BG’s best songs. That song was "The Bard's Song – In the Forest.” The audience stopped moshing just to sing along to the super fun chorus. Up next was the song’s sequel, "The Bard's Song – The Hobbit.” The crowd went back to moshing with the song’s rocking tune. The album’s finale came on as BG played the album’s title track, "Somewhere Far Beyond" which lasts seven and a half minutes. The show seemed to be over as BG said their goodbyes and left the stage. After the crowd cheered for more music, BG came back out for a few encores. The first encore was “Sacred Worlds.” Up next was one of their best songs, “Valhalla.” The crowd loved singing to the chorus if they were not moshing or crowd surfing. Kürsch made note on how the crowd was demanding that they played one of their best songs, “Majesty.” Kürsch let them know that they didn’t have a keyboard player to play the songs intro, but they played the audio track of it and forced BG to play “Majesty” at the audience’s request even though the song wasn’t actually on the setlist. The crowd once again loved singing along to the catchy chorus. Now, it was time for the show to sadly come to an end. The grand finale of the show and tour would be their most popular song, “Mirror Mirror.” This was the last chance for the audience to rock out to BG’s music whether to sing along or mosh. The show had now come to an end. BG said their goodbyes once again and left the stage. It was a great performance and hopefully it’s not long before BG come back to the USA.
