One of Iceland’s greatest contributions in music, Of Monsters And Men stormed onto the stage at the World Trade Center last May 12. The five-piece band swooned Manila for the first time with their lovable accents and magical instruments. The band totally brought the audience to life in full swing, as the energy level kicked up in different level once they took the stage and engaged the audience with their unique brand of music. I was immediately transported to a different atmosphere as they took to the stage, all nine of them. I was amazed by their pure brilliance. This band has the ability to put you in different moods with some of the most uplifting tracks you’ve ever heard, with a combination with folk tunes and relatable lyrics.

Overall, it was very well organized show with an intimate venue, and perfect sound system, ticket holders and media personnel were assisted accordingly. The band, who appeared in one of the episodes of Game of Thrones this season, kicked off the show with their song “Thousand Eyes” from their second album, Beneath The Skin. You can really feel the wilderness, the forest and trees, mountains, oceans and the sky in their music, as they are some of the great themes they explore. Coming in second on the group’s set list was their song “Empire,” followed by “King and Lionheart”. Faithful fans clapped and boogied along to songs in a way I OMAM’s songs can move people from a hundred years ago, and a hundred years from now. The whole show felt like you’re in a different era.

Blue, white and purple light danced on stage for most of the night as the band played songs “Human,” “Backyard,” “Organs,” and “Crystals.”The most impressive instrumental set came during “Little Talks,” towards the encore. Despite how the crowd responded to OMAM’s arguably most popular song, the peak of the night came during “Lakehouse.”

With nine performers, OMAM maximized all instruments they brought on stage, including trombone, trumpet, accordion, and xylophone, adding more texture and layers to already richly textured and layered songs. There was no mistaking the amount of fun the band was having on stage. One of highlights of the show was when one of two women who did the backup vocals and instruments gave an all-out solo that got the biggest cheers of the night. The band moved from their mellow opening with modest light accompaniment to playing their more popular songs under an amazing light show.

The band left the stage after performing “Six Weeks”. When they played the first chords to “Dirty Paws” it caused fans to move forward to the stage, overwhelming the band who had to allow it all to just happen. They followed up one of my favorite songs,”Yellow Light” from their debut album. The band impressively mixed painful and personal lyrics with myth and poetry, all set to the tune of earthy sounds, all exploding in just one night in Manila, all heard beautifully at the World Trade Center with their stellar sound system and acoustics.

Special Thanks to Karpos Multimedia

Written by Gellie Alonto
Photos by Cen Sulit