Mesa, Arizona – Norwegian band Wardruna, with special guest Chelsea Wolfe, played at the Ikeda Theatre in the Mesa Art Center on September 7, 2025. The Phoenix metro area has been host to Norwegian bands lately, and Wardruna was a performance unlike any other. Admittedly, I was a newbie to both artists, and opted to walk in cold to watch the show with fresh eyes. I’m glad I did.
Wolfe, with her special blend of gothic rock, doom metal, and folk music, opted to put on a transfixingly but hauntingly beautiful performance. Accompanied by long-time collaborator and multi-talented musician Ben Chisholm, Wolfe’s set was effectively stripped back. The crowd was obviously very familiar with Wolfe, and a number of her songs received excited rounds of applause as the first notes were struck.
Wolfe gave the crowd a special treat and played a new song, “Cold,” a song about letting go of a loved one. Bathed in small streams of light that give the impression of water, it was a beautifully done song and will likely be popular with her fans.
My observation is in a stripped-back mode, Wolfe’s music is quiet but tense, and anything but boring; the lyrics counter the presentation, a subtle contradiction that was well-suited as the warm-up for Wardruna’s performance. If you listen to her on your favorite streaming app, the songs with their full studio musical set-up take on a different flavor. Both are well done, but each has its mood.
Setlist:
• The Mother Road
• Birth of Violence
• Tunnel Lights
• Place in the Sun
• Dusk
• Flatlands
• Cold
• Be All Things
• 16 Psyche
• Feral Love
Walking into the Mesa Art Center, I was greeted by a crowd that seemed part metal crowd, part movie set, and part goth. Given my lack of exposure to Wardruna, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was in for. There were lots of attendees in Norse attire, including war-like makeup, dramatic braiding, fur, and more. Some attendees were sporting Amon Amarth t-shirts, a Norwegian heavy metal band that was in town very recently. It was difficult to gauge the music by the crowd appearance, increasing my anticipation.
Wardruna, formed in 2003 by Einar Selvik, Gaahl, and Lindy-Fay Hella, is a band that really can’t be categorized. With compositions and lyrics that are founded on more ancient Norwegian traditions, Selvik modernizes the music in a way that is part folk, part tribal, part cinematic score, and part storytelling. Lyrically everything is in the Norwegian language, but honestly, it doesn’t matter if you can understand the lyrics or not. The musical compositions and the vocalizations convey all you need to know.
Instrumentally, Wardruna is really interesting. Three members play some form of percussion throughout the show using deer hide drums, with Selvik periodically playing a smaller drum of his own, adding a fourth percussive dimension to the music. Most of the time, Selvik plays a Kravik-lyre while singing. John Stenerson plays the Mora-harp throughout the show. The Mora-harp deceptively looks similar to a violin, but watching Stenerson on stage, it seems that it has more of a percussive role than the kind of music we commonly associate with modern-day stringed instruments.
Speaking of Norwegian traditions, the horns used in the show were really interesting. Eilif Gundersen plays a Bukkehorn, a Lur, and a flute in the show. If you’ve never seen a Lur, it’s horn like none you’ve ever seen. In one song toward the end, Selvik joins Gundersen and they play a Lur duet.
The set is very performative yet very controlled. Lindy-Fay Hella was a very still, stoic presence on the stage while delivering strong vocals, until midway through she broke out into dance. Overall, the group is all very disciplined and very intent on their delivery of their music.
Before playing the last song, Selvik took a few minutes to thank the Mesa crowd for attending. This was the only time Selvik spoke during the entire show, but he had a very specific message.
“It’s not like a time travel, trying to be Vikings again, to escape to the past in any form or way,” Selvik says. “It’s about taking something old that still resonates with us, that still speaks to us, to create something new with it.”
“The thing is,” Selvik says, “Is all the things that gave birth to the songs we sing, the traditions we give voice to, they’re born of the very ground we walk on top of.”
Selvik was very clear on his love and belief in the power of singing.
“You know, nature is what creates culture. It’s the same, whether it’s back in Norway, here, in North Africa, in the Far East, it’s the same mechanism….This is also why this whole competition between who has the best culture is such bullshit.”
Throughout his speech, Selvik was met with multiple rounds of loud applause.
As Selvik explained about the traditions of singing, Selvik says, “Singing is medicine. More people singing together is more medicine, and, uh, it’s the kind of medicine that we need. I sing enough, but I’m guessing you aren’t. So go home and fucking sing!”
Setlist:
• Kvitravn
• Hertan
• Skugge
• Solringen
• Vindavloarjod
• Heimta Thurs
• Lyfjaberg
• Voluspa (Skaldic Version)
• Tyr
• Isa
• Gra
• Himinndotter
• Birna
• Rotlaust tre fell
• Fehu
• Helvegen
Band members:
• Einar Selvik: Lead vocals, Taglharpa, Kravik-lyre, Bukkehorn
• Lindy-Fay Hella: Vocals
• Arne Sandvoll: Percussion, backing vocals
• Sondre Veland: Drums, percussion, backing vocals
• Eilif Gundersen: Bukkehorn, Lur, flute, backing vocals
• HC Dalgaard: Drums, percussion, backing vocals
• John Stenersen Mora-harp.
