Long epic about us at Tuska 2003 Written mostly in July 2003 Tuska Warm Up, Tavastia, 10.07.2003 This year (according to official stat data) 25 thousand metalheads visited Tuska. That was my third festival… Actually it began on Thursday night with Tuska Warmup at famous Tavastia. The bands for that evening were Defuse, Hevein, Forgotten Sunrise and Gloomy Grim. The club welcomed us with lots of metalheads and Amorphis' The Day of Your Beliefs playing. Defuse sounded a bit nu-metallish and the vocalist had a cool hairdo (like Dexter Holland of The Offspring :) People in the club were quite happy with the performance. The next band, Hevein, had very interesting lineup including a celloist and a violinist. The remaining part of the WebTeam joined me at the time Forgotten Sunrise came on stage. When we found out that they are from Estonia, we felt even more respect :) That was the best band so far, played kind of electro black and their vocalist was really-really cute with a noose around his neck, devil's tail and skeleton gloves :) Kris and Mel felt like jumping :) And then the time for headliners came and a table with candles and a skull appeared on stage. The gloomy guys followed. It was very-very evil black metal, with blood and chainsaw (working!) guest appearances… and they had die hard fans even *lol* Kris and Mel were jumping yet again… what a shame :) 11.07.2003 It was cool and rainy, gothic weather but not good for gothic clothes. We met Yucca and ran shopping in order to grab the remaining goods, there was a looooooooooooong queue near Morticia's shop and herself looked really cool in pink corset and pink eyelashes :) We also met a cute boy at Nana Star who appeared to be The 69 Eyes fan and was buying black nailpolish :) This year Tuska had three stages and the gigs on smaller ones went simultaneously, that was the only excuse for missing bands :) We tried our best anyway :) Finally we went to Kaisaniemi park, people in the central Helsinki were all dressed in black and the lawns near the gate were covered with resting goths :) The queue was unbelievably long (maybe 500m even), the press queue was a bit shorter tho… And since the first band that day was Moonsorrow I felt nervous about missing them. Thanks heavens we managed to get inside right in time. Surprisingly, only Key had the right to take pictures from the backstage area, so we quickly sent her to shoot some viking action. Me and Mel were standing near the stage and watching the public – any fashion show looks pale in comparison with festival people :) The first prize of the WebTeam sympathies was easily won by a girl with a cute little scythe :) 15.00 Moonsorrow (the main stage) - Jumalten Kaupunki – Sankarihauta - Kylan Paassa – Raunioilla - Unohduksen Lapsi – almost Pakanajuhla - Finally the vikings, all covered in blood came on stage, the crowd could be bigger if all the people managed to get inside by that time. Anyway, the metalheads began slamming and waving whatever they had in hands (stuffed toys, helmets…) Sankarihauta and Kylan Paassa organized a little local hell near the stage since the audience went totally nuts. And suddenly when Moonsorrow started Pakanajuhla they ran out of time (or at least that's what people say) and it remained unfinished. Moonsorrow rocked once again . Then there was a tough choice of Rotten Sound and Reverend Bizzare. Since I've heard Rotten Sound already and wasn't quite interested in standing right near the stage we went to check food & frinks supplies, merchandize and WC locations :) There was Ville Laihiala backstage which prooved that Sentenced indeed replaced Opeth. The drinking area was filled with playing bands, beer, cider and Amorphis badges (Evil Inside rrrrrrrrrrrock!) Then we were drinking, chatting yadda yadda and finally managed to miss one song of Amorphis. Amo were in top fashion since their merchandize “Evil Inside” was equally popular with CoB's military khaki stuff :) 16.30 Amorphis (the main stage) - Killing Goodness - Evil Inside - Alone - Divinity - Againist Widows - Grail's Mysteries - In the Beginning - My Kantele - Day of Your Beliefs - Summers End - Drowned Maid - Black Winter Day (encore) - The gig was as good as at Ruisrock, Pasi and the band were in great mood, smiling, posing and doing some interesting stuff with the mic :) To the great joy of fans the band played many old songs, even Grail's Mystery exclusively for Tuska :) Day of Your Beliefs from the brand new Far from the Sun rocks live. Unfortunately this time there were no Tuonela, The Way and Goddess… but was Summers End which rocks as well. And it all ended with stuff from Tales of the Thousand Lakes – Drowned Maid and everyone's favourite Black Winter as encore. After Amorphis I went to the drinking area with a friend and while sitting there managed to miss Thyrane, fuck! Then we went back to the festival area, met some more friends and it was time for Stratovarius to play on the main stage. Since I know only one song of theirs… no comments :) 19.45 Sentenced (Sue stage) Sentenced were playing on one of the smaller stages which was no good for small girls like us :) Imagine all Tuska gathering under the tent and you'll get a slight impression of what was happening there. And it started to rain, damn, no umbrellas tho… Finally me and Mel managed to climb up the stone which was holding the tent's ropes and from there we at least could see something. - Konevitsan Kirkonkellot - Noose - Bleed - Cross My Heart and Hope to Die - Brief is the Light - No One There - Farewell - The Luxury of a Grave - Sun Won't Shine - Broken - Nepenthe - Neverlasting - The Suicider/Excuse me while I Kill Myself - It was the ideal Sentenced setlist (only Drown Together and Shadegrown could do better). Ville wore a cool t-shirt with a giant smiley and “supergay” written on it :) The gig totally made my day, the audience was singing together with the band and was surely having fun except for people sitting under the main stage waiting for Type O Negative. Type O Negative shocked, I imagined them to be totally different *lol* Anyway the crowd was high and enjoying the gig... as for us, ToN is not my cup of coffee and we decided to sit, drink and listen :) Stella Star Sturenkatu – the street located up the hill in Kallio seemed distant for our tired feet. But nonetheless we went there to see Twilight Ophera and Co. There was a queue near the door and sofas inside, thanks heavens! The first band was practically missed but then came Chaosbreed. More Evil Inside t-shirts and a bonus – Pasi Koskinen himself enjoying the gig more that anyone else in the club *lol* We officially LOVE Stella Star! 12.07.2003 Half of our small delegation left for Ilosaarirock early in the morning thus I will try to write something clever :) After checking the schedule once again we decided to appear around the time of Edguy gig. When we entered the fest area we've heard the loud Horna :) MEEEEEETAL!!! 15.15 Edguy (the main stage) The audience in first rows was very teeny and very girly shrieking something about “sexy Tobi”, some die hard power metal fans were present as well. Edguy's intro was some joke song about Finland and finally the band appeared. Tobias is really-really hyperactive – the guy was jumping like a kangoroo and running from one end of the stage to another during all gig, tho the songs about fallen angels were typically power metal – fast, happy and poppy. The chat sequences between songs were quite funny – before playing the song from the new live album Tobi asked everyone to buy several copies of it “to support the artist”. But the absolute masterpiece was: "Now we're gonna play the song that nobody wants to hear, the pussy ballad. We did it for commercial success" *lol* 16.15 Lullacry (Sue stage) There were not too many people near the Sue stage and we were sitting there in company of very nice security guys. I was quite interested in that Lullacry gig with new Tanja because I've seen the band with old lineup back in 2001. The gig left somehow controversial impressions. The band rawked on stage, their TM agression and energy were all there but when Lullacry played older stuff like Damn You and Sweet Desire – I felt like I miss Tanya, sniff. 17.00 Lordi (the main stage) The newcomer shock-rock-circus Lordi followed. Seemed like that had some troubles with keyboards thus the gig was a bit delayed. The stage setup looked pretty much as it was at Ruisrock a week ago - skulls, Egyptian mummies… KISS is back with the vengeance *lol* The vocalist swinged a giant axe, growled “Would you love a monsterman?” and other hit songs about devil who was a loser etc *lol* The theatrical action featured the pyrotechnics, rag skeletons and giant wings of Lordi waving with the help of some tech. The only girl on stage – stern Valkyrie Enari – was banging her head and having all possible fun. We've glanced at the stage where Immortal Souls played and decided to use the pause between main acts for feeding. So we were sitting on the footworn lawn near the Sue stage chewing bisquits and listening to Behemoth. Unfortunately it started raining and, of course, none of us had an umbrella. That made us look for shelter – the bush didn't help. Finally we went under the tent of the stage and sat there watching Norther's set up. Meanwhie, Trio Niskis started playing on the main stage and gathered a huge crowd singing along with the band. Sue-lava emptied finally, but soon the first row was again occupied by Norther fans. It was still raining but thanks to bits of action from the soundchecking band saved the waiting. 20:00 Norther (Sue stage) The intro was strangely familiar – the infamous Not Gonna Get Us by TaTu *lol* Surely that Russian disgrace was recognized by everyone around :) The gig rocked once again, and Norther played Unleash Hell! Pix, pix, pix and first three songs were over. Then myself went to our favourite point on the stone, Yukka joined me there for some time and then went to look for a place for Children of Bodom gig (yeah, they were to play rrrrright after Norther on the neighbouring stage, what a coincidence :) When the gig was getting to its end, people began moving towards the main stage and to the WCs (lol) and soon some space appeared under the tent. Those were to miss the finale – The Final Countdown :) But when ppl heard the first notes they all came back. MEEEEETAL!!! And while the metalheads were singing and headbanging one couple was dancing a slow dance in the middle of the audience :) More screams of respect for Norther and the gig was over . We headed to the main stage for the last gig of the day – Children of Bodom . 21:00 Children of Bodom (the main stage) There wouldn't be any good setlist for that gig but there surely were Hate Crew Deathroll, SixPOUNDER, Angels Don't Kill, Bodom Beach Terror, Everytime I Die, Downfall and Needled 24/7 :) There were loads of teenage CoB female fans in the audience, all in red merchandize t-shirts :) Children of Bodom are indeed a great live band playing energetic and really beautiful music. And since it was my first CoB gig… I felt like in heavens :) What is absolutely amazing about Finnish festivals – the public. All people are very gentle, nobody pushes you hard, spoils taking pictures and causing any other troubles. Some respect from neighbour fellow metalhead is pleasant, yeah. CoB played, Allu chatted with the audience, spitted in the air… *lol* The gig went well and both parties were enjoying it :) More musicians in the crowd, and Everytime I Die was remarkable because of dancing gothic girls *ggg* The in the pause during Downfall Allu introduced all the gang and asked if we really want the continuation :) Guess what we've screamed, and Needled 24/7 was sadly the last song. CoB left, then came back with the camera and started taking pix of the crowd *lol* Saturday programme in Kaisaniemi was over and we've headed to the hotel for a little break before the night clubs. Actually, that was the last Children of Bodom gig with Ale Kuoppala… Tavastia gig (s???) A long-long queue again. I was pretty sure that by the time I squeezed into the club all the gigs would finish. But the God of metal were on my side and when I came in some power metal act was playing and seemingly I haven't yet missed Battlelore which was The Band of tonight. The stage was finally occupied by very picturesque true arctic fantasy metal band Battlelore including elves, humans yadda yadda :) The vocalist was in the chain armour and holding a huuuuuuuge axe (fav true viking aesthetics *ggg*). The crowd was once again immence and the best thing I could do is to climb the nearset bench up. There was a camera nearby filming the gig (maybe for the DVD?) Battlelore play a wonderful set, I absolutely loved the performance and the lead female vocalist Kaisa rrrrrocked (GIRRRRRRRRRRRL POWER!!!) Actually it was the first time I've seen a headbanging elf. Battlelore also thanked their Norwegian fanclub and judging by screams from the audience the delegation was quite significant. The audience was totally nuts and encore followed. And then myself (more a walking corpse after so many days of festivals) went to bed. 13.07.2003 We were not in a hurry ‘cause The Gig of the Day – Finntroll – was later that day, so we had a bit of time to sleep (never enough tho!) and buy some stupid souvenirs. The first thing we've heard after entering the festival area was yet another heroic power metal act, oh no! That led me to the conclusion that I had to change the location. Everyone was waiting for Soulfly including four policemen standing somewhere near the main stage and enjoying the sunshine :) The action on the other small stage was not too spectacular tho. 15:45 Soulfly (the main stage) I've never been a fan of theirs but knew that many people love Soulfly thus decided to watch the gig. Not at all my cup of coffee – too loud, too unmelodic but nonetheless I've managed to understand some bits of lyrics like kill them all, dig it and motherfucker *lol* Then I left for Sue stage to wait for Arch Enemy's set suffering from the fact that I was surely going to miss Barathrum. 16:45 Arch Enemy (Sue stage) More, more girl power! Guys around the Sue stage were really enthusiastic and screaming for Angela *lol* Angela herself appeared to be a very nice lady and her growling was simply amazing :) More enthusiasm in the press area from the Japanese side (promotion worked out well :) The band kicked some serious ass! The highlights of the show were some new song and We Will Rise. Local metal beau monde in the audience :) Then it was the time for goth and The 69 Eyes. 17:45 The 69 Eyes (the main stage) - Framed in Blood - Don't Turn Your Back on Fear - Angel on my Shoulder - Still Waters Run Deep - Dance d'Amour - Wasting the Dawn - Forever More - Lost Boys (new once again :) - The Chair - Betty Blue - Crashing High - Gothic Girl - Brandon Lee - The Vampire of Helsinki and the gang appearted on stage tho the weather didn't quite provide gothic moods. The sun was shining like there was no tomorrow and it was SO DAMN HOT. To my great surprise the majority of the gothic girls… disappeared from the main stage and went under the tent waiting for Finntroll. Actually the crowd wasn't big at all ‘cause metalheads evenly sprawled between three stages (Sue-lava was occupied by Tarot fans). The girls in first rows were screaming and shrieking for different The 69 Eyes members, which wasn't surprising. The gig was good as ever tho Jyrki didn't perform any ‘dances' :) Finally, the heat won the battle and I crawled under the hellsink-tentstage. And there was a HUGE crowd. Everybody was moving, jumping screaming, and note, the gig would start in some 30 minutes. There was literally no empty spot in the audience so we (me and arriving Mel) watched the gig from the side with all the speakers and sound stuff :) 18:45 Finntroll (Hellsinki stage) (in no order) – Svartberg - Jaktens Tid – Vatteanda – Kitteldags – RivFader - Midnattens Widunder - Forsvinn Du Som Lyser - Segersang - Slaget Vid Blodsalv - (I hope :) The stage was definitely too small since the crowd was immense and reeeeeeeally enthsiastic. Trolls rocked and the audience went nuts when Katla came on stage to sing some of the songs :) Finntroll FOREVER!!! It wasn't really the end, but after Finntroll gig Ministry wasn't that spectacular, so we watched the gig, chatted with fellow Russian metalheads and some Latvian guy who suddenly remembered that he spoke Russian :) Unfortunately we didn't manage to get to Semifinal, it was full, so no Before the Dawn for tonight. Me and Anita went on a long nightwalk around Helsinki and some dead drunk guy told us that we are “very beautiful people” *lol* The others were checking Kamppi bars and way after midnight some of them were noticed in Lost and Found :) That's where everyone went after Tuska, lots of foreign press, local metalheads and security guys :) Monday had nothing to do with festivals, so were are waiting for the next year :) |