Sonata Arctica in Tavastia Club, September 25, 2012

Oeh, where to begin with this band... It's like a proper guilty pleasure of a metal music fan. Cheesy, bouncy, fast-paced, often immature and with lyrics that make you facepalm more than once in three minutes. But it's fun. The recent albums of Finnish flower power metal veterans from Sonata have caused heated discussions and world wars among the fans. I'ma gonna say right away that I wholeheartedly support groups taking new approach. I couldn't listen to the same ol' superfast power metal from Tony & co. for year after year, for example. The same way as I think Opeth generally used to suck was not that good, I think "Heritage" (2011) is absolutely bril-li-ant. I think once metal takes proge-ish approach, some very interesting things are born. But I digress.

Two... actually three latest albums of Sonata Arctica ("Unia" 2007, "The Days of Grays" 2009 and "Stones Grow Her Name" 2012 [what kind of an album title is that anyway???]) have been bit of tough bites to swallow. I can imagine peeps who expected "worthy" continuation to "Silence" (2001) and "Winterheart's Guild" (2003) are now using "The Days of Grays" as a beer mat. When I went through the titles of the newest album, I got very apprehensive and was not sure whether to buy the tickets. "Shitload of Money" - ok, Tony, if that rocks your boat, but to title a song "Don't Be Mean" is a little too emo even for a (world famous) flower metal band.

So with apprenehsive thoughts and expectations I went to Tavastia Club yesterday.



Venue. Tavastia is pretty much like a home club for us, so many gigs where we have been to have been held there. On the positive, you can get real close to the band in such a small space. On the negative, I always had some problems with the sound there, and the stage is quite small, so if you put a "stadium-band" type of performer up there, they do not have much room for their stuff. I've always been intrigued by Sonata's keytar player, but he was standing in the back next to the drum set, so no good way to see him do his magic. But for some performers it is a good kind of a place to be. I personally would have liked to have seen Sonata in a bigger venue. 

Choice of songs. Overall I was happy, there were some nice surprises as well as a few I would have left out (I'm looking at you, "Shitload of Money" and also the super cheesy "I Have a Right").  There was old stuff, new stuff and stuff from the middle. All good. Also, if you must do a cover, and if it absolutely has to be a Bon Jovi cover, "Wanted Dead or Alive" is pretty much the only good choice to make, so props. (Thank's for not playing "Don't Be Mean" though, much appreciated.)



So how were the guys? This band is SO MUCH FUN. They don't take themselves seriously at all! There's so much effortless in what they do and how they do it. Frontman Tony Kakko is, of course, the show stealer. He doesn't play an instrument (usually), so he has a lot of time to fiddle around, come up with funny antiques, be nice to the audience. He gives out an impression of a big child (in a good way) and a very sincere and expressive person. Basically he's like a big human-size and -like teddy bear. It makes sense to how it relates to his lyrics, which have always been borderline emo and childish. I had heard about Tony Kakko's communication with the audience to be superb, but to experience it first hand was something different. Also, as they performed to home audience, it definitely made it even warmer and more direct. In the end of the gig, most bands I've seen usually say the thanks, maybe bow for a moment, and then leave. Well, Sonata definitely took their time saying goodbye and talking to the audience :)

Something I also have to bring out separately, as it is something I often have a beef with when going to live performances - how do(es) vocalist(s) sound on stage. Tony Kakko has been praised to have one of the best voices in power metal and boy, do I see why. The guy is flawless. Not a single off-key. He has a very strong voice. When he went "... heart of steel..." ("Replica"), I swear it sounded exactly like Eric Adams from Manowar (not a band that close to my heart, but boy, that voice!!).

Crowd. Brilliant. Despite the fact that there weren't that many people (Tuesday evening, also there will be two more gigs so people are divided among those all). I do appreciate non-crowded gigs; having history of passing out at a major gig, I have become fearful of major stadium and huge hall gigs. Less (people) is more, now. However, these must have been die-hard fans. Whenever they were asked to sing back, by the band, they sang back. Nice crowd. I did feel a bit bad for not being the textbook gig visitor myself, as under the effects of heavy tranqualiser, my limbs felt quite jellyfied most of the time :p

Setlist: 

1. Only the Broken Hearts (Make You Beautiful) (Stones Grow Her Name)
2. Black Sheep (Silence)
3. Alone in Heaven (Stones Grow Her Name)
4. Losing My Insanity (Stones Grow Her Name)
5. Broken (Winterheart's Guild)
6. The Gun (Takatalvi, 2003)
7. The Day (Stones Grow Her Name)
8. I Have a Right (Stones Grow Her Name)
9. Tallulah (Silence) - acoustic
10. The Dead Skin (The Days of Grays) - acoustic
11. Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi cover) - acoustic
12. Paid in Full (Unia)
13. Shitload of Money (Stones Grow Her Name)
14. Replica (Ecliptica, 1999)
15. FullMoon (Ecliptica)

Encore: 

16. Cinderblox (Stones Grow Her Name)
17. Don't Say a Word (Reckoning Night, 2004) (with Vodka outro)

Personal highlights: Broken, FullMoon, Don't Say a Word, Cinderblox (borderline bad song on album, very funny in live)