Artmania 2009, Sibiu, 17-18.07.09

Day 1

Tristania

Weeee, I saw Tristania :D They were awesome and I'm officially in love with Mary, she rocks! She has a very good voice and I love what she's doing with it and she has an awesome stage presence. She exhales power and energy through all her pores, both in terms of voice and in terms of stage presence. Even if she sings very aggressively and it's 180 degrees from Vibeke and the old Tristania, she was great and I liked her a lot. Kjetil did a great job too, I didn't miss Osten one bit.
They rocked, the crowd was a bit iffy at first and there were very few fans in the audience, but they managed to get everyone rocking and cheering by the end. The only bad thing was that it was too short and they finished the last song and just disappeared off the stage. Ok, I have one more bad thing, half of the members weren't even from Tristania, I don't know who the drummer was, but it was definitely not Kenneth, there was a chick on guitar (she entered the stage first and my boyfriend asked who she is and I said "no one" and then I see her grabbing the guitar and the rest of the band enters and I realise she's actually from the band *blush*) and then there are Mary and Kjetil, of course.

I especially loved the way they played Down, it does sound like a different band, but a great band nonetheless. For as much as I adore Vibeke, I have the feeling they wanted to go to different places and she was somehow holding them down. Mary’s voice and aggressiveness fit the Ashes and Illumination songs a whole lot better then Vibeke’s melancholy did and I think this is what they were actually aiming at.

My Dying Bride

And then boredom and depression came... Oh God, it wouldn’t end! They kept playing and playing and being depressed and dark and moody and the lead singer had blood painted on his hands and he was serious and didn’t speak with the audience and I GET IT! You’re sad and melancholic, no need to bash into my head with a hammer. I guess one could admire their dedication and how well they get into it, but personally I found it over the top and it pushed me away. At least standing perfectly still and being frowned seemed like the main form of expressing the appreciation for the band, so I fit into the picture even if I was the furthest thing from a fan...

Opeth

I’ve only recently discovered Opeth, but every time I have the pleasure of getting in contact with them, I am more and more amazed. Their talent and originality inspire the utmost respect to me, they are an incredible band and I can’t wait to explore their world even more. I have the feeling that maybe a concert is not the best way to appreciate them, they are very atmospheric and I find them better suited for listening to at home, with no distractions. That’s not to say that it was a bad concert, not even by a mile. It was professional through and through and I enjoyed it immensely (even if there was a dude next to me that kept yapping and yapping and made me wonder why in the world you’d come to a show and talk, can’t you do that somewhere else? Somewhere where you won’t have to empty your pocket and won’t disturb people who want to enjoy the music and not your opinion on it), but I think a live setting takes a bit away from the magic they might exert in privacy.

Other then that, Mikael seems like an absolutely adorable person, extremely down to earth, extremely talkative and with a dry humour. I loved his little speeches between songs and the way he sunk into the music and the audience’s delight was the comment about how Swedish are all „pussies” since it wouldn’t be possible to have a giant metal festival in the middle of a town square (like Artmania) in Sweden. The setlist was also very good, it had most of my favourite songs included and it was a good balance between the more aggressive side and the more mellow side.

Day 2

Subscribe

I had never heard (of) Subscribe before this festival, but they were such a funky and eclectic band, with such a charismatic lead singer and with such contagious good mood and energy that it was impossible not to love them. With influences of jazz and reggae wrapped up into an alternative metal package, they turned out to be quite interesting musically and their performance was so memorable that we ended up buying their album and their T-shirt at the end of the show. We even met up with the lead singer in a HUGE crowd outside of the festival area and he made time to chat with us and take pictures. His good mood and craziness were just as infectious off stage as they were during the concert. Very lovable!

Pain

The infusion of energy and good mood continued with the second band of the night. I kinda like Pain, they’re a good mix between bouncy and serious and the show reflected that perfectly. They were a more polished and mature version of Subscribe, with catchy and lively tunes, but with definitely more experience and a far more studied stage presence. I admired their desire to invest into the image as well as into the music (for a live show I think that’s important), but I was charmed by Subscribe’s joy and genuineness and having a music that pretty much generates the same reaction, I couldn’t help but compare them to Subscribe. Surprisingly, even though I had a lot of fun during Pain’s concert, they came up a bit short in the comparison. As much as I appreciated their elaborate outfits and their theatrical presence, I realised that I like people having fun on stage without any pretence or care in the world more then I like people trying to play a part (at least when it comes to this genre of music).

Nightwish

My relation with Nightwish is a bit conflicted, for ages they had been my favourite band, then I was seriously disappointed when Anette joined the band and Dark Passion Play came out (and not for the regular „she’s not Tarja” reason, Tristania proved very clearly that I’m not going to cry over radical changes provided they are done well; it wasn’t the case this time) and then I slowly started to tolerate the new voice because of nostalgia, basically. So seeing them live after the change was an interesting, yet mostly disappointed experience.

Anette has improved enormously, she rarely went off tune and she was warm and friendly to the audience, but there's something missing. I had hoped that seeing her live will change something and that I will get into her style of singing or that I would feel the magic of Nightwish again, but I didn't. I wasn't more excited then I had been at Pain an hour earlier. In fact, I think I was probably even less excited because I was getting tired and had no room to move, while at Pain I could dance and bounce around freely. Anyway, I'm drifting. The main idea is that I didn't feel much, I was excited by the *thought* of seeing Nightwish, but not by what was actually happening on stage. First, there’s obviously Anette. I can't get into her style of singing for the life of me. As good as she might be in another context, in my book she's not for Nightwish. She was pretty cool singing with Pain on Follow me (which convinced me even more that symphonic metal is definitely not her genre), but the second she became Anette from Nightwish and not just Anette who features Pain, she entered a different realm, one where she didn't fit. I never noticed how childish and thin her voice is and I can't stand the "hoooowowow" flowery thing she does. If it's one note there, why make four out of it?

Sadly, though, Anette isn’t the only problem (or dare I say not even the biggest problem). Marco was awesome as always (I was totally mesmerised with his"dreeeeaaaaam ooof meeee"), Tuomas was headbanging like crazy like always, Jukka is adorable, Emppu is fun to watch and there were some cool pyro stuff, but that's it. They were nice taken as individuals, but something was missing. There was absolutely zero chemistry between them and also, the boys looked like they weren’t really into the performance. Anette was in fact the one that seemed most happy to be there (even though her bubliness definitely didn’t fit the music, I have no idea if she even understands what she’s singing about, she doesn’t seem to). What I liked the most the first time I saw them live was their honest joy to be on stage and their passion for what they were doing. They exhaled it through every move, smile and wink. Now they just looked like they were there to do a job and get it over with and for me that’s the most off-putting thing an artist can do. I understand that everyone has their off days when they put up a smile to not upset the fans, but I found it a bit suspicious that *everyone* was having an off day that night.