No, that headline isn’t clickbait. Heilung legitimately are the most invigorating, immersive and awe-inspiring live force currently active. It’s an opinion I’ve been working my way towards for quite some time, having seen them headline Arctangent 2023 and play the second stage of Download last year, but the ‘Amplified History’ ensemble’s ceremony at Brixton Academy on Tuesday (April 15) only reaffirmed the power of their time-travelling stage show.
Going into the first date of Heilung’s spring UK and Ireland tour, I couldn’t help but worry that their magic would diminish this time around. Late last year, the Danish enigmas announced they’d go on an extended hiatus after the summer, citing fatigue in typically mystical-sounding language.
“Shamans retreat, sometimes very long, to be reunited with their power, their spirits; to recharge,” they said in a statement. “If they would constantly work, they would burn out, lose contact to themselves, their helping entities and their light.”
None of that exhaustion is evident this evening, however. The second the curtain in front of the stage slides away, this sold-out auditorium is transformed into the grounds of some Scandinavian ritual. Impressive, tribal drums stand in line against the backdrop, some of which have trees protruding from them. The spotlights give a green-yellow glow like sunset in a forest. Then, as an ominous fog ascends from the floor, a masked, barefoot priest appears to bless the instruments and the audience with burning incense.
More and more performers emerge before breaking into the first hymn, In Maidjan. On record, Heilung are a trio: vocalists Kai Uwe Faust (the barefoot priest) and Maria Franz, plus musician Christopher Juul. Tonight, though, the gathering of cultists is more than a dozen strong, each member alternating between dance, drums and vocals for two hours. Together, their voices are a hypnotic and historic mixture of throat singing and baritone chants, and the sheer number of percussive instruments makes each pulse move you like your own heartbeat.
The transcendental music is accompanied by a meticulously choreographed performance. During Alfadhirhaiti, almost everyone onstage takes up shields and spears, with Faust slithering among the makeshift army and getting them to howl rhythmic, motivating battle cries. The warriors then come together and drop their weapons for Asja, which sees them rigidly shuffle and clap in an outward-facing circle. The hyper-masculine oomph of both those songs is dissipated by Svanrand: an incantation led by Franz’s soothing, bewitching pipes.
Between songs, the spell never breaks. There’s no “Hello London!” that interrupts the Scandinavian chanting. Heilung are committed to their time capsule at a noble level, the closest they come to interacting with their audience being when Faust points to every corner of the Academy and howls like a wolf. Naturally, the near-5,000 acolytes hemmed in here follow suit.
It isn’t until closing number Hamrer Hippyer that the show begins to loosen up. Though they still never deign to break the fourth wall, the band wildly dance in time to the fast-paced piece, circling each other and whooping in a physical climax. A low roar of “Thank you” from Faust telegraphs the end of the evening, releasing his onlookers from Nordic tradition back into 2025 London. Needless to say, we’d rather have stuck around in ancient times.
Heilung means “healing” in German, and that’s the perfect descriptor for this outfit and what they do. Their shows are so much more than songs being played in sequence – they’re energy-restoring theatre where every facet feels rigorously thought-through. Hopefully, after this summer, some of that therapeutic power can be channelled into the musicians themselves, and before long they can bless plenty more people with the greatest show on Earth.
Heilung setlist: O2 Academy Brixton, London – April 15, 2025
Opening Ceremony
In Maidjan
Norupo
Alfadhirhaiti
Asja
Svanrand
Urbani
Tenet
Othan
Anoana
Nikkal
Elddansurin
Hamrer Hippyer
Closing Ceremony
