Trying out something a little different this time, since last weekend was a whole pile of concerts.
Finntroll
Let's start with Finntroll. This was the third time I've seen them now, and each time I've been to Finntroll, I've watched from a different place. The first time was in Calgary and I was on a small rise that keeps people out of the mosh pit but is still on the main floor. The second time was at the Virgin Oil Co. and I was front-row. This time I ended up being relatively directly in the mosh pit.
It is impossible not to be involved in the insanity when you are bordering the mosh pit at a Finntroll concert. You are either pushing the moshers back, or you are being pushed aside by people entering and exiting the pit. It can be irritating if you want to just watch the show but once you have accepted the fact that unless you move, that's how it's going to stay, it opens up worlds of fun for you.
The pit at this show was quite big. It took up almost the entire floor of Nosturi with sweaty shirtless men and crazy metal girls, all in there going insane. The music was upbeat and fast, with Finntroll all being drunk and high and having a good time on stage. They played the usual favorites, like Korpens Saga and Trollhammaren, but also played some new stuff, like Under Bergens Rot and Solsagan to make up for taking out some others. I was actually a bit disappointed that they removed Forsvinn Du Som Lyser and En Mäktig Har from the repertoire because they were some of my favorites and were awesome live.
As far as release parties go, this was a great show though. Everyone was having a blast, the crowd was insane, and the music was awesome. You can't ask for much more than that at a folk metal show.
It is impossible not to be involved in the insanity when you are bordering the mosh pit at a Finntroll concert. You are either pushing the moshers back, or you are being pushed aside by people entering and exiting the pit. It can be irritating if you want to just watch the show but once you have accepted the fact that unless you move, that's how it's going to stay, it opens up worlds of fun for you.
The pit at this show was quite big. It took up almost the entire floor of Nosturi with sweaty shirtless men and crazy metal girls, all in there going insane. The music was upbeat and fast, with Finntroll all being drunk and high and having a good time on stage. They played the usual favorites, like Korpens Saga and Trollhammaren, but also played some new stuff, like Under Bergens Rot and Solsagan to make up for taking out some others. I was actually a bit disappointed that they removed Forsvinn Du Som Lyser and En Mäktig Har from the repertoire because they were some of my favorites and were awesome live.
As far as release parties go, this was a great show though. Everyone was having a blast, the crowd was insane, and the music was awesome. You can't ask for much more than that at a folk metal show.
Fintroll again
Year: Feb 2010
Opening bands: Armour, Barren Earth
Who I went with: Juho, Marc, Garance, Jari, Ilkka, and anyone else who was there!
Location: Nosturi, Helsinki
As for the Finnish Metal Expo, that was an interesting thing indeed. I've never been to a metal expo before. Promotional stuff everywhere, free/cheap CDs and singles, signing sessions, band members walking around everywhere signing and taking pictures with people who recognise them, interviews, and more. It's general madness and you can want to be in about three different places at once at times.
Korpiklaani
The first show I watched was Korpiklaani. We were a bit late arriving and they had already started. Holy hell, energy. Their songs are quite fast normally and they really cranked it up a notch live. The sound quality was too loud and rather poor as a result, which was unfortunate, and I felt like Vodka was actually too fast, truth be told. However, I also thought that some of their other songs were better at a faster pace, such as Saunas & Cottages. And they played all the obvious favorites, like Wooden Pints, and finished off with Happy Little Boozer.
They're a ton of fun to watch, too. Jonne Järvelä is the cutest man in the world with a great voice and his awesome dimples. Whenever he sings "here comes the womanizer" in Vodka I can't help but smile. The guitarist likes to shuffle around happily on stage and Jonne joins in with him sometimes. Their bass player has such a friendly smile as well; they all look so happy on stage (except the violinist, he looks very dutiful). It was a fun show and I'd like to see them play a real show sometime now!
I didn't watch much of anyone else on Friday but did catch a glimpse of Doom Unit. It didn't impress me so we didn't watch for long. We missed out on Satyricon and Amorphis because it was late and we were tired from Finntroll, wanting to save energy for Saturday.
Due to a late start, we missed Insomnium and the Finnish Metal Awards, but the winners were as follows:
They're a ton of fun to watch, too. Jonne Järvelä is the cutest man in the world with a great voice and his awesome dimples. Whenever he sings "here comes the womanizer" in Vodka I can't help but smile. The guitarist likes to shuffle around happily on stage and Jonne joins in with him sometimes. Their bass player has such a friendly smile as well; they all look so happy on stage (except the violinist, he looks very dutiful). It was a fun show and I'd like to see them play a real show sometime now!
I didn't watch much of anyone else on Friday but did catch a glimpse of Doom Unit. It didn't impress me so we didn't watch for long. We missed out on Satyricon and Amorphis because it was late and we were tired from Finntroll, wanting to save energy for Saturday.
Due to a late start, we missed Insomnium and the Finnish Metal Awards, but the winners were as follows:
Leverage
Band of the year: Insomnium
Record of the year: Insomnium
Vocalist of the year: Tomi Joutsen, Amorphis
Musician of the year: Alexi Laiho
Cover art of the year: Skyforger, Amorphis (Travis Smith)
Newcomer of the year: FM2000
Demo band of the year: Ghoul Patrol
Insomnium only played for 30 minutes, so it wasn't a huge loss. I've seen them about four times now anyways.
Juho and I checked out Leverage's 30-minute show (though I ducked out for a signing session for a bit of it). Leverage is just a ton of fun to watch live. They're so silly that it's awesome and I can never get over their singer's hair. It's too much. He must spend so much time getting it to look like that beforehand! It was fun though, as it always is.
Record of the year: Insomnium
Vocalist of the year: Tomi Joutsen, Amorphis
Musician of the year: Alexi Laiho
Cover art of the year: Skyforger, Amorphis (Travis Smith)
Newcomer of the year: FM2000
Demo band of the year: Ghoul Patrol
Insomnium only played for 30 minutes, so it wasn't a huge loss. I've seen them about four times now anyways.
Juho and I checked out Leverage's 30-minute show (though I ducked out for a signing session for a bit of it). Leverage is just a ton of fun to watch live. They're so silly that it's awesome and I can never get over their singer's hair. It's too much. He must spend so much time getting it to look like that beforehand! It was fun though, as it always is.
Swallow the Sun
We caught the end of Swallow the Sun, which was about the same as always. Good music, good live show, but doom metal really has a hard time drawing me in live because it doesn't have a lot of energy. It's not the fault of the musicians - it's just the style. It doesn't mesh well with an active crowd and for me, it's the kind of music I listen to before I go to sleep.
The big ones of the weekend, of course, were Apocalyptica and Swallow the Sun. Apocalyptica was awesome. They played all sorts of favorites, like Bittersweet (instrumental) and had a guest vocalist whom I have so far been identify to name singing I'm Not Jesus and I Don't Care. They had Mikko come down from the drums and play the stand-up bass for the first time ever too, which was really something else. They played a slow instrumental that might have been a new song too. Their live performance is always so exciting, especially since they play such big instruments that require such immense control to keep a good sound. Phenomenal, as always. Something cool that I noted was the lighting in their show - it sometimes flashes back and forth so you can't see the drummer, and then switches so you can only see the drummer, and goes back and forth, creating a really cool effect with the music.
Apocalyptica - Mikko on bass
Apocalyptica - guest vocalist
And then there's Sonata Arctica. This was my third time seeing them live and I never get sick of it. Tony Kakko is always so engergetic and he was really talkative (though I had no idea what he was saying). They played the obvious favorites, like Don't Say A Word and Fullmoon, but threw in a whole lot of new stuff, like The Last Amazing Grays, Flag in the Ground, As If The World Wasn't Ending, and Juliet. It was awesome to hear some new stuff and the sound was great. The stage show was really exciting too, with fire and sparks and all that good stuff designed for the sole purpose of pumping you up (and totally suceeding).
Sonata Arctica
All in all, the whole thing was a blast. I met a ton of musicians, like the guys from Sonata, Apocalyptica, and Amorphis, got a ton of autographs and pictures, got to meet some of my heroes, like Tony Kakko and Marco Hietala, and got to see a couple of the guys from Swallow the Sun get really excited over my moth tattoo (which is their design). It was definitely a good time and I'd recommend it to any metal fan; especially those who are into the Finnish brand of metal!
Year: Feb 2010
Bands Seen: Korpiklaani, Leverage,
Who I went with: Marc
Location: Nosturi, Helsinki
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