Eluveitie's evening slot outdoors on Hellsinki-02 drew one of the biggest crowds that stage saw all weekend — a folk metal party in the long Nordic dusk, from 21:15 to 22:30. Ahead of it, Metal Madness Weekly recorded a backstage video interview with the Swiss band.
A Big Band on a Festival Clock
Eluveitie tour with an unusually large line-up and an unusually large instrument list, and the interview begins with the practical reality of that: what it takes to get hurdy-gurdy, pipes, fiddle and a full metal backline onto a shared festival stage and out again on schedule.
Folk Metal in 2026
The conversation widens into the genre itself — how folk metal has aged, how the band's traditional instrumentation has become a core part of the songwriting rather than decoration, and how a crowd in Helsinki responds compared with the band's central European home turf.
Late-Evening Sets and Festival Energy
A 21:15 outdoor slot in Finnish summer is its own kind of stage: still light, crowd already warmed by a full day of music, headliner anticipation building elsewhere on the site. Eluveitie talk about playing into that atmosphere and what they aim for in a set of that length.
Watch the complete video interview in the player above.
