Concert Reviews - Amorphis

I missed Amorphis twice this year. I'm not sure why that was such a big deal to me considering I never got big into their stuff. I like them and they've got great music though, so when I was hungover and passed out and didn't wake up until their set was half over at Nummirock I was pretty bummed. And at Ankkarock my friend wasn't ready to go on time so we were too late for that performance also.

I saw that they were playing in Hel in December so I had planned on going and this weekend I was supposed to see Amon Amarth playing in Tavastia. Unfortunately for me, by the time I went to get my Amon Amarth tickets, they were sold out. I did manage to get the last available ticket for Amorphis a week later though but that meant going solo (something I am getting more comfortable doing).

So, opening bands were Amoral, whom I've seen once before and am on the fence on the whole Ari Koivunen thing, and Before the Dawn, whom I tend to enjoy and watched a bit of at Nummirock, so I was relatively pleased with the lineup for this show.

I found myself a nice spot on the rise right at the front before Amoral started playing (after having a nice visit with Ilkka at merch) and prepared for the show. What I was not prepared for was the crowd.

Amoral, first song

Before I get into this, let me explain something about myself. I go see bands for the music. I enjoy watching live shows even if the music isn't my favorite. I just like seeing performances and taking pictures and that sort of business. What I do not like are groupie poser girls who slut up the scene and make the girls who actually like the music look bad. And that's pretty much all you're gonna find at an Amoral show these days.

Ari Koivunen

Don't get me wrong, Amoral's music is quite okei, but I can't comment too much because I don't actually know any of their songs. I also don't know what their old vocalist was like. I will admit though that since my last review of them, Ari seems more comfortable with the music and he didn't seem nearly as out-of-place as before. They sound good, they look fine on stage, and whatever you may think of Ari Koivunen, the guy has a voice. But I have to wonder if he hates himself for going on Finnish Idol because the only people in their crowd were slutty 15-year-old groupie wannabe sluts and little boys who want to be like him. It made me nauseous. It made me ill. It made me never want to see them play again (regardless of how much I love their drummer and his vinyl pants). Particularly annoying were two girls right near me who were trying way too hard and took off their shirts to try and get some attention. Because they think that their bras are going to impress Koivunen. Seriously. If you're gonna be a poser slut, at least have the guts to show your boobs.

Amoral full band

After that was Before the Dawn. I know they're not everyone's favorite but I think their music is okei and I like the bassist's voice combined with the vocalist's growls. The music was really good. They played a few songs I really like, a few more that I recognised, and a few ones I didn't but it was a good show. I have to say again that I really like Lars Eikind's voice. He sings quite nicely.

Lars Eikind (clean vocals and bass)

The thing that made me the happiest about their show was the drummer though. If I recall correctly, he is just a touring drummer but he had this ridiculously huge grin on his face the entire show and every time I looked at him I just couldn't help but smile also because he just looked SO happy. A couple songs I recognised, for interest's sake, were Disappear, Faithless, and Deadsong. My biggest problem, and this was unfortunately with all the bands, was that the vocal quality of the main vocalist was not very good from where I was sitting.

Before the Dawn

Little intro to a side-story... I asked the security guy (who was very nice) if I could have the set list for the show and he asked the stage crew guy, who said no. Jerk. To be continued.

Tomi Joutsen, Amorphis

I know you really want to know what I thought of Amorphis though. I can see right through you! Okei, well, bear in mind, like I said, that I actually don't know much of their stuff (like all the bands this night). But the performance was brilliant. Really brilliant. Tomi Joutsen is a tiny little guy who is completely ripped and has a really strong and proud stage presence. Like, the guy is a massive aura of confidence, but he doesn't project himself like a douche. And what a voice. He has a really lovely singing voice combined with solid growls, making such a really wonderful overall show. And my lord that man's dreadlocks are long. Really long. Like, a few of them are down to his knees (granted, as I said, the man is very short).

The stage performance was great. The line-up is really solid, with a couple guitars, bass, keyboards, and drums. Tomi had a sort of a 50s-style mic, which was kind of cool. Everyone looked like they were having fun, playing confidently, and enjoying the sold-out crowd. I've said that I don't know that many songs by them, but they played the ones I know, including The Smoke, Silent Waters, and House of Sleep. There were a couple others I recognised too but didn't know the names of, which was nice.

Continuing my setlist tale, after the show one of the crew guys (possibly the one who shot me down before) grabbed a couple of set lists and handed them out to the crowd. The security guy was totally going to take one for me but the nasty old woman beside me snatched it first like a seedy gremlin. I am pretty sure she was actually cackling and drooling too, in the sort of Gollum "my precious" way. But when I was in the lineup to leave, he came back to the other side of the stage with two more setlists and no one noticed him but me so I went up and he gave me one. So here is the set from the show:

1. Leaves Scar
2. Towards & Against
3. On Rich and Poor
4. Sampo
5. Castaway
6. The Smoke
7. Majestic Beast
8. Alone
9. Silent Waters
10. Against Widows
11. Silver Bride
12. Sky is Mine
13. My Kantele
EC House of Sleep
EC Black Winter Day

All in all, I was really pleased with the show, I'm more interested in listening to Amorphis now, and I would definitely go back to see them again. This completely made up for the fact that I've missed them twice over the summer. Oh, and how can you go wrong playing Eläkeläset's Vaivaistalossa as your outro track? You can't!

Amorphis

Year: Oct 2009
Opening bands: Amoral and Before the Dawn opened for Amorphis
Who I went with: me, myself, and I
Location: Helsinki - Nosturi

Concert Reviews - Omnium Gatherum

Sorry, this is a bit older than the others but I wanted to add pictures before copying it here.

Mikael had put in a solid effort to get me to start listening to Omnium Gatherum. His most efficient method has been convincing me to go to the show the other day.

We arrived in the middle of an epic storm just in time to get the show. Omnium Gatherum was just about to start and since they were opening, I was able to get right up to the front to watch the show.

Jukka, Omnium Gatherum vocalist

Omnium Gatherum is sort of a melodic death metal band, as far as I can tell. So what to say about them? I can't talk about the set list because I can't name any of their songs (even though I spent the day listening to The Redshift, which is a fantastic album), but it was great. The music was phenomenal, but what really impressed me was the stage show. All of them had so much energy, it was hard not to get into it. In particular I refer to Jukka Pelkonen, the singer. What an interesting guy to watch. He was so in tune with the crowd and he really drew the watchers in. Everyone in the first three rows of people (most of whom were girls, incidentally) got a personal salute from him at some point, including me, with a connected set of metal horns for some 30 seconds or so. He shook hands with the drunk rockers and generally, in the words of Jason Lee in Almost Famous, spent the entire show "getting people off." It was wonderful. I wish more singers really spent time connecting with the crowd this way.

There was also a lovely scene where Aapo Koivisto (keyboards) took the shirt off one of the guitarists (not sure which), and Jukka poured water on his bandmates.

Omnium Gatherum; more band memebers

So, as I'm sure you gathered, I was really happy with the show. I greeted Aapo at the bar for Mikael and met Toni Mäki (bass) at the merch table when I was talking to Kaisu, the sweet girl who was selling stuff. He was an unbelievably nice guy and I was very pleased to make his acquaintance.

Toni, Omnium Gatherum bassist

After some time, Amoral came out to perform. Basically, the story behind Amoral seems to be that they, for reasons I am not familiar with, have recently replaced their old death metal singer with Ari Koivunen, the winner of Finnish Idol a few years ago. In this, the band has had to change their style quite a bit and in doing so, from what I've been told, in the long and short, has lost most of their old fanbase, being replaced with an entirely new fanbase.

My feelings about this, after getting over the fact that Ari looks like he's about 12, were that the music was good. Nice sound, nice playing, nice performance. And Ari can sing... there is no doubt there. However... the combination of the two was questionable, to say the least. Something was not quite clicking for me in this performance and because of it I can't give it a very solid review. Granted, it was still much better than most opening bands I've seen in Canada, but for how good the music was, I felt a bit disappointed by the overall show.

So that's my general feeling about this show. Omnium Gatherum was quite fantastic to watch and gets a definite recommendation from me. As for Amoral... I'll leave that call up to your judgement!

Year: June 2009
Opening bands: Omnium Gatherum was opening for Amoral
Who I went with: Evita and Kaspars, met up with guys from Norther and made friends with Kaisu and Toni
Location: Helsinki - Tavastia