Day 1
Swallow
the Sun
There was a time when I would’ve gushed over a
band like Swallow the sun, with their doomy gloomy air, their elegant outfits
and their cute blonde guitarist, but unfortunately for them, that time is gone.
At Artmania all I could do was sit down, drink a lot of water and look for
shade while they were singing. Granted, a hot sunny day may not be the best for
spreading Finnish melancholy, but I have a feeling they wouldn’t have done a
whole lot better under different circumstances anyway.
Kamelot
Seeing Kamelot live was not exactly the best
experience and a far cry from what I expected it to be, sadly :( It didn't help
that I was sick as shit, could barely stand and ended up throwing up in a
garbage bin after the concert, but it was the sound that killed it all. You could
barely make out Roy's voice and for some reason they decided they need a
reaaaaaaally annoying echo that was so loud and strong at some point you
couldn't even realise which one is Roy's voice and which one is the echo. No chance
of actually understanding the songs if you didn't know them beforehand (and for
this reason I can't say anything about the two new songs, all I could make out
where some drums and a distorted guitar). Roy is sadly starting to lose his
voice, even with the crappy sound, you could tell he's struggling with a lot of
parts. And I think he was feeling a bit sick himself, it was very very hot (and
he was wearing his regular long black coat in which I'm surprised he didn't
melt) and he was panting like after running around a football stadium and at certain
moments I couldn't tell if it was the general "I'm so into the music, I'm
pouring my life here" thing he does, or if he was actually going to collapse
on the stage (I know I was about to collapse, I'm surprised I didn't).
However, despite of the critics, it was a nice
concert, I really liked the setlist and the best thing was that, despite the
heat and the crappy sound (crappy being an understatement), they managed to
create a great atmosphere. They seemed to really love the crowd and the crowd
definitely loved them. We were cheering, clapping, singing along... it was
really awesome in this matter. And Roy is incredibly adorable. he's so sweet and
he was really nice to the audience (I can't remember exactly what he said, but
he was very warm and sweet and he seemed genuine in being excited about how the
crowd received them). So all in all it wasn't that bad, mostly because the guys
were professionals who managed to overcome through stage presence what they
lacked in sound quality (I can't tell if they sang well, except for Roy panting
and struggling on a few notes, I couldn't notice anything else related to the
actual music because of the... sound). It wasn't like I expected it, but it
wasn't the band's fault. Also, March of Mephisto
was EPIC!
Sisters
of Mercy
In case you missed the part about throwing up
in a garbage bin after Kamelot, I wasn’t exactly in the best of shapes that
night, so I had to watch Sisters of Mercy from one of the tables in the back of
the square. I was very amused by the fact that people were offering me bear to
repair myself, assuming that I was sick because of excessive drinking (I
wasn’t, by the way). Maybe all this prevented
me from properly enjoying the show, but honestly, as blasphemic as this sounds,
I never understood the fascination with this band and I’m not sure if being
healthy and in the middle of the crowd would’ve made the experience more
memorable. Well, at least everyone else seemed to be having fun, the band
included.
Day 2
Sirenia
I might have fallen on my head, but I kinda
liked seeing Aylin live. Granted, her voice and accent are annoying as shit,
but she has good stage presence, I was surprised by her confident frontwoman
attitude after being in the band for such a short time. And the weird thing is
that she didn't sound like a retarded child while singing the older songs, she
only had that irritating style when singing from The 13th floor. I don't really understand that, but it showed that
she has potential, so maybe it's a good thing that they haven't ditched her
yet. Nonetheless, I still detest Sirenia with a passion and I am completely
appalled by how Morten turned from one of the best song writers with Tristania
into a shitty one in Sirenia. I have no idea how someone can change style so
radically almost over night.
Dark Tranquility
Even though my boyfriend was ecstatic at the thought of seeing Dark
Tranquility, the prospect of going through a whole hour of someone throwing up
in the microphone (as I saw it) didn’t make me too happy. However, it wasn’t
nearly as bad as I thought it would be, since Mikael Stanne turned out to be a lovely
frontman and he made the experience somewhat enjoyable for me. I don’t want to
imply it was a bad performance, I can appreciate their professionalism and
enthusiasm and they’re obviously very good inside their genre, but they’re just
not for me.
Serj Tankian
Serj was really lame with his "me me
me" attitude and with his speeches about Bush while being a country that
had absolutely nothing to do with that. It was his regular propaganda about how
Americans and capitalists are all idiots and Bush is the most idiot of them all
(something about the "fucking Bush administration", something that
"will never happen again" and about communism and businesses and
other irrelevant crap like that). I didn't pay that much attention because he'd
have a stupid speech before almost every song, so at some point I got bored of
listening to him. I found him very lame.
And the lamest of it all is that while he’s
trying so hard to appear like the rebel and supporter of freedom and free
speech that teenagers identify with, he’s so incredibly self centered it
actually hurts. He lost all the genuineness he had when he was in System of a Down
and apparently turned into precisely the kind of person they used to hate when
they were younger. For example, there were about 50 people on stage and yet
everything was about him. I get that he’s the brain of the project, but he
could’ve given at least an ounce of credit to everyone else. But nooo, it was
how he did and he wants and he is. The only thing that surpasses his ego is his
hypocrisy, if you ask me. His music is not half bad, but his attitude and the
neverending speeches completely ruined the show. I felt like screaming „dude,
how ’bout some actual singing?” during his tirades, I think they took up almost
half of the show’s time.
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