The annual Tuska hunt
I've been Tuska-busy for the last three days, even though I didn't have a ticket. Well, the bands weren't that special (for me), so again I had good time to concentrate on the essence... :P Here are some things to remember of this year:
On Friday around 3-4 pm I sat on a sunny pier for an hour, listening to random noise from the festival. Wearing a top and wrapped-up shorts, otherwise looking like normal me. There was no-one else on the pier, except some guys... First one was some random Indian-lookalike gigolo with wide smile, starting with "Do you speak English?" Next arrived a young Frenchman (!) by a boat (!!!). He was sorry to disturb my peaceful sunbathing. Last but not least was a Finnish guy, who ran (!) to the pier and said "I don't disturb you for long" and gave me a guitar pick. (!) None of the three was long-haired, but I thought this was very promising start. :D (Of course that was all that happened during the next 49 hours.)
The bands were slightly lame this year, for my surprise I gotta say that Volbeat - the super popular Danish band mixing traditional American style to heavy and hard rock - was probably the best one after all. Their sound was big and delicious and the singer has a convincing voice. They made Tuska cheer for Johnny Cash (!) and played a non-heavy cover in their encore.(!) They were last to perform on the sunny Sunday.
Finnish Amorphis was surprisingly good too. Listen if you don't believe! My Dying Bride was exactly like their name, combining desperate singing to something that sounded like violins, which was a nice combination, a bit like loud Apocalyptica. Test song. Another interesting combination was Eluveitie: Swiss folk-growling! :D Sound sample. Yea, melodic metal is close to my heart. ;)
On Saturday I saw some dialect-speaking-Finn (not from around here) walking by the Kaisaniemi park with his friends, coming from the direction of railway station using the same street the trams run. Pointing his finger at Tuska and yelling: "Nooo, it can't be Tuska there! It's next to the railway station!" He should have known that he was 3 mins from railway station, but they had taken the long route. Luckily his friend disagreed, so they weren't completely lost.
On Sunday I heard the Kallio church bells playing at the same time with Tuska bass drum soundcheck. "Bummm-bummm-bummmm" "Cling-clang cling-clang" Someone could have said it was the battle call for good and evil, I thought it sounded good together.
On late Sunday afternoon more funny things started happening... First of all a long-haired shirtless guy stopped his bike and talked with me for an hour and obviously tried to make a closer contact with me, asking me to movies and to eat. (Add a long row of exclamation marks here!!!!!) :O It was a very good innocent-looking approach, gotta admit, but the thing that ruined it was that I distantly knew him as a study mate. I was not ready to change my opinion of him so quickly. Anyway, it gave a great reason to smile! (And think. Am I really this hard to approach? What did he actually see in me? etc.)
I saw the weirdest thing you can see near sunny Tuska. A gray-haired dark-skinned granpa doing energetic Nordic walking.
During Volbeat people were listening inside and outside of the fences. Some guy wearing black pants and shirt sat inside the fence, leaning on the fence, having his beer next to him on the ground. A furry-haired guy next to me, outside fence, noticed the beer and stole it. A bit later there was a hand looking for the beer inside fence. Of course when the furry-haired-guy and his girl had finished the beer, he took the mug back. :D
Later a middle-aged long-haired black-dressed man and his lady came along the street, being very drunk. Making some noise and pointing people outside fences with his hand: "WeeeEEEe haaAAAd tiiickEEeeetsssss!!!!!" When they had gone, everyone bursted in laughter.
Tuska is definitely my favourite festival!!! :)
On Friday around 3-4 pm I sat on a sunny pier for an hour, listening to random noise from the festival. Wearing a top and wrapped-up shorts, otherwise looking like normal me. There was no-one else on the pier, except some guys... First one was some random Indian-lookalike gigolo with wide smile, starting with "Do you speak English?" Next arrived a young Frenchman (!) by a boat (!!!). He was sorry to disturb my peaceful sunbathing. Last but not least was a Finnish guy, who ran (!) to the pier and said "I don't disturb you for long" and gave me a guitar pick. (!) None of the three was long-haired, but I thought this was very promising start. :D (Of course that was all that happened during the next 49 hours.)
The bands were slightly lame this year, for my surprise I gotta say that Volbeat - the super popular Danish band mixing traditional American style to heavy and hard rock - was probably the best one after all. Their sound was big and delicious and the singer has a convincing voice. They made Tuska cheer for Johnny Cash (!) and played a non-heavy cover in their encore.(!) They were last to perform on the sunny Sunday.
Finnish Amorphis was surprisingly good too. Listen if you don't believe! My Dying Bride was exactly like their name, combining desperate singing to something that sounded like violins, which was a nice combination, a bit like loud Apocalyptica. Test song. Another interesting combination was Eluveitie: Swiss folk-growling! :D Sound sample. Yea, melodic metal is close to my heart. ;)
On Saturday I saw some dialect-speaking-Finn (not from around here) walking by the Kaisaniemi park with his friends, coming from the direction of railway station using the same street the trams run. Pointing his finger at Tuska and yelling: "Nooo, it can't be Tuska there! It's next to the railway station!" He should have known that he was 3 mins from railway station, but they had taken the long route. Luckily his friend disagreed, so they weren't completely lost.
On Sunday I heard the Kallio church bells playing at the same time with Tuska bass drum soundcheck. "Bummm-bummm-bummmm" "Cling-clang cling-clang" Someone could have said it was the battle call for good and evil, I thought it sounded good together.
On late Sunday afternoon more funny things started happening... First of all a long-haired shirtless guy stopped his bike and talked with me for an hour and obviously tried to make a closer contact with me, asking me to movies and to eat. (Add a long row of exclamation marks here!!!!!) :O It was a very good innocent-looking approach, gotta admit, but the thing that ruined it was that I distantly knew him as a study mate. I was not ready to change my opinion of him so quickly. Anyway, it gave a great reason to smile! (And think. Am I really this hard to approach? What did he actually see in me? etc.)
I saw the weirdest thing you can see near sunny Tuska. A gray-haired dark-skinned granpa doing energetic Nordic walking.
During Volbeat people were listening inside and outside of the fences. Some guy wearing black pants and shirt sat inside the fence, leaning on the fence, having his beer next to him on the ground. A furry-haired guy next to me, outside fence, noticed the beer and stole it. A bit later there was a hand looking for the beer inside fence. Of course when the furry-haired-guy and his girl had finished the beer, he took the mug back. :D
Later a middle-aged long-haired black-dressed man and his lady came along the street, being very drunk. Making some noise and pointing people outside fences with his hand: "WeeeEEEe haaAAAd tiiickEEeeetsssss!!!!!" When they had gone, everyone bursted in laughter.
Tuska is definitely my favourite festival!!! :)