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)
Imaginaerum Tour 2012
Let me start by describing the microclimate in our Sector E4, as it was probably where the funniest events took place throughout. Sector E4 included various types of people: me and Jan; a few middle-aged men and women (who "are keeping it real", as Jan said); a few Teenagers on my left hand; an Emotionless Lady on Jan's right hand; a Proper Metal Dude With Very Long Hair (I shall call him just Proper Metal Dude hereon) and his Crew sitting in the first row of Sector E4, two rows ahead of us; a Semi-Eager Security Dude, plus Extras.
You could tell whether there was a good song or a bad song performed on stage based on the actions of the Proper Metal Dude and his Crew. When song was not so good (read: slow, more experimental), parts of the Crew, or the whole Crew, left their seats. Luckily, there were more good than poor songs. During the good songs, the Metal Dude did a lot of hair tossing and headbanging (even though often off rhythm :) ). The Crew consisted also of two ladies and two other guys (with short hair). Let's call one of the guys the Conductor. Occasionally, he approached his fellow Crew Members, pointed finger at them and (I think) yelled them what to do: how to toss hair, how to headbang, what to do with hands and fingers, which kind of body movement to use. It was a very funny show to watch! :)
On the photo below, in the left lower corner, you can see some of the Proper Metal Dude's hair in movement:)
The Teenagers on my left seemed a bit shy, so all they managed to do was pointing fingers at the rest of the Sector E4, commenting and laughing at their actions. I hope their next gigs will be more interesting! I could not but to observe the Emotionless Lady sitting next to Jan and I swear, not a muscle on her face or in her whole body moved throughout the approximate 1.5 hours :) I hope she enjoyed the show at least a bit. The Semi-Eager Security Dude occasionally patted someone on the shoulder and reminded that it is not allowed to take photos with your telephone/camera. Nevermind the fact that in the 3-meter radius there were at the same moment at least five other people doing exactly the same :p
Alright, enough of gossip now, moving on to
The Goods:
The sound was really really good to my ears, even to the distance that we were at.
The show was great (I had no doubts it would be). There was a big screen displaying different images, colours and moods; there was plenty of pyrotechnics shot off the stage. At first I wondered what those funny pipes were doing around Tuomas's keyboard set, but the answer came in the form of fire shooting off from there as well.
The vocals were surprisingly good! Anette Olzon has grown a lot of confidence on her since their Dark Passion Play Tour some years back. She is very good at singing the stuff that is actually written for her voice (namely the latest record, which I am not a hardcore fan of). Mr Hietala held to his own, expectedly high standards.
Starting on time. The band was supposed to come on stage and that they did, even a minute earlier, perhaps. Coming from a long history of gigs, where you can go 20 minutes after the artist's announced time and still having to wait for half an hour, it is a bit strange getting used to Finns' punctuality :) (I don't usually go to opening acts.)
Lots of powerful vibe coming from the stage. That, of course, is the combination of well-picked songs, very good sound and vocals, and communication with the audience. In that sense, the second half of the show was much better than the first (which is better than having it the other way around).
Troy Donockley, for giving lots of folksy vibe on his Irish bagpipes (uillean pipes).
Sector E4. I haven't laughed that much in a long time :)
The Bads:
Having the seats. In my world, having seats at such gigs is a small kind of a sin to commit. But there was nothing to do, by the time I got to the shop, the whole floor had been sold out.
The "pop-songs" and overall composition of the setlist. The pop-songs contribute zero to the whole gig. Namely "Wish I Had an Angel", "Amaranth" and "Nemo". They all rank amongst the worst NW songs I think. And "Nemo" in acoustic version??? I mean the song itself is so plain, the least you could do for the crowd is to have some beat behind it. I almost fell asleep there. This song is not written for Anette Olzon and there are songs she can do better. "Over the Hills and Far Away" sounded mediocre, but the fact that its fast and generally a good song saved it, compared to "Nemo". The surprising "The Siren", for example, has enough character that she could make it her own and it sounded really good. I'd prefer all these three taken off the setlist and add "Rest Calm", which is one of the best songs from "Imaginaerum". And do both "The Siren" and "The Poet and the Pendulum", not just replace one with the other :) /rant off
The crowd. It was the first time for me to observe the crowd on the floor from up high, and I was a bit disappointed, as about 10-20 first rows of people were really jumping and throwing fingers, but the rest was pretty much motionless. Maybe it would have felt great seen from down there, I don't know, but I suspect it has something to do with Finns' kind-of-cold nature and reservedness.
The Questionabilities that Remain:
I have only one thing that left me pondering. If a live show sounds so much better than the record it is representing, what the h... is it that would make me pick up the record, one so inconsistent as "Imaginaerum", and play it over and over? :)
The Regrets:
That the Proper Metal Dude and his Crew were not able to get floor tickets :( They seemed so restricted there in Sector E4 that I really felt sorry for them.
That I was not able to get floor tickets :p Felt sorry for myself as well.
Setlist:
1. Taikatalvi (Imaginaerum, 2012)
2. Storytime (Imaginaerum)
3. Wish I Had an Angel (Once, 2004)
4. Amaranth (Dark Passion Play, 2007)
5. Scaretale (Imaginaerum)
6. The Siren (Once)
7. Slow, Love, Slow (Imaginaerum)
8. I Want My Tears Back (Imaginaerum)
9. The Crow, the Owl and the Dove (Imaginaerum)
10. The Islander (DPP)
11. Nemo (Once)
12. Last of the Wilds (DPP)
13. Planet Hell (Once)
14. Ghost River (Imaginaerum)
15. Dead to the World (Century Child, 2002)
16. Over the Hills and Far Away (Gary Moore cover)
Encore:
17. Finlandia (a wonderful piece composed by Jean Sibelius back in 1899)
18. Song of Myself (Imaginaerum)
19. Last Ride of the Day (Imaginaerum)
Jan's favourite of the evening: Finlandia, Scaretale
My favourites of the evening: Finlandia, Planet Hell
Photos taken with Nokia N8.
Last Fair Day Gone Night Tour 2011
I better write this before the emotions and memories get too vague. Katatonia wraps up the year 2011 with four special shows in Scandinavia under the Last Fair Day Gone Night tour, and I was there (yesss). The Helsinki show was held in the (night?)club called The Circus in the city centre, about 10 minutes of walk from our home. The doors will be opened at 7 pm, and there is a support band, plus inevitable lingering-loitering around, and heaven knows when the Good Stuff begins, is how my thoughts went (and how they usually go before the gigs). Fortunately, the Internet is almighty and provides all kinds of useful information, and having done a little homework I knew that the band tends to be on time (don't we all hate those performers who are late for 30+ minutes, smokin' and drinkin' somewhere in backstage while poor us have to stay on the feet and waste precious money on beer cos at least it's something to do); in the end it was great success and we arrived at the place 5-10 minutes before the doom-masters came on stage.
The first part of the set consisted the whole Last Fair Deal Gone Down album, from the beginning to the end. It's 10-year anniversary for the album (and 20-year anniversary for Katatonia itself) this year. At first, I got a bit worried, because the crowd was... cold. I know they are Finns, but still. I get very compassionate towards bands on stage when people do not come along with their thing. We also had quite a mediocre spot somewhere in the edge and not very close, it's not the best place to be, but not the worst either. Anyway, the first half was good, and song after song people started becoming more alive (or was it the beer/other alcoholic drinks responsible there? :D) Highlight songs for me: Teargas, The Future of Speech.
After that Katatonia took a small break (I predicted it to be about 15 minutes, which it was) and we managed to get some beer (6 EURs for less than half litres of some average light beer, yes that's the club prices for you) and also a nifty good spot on the floor, say, in the fifth row from the front, and in the middle. Now we're talking!
The second half was a diverse collection of songs from the band's other albums. I think the choice of songs was pretty good (oh well, no Omerta, but it would have been an odd one out anyway...) People seemed to be the happiest over the new stuff (from 2009 and 2006 albums), everyone sang along. There were some technical problems during the first half of the second set, which is a shame; on the other hand, it is the kind of situation that lets you see the band members for the kind of folks they are and how the handle the situation. Jonas Renkse kept us company and joked around (in his modest, subtle manner - "The next song is from the album... called We've Got a Problem" - hehe) and drummer (Daniel Liljekvist) entertained with some percussion riffs from "Ice Ice Baby". The only thing for which I felt a short moment of sadness was that due to those technical problems, one of my favourite songs The Longest Year, suffered a bit, as naturally, both crowd and the band were a bit out of focus and out of that comfortable "gig-zone". After that it went on better, and the best moments of that set for me were The Longest Year, Wait Outside, Evidence, Ghost of the Sun (probably the most powerful performance) and the two oldies that ended the show, Without God and Murder, as by then I had already reached quite an extatic state thanks to the awesome musics, atmosphere, and so on.
For the last mentioned songs, Jonas Renkse took the bass guitar and gave his microphone to Anders Nyström. When I compare their performances as vocalists (leaving out the fact that one uses clean vocals and one death growls :p), I'd say Nyström looks more like an artistic, metal-artist, whereas Renkse has a very unique style and presence on stage (he looks a bit like a teddy bear), just as his voice is quite unique.
By the end of the gig, I was really pleased with the crowd. Even though maybe not that big, it was obvious that there were no "random elements" among the audience. Everyone knew what they had come for, and seemed to be happy for what they got.
Was it what I expected? I did not go there with high expectations. What I mainly thought (I wouldn't call it a concern) was, how will Katatonia's depressive, bleak theme combined with prog-elements from the technical side, portrait on the stage. I mean, the world they create is so dark, so suicidal and full of angst and hopelessness at times, that it is hard to connect it with something that we know as energetic live performances that make people jump and sing along. In normal conditions, the best way for listening to this bad is in quietness and through headphones. So I wasn't exactly surprised or devastated that the vibes from the stage were not that doomy, or that angsty, or depressive. I did not get the same emotion from the gig that I have got when listening Katatonia from headphones, and that can be a good thing, because I got a completely different experience, and all in all, the band seems more humane to me now. However, I consider Katatonia one of the best live bands I have seen, ever. Vocals are very strong, and more interesting than on records (occasional screams and improvisations you can only experience live), although at some points overshadowed by the rest of the orchestra (mainly when they were performing the older stuff). The three guitars (yes, bass is also a guitar, Jan :p) sounded awesome, and percussions were decent (as expected). And boy, did they earn they paycheck that evening... 3 hours! of hard work on the stage. It was a long and delicious treat by guys who are so crafty in their songwriting, and so diverse that I never was bored, not for a moment.
Okay, let's wrap it up with the small list of keywords I made beforehand.
The Goods:
Space - it was not too crowded. I am used to the gigs, where others literally live on your back, there is a lot of pushing, etc. Nothing such! There was air at the Circus, there was space, I didn't have to be in physical contact with some strangers (hate it when people enter my personal space). And considering all that, the place did not seem empty, it was full of people. Very good experience.
Length - the longest gig I have been to (and we didn't even see the support!). Got home way past midnight. Nice to see a band that's not just taking the easy way with an hour, or hour-and-a-half performance, but really gives it their everything.
Setlist - although playing one whole album through can be a decision that raises some eyebrows, it is a bold step to take. As a side note, ironically, I have been to 3 gigs this month and all these have included a full album being played in one evening :p But I digress. Last Fair Deal Gone Down is a good album and a good choice in this case. I was also happy with the songs picked for the second half, and also with the two songs they picked from Viva Emptiness (I did not expect to hear anything from that one).
Crowd - polite, mature, competent.
The Bads:
Occasional technical problems in the middle of the show.
Not bad per se, but the fact that it was held on Monday was a bit inconvenient. I was a zombie myself the next day :)
The Questionabilities That Remain:
Is it even possible to transform the world of Katatonia into equally comparable live experience? I think you can get pretty close, but maybe not at that time, in that place.
The Regrets:
That they are not from Helsinki. The show in Stockholm is going to be drool-worthy.
Setlist:
Part 1, Last Fair Deal Gone Down
1. Dispossession
2. Chrome
3. We Must Bury You
4. Teargas
5. I Transpire
6. Tonight's Music
7. Clean Today
8. The Future of Speech
9. Passing Bird
10. Sweet Nurse
11. Don't Tell a Soul
Part 2
12. Forsaker (Night Is the New Day, 2009)
13. Liberation (NItND)
14. For My Demons (Tonight's Decision 1999)
15. The Longest Year (NItND)
16. Wait Outside (an albumless song, which was strangely left out of Viva Emptiness, no-one seems know why, although "it's a f...... good song", as Renkse said at the gig [agreed])
17. My Twin (The Great Cold Distance, 2006)
18. I Break (Discouraged Ones, 1998)
19. Evidence (Viva Emptiness, 2003)
20. July (TGCD)
21. Ghost of the Sun (VE)
22. Day and Then the Shade (NItND)
23. Leaders (TGCD)
24. Without God (Dance of December Souls, 1993)
25. Murder (Brave Murder Day, 2006)
