Archive for helsinki

Amaranthe @ The Circus, Helsinki, Finland 8/4 -17

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , , on April 8, 2017 by Sara Hammerzmith

And with that, it was time for me to embark on my last concert for some time. To be honest, I have to admit that it’s going to be pretty nice to have some “time off” from this, as the past weeks has been exhausting. If it was the concerts themselves, or the fact that I also started a new job a town over at the same time, I will leave unspoken of, but something has made it really tiring.

Of course, it was not all fun and games. Firstly, I slept on the bus to the point I actually missed my stop. And it’s funny, because I dreamt that I would miss my stop. And then I wake up to us leaving Terminal 5. So, as you can hear, it wasn’t superbad. All that happened was that I got off at Terminal 4 and walked back to Terminal 5…. only to discover the HUGE LINES everywhere and nowhere.

Yesterday, a terroristattack happened in Sweden and because of this, the security had been increased. So, waiting time for securitycheck was about an hour – and for once, I was even out in good time, and despite that, the airport staff had to escort us ( I found another girl who was in the line for Helsinki) ahead of the line so we could, barely, catch our flight. Oh how good it is to be TWO people when shit like this happens. But I’d like to tell you about something – when I first got in the line, there were a couple ahead of me that were getting on a plane that was taking off at 06.55. The time was 06.40.

I guess I never saw it before, because I was lucky – but the reviews on Arlanda’s websites are true. It is a pretty slow airport, and it doesn’t seem to know how to deal with massive amounts like this.

So, safe and sound and in time, I landed in Helsinki, collected my luggage and headed off into the city for some breakfast or possibly lunch. Basically, I was in Helsinki by 10.30 or so, and my hotel wasn’t open for check in until 16, so you could easily say I had some darn waiting to do. Spent the first two-three hours at Espresso House – in these cases it is real good that I’m such a slow eater – and after that I killed some time in the Forum shoppinggallery. The last hour in Forum I sat and read the sales book by Fredrik Eklund, before I could FINALLY get out and check in the hotel. The gallery is only five minutes away, so it was a looong wait.

Once in the hotel, I quickly got settled and then went to bed. I had had to take an earlier bus than expected, and because of that, I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep and figured I’d be better off actually resting a little bit before the show. Once woken up, I got ready for the show and then went off to The Circus – which is no less than five minutes away – this hotel is nothing but golden.

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I arrived just on time as the first band walked on stage (phew!). So, first opener of the night was Ember Falls, a Tampere based metalband formed in 2010. They delivered a very energetic set, and they actually seemed to have some fans in the audience. Not too common, so it was cool to see! The band was okay. I’m not entirely taken by them, but it could have been worse… as I was about to see.

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Next band on stage was Blind Channel. Based in Oulu, the band was formed in 2013. All clad in white they performed some strange merge of rap and metal. I guess it’s had some nu metal elements to it, but I really could not like this. And it did not get any better, whatsoever, when the singer came out in a robbers hood acting like a basic rapper. I have a hard time for these kind of merges, as the kind and side of metal I like is not the “fuck the police”, and well… Yeah. Simply not for me. But they did seem to have quite some fans in the audience, and they had charisma.

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They left the stage and at 21.15, Amarathe’s very very long intro started and at 21.30, it finally hit off with “Maximize”. It was a pretty…. slow? audience. Like, it wasn’t as much response from it as I would have thought it would be. The opening was quickly followed up by “Boomerang” and their big hit “Hunger”.

So, as you guys probably know, Jake E decided to completely leave the band in February this year after having a hiatus from the band for some time. At the time, the news were heartbreaking, and the initally we all thought the spot would go to Chris Adam who’s been filling in for Jake during the past tour. It turns out, he has in fact turned down the offer, and while he still did some of the Swedish show, it was a new face on stage tonight filling in for Chris Adam, who is filling in for Jake.

And this person is no one less than Nils Molin, the singer from Dynazty. Dynazty is one of my favorite bands that I very very rarely see. They are incredibly hard to catch live, and seeing that Nils personally is one of my all time favorite male vocalist, seeing him on stage with Amaranthe, or seeing him perform all in all was very.. emotional. It was a moment of “Finally.” I was in ecstasy, as well as being smitten by the prescence and just happy. We will see if he will remain in Amaranthe or not.

They followed up with their big hit “Hunger”, and then “Invincible”. These songs had a little better audience response, even though it left much to be desired. The band was really good though – Elize is not as shy as I remember her, which is soo good to see. It’s so good to see her really get out there, connecting with the crowd and everything.

“1.000.000 Lightyears” was next on the list, followed by “Trinity” before it was time for Nils and Elize to have their moment in “True”. And you know, just hearing him work his voice and them two harmonizing together is simply amazing. They work so well together.

Right after this two person song, Henrik got to have his own little moment in “Fury” before everyone left Elize to her own thing with “Endlessly”. The thing is… I’m gonna say this, and get so many haters. Elize can sing. And she can sing well. But I never understood why she keeps stretching things – It’s a lot of, in my eyes, unnecessary screams and extensions, and this happens in almost every song. I don’t see the point in that.

“On The Rocks” was next on the list, and the audience seemed a bit more awake this time around. Morten was left on his own to perform his mandatory drumsolo before it merged into “Automatic”. “The Nexus” was next on the list, followed by the big audience favorite “Amaranthine” before they wrapped up the set with “Call Out My Name”.

After a little bit of wait, Andreas came out and did his… “stand-up-comedy” part before they hit off the encores with “Digital World”, followed by “That Song”, “Dynamite” and then have the whole set wrapped up with “Drop Dead Cynical”.

Speaking of that song. As the band was about to thank for the time and walk off stage, a record label representant came on stage and delivered gold singles for “Drop Dead Cynical” for Finnish sales. Congratulations Amaranthe! Well deserved.

After THAT, the band thanked for the evening and walked off the stage.

And me myself, I hurried off to the hotelroom, had some quick dinner and then went to sleep. Early day tomorrow.

// Sara

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PART FIVE: Tuska Open Air, Helsinki, Finland 1-3/7 2016

Posted in Finland, Travels, Uncategorized with tags , , on July 26, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

So, I think in all honesty we woke up a little later than we should have. We had made some epic plans for today – Lordi exhibition! So, we were supposed to meet Sophie and Marianne at the Kamppi square around, well, some time, but we decided to postpone it a little bit because you know, we are lazy as hell. But, eventually did we make it out there, and it was a nice day you know. Sun was shining, really warm, me and Sophie wearing the exact same Lordi shirt… you know, normal things.

We were supposed to go to McDonalds, but Marianne asked to go to this Finnish burgerplace called Hesburger instead, and you know, sure, why not? So, we went there, enjoyed a nice brunch with a lot of talking and laughing and planning and what not. After that, the “epic” journey to Weird Antiques started.

The place was a little bit off, or well, actually, the thing is, we decided to walk there. It is probably easier and more convenient to go to subway, but we figured “why not?”. So after a long walk, we finally made it to the place, and we were… very reluctant and hesitant at first. For some reason we were a group of super shy people. We forced Nathan to go first seeing he was the only guy, and after some waiting and more awkwardness we found the owner who let us in to the exhibition.

And let me tell you something about Lordi exhibitions. When you walk into it, at first you get taken aback. A little petrified, because of all the mannequins. And then, the next stage is joy. You feel the adrenaline and joy fill up in your heart, feeling it pound a little faster when all the things and people-less costumes you love so much and dearly are there. And then the excitement and mischiviousness comes. When you start giggling at everything and nothing. You are literally entering a world were it is a hundred percent Lordi and no one can take it away from you, and no one can touch you in this state of bliss.

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Unlike the exhibition in Savonlinna, you could actually walk straight up to the costumes, touch them if you wanted to. We were very, VERY reluctant at first like.. oh my god, we don’t wanna break them, you know? But I guess that at some point we’d accidently hit one thombstone one too many times so as the hours passed by, we simply didn’t care anymore and that’s when face-swaps and goofyness enters. If Lordi only knew.

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The exhibition consisted of three “rooms” – first room was more of a big room with two sections – first section consisting of a stage with a lot of random costumes, Mana seated (!) and some extra goodies. Paintings and thombstones. Second part of the room had all of Mr Lordis costumes – The Arockalypse and – Get Heavy in one line, as well as a few other costumes, the most noteable one being Otus’ costume being on display. A lot of random small things – Amen’s guitar case, Amen’s guitar, the Rock Police gear, some more paintings.

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In the last room was, again, a lot of the costumes, Hella’s scarbie box, the entire set up from “Deadache” tour, Dark Floors props and some old goodies. The chainsaws, the old Monsterican Dream set up, Blood Red Sandman bed, Hella’s baby stroller… A lot of things! We had the exhibition all to ourselves, which made it even better!

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We had a fantastic time at the exhibition, and after about three hours it was time for us to leave. We heard some shoutings out from the store, but didn’t think so much about it. Then I saw this guy spraying something and it was about the time when we saw the store owner grab a baseball bat and chase after the guy that we realized that this was actually a robbery.

Very, very quickly did we turn around and hurried back into the backroom, all the way back behind the “Dr Sin” autopsy table to hide. And you know… Things are really getting out of control when you hear yourself asking “Ok, so what Lordi props within reach are good weapons in case he comes in here?”.

It’s a surreal… surreal feeling, I tell you. We stayed in there for a while before we thought it was safe to go out. Sophie is starting to cough a little bit, but I didn’t think much about it. Then I started coughing and I didn’t think too much about it either – I’ve been crawling around on the floors, who knows how much dust and latex pieces I have in my throat! I figured I’d take a deep breath to clear the throat a bit, which would turn out to be the biggest mistake.

As I inhaled I felt my throat complete clogging up and getting difficulties to breathe. About this time, I notice Sophies coughing has gotten worse, and both Marianne and Nathan are coughing. Nathan rushed for us to get out of there, as he noted that every person who was in the store was, just like we, coughing really badly.

Once outside, we learn that it had indeed been a robbery, but gladly, the robber hadn’t gotten away with anything. The police arrived shortly thereafter, and we left our testimonies and then, when we checked so the storeowner was okay and everything, we left the scene. Nathan said afterwards; “First time in Helsinki and I’m already known by the police!”

Well, Welcome to Helsinki Nathan!

TO BE CONTINUED

// Sara

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PART FOUR: Tuska Open Air, Helsinki, Finland 1-3/7 2016

Posted in Concerts, Finland, Travels, Uncategorized with tags , , on July 25, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

So, right after the show the French people decided to leave for the hotel as Marianne wasn’t feeling very well, and Nathan and I took the opportunity to look at the merchstand, only to realize that Lordi did in fact not have any merch with them to this show. Oh well then. After this we headed back to the city to meet up with Sophie and Marianne at McDonalds.

It was a nice rejoice – Marianne was feeling better and we sat down and had a proper meal and chat about the amazingness we had really just witnessed back at the festival. We left fairly quickly after finishing like half the meal as I wanted to head back to festival ground to catch Avantasia live, but not before we had gotten changed.

And you know.. I always have a hard time deciding what to chose, and I’m very positive that this ultimately became the reason we got a little bit late for Avantasia. I was seriously beating myself up all the way back to Suvilahti, because the song “Avantasia” was the song I really, really wanted to see and seeing it was pretty early in the set, I felt pretty screwed. I remember how I even sat and checked to see how long the songs before it was, just to try to calculate, sitting and saying to Nathan “And then again Tobias talks so much so perhaps…” and Nathan seriously did the most amazing job calming me down.

The thing is, we made it to Suvilathi/Sörnäinen exactly when they started playing, but then we had to get to the festival and inside the gates as well. I kept saying to Nathan “I swear to God, they are going to the last ‘Avantasiaaaa’ when we get in”. I was so stressed, Nathan telling me it will be fine, me stressing a little bit more… and finally we made it in and we heard Tobias say “This is ‘Ghostlights'”.

“Ghostlights” was the song ahead of “Avantasia” in the set, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt as relieved as I did in that very moment. And then.. it was time for the big moment… “Avantasia”.

And like.. I fell in love with this song the moment I heard it. You know how you sometimes have these songs, that as soon as you hear them everything simply makes sense, when you get chills all over your body and you enter this euphoric state where it’s just you and the music? Yes. That’s it. That’s what is going on with this song.

And it was just as perfect as I imagine it would be. Yes, I did see Avantasia at Sweden Rock, but I wasn’t a fan then you know.

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The show continued on, and I enjoyed every moment of it. I’m not going to go in depth, but seriously, I sure as hell enjoyed myself! Which is sort of fun – At Sweden Rock I got bored very quickly, but I guess we can all agree on that being because of the cold rather than the show. They put on one hell of a show, Thank you Avantasia!

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After the show we headed back to the hotel. We contemplated for a moment to go to Bäkkäri for some shows as a part of an afterparty, but decided against it when we both were really tired. So instead, we went to a store, bought goodies and went home, put on some music on the speakers and laid in bed talking about everything and nothing and planning for tomorrow.

Quite a pleasant night, don’t you think?

// Sara

 

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SlipKnot @ Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland 18/1 -16

Posted in Concerts, Finland, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , on January 18, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

January 18th marked the first concert of the year, and it would be by no other band than SlipKnot. Ironically – Amaranthe was the first concert of the year last year, and it was only a by a breathe that Amaranthe didn’t become first gig this year. Hadn’t Amaranthe been first last year, SlipKnot would have been first. Isn’t it fun how faith works sometimes?

We woke up… way too late. Like, I don’t even fucking know what went wrong. We were supposed to go up around 12, seeing we came so late in with the flight that we got to bed really late and all of that. Despite this, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed and headed out. We had planned to make a quick visit to Music Hunter to look for some hard found Epica albums. Despite being a recordstore that is filled from floor to roof with CD’s, those two albums were nowhere to be found. What a shame.

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We got back, picked up pizza at the pizzeria next to the hotel and started getting ready for the show. Called a taxi just to be sure to get there in time and all of that, and despite this, because of trafficjams, we didn’t get there and registered exactly two minutes before closing time. So, we got in, rushed to the cloakroom to leave our jackets and were then rushed to the room the meet&greet was going to happen.

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We stood in a little half circle around the hostess told us a bit about how this meet&greet would go down. We’d first take the picture with the band, since most, if not all, of them would attend, and afterwards we’d get our stuff signed. I thought to myself, sounds good, after all, this is how Lordi used to do it back in the days. So she asked us to form a line, and Michelle and I wound up first in line. Since I won’t really accept at all being first in line, haha, we moved ourselves backwards in the line. I’ve met many bands throughout the years, but I’ll always be a bit scared the first time around with a new band.

So, then, the band arrived, and to my surprise there were eight people joining us today. Corey, Clown, Alex, Jim, Sid, Jay, Chris and Mick. Our meet and greet had originally said only 3-4 would appear, so I guess this was an upgrade!

So the line moved on pretty quickly and before we knew it, it was our turn. Unlike the rest of the people we decided to go together, because why the hell not? And also, timesaving. Once we came up there about half the band cheered at the fact we were two, and Jim made some comments about two girls and one Corey. It was a fairly quick little session and then we got back in line for the signing.

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For the signing, they actually lined up, sort of like a table, like an actual signing session. Fast than you’d think we were already at the start, with Corey being first. Jim second. Clown third, and Sid fourth.

Sid was the only one of the members in SlipKnot I actually gathered up the courage to actually talk to. While Jim and I shared a laugh about something, Sid was the only one I dared to say something to. And do things to, all in all. I had barely looked at the other members, but with Sid I even leaned in and focused real hard in order to see through his sunglasses and meet his eyes. Sid is “my man” you see, he’s the one in SlipKnot if we say so. However, the only thing I actually said to him was that I liked his Mickey Mouse pants. He told me Mickey was cool. That was cool.

It was followed by Alex, Mick, Jay and Chris. See, I always had a bit of a problem with Jay, because of the impression I got of him from online, so imagine my surprise when he turned out to be extremely friendly. Alex was too, but that was no surprise really.

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After all was said and done, the band left the scene and we were allowed to go and leave our signed stuff in the cloakroom. Oh, right! The ‘special tour gifts’ was a lighter and a poster. I must admit I thought it’d be something different, but you know. I won’t complain!

We were taken down undergrounds to some secret entrance to the venue, where we were let in before everyone else together with the people who had early entrance tickets. Despite the entry and everything being a bit delayed, I was surprised to see Suicidal Tendencies entering the stage exactly at 20 sharp.

So, I haven’t really listened a lot to Suicidal Tendencies prior to this gig, and I never had a very good impression of them, and well… It didn’t really change either. The band was absolutely fine and delivered very well on stage, but this really isn’t my kind of music. It’s something about that style that just doesn’t work for me. BUT, they did a good job warming up!

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After this, the wait for SlipKnot began. And it was held pretty short. Of course, not without making jokes about how early Korpiklaani would go on stage, but still. About a minute late, “Prepare For Hell” started, and the band came out and opened with “The Negative One”.

Well… That’s a first I guess. That surprised me, like, so much. I was very happy, that “The Negative One” was back since I thought it was a big mistake not including it at Graspop, but I had really thought “Sarchastrophe” would be the opener. They continued on with “Disasterpieces”… and sadly… the arena… Damn. At least on our side, it was fucking dead man. I don’t even get it. Why do you get front row if you are just going to.. stand there? Oh well. “Eyeless”, my personal favorite was next in line before something… almost magic happened.

They played “Skeptic”.

This marks one more song I always wanted to hear live from “The Grey Chapter” that finally happened. Fuck… that was magic. Corey Taylor spoke a bit about it being 15 years since “Iowa” was released, and then they continued the set with “I Am Hated”.

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The tour this time was very scaled down. On “Prepare for Hell” tour, they had this big goat head in the background, fire and pyrotechnics until no end. But not this time. A normal television screen, sort of, playing various videos and backdrops and some lightbulbs here and there. And that’s it.

Next on the list was “Killpop” and I was as happy as ever to hear this beautiful piece of music again, and it all went so atmospheric. Blue and purple lights, toned down… It was magical.

And then… a big moment for Michelle to say the least, when the tones to “Dead Memories” started. I shit you not, she got completely silent. It was truly her night, song wise.

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“Dead Memories” was followed by “Everything Ends” which was strongly followed by “Psychosocial” and “Wait And Bleed”. Despite these two songs, the crowd, at least on our side, was still dead as hell. “Duality” and “The Devil in I” continued the set, followed by “Before I Forget” and then… this special little thing happened.

“Metabolic”.

“Metabolic” FUCKING HAPPENED. Who would have fucking thought? Need I tell you all how insane we went? Oh god. What a rush it was! They wrapped up the set with “(sic)” before they left the stage.

An interesting little song started, it was like, a folksong about going to hell, and the members came back on stage. They blew off “Surfacing” and “Left Behind” before, what for me is the best moment of an entire SlipKnot show – “Spit it Out”.

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Seriously. There is something truly special about the whole “sit the fuck down” moment, and this would be the first time I did it in the front row. I must admit, it was fucking tight to sit down, but the guy behind me and I managed to sort it out so that he sat around me, almost having me in this lap and then he could have his arms around me on the fence as well. And you know… how it’s pumping. How it builds up. And then how you all JUMP THE FUCK UP!

I thought it’d fuck up our spots, but it didn’t!

With that being said, the band thanked for the night and left the stage.

It was a really good show, they had great energy and I enjoyed seeing them so much. But on the same time… there was something lacking. Like, “Custer” for instance. And “People=Shit”. But most importantly… it felt so… intimate. Being so close to them… and the show being so scaled down… it almost felt like seeing them in a small club environment. It was… pretty sweet in a way. A band you consider an arena band, a band you have usually seen in a distance, now seemed to intimate, and so close… so… reachable.

And that is what made it all so worth it. I love this band so much.

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Right after, we hit the merchstand to pick up a tourshirt, and then we hooked up with one of the people from the Meet&greet, and then got home.

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This has, despite some mishaps, been one of the most amazing days in my life. I really needed this right now. Thank you SlipKnot, Live Nation and Michelle for this amazing day.

// Sara

 

 

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Slipknot @ Jäähalli, Helsinki, Finland 15/2 – 15

Posted in Concerts, Finland, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , on February 16, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

Everything has a beginning, but everything also has an end. And this was the final date on what we refer to as the “SlipKnot” week, even though it was a bit all over the place. It was a bittersweet taste in my mouth when I woke up that morning, and the reality hit me even harder when Argo left to go home to Estonia.

But, fear not! As I was sitting in my dismay, in my beautiful room at Omena Yrjönkatu, which was very messy because it’s me, the lovely Jasmin hit me up for dinner before I headed over to Jäähalli. Said and done.

I had been thinking a LOT about what to wear. And with that said, I mean I had no clue at all in what so ever. I thought maybe a Lordi shirt and some pants, but then I figured I’d just go with a stripped down version of what I was wearing in Stockholm. Said and done.

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So, Jasmin and I met up outside the hotel and headed down to McDonalds for a sweet dinner. And it was sweet already. Lots of talking, catching up, laughter and gasps and just pure epicness. Eventually of course, I had to leave as Jasmin guided me to the trams that would take me to Jäähalli.

Because of the awesome company, I was actually getting pretty late to the venue! Not my kind of style huh? Shows you how much good company can do! But just as I got into the bathrooms, the LONG intro of King 810 started so you could say I made it just in time! Ran downstairs and didn’t miss a second of King 810.

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Well, there isn’t a lot more to say about King 810 that hasn’t already been said. I assume it was the same setlist, and the band was on top, just as in Stockholm. Still miss that little cameo of the crew member of course but you can’t get everything!

So, after they left the stage it was time for the fairly short wait for SlipKnot. I had checked on the events page – SlipKnot would start at 20.20 (odd time anyone?) and precisely 20.24 did “XIX” start echoing from the speakers. And as it did so, I felt some people pushing from the side. I was like “Oh come on, not back here?” and then I realized what was going on.

They were preparing for a moshpit.

And I was basically the star of the show.

So I basically, in true “Wait and Bleed” mannor yelled out a “GOOD BYE!” and ran the opposite direction. Some time in the future, you WILL see me in a moshpit to “Surfacing”, but not today. Not here, not now.

With that said, the curtain raise up and they hit it off with “Scarcastrophe”. Within the first few sounds of the guitar, the arena pretty much exploded. Had this been a 2-floor building, the floor would have broken. They continued on with “The Heretic Anthem” just as in Stockholm, tightly followed my “My Plague”. Damn. You could cut the tension with a knife you know? You could sense that this was something special.

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Which it kinda was, you know. It was the tour finale of the Prepare for Hell tour in Europe. But on the same time – there isn’t a whole lot to say. The band was on top – just as they were back in Stockholm, perhaps a little more on the edge. They followed suit with “The Devil in I” and “Psychosocial” and later on “The Negative One” – and I tell you.

Being in the arena, regardless of arena really, when these three songs are being blasted… Well, they call the tour prepare for hell, right? Because it is. But it’s a good hell. The kind of hell one would commonly refer to as heaven. At least if you’re a hyper, jumping, headbanging metalhead that is. And I am all of this. So hell, nah, more heaven.

But it was right here it happened. When it was supposed to have been “Three Nil” we instead heard the lyrics telling us “I wanna slit your throat and fuck the wound…”

And in all honesty, at first I didn’t even realize what happened. I sang along to all the lyrics, jumped at the right spots, and headbanged and what not. But I never realized what happened. Neither did I when “Eyeless” was exchanged for “Opium of the People”.

I didn’t realize what was happening until they started playing “Dead Memories” were there was supposed to be “Vermillion”. And at first I froze.

And then my eyes grew big. So big they almost popped out of my head. Grabbed my camera quick, need to record this shit for Michelle. Halfway in the verse I realize NO I SHOULD FUCKING CALL HER. Started digging for my phone, managed to call her. My bill is going to be sky high, but it’s worth it if you let your best friend hear her favorite song live.

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Afterwards they continued on as “normal” – meaning “Dead Memories” was followed by “Before I Forget” and “Duality” before the next surprise of the night came – Where there was expected, from my side, to be “Wait and Bleed” we instead got “The Blister Exists”. Hello mindfuck. And after this… hihihi. My favorite moment was here.

Sure. I’ve only seen this band two times now. But already after the gig in Stockholm did “Spit it Out” become my favorite moment of the entire show you. And I guess you all know what I’m talking about. Yep. That’s right. According to Corey, the Helsinki crowd was the fastest in all of Europe to get the fuck down on the fucking ground. Doesn’t even surprise me. AND GOD DAMN THIS MOMENT PEOPLE. If you ever have the chance to experience a SlipKnot show, do so from the middle of the crowd. Might seem a little… speaking against myself, but seriously, there’s nothing like being in there, sitting down with all these people around you, and all of you, ON THE SAME TIME just jumps the fuck up. Oh my fucking god man, as Corey’d say.

This piece of action was of course followed by their, I suppose new, jumpfest “Custer”. Seriously, if the arena wasn’t already blown up, this was the moment when it happened.

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After “Custer”, they left the stage, leaving us all chanting wanting more, and of course, like the good band they are, they returned. Starting off with “742617000027” and then driving RIGHT into “(sic)” just made your inner organs kind of explode. I’ve used that word a lot in this entry, I do realize, but how else am I to explain an explosive show?

“(sic)” was followed by “People=Shit” before they wrapped the whole thing up with the moshers little favorite “Surfacing”. Like I said in the beginning, ONE DAY I will be in the mosh, but it’s gonna take some time. Like, I need to get Iron Man’s costume first. And a few pillows. And a sumi-wrestlers outfit. But until then, have fun people.

After “Surfacing” they thanked for the night and left the stage and soon we were all ushered out of the arena by Geoff, their right hand, if you like.

It was with a fairly heavy heart I left Jäähalli. It was a bittersweet taste in your mouth, when this one week you’ve looked forward to for SO LONG is just over. Just like that. Gone. Away. No more.

As the loser I am, I didn’t find the tram-station so I end up walking all the way back to the hotel. Which was pretty sweet, it only took about half an hour and it was kinda nice to walk home and calm down a little bit from the extreme amount of endorphins that had just been released inside the ice hall.

Seriously though, from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you SlipKnot, for these two shows. They were amazing, and I can’t even wait for Graspop to come now. NOW. NOW.

// Sara

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