Radio Rock Finlandia
I remember that in my post about the previous weekend I have said that I am going to stay home the next weekend. Well not really :P
This Friday I have attended Radio Rock Finlandia festival in Jäähalli (Icehall). It was organized by Radio Rock radiostation and it had most of my favourite groups, so regardless the ticket's price, I still had to attend it and bought the ticket at the last moment. The event was also shown on TV, but since I don't have one, seeing it irl was even better.
Now I know that far not all of the people in my flist harbour the same excitement about some of these bands as I do, so I decided that I better not ruin your friendlist page with long and boring post and put it all under the cut.
Jäähalli was as cold as its name. It was good thing that I didn't leave my winter jacket at the wardrobe. It was strange, because the previous time that I have been there, I wasn't cold at all. I guess it all was Perttu's fault back then :P
I will go through the performance of every band and hope I will not forget anything along the way.
Apulanta
This is the first time I saw them live. I have listened to their music before though, so I knew what they are all about. They gave a very good quality performance and a sauna kind of warm up for the audience. It was obvious they are loved and appreciated by the public, people danced and cheered a lot. However, knowing the usual common look of Finnish metal musicians, it was quite strange to see two bald men in grey suits rocking on stage.
Here is a video of their performance:
Check out the microphone! It is the coolest in my list after Korn's.
Kotiteollisuus
MORE HYNYNEN IN KILT PLZ!!!! I think their set was the only one when most of the audience was present in the hall. It was a shame when I understood that I couldn't recognize most of the songs :S Should start listening to them again. But otherwise, guys were in a really good shape and played a great set. Hynynen was wearing a kilt and looked so damn cool in it, that I start to think I should write a letter to Tarja Halonen, asking her to make it obligatory for all Finnish men to wear kilts :P
I will make it my own personal achievement when I will be able to understand Hynynen's jokes.
EDIT: I have read at the IRC-Galleria community for the event now that other people were complaining about the songs they have chosen to sing as well. So I don't suck that much afterall!
YUP
I have to say that after Kotiteollisuus finished playing, about half of the audience left to get a drink/smoke/go to the toilet/whatever. It was quite empty when YUP started playing. Having YUP play after Kotiteollisuus felt weird and wrong. It felt like Bob Marley after Dimmu Borgir... or like an advertisement break on tv during the most exciting moment of your favourite movie. That annoying type of advertisement, that after you have gone to the toilet, made yourself another cup of tea and sandwich, got back to your favourite chair.. AND IT STILL HASN'T FINISHED! Having nothing against YUP, I think they were kind of inappropriate in this line up (just wait till I get to Negative's turn).
Best band award
Or whatever it was called in Finnish, you get the idea. If memory serves, they gave it before Diablo's performance. Actually there were some changes in the way the bands got on stage, but I can't remember anymore, so let's have this here. The nominees were: Children of Bodom, Kotiteollisuus, Mokoma, Nightwish and Negative. Now throw a wild guess who could win? To me it was obvious once I saw the nominees. Of course, Nightwish won.
Diablo
I have to be honest, there is not much I could say about Diablo. I heard only about 2 songs before and that was it. So for an outsider they play quite a high-quality metal, but not being acquainted with their repertoire, I did get somewhat bored. Especially since it is not really my kind of metal.
Teräsbetoni
Now this band I was waiting for. Being able to hear Ahola live is definitely something. This man has such an amazing voice!! Unlike Kotiteollisuus, Teräsbetoni have sang most of their popular stuff. I got to see the Finnish pride and patriotism in action, which was really weird for a person like me not having any kind of patriotical feelings whatsoever. Even despite their terrible failure at this year's Eurovision contest, they still played Missä miehet ratsasta, Jarkko even mentioned something about Serbia, the crowd went totally crazy! Finns do have a national pride and they highly value what is theirs regardless of how it was accepted by the rest of the world. This is something some other nations could learn.
But back to Teräsbetoni.. To my great surprise, they have played Taivas lyö tulta!! It was the first song by Teräsbetoni I have ever heard. I still remember that Darna has sent it to me. Now who could have known that 2 years later I would be singing along to it in Helsingin Jäähalli!!
Guys have got a really warm reception and played a great show! All of the pyrotechnics made it look even more powerful!
Maj Karma
Hmm.. I guess you have to listen to Maj Karma's music to understand what it is about, otherwise it is hard to explain. For someone, who doesn't understand the lyrics, they bring some kind of really mystical atmosphere together with the unbearable desire to dance along. I value bands' performances by the amount of hands they manage to get up in the audience. Maj Karma got most of them (later Mokoma did even better). But what was different is that usually audience is asked to raise their hands by someone from the band or by their gestures. During Maj Karma's performance nobody pushed people to raise their hands, it all came natural, in the right moment, all together.
Once again the biggest part of the audience was present, listening to the gig, singing and dancing. Maj Karma's vocalist Herra Ylppö is one strange person. I guess that's what it takes to have a band like that :P
Northern Kings
In case someone is not familiar with what kind of a band this is: it consists of 4 members - Marco Hietala (I hope I don't need to explain who he is), J-P Leppäluoto (Charon), Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica) and Jarkko Ahola (Teräsbetoni). They play covers of famous songs in metal style. In my opinion those are the best male voices on Finnish metal scene. However, having such bright and charismatic men sharing the same stage is like having too much sugar in your cake. This is really too much for one band. There was something wrong with the sound on their stage and Jussi's mic fucked up a bit from time to time.. But their voices.. all together.. is like.. wanting everything and not knowing where to start from!
We are used to having 1-2 vocalists on stage, standing out in a way.. But here all 4 have unique and powerful voices and all 4 stand out. It gets you completely lost. But otherwise they get your ears to heaven.
You can skip 2 first minutes of the video after the advertisement. It is strange that the sound quality of the video is so crappy, since it is an official one. So you will have to trust my words on this one: they are orgasmic live :)
Mokoma
Those guys totally ripped Jäähalli apart! They rocked non-stop! As I have mentioned earlier, they managed to get EVERYONE clap their hands to them and it looked awesome!
Santtu was rocking like mad! Now that's not pouring lonkeros in Loose, is it? :P It's like he is 2 completely different persons.
Marko was his usual self, the band did great, since I suppose they were on some kind of a break for now. They managed to deliver their energy to the audience in the best possible way.
Sorry for the annoying Saunalahti ad everywhere, I don't want to fuck with the code to take it away.
Amorphis
The one and only. It was a usual Amorphis perfomance - great, brilliant, flawless, Tomi being the god.
I couldn't help but smile, mentally picturing the old houses of Sibiu's Big Square around me and that first gig... The most interesting thing is that since I saw them live for the first time in 2006, they are still playing the same songs and I do not get bored. I still enjoy every sound the same way as when it was the first time. Amorphis are truly the fathers.
Skip first minute after the ad.
Funny to see all those video techniques, that make the hall and the crowd look so huge. For real it wasn't even half as big.
Negative
Now to the funniest part. First of all, I still have NO idea how did they manage to get in one line up with all other bands mentioned before. Not only just get there, but also be the headliners! I think it is a big shame to put Negative after Amorphis. WHO are Amorphis and who(imagine very small font here) are Negative! The audience seemed to have the same views. When Negative were announced, you could not really understand was the crowd's 'YEAH!' or 'EWW' lowder. By the time they got on stage, about 75% of the audience present during Amorphis' performance have left. And I am not even joking. It was the most empty set. I didn't feel like staying as well, but I was curious, so I decided to give them a chance.
You know, after Apulanta's grey suits, after Hynynen's kilt, after Teräsbetoni's naked bodies and leather, after Northern Kings' tuxedos, seeing Jonne on stage wearing some purple jeans and looking more gay than I would if I was a guy wearing the same clothes that I was wearing, and the other guy wearing red glittery pants.. no wonder most of the audience have left. I forced myself to stay for one song and hurried away. Jonne does have a very good voice, but everything else was just...yuck! That kind of music will never be my cup of tea.
And that's where it ends. I went out in a cold Helsinki night, put on my black skeleton gloves, turned on my mp3 player with my shiny metal music and headed home. Radio Rock Finlandia 2008 is over.
This Friday I have attended Radio Rock Finlandia festival in Jäähalli (Icehall). It was organized by Radio Rock radiostation and it had most of my favourite groups, so regardless the ticket's price, I still had to attend it and bought the ticket at the last moment. The event was also shown on TV, but since I don't have one, seeing it irl was even better.
Now I know that far not all of the people in my flist harbour the same excitement about some of these bands as I do, so I decided that I better not ruin your friendlist page with long and boring post and put it all under the cut.
Jäähalli was as cold as its name. It was good thing that I didn't leave my winter jacket at the wardrobe. It was strange, because the previous time that I have been there, I wasn't cold at all. I guess it all was Perttu's fault back then :P
I will go through the performance of every band and hope I will not forget anything along the way.
Apulanta
This is the first time I saw them live. I have listened to their music before though, so I knew what they are all about. They gave a very good quality performance and a sauna kind of warm up for the audience. It was obvious they are loved and appreciated by the public, people danced and cheered a lot. However, knowing the usual common look of Finnish metal musicians, it was quite strange to see two bald men in grey suits rocking on stage.
Here is a video of their performance:
Click to viewCheck out the microphone! It is the coolest in my list after Korn's.
Kotiteollisuus
MORE HYNYNEN IN KILT PLZ!!!! I think their set was the only one when most of the audience was present in the hall. It was a shame when I understood that I couldn't recognize most of the songs :S Should start listening to them again. But otherwise, guys were in a really good shape and played a great set. Hynynen was wearing a kilt and looked so damn cool in it, that I start to think I should write a letter to Tarja Halonen, asking her to make it obligatory for all Finnish men to wear kilts :P
I will make it my own personal achievement when I will be able to understand Hynynen's jokes.
EDIT: I have read at the IRC-Galleria community for the event now that other people were complaining about the songs they have chosen to sing as well. So I don't suck that much afterall!
YUP
I have to say that after Kotiteollisuus finished playing, about half of the audience left to get a drink/smoke/go to the toilet/whatever. It was quite empty when YUP started playing. Having YUP play after Kotiteollisuus felt weird and wrong. It felt like Bob Marley after Dimmu Borgir... or like an advertisement break on tv during the most exciting moment of your favourite movie. That annoying type of advertisement, that after you have gone to the toilet, made yourself another cup of tea and sandwich, got back to your favourite chair.. AND IT STILL HASN'T FINISHED! Having nothing against YUP, I think they were kind of inappropriate in this line up (just wait till I get to Negative's turn).
Best band award
Or whatever it was called in Finnish, you get the idea. If memory serves, they gave it before Diablo's performance. Actually there were some changes in the way the bands got on stage, but I can't remember anymore, so let's have this here. The nominees were: Children of Bodom, Kotiteollisuus, Mokoma, Nightwish and Negative. Now throw a wild guess who could win? To me it was obvious once I saw the nominees. Of course, Nightwish won.
Diablo
I have to be honest, there is not much I could say about Diablo. I heard only about 2 songs before and that was it. So for an outsider they play quite a high-quality metal, but not being acquainted with their repertoire, I did get somewhat bored. Especially since it is not really my kind of metal.
Teräsbetoni
Now this band I was waiting for. Being able to hear Ahola live is definitely something. This man has such an amazing voice!! Unlike Kotiteollisuus, Teräsbetoni have sang most of their popular stuff. I got to see the Finnish pride and patriotism in action, which was really weird for a person like me not having any kind of patriotical feelings whatsoever. Even despite their terrible failure at this year's Eurovision contest, they still played Missä miehet ratsasta, Jarkko even mentioned something about Serbia, the crowd went totally crazy! Finns do have a national pride and they highly value what is theirs regardless of how it was accepted by the rest of the world. This is something some other nations could learn.
But back to Teräsbetoni.. To my great surprise, they have played Taivas lyö tulta!! It was the first song by Teräsbetoni I have ever heard. I still remember that Darna has sent it to me. Now who could have known that 2 years later I would be singing along to it in Helsingin Jäähalli!!
Guys have got a really warm reception and played a great show! All of the pyrotechnics made it look even more powerful!
Maj Karma
Hmm.. I guess you have to listen to Maj Karma's music to understand what it is about, otherwise it is hard to explain. For someone, who doesn't understand the lyrics, they bring some kind of really mystical atmosphere together with the unbearable desire to dance along. I value bands' performances by the amount of hands they manage to get up in the audience. Maj Karma got most of them (later Mokoma did even better). But what was different is that usually audience is asked to raise their hands by someone from the band or by their gestures. During Maj Karma's performance nobody pushed people to raise their hands, it all came natural, in the right moment, all together.
Once again the biggest part of the audience was present, listening to the gig, singing and dancing. Maj Karma's vocalist Herra Ylppö is one strange person. I guess that's what it takes to have a band like that :P
Northern Kings
In case someone is not familiar with what kind of a band this is: it consists of 4 members - Marco Hietala (I hope I don't need to explain who he is), J-P Leppäluoto (Charon), Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica) and Jarkko Ahola (Teräsbetoni). They play covers of famous songs in metal style. In my opinion those are the best male voices on Finnish metal scene. However, having such bright and charismatic men sharing the same stage is like having too much sugar in your cake. This is really too much for one band. There was something wrong with the sound on their stage and Jussi's mic fucked up a bit from time to time.. But their voices.. all together.. is like.. wanting everything and not knowing where to start from!
We are used to having 1-2 vocalists on stage, standing out in a way.. But here all 4 have unique and powerful voices and all 4 stand out. It gets you completely lost. But otherwise they get your ears to heaven.
You can skip 2 first minutes of the video after the advertisement. It is strange that the sound quality of the video is so crappy, since it is an official one. So you will have to trust my words on this one: they are orgasmic live :)
Mokoma
Those guys totally ripped Jäähalli apart! They rocked non-stop! As I have mentioned earlier, they managed to get EVERYONE clap their hands to them and it looked awesome!
Santtu was rocking like mad! Now that's not pouring lonkeros in Loose, is it? :P It's like he is 2 completely different persons.
Marko was his usual self, the band did great, since I suppose they were on some kind of a break for now. They managed to deliver their energy to the audience in the best possible way.
Sorry for the annoying Saunalahti ad everywhere, I don't want to fuck with the code to take it away.
Amorphis
The one and only. It was a usual Amorphis perfomance - great, brilliant, flawless, Tomi being the god.
I couldn't help but smile, mentally picturing the old houses of Sibiu's Big Square around me and that first gig... The most interesting thing is that since I saw them live for the first time in 2006, they are still playing the same songs and I do not get bored. I still enjoy every sound the same way as when it was the first time. Amorphis are truly the fathers.
Skip first minute after the ad.
Funny to see all those video techniques, that make the hall and the crowd look so huge. For real it wasn't even half as big.
Negative
Now to the funniest part. First of all, I still have NO idea how did they manage to get in one line up with all other bands mentioned before. Not only just get there, but also be the headliners! I think it is a big shame to put Negative after Amorphis. WHO are Amorphis and who(imagine very small font here) are Negative! The audience seemed to have the same views. When Negative were announced, you could not really understand was the crowd's 'YEAH!' or 'EWW' lowder. By the time they got on stage, about 75% of the audience present during Amorphis' performance have left. And I am not even joking. It was the most empty set. I didn't feel like staying as well, but I was curious, so I decided to give them a chance.
You know, after Apulanta's grey suits, after Hynynen's kilt, after Teräsbetoni's naked bodies and leather, after Northern Kings' tuxedos, seeing Jonne on stage wearing some purple jeans and looking more gay than I would if I was a guy wearing the same clothes that I was wearing, and the other guy wearing red glittery pants.. no wonder most of the audience have left. I forced myself to stay for one song and hurried away. Jonne does have a very good voice, but everything else was just...yuck! That kind of music will never be my cup of tea.
And that's where it ends. I went out in a cold Helsinki night, put on my black skeleton gloves, turned on my mp3 player with my shiny metal music and headed home. Radio Rock Finlandia 2008 is over.