And so the day arrived that the Kyiv metal audience had long been waiting for. Many metalheads right up to the last moment did not believe that ANCIENT would come to Ukraine (and above all that they would actually perform, especially at Torba). But the band did come, though not in their complete lineup; let us go through everything in order.
As usual, people began gathering outside Torba at around 18:00 (presumably everyone hoped the concert would start on time). The turnout was not great — somewhat surprising given the calibre of band that had come. The concert itself started with an hour-and-a-half delay (well, at least it started at all). So then, performing that day were: VAE SOLIS, ASTROFAES, and ANCIENT. The first band to warm up the audience was VAE SOLIS. Some Kyiv metalheads are already acquainted with this band. They play melodic black metal, and I must note — they play very well; the concept and performance style is reminiscent of the Norwegians BORKNAGAR. Fortunately, the sound was tuned reasonably well, and all the instruments were clearly audible. The vocalist fired up the audience, sometimes headbanging, sometimes simply stalking the stage. It should be noted that part of the audience was already quite well "warmed up" by drink consumed earlier, and by the first band. The guys played their set and left the stage. The entrance of the next band was a surprise for the audience, since many people didn't even know that the Kharkiv gurus of Ukrainian black metal ASTROFAES had been added to the support programme. For the record, this band had last performed in Kyiv in June 2004, at the Ruskolun festival.
And indeed — corpse-painted guys took the stage, and it was off... As always, the guys delivered simply a devastating portion of quality black metal. During the performance I recognised only two songs — "Ochi Zvirya" and "Ya Prynesu Z Soboyu Hrim!" The band performed superbly — in general everything as it should be. Many thanks to the guys.
Then the moment of truth arrived, as the masters of symphonic black metal — the band ANCIENT — were due to take the stage. But problems arose (some kind of disagreement between the organisers and the headliners), and another 20–30 minutes had to be waited out. As was subsequently established, the band's vocalist had been held at the border due to not having entry documents. Well, albeit with a delay, the band did begin their set. It should be said that the sound was not tuned especially well, but the equipment was cranked up to maximum — when the drums sounded, the clothing on my body was vibrating (this taking into account that I was sitting at the bar — imagine what was happening near the stage). Since the vocalist was absent, the guitarist handled the vocals, occasionally assisted by the drummer. What can one say — the guys played well (experience tells), the audience was already blazing hot and moshing as hard as they could. As announced on the flyer, during the ANCIENT performance a strip show was supposed to take place; many doubted it, but the organisers kept their promise, and somewhere in the middle of the band's set two girls were observed on stage. One was dressed (well, that is a generous description) in some kind of outfit in a sadomasochistic style, and the other was simply walking around the stage naked. I must say that this fired up the crowd, and the majority of the audience (even those sitting at tables) ran to headbang. The girls danced for only one dance during one song and then left escorted by "security". The band then played out the rest of their programme, put down their instruments, and went off to give autographs and have photos taken with the audience. The guys then went to rest. Well then — thank you to the band for coming, and thank you to the organisers for putting on this performance.