heaven's closed, hell's sold out
A bunch of us were on Sonata Arctica's gig last night at the Kaapelitehdas (cable factory in English. All the big Finnish clubs seems to have really weird, industrial names such as cable factory and crane).
In fact, N and me were there the previous evening as well, being completely oblivious to dates and weekdays... N was certain the gig was on Friday and I was certain it was already the 28th on Friday, which lead us both to eagerly hop on the car and drive there. We applauded the quietness and all that free parking space, and it took us shamefully long to realise something might be wrong.
It wasn’t until we had walked almost around the building trying to find the entrance that we finally cottoned on to the fact that if there was any gig, there had to be crowds and music blasting as well. So we dashed back to the car, checked the tickets and the current date from my mobile and proceeded to be mortified. It’s been a long while since I’ve felt quite that retarded...
We tried again yesterday evening and this time there actually was a gig ^^ We found a miraculously empty parking space right next to the entrance (which was clearly identifiable by the blaring music and the long line of people that were so painfully absent the previous night) and joined the queue.
S, A, A's brother T and T's friend met us inside and we took our places as close to the stage as possible. The warm up band was Thunderstone that I'd heard of before but never really listened to. They turned out to have a very nice sound and a lead singer with a voice eerily like that of Mike DiMeo from Masterplan. I’ll have to look into their music later.
During Thunderstone's show we were almost at the back of the club and almost out of seeing distance from the stage but when they stopped playing people in the middle rushed to buy beer and fan memorabilia, and we were able to push forward.
Sonata played well and for once I was happy to be on a gig where it's mostly songs from the band's newest album. I know those tracks best and screamed myself hoarse for two days. And it was good thing too that I knew them by heart because once again someone had fallen asleep on the mixing table and Tony Kakko's vocals were almost completely drowned by the music.
Sonata played for an hour and a half until a short break where Tony Kakko did his trademark goofing-off. He divided the audience into three segments, which he then made to imitate certain sounds that a drum kit can make. First group was hi-hat and they made a strange hissing sound. We were the toms and made an average "pom!" sound. The last group imitated the bass drum and provided a deep note. He then proceeded to make us "play" the opening melody to We Will Rock You... :P
After that it was time for encore and Kakko's usual "Vodka, We Need Some Vodka" that he always uses to end Sonata's gigs. N and me were smart enough to leave our coats in the car (even if we were almost deep-freezed queuing) and simply ran out, avoiding the cloackroom rush.
In fact, N and me were there the previous evening as well, being completely oblivious to dates and weekdays... N was certain the gig was on Friday and I was certain it was already the 28th on Friday, which lead us both to eagerly hop on the car and drive there. We applauded the quietness and all that free parking space, and it took us shamefully long to realise something might be wrong.
It wasn’t until we had walked almost around the building trying to find the entrance that we finally cottoned on to the fact that if there was any gig, there had to be crowds and music blasting as well. So we dashed back to the car, checked the tickets and the current date from my mobile and proceeded to be mortified. It’s been a long while since I’ve felt quite that retarded...
We tried again yesterday evening and this time there actually was a gig ^^ We found a miraculously empty parking space right next to the entrance (which was clearly identifiable by the blaring music and the long line of people that were so painfully absent the previous night) and joined the queue.
S, A, A's brother T and T's friend met us inside and we took our places as close to the stage as possible. The warm up band was Thunderstone that I'd heard of before but never really listened to. They turned out to have a very nice sound and a lead singer with a voice eerily like that of Mike DiMeo from Masterplan. I’ll have to look into their music later.
During Thunderstone's show we were almost at the back of the club and almost out of seeing distance from the stage but when they stopped playing people in the middle rushed to buy beer and fan memorabilia, and we were able to push forward.
Sonata played well and for once I was happy to be on a gig where it's mostly songs from the band's newest album. I know those tracks best and screamed myself hoarse for two days. And it was good thing too that I knew them by heart because once again someone had fallen asleep on the mixing table and Tony Kakko's vocals were almost completely drowned by the music.
Sonata played for an hour and a half until a short break where Tony Kakko did his trademark goofing-off. He divided the audience into three segments, which he then made to imitate certain sounds that a drum kit can make. First group was hi-hat and they made a strange hissing sound. We were the toms and made an average "pom!" sound. The last group imitated the bass drum and provided a deep note. He then proceeded to make us "play" the opening melody to We Will Rock You... :P
After that it was time for encore and Kakko's usual "Vodka, We Need Some Vodka" that he always uses to end Sonata's gigs. N and me were smart enough to leave our coats in the car (even if we were almost deep-freezed queuing) and simply ran out, avoiding the cloackroom rush.