Wooo! Did I ever get to see Finntroll again the other night.
They were playing a small show before their gig at Sauna Open Air up in Tampere the day after, so I went with a couple of friends who also love Finntroll.
Some strange band called Draugnim opened up for them. They were dressed heavily in cloaks/robes and mail and whatnot. I had never heard of them before. They looked pretty metal. The music was fine and the vocals were fine... in theory, however, it was rather boring. If you've read any of my other reviews, you know I have a big problem with monotonous sound. The music was okay and sort of folky, which is good, but still, just sort of droned on after a while and I lost interest in it after 3 songs or so. Considering all the shitty bands that have opened in other shows I've seen in the last year or two though, this one wasn't terrible by comparison.
And then there's Finntroll. I met Vreth (the singer) at the merch table and chatted with him for a while before the gig got going. I'm not sure why but I sort of expected him to be a bit stuck up but he was actually quite friendly. Their merch was all on sale, from anywhere from 5-15 euros, which is an absurdly cheap price, especially in Finland. This was apparently because they didn't really have any merch for the show so they just grabbed whatever they could find... turned out it was all old tour stuff from around 2004 and on some of the shirts, they didn't even play most of the gigs because they were cancelled. He was nice to chat with and took a couple pictures with Garance and I (unfortunately I looked like hell in both of them :P but oh well) and then we went to watch the opening.
Finntroll's show was fantastic. Vreth came out with his crazy stick-finger glove that always amuses me (and never seems to leave on for more than one song, which doesn't surprise me). We were right up front so it was great to be right up there, unlike their other show, which I saw from about 20 meters back, behind the mosh pit. The set list was excellent and the performance was fantastic. I could have been happier if I could hear some more of the keyboardists but that is a very small complaint.
I am always happy to hear Trollhammaren, En Mäktig Här, and several others, but the real highlight of this show was the last song they played, off Visor Om Slutet (their acoustic EP), Forsvinn Du Som Lyser... one of the most ecstacy-inducing songs you could possibly imagine, played way faster than normal, and I wanted to jump and dance around like a maniac when I heard it.
So, Finntroll has yet to fail me live, with a spectacular performance each time. I definitely wouldn't pass up another chance to see them!
Year: June 2009
Opening bands: Draughnim
Who I went with: Garance Bascle, Teemu Maarela, Marc Taylor, Marc's two friends, Antti and ?
Location: Helsinki - Virgin Oil Co.
Jun 8, 2009
Concert Reviews - Nortti
Welcome to the secret review of Nortti's [code name] first show. I won't go into much detail because I'll be writing a proper review sometime after the 25th.
Went to Semifinal the other night with Mikael just because he pursuaded me that it would be a good idea to go for a bit. Turned out it was one of my favorite bands playing a show! To boot, Mikael introduced me to everyone in the band.
I've never seen this band play before and they have just replaced their old singer, who I really loved, so I was interested to see what this would be like.
The show was fantastic. I got to hear a lot of songs that I wanted to hear and got a nice preview of the new singer's voice, which was very good. I admit that I didn't find him particularly nice when I spoke to him (or thereafter), unfortunately. However, the keyboardist and bass player were both very nice, friendly guys.
I advise anyone in Helsinki not to turn down a random metal show they might come across. You never know what you might find!
Year: June 2009
Opening bands: nil
Who I went with: Mikael Holmlund
Location: Helsinki - Semifinal
Went to Semifinal the other night with Mikael just because he pursuaded me that it would be a good idea to go for a bit. Turned out it was one of my favorite bands playing a show! To boot, Mikael introduced me to everyone in the band.
I've never seen this band play before and they have just replaced their old singer, who I really loved, so I was interested to see what this would be like.
The show was fantastic. I got to hear a lot of songs that I wanted to hear and got a nice preview of the new singer's voice, which was very good. I admit that I didn't find him particularly nice when I spoke to him (or thereafter), unfortunately. However, the keyboardist and bass player were both very nice, friendly guys.
I advise anyone in Helsinki not to turn down a random metal show they might come across. You never know what you might find!
Year: June 2009
Opening bands: nil
Who I went with: Mikael Holmlund
Location: Helsinki - Semifinal
Me and the new singer... at least he was nice enough to take a picture with me.
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