Tesseract were the first band to be featured on Metal Injection Studio Sessions, but that wasn't enough for them. Taking a page out of Metallica's book, the band recently climbed atop a massive igloo for a performance in the artic circle, somewhere in Finland. The concert was surrounded by Tesseract fans and reportedly reindeer, skiers, and Sami tribesmen.
The press release describes the event thusly:
Pioneering prog metal act Tesseract have achieved a new standard for outlandish gig locations by playing the first ever set on an igloo, thought to be the world’s biggest. The immense snow structure, spanning the equivalent of 3.5 double decker buses near Yllas village, Finland, was part of the Jägermeister Ice Cold Gig series, which puts artists to the test as they perform in unconventional, ice cold conditions.
Guitarist James Monteith said of the gig:
“We’re great mates first and foremost, so we’ve shared some amazing moments. But even after playing the main stage at Sonisphere last year, the Jägermeister Ice Cold Gig was definitely TessaracT’smost challenging performance to date, and what an amazing experience it was. Something we’ll remember forever!
“The final stage build was tougher going than we expected – we were shifting one-tonne blocks of ice to create the steps leading up to the stage. Fortunately, we had a team of locals to help us and the effort was well worth it. It was absolutely freezing, but as soon as we saw the crowd of peopleadrenalin took over, the hard work was forgotten and we battled through the gig.”
One thing to take into consideration is how the weather affects tuning. Speaking to Metal Hammer, bassist Amos Williams describes the challenges:
“One of the main challenges is keeping the instruments at the same temperature. If the strings become colder during the set then tuning will become a massive issue.” Which is something that would be more than likely in the minus 20ºC temperature the band had to perform in. In fact during their soundcheck many band members complained of a loss of feeling in their hands after only one song. To combat this for the duration of their 75-minute set each band member is given a special heat sack, a small marble-sized bag that is as hot as a freshly microwaved baked potato, to hold between songs and return some feeling to their frozen riff digits."
No word on when video footage of the entire set will air, but here is some quick behind the scenes footage the band has released…
