Journal

Thu 3 Dec – Sonata Arctica, Delain, Winterborn

(This'll be long. Don't read if you don't have any patience :P)

Things that sucked:
> Fucking music snobs >__>
> Constant fear of being crushed + almost dying of heat exhaustion xD

Things that rocked:
> EVERY-FUCKING-THING ELSE :DDDD


Context: This was my first Sonata Arctica gig. I've been a fan of them for the last two and a bit years, really fell in love with them when I bought Unia earlier this year and by the time they released The Days of Grays, they'd grown to become my favourite band.

So you can guess I was just a *little bit* excited ;D


First things first: queueing. And I am a fucking genius at this. Earlier this year I recommended Sonata to my cousin Sureya, who subsequently fell in love with them. And it just so happened that Sureya got there three hours early - an hour and a half before me, I think - and thus got us spaces ridiculously close to the front of the queue \:D/

I think that counts as being a master of forward planning ;D

Anyway so about five minutes after joining the queue, I endured Fucking Music Snob Event #1 - two trve metalheads asking me which Nightwish I liked, Real Nightwish or New Nightwish. Upon saying "Both!" with danger signs flashing in my eyes, they proceeded to regurgitate all the tired old psuedo-elitist crap that turns up on youtube ¬__¬ They were also responsible for Fucking Music Snob Events #2 and #3 - they looked down on me because it was my first Sonata gig (as if they'd never had a first gig) and weren't impressed that Sonata became my favourite band with Days of Grays *rolls eyes* Needless to say, I didn't like them much :P

Luckily I was distracted from those annoying people by the arrival of my other gig buddies - my sister Chrissi (Chrissi-chan) and her friends Eibhlin (yapodurt), Harry (ChaosCalling) and Matt. I also found another fellow last.fmer, Darragh (Intimidator), and what with his friends as well we made quite a merry little group :D

A slight grumble about being let in: I had to throw away my bottle of water WHICH WAS EMPTY AND HAD NO WATER IN IT. Because that makes PERFECT SENSE O.o

Oh, and another queue anecdote: I didn't see this myself but apparently Delain tried to get in through the main entrance, but because they didn't have tickets they weren't allowed in xD They ended up holding up the queue for ages :P

Venue: Pretty damn awesome :P 800 capacity, the perfect size of stage in my opinion. Just big enough for the band to move around but small enough that you can see everyone okay :)


Support Act #1: Winterborn

Winterborn were really great :D I only knew one song before the gig, Last Train to Hell, but just that one song was enough to tell me that I would love their music and that it would really suit live performance, and I was absolutely right :) Unfortunately they didn't play that particular song, but it didn't really matter. I was very impressed with most of the songs (not that I can remember the names xD Wait, I tell a lie, they played The Land Of The Free, confusingly enough, and Last Man Standing) since there was quite a bit of variety and the musicianship was really very good.

The singer is pretty good in Winterborn, but I was most impressed by their keyboardist and even more so their guitarist. The keyboardist had a nice style, and kept reminding me of Within Temptation's keyboardist (Martin Spierenberg or something, I can never remember his name ^__^;;). The guitarist was AMAZING (even if he did dress a bit like a pimp, to use Harry's phrase xD) - quite honestly one of the best guitarists I've ever seen. I completely didn't expect talent like that from such a small-time band, but his playing was intricate, varied and really fucking fast xD Basically he was awesome :3

Oh, one down point though - I thought the sound quality wasn't too great. I don't know whether they fixed it for Sonata or I was just too excited to notice, but it wasn't a problem for the main set, nor really for Delain.

Verdict: 8/10


Support Act #2: Delain

I remember when Delain was announced as a support band I heaved a sigh of "Oh well, I suppose it could have been worse." At that time I really didn't like Delain very much but I gave them another go and this time I really enjoyed them. Even so, I didn't think they'd be all that great live, just because the music isn't so heavy, but I was proved wrong :) The performance was absolutely *made* by Charlotte Wessel - what a fantastic vocalist!! Normally I get slightly disappointed by female vocalists when they sing live (a huge number of them are at least slightly flat or sharp) but Charlotte's voice stayed pure and powerful the whole time. She really gets into it, too, headbanging away. And, without wanting to sound like a typical girl, her outfit was really fucking awesome *__* I *want* her coat, dammit!

Another special mention should go to Ewout Pieters. He's Delain's brand new guitarist and this is his first tour, and by god he's awesome :P He spent most of the gig glaring and leering around at us in this really creepy-awesome way; he just added so much extra atmosphere to the performance. Obviously I've never seen Delain without Ewout but I really can't imagine it'd be as good.

On to the songs, then. Winterborn had played about seven songs, I think, and Delain played about the same, maybe a few more. No April Rain, unfortunately (that's my favourite Delain track, easily), but there were still several I recognised - Shattered, Stay Forever and The Gathering. The latter was the most enjoyable for me, partly because I was busy doing my Mr. Marco Hietala impressions to make up for his absence xD

Verdict: 7/10


After having to wait a while before Winterborn and longer before Delain, you can imagine we were starting to get a bit edgy. Things were made worse for me by the fact that my perfect view of Henkka's stage-area was diminishing as people kept moving around ;___; I'd specifically headed over to the right because after Tony, who leaps around like a crazed monkey and visits all areas of the stage, Henkka is my favourite member of Sonata Arctica and I absolutely adore his keyboard solos. Throughout Winterborn's set, I had a perfect view of their keyboardist - throughout Delain's set, I had a perfect view of Ewout - but it was starting to look like I wouldn't be able to see my dear Henkka ;____;

Here occurred Fucking Music Snob Event #4: *scoffing tone* "No one wants to see Henkka." ::RAGE AND ANGER::

A few minutes' distraction came when the music being piped in suddenly became Stand My Ground from Within Temptation's An Acoustic Night At The Theatre album. I hadn't heard this version before and to be honest, it sounded a bit limp, but me and Chrissi had fun singing along to it at the top of our voices xD In fact, the annoying guys from the queue said, "We thought Sharon den Adel had turned up for a minute!" So I guess even Fucking Music Snobs can be nice sometimes :P

THE MINUTES DRAGGED BY and the instruments were tested over and over again. And there are only so many times you can fangirl over Heikki/Chiddy (not a slash pairing, he has two names xD) before you start to notice the way he's done his hair is really lame xD But just when I'd almost given up hope...


...THE LIGHTS WERE DOWN.



Headliner: Sonata Arctica

[Pidän Sonata Arcticasta <-- I just got told it means "I like Sonata Arctica" xD]

... and the intro music that flowed out from the speakers was Everything Fades To Gray (Instrumental) - the slightly slowed-down, lower-pitch version that they use for opening gigs. Obviously something that's a great opener for an album is going to be a great opener for a gig too, and Everything Fades to Gray was no exception :) Atmospheric, tense...

And then Tommy stepped out behind his drums, and my brain kind of thought, "Hey, there's someone who looks a lot like Tommy. But it can't *actually* be Tommy. That isn't possible!" xD Next onto the stage was Henkka, I think, and - credit where credit's due - the annoying queue people proved once again that Fucking Music Snobs are kind, deep down, because one of them ducked well out of my way so that I had a clear and up-close view of my Henrik \:D/ Then Elias came onstage, and then Tony - which confused me, because surely Make should come out before Tony? For one horrible moment I thought Make was sick and couldn't play but thankfully he was just lurking in the shadows. A bit late in his career to get stage fright, I thought :P

> Flag In The Ground
So this was the first song of the gig and what a great first song it was :D For proof of the impact of this song, just take the fact that three seconds in, EVERYONE was shoved forward as the crowd exploded with... something. I don't actually know what happened. Maybe something actually did explode, but in any case because of Flag in the Ground we spent the rest of the gig trying not to get crushed or crush anyone else xDD We were ridiculously close to the barriers (only two rows of people in front of us) so I was very conscious of trying to preserve those people's ribs xD

The song itself was brilliant, of course :) I loved it immediately when I first heard it, such a great track, and the high-energy is a perfect start to the gig. I can't remember too much of the actual happenings because I was very keen to get a good look at all the band members. Despite being so close, there were so many heads and arms everywhere it was pretty tricky to see, but when I did get a clear view, OH MY GOD, it was so worth being that close :DD Every single one of them is that much more magnificent when you see them up close. Larger than life, and more beautiful to me than anything. I don't even care how stupid that sounds because it's damn from the heart. These guys are something special :3

And the voice, the VOICE! I was absolutely *astounded* by Tony's performance D: The guy has been ill for two weeks. They've had to cancel five gigs on this tour and from the very few videos I watched on youtube, his voice on the gigs that went ahead was surprisingly good BUT you could hear the weakness in it. He couldn't get the high notes, for example. But for us he was PERFECT :') As luck would have it, that incredible voice is back with a vengeance, and he sang for us so well the entire night. Fucking unbelievable. The man is a legend, and I stand in awe of him. Now for god's sake just *stay healthy*, Tony, please!! xD

> Paid in Full
My avatar!! \:D/ *celebrates* Paid in Full really, really is brilliant live :D I love when Tony sings "Every tear, every smile, paid in full...", tracing tears down his cheeks and turning it into a smile x) And then there was Henkka's amazing keytar solo!! I love that solo so much and as luck would have it, during Flag in the Ground my view had cleared once more and I got a perfect view of Henkka's solo! ::SCORE::

> Caleb
(Fucking Music Snob Event #5: "This is the only good song from Unia." :facefist: His face. My fist <__<)
Tony: "So William Shakespeare had Romeo and Juiet. And we have Caleb and Juliet."
Tony said at the Lowlands gig that he thinks Caleb is one of the best songs they've ever written and I absolutely have to agree. It's just perfect, there isn't a single thing wrong with it! And of course the performance was fantastic :) Tony's vocals were amazing, especially on the "in my suite in hell~~" line. I also love how after the "until the end, waltzing together~" line, Tony actually starts waltzing around the stage. I would have done the same if I had had room xD And then at the end Tony got the whole crowd - rather awkwardly, given our squashedness - swaying from side to side. His crowd control is brilliant xD

> The Last Amazing Grays
I LOVE THIS SONGGG. First time I heard it was immediately after Deathaura, and I think it was disadvantaged by that fact, but it grew on me, and youtube-seeing them perform it at the Lowlands really made me fall in love with it. Tony said it took a big part of him to write this song, and you can really feel how important it is to him (to all of us, I guess). The keys were heart-wrenching as always, and just overall it was a fantastic performance of a fantastic song.

> As If The World Wasn't Ending
I was so happy when I saw this on the early setlists for this tour, and I was praying to gods I don't believe in for this to stay in the setlist. Along with Deathaura, Last Amazing Grays and The Truth is Out There, As If is one of my favourite songs from The Days of Grays (it's also responsible for the title of my fanfic ;D). Of course, it starts out as just keys and voice, and that part where all the guitars, bass and drums kick in was really powerful as a result. I was so happy to see Henkka's solo as well, because even though I like the orchestral version of the song without the solo, I think the solo is my favourite thing about As If the World Wasn't Ending. For me, it's a real Henkka song. I think it was probably the song I was most grateful that they played :)

> FullMoon
fufufufu xDD Well, of course I'm sure there were a lot of very antsy people in the audience by this point, since we had had five (six, including the intro) songs from the last two (and, criminally, least loved) albums. So I'm sure they were quite relieved when they heard the piano intro to FullMoon (I howled ;) )... and then Tony started yodelling. I'm not even joking xD (He was actually really good at yodelling, that was the worrying thing xD) Then they settled down and started again... only for Tony to start singing something else xD (it's something well known, but I couldn't place it) FINALLY they actually started the song, and it really is great live :) I've never really raved about it for the studio, but I think it's Make's galloping bass that really gives it strength live. It just keeps on going x)

I think the guys had fun playing it too x) At the lyric "knock on the door", Tony pretended to knock on Elias' head (Elias had come over to our side! Celebrations!! :D) Tony also decided to stroke Henkka's beard, which basically ended up in a miniature slap fight as they both tried to battle for supremacy whilst continuing to sing/play xDD Well, it made me happy... see my fanfic for more details xDD

> Last Drop Falls
Much to some people's annoyance (Fucking Music Snob Event #6), Sonata spiced this one up a bit by having Charlotte from Delain come on and sing it instead. And she did surprisingly well, I thought, considering that whilst a lot of it is high for a male voice, a lot of it is low for a female voice ^__^;; In fact, I thought her timbre really suited the song nicely, though of course I'm not going to pretend I wasn't happy to see Tony come back onstage and share the last chorus with her. Charlotte is great but for me Tony Kakko is *the* best singer in the universe x)

> Juliet
I'm not sure this was exactly where the song came in the setlist, but it was roughly here xD Tony introduced it in exactly the same way as Caleb, which was either intentional or we can let him off because he's still recovering from the illness xD This was the last song I got into on Days of Grays (I still haven't really gotten into Breathing) but it's now one of my favourites. It certainly gets stuck in my head ALL THE TIME and the lyrics are really good, I think :) It worked live a lot better than I thought it would actually. It was great to scream MINUTE OF SILENCE!! over and over, although I'm not sure anyone else did it, it might have just been me on my lonesome ^__^;;

Well anyway, when the power came back in with the line, "How hard is it to understand my wish to die hand in hand?" (one of my favourite parts of any song ever) it just felt so amazing, really fucking.. I don't have words but it was brilliant :)

Then everyone left the stage except for Mr Henrik Klingenberg, because as some ambient music poured out of the speakers, it was time for Henkka's special solo :D And it was awesommme >ww< I mean, I would say that, because I love Henkka and keys and put them together and you have a combination that can only be beaten by Tony and a microphone :P I love the passion and feeling Henkka puts into his solos, and it really just sounded great :D

And then as he called Elias onto the stage, we got to hear Henkka's lovely voice :D *dances* I love his accent so much xDD

ELIAS' SOLO WAS AMAZING!! It was hard for poor short little me to actually see most of it (sobs) but the bits that I did see, his fingers were moving with such swift, fluid ease. And I absolutely love his soloing style. It's actually quite like Henkka's, very lyrical and emotive as opposed to trying to show off techniques and skills. It was really varied and interesting to listen to, and basically it made me even more excited about getting his solo album Fire-Hearted (which I'm getting for my birthday - in 5 days time! woohoo! xD)

> Replica
Months ago I predicted that we would probably get at least one of these three songs: FullMoon, Replica and 8th Commandment. I also said I wanted Replica most of all out of those three. Much to my dismay, then, I saw a setlist for earlier on the tour which left out Replica. As such I was overjoyed when this started playing out :D

Tony: "I'm the man who lived next door~ And London sings?"
London: "LONG AGO~~~~"

>ww<

The only thing I don't like about their live performance of Replica was that it left off the very end of the song ;( But it still sounded good so I'm willing to forgive 'em x)

> 8th Commandment
YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! xD This is such a great song, and what a way to celebrate ten years of Ecliptica \:D/ (Tony: "It's all grown up, gone to grade school, even told us to fuck off... we've brought it up well" xDD) Fast songs like this are ALWAYS good live, and Elias, man, he was fantastic over there on guitar :D Me, Chrissi and Darragh really got into this one, it was great fun to sing. And Tony gave the mic over to the audience for the final chorus. I have to say we sounded awesome ^.^

I'm frankly amazed we managed to sound at all, actually, considering we were still being squished. Thank god for the security people and their cups of water that they kept handing out ^__^;;

Anyways, earlier than I expected, Sonata left the stage. I guess they're doing the smart thing and keeping the setlist down a little bit just to make sure Tony doesn't push himself too hard and make himself ill again. In any case, I couldn't possibly be annoyed with them, because they actually came back - well, Tony came back xD - very quickly for the encore rather than keep us waiting ^w^

Tony: Do you want some more?
London: YEAH!
Tony: Do you want some more?
London: YEAH!
Tony: Do you want some more?
London: YEAH!
Tony: DO YOU WANT SOME MORE?
London: YEEEEEEAHHHHH!!!!

And so on and so forth. Tony's quite the tease, it transpires ^.^

It was now, of course, time for the audience drumkit/We Will Rock You singalong :D Tony gave us a truncated version, I think to still take care of his throat, which comprised of almost no banter, and just straight on with We Will Rock You. It was still fun, especially when Tony forgot the lyrics at one point >w< But my main drumkit memory is still going to be from that video which I have watched far too many times on youtube ("really fucking loud in my in-ear monitor")

(I really do love that video >www<)

> In Black and White
Normally I would be be upset when reaching the encore, not wanting it to end, but not for this gig for two reasons: one, that we were still slowly dying of heat exhaustion, and two, that Sonata's current encore songs are the fucking best live songs you can play :D In Black and White is one of my favourites ever and to be honest, this is the song that made me really truly fall in love with Sonata Arctica. It was the song that, when I listened to it, made me think, "Why the hell does everyone complain about Unia? This is brilliant!!" I played it so much and it still hasn't been beaten from the top spot of my Sonata scrobbles :P

So what to say about this performance? Just that it was perfect, magnificent, vibrant... Tony's vocals were again amazing... Oh, and Tommy had taken off his shirt since 8th Commandment \:D/ I certainly wasn't going to complain about that, fufufu~~ >ww< I have quite the soft spot for Tommy ;D But back to the song - I love Tony's "tables turn" movement that he does, and his "screaming your nightmare's name" scream was brilliant, but my favourite part of the song is probably the "diving into seas of sin without knowing where lies the bottom" line. It's just such a gorgeous riff, it sounds so goood! x)

> Don't Say a Word
The song that made me buy Reckoning Night :P This has always been one of my favourites and it's certainly one of the greatest to play live. It's lovely and long and it just keeps getting more and more interesting! I have to say though, I made a grave error during this song. Whilst headbanging I felt my glasses starting to fall off my face, so I decided to take them off - whilst headbanging. Anyone who has really long hair and wears glasses can probably tell where this is going.

Yes, my still-headbanging hair got caught in my glasses. Yes, I looked like a twat whilst trying to wrench them free so that I could return my attention to the stage xD

Fortunately I got my glasses free and was able to headbang safely, probably annoying everyone around me, and then returned my glasses to my face in time to watch Henkka's solo, and then Elias'. OH MY DAYS. I absolutely love the guitar solo in Don't Say A Word - whenever I watch the music video and I see Jani's fingers going like that, my jaw just drops to the floor and I can't go pick it up because I would miss the awesome!! And Elias delivered with just as much style and perfection - AND I could see it! \:D/ Ahh, it was brilliant ^w^


Is there something you need?


Is there something you want?


Is there something you yearn?


Oh yes, it was time for the Vodka song ;D It's really stupid but so much fun, a great bit of audience participation to finish the gig with :3

Finish? Did I say finish?

> Everything Fades to Gray (Full Version)
Except, confusingly, not the *full* full version O.o After vodka, they dived straight in with When it all ends~~ and OH MY GOD DX If I thought it was the best ending to an album ever, it's just as good to end a gig with! Just the sheer force of those melodies, really really incredible... With all the different vocal parts, it sounded amazing, and then when it finished, Tony just stood there, holding the microphone stand, until the song finally finished.

Then their outro music started up and Tony's intense demeanour was instantly replaced by his trademark grin >w< The outro music was the main theme from Band of Brothers, which is a really really gorgeous piece of music and perfectly suits the band. I didn't cry once during the gig, but I have gotten a bit teary-eyed a couple of times today because of listening to that theme ;D It just sums up the perfection.

So Tony came over to hug our side of the audience first ;D I'm sorry, but I think that's because he sensed my awesomeness, maybe? xD Well, I hugged him back, and I saw some others doing that too :) Elias came over and threw some pics out, and Tommy threw us some of his drumsticks. My cousin Sureya managed to catch one, but someone else caught it too - I tried to help Sureya get it before I realised I was missing Sonata and stopped (it was only later that I realised I'd unwittingly touched something Tommy touched. Scorre! xD)

I love Sonata's bow x3 How they stand back, run forward and lift Tony into the air, his legs flailing like the loveable little child he is :') We yelled our thanks; I shouted "Kiitoksia!" and "I love you Tony!" but of course the words were lost. All too soon they were leaving the stage, but Tony lingered right til the end of the music. I got the feeling he really didn't wanna go :)

And so that was that. No flashy pryotechnics, no silly gimmicks, just five fantastic musicians playing a bunch of truly sensational songs. Absolutely fucking perfect. I wouldn't dream of asking more from them, except to say, "There'll be a next time, right?"

Verdict: 10/10.


Well, did you really expect any less? ;D


Afterwards I just turned and hugged Chrissi wordlessly, and then we felt Matt's arms around us too. Matt, by the way, had lifted me up at some point towards the end, so that I had a completely unobstructed view - it was awesome and just put the icing on the cake ;D I turned to Harry, and I have never ever seen him looking so happy. For everyone concerned, the gig was a ridiculous success :)

It was then, as we were trying to replenish the H2O in our systems, that I saw Charlotte and Ewout from Delain, hanging around at the back of the venue. Now I'm terrible at talking to strangers (I had to introduce myself to Darragh by writing, "Are you Intimidator?" in my notebook and holding it up, for god's sake xDD) but somehow I had the courage to go up to Ewout and shake his hand and tell him, "Fucking awesome show tonight!" He looked really pleased I thought so (or maybe that was just my imagination, haha xD) and after a few moments' hesitation, I went and congratulated Charlotte as well. She was really nice and easy to talk to and seemed very apologetic about the lack of April Rain, at which point I felt I ought to clarify that by pointing out its exclusion I wasn't actually criticising her ^__^;; Bless her... And I made her laugh, too, because I sat down on the floor and said, "Ahh, that's fucking better," looked up, and she was laughing. SCORRE x3

I'd planned not to set out to meet Sonata but something about my encounter with Ewout and Charlotte inspired me - I wanted to thank Tony and the guys face to face, if I could, so that they could really see how grateful I am to them for the music and everything that comes with it. So we hung around for a while by the tourbus, reliving the gig moments with each other, quoting bits of youtube videos and Men in the North ("Playing sober was a mistake. Now we go back to the old style.")

... Eventually, of course, we had to call it a day - a bunch of VIP people were let in, and even then, by the time we decided to give up, there were only seven people still waiting for them. I felt like quite the dedicated fan ^w^ I just happened to be a dedicated fan with a train to catch ^w^;;

Which we missed. ^w^;;

But it was worth it :D


And since I couldn't thank them face-to-face, this'll have to do:
> Thank you, Marko Paasikoski, for your awesome bassing, for standing in a good place for Chrissi to see you, and for just generally looking far too edible to be allowed :P
> Thank you, Elias Viljanen, for being such a fantastic guitarist, for the really fucking weird faces you pull sometimes when soloing, and for everything you bring to Sonata :)
> Thank you, Tommy Portimo, for deciding to make your living from hitting things all night, for taking your shirt off at the end and for providing me with my "gig feeling" picture (see below x3)
> Thank you, Henrik Klingenberg, for your absolutely incredible keytaring skills, for your feeling and passion, for providing several lovely slashy moments with Tony, and for your singing (I do love your singing ^ww^)
> And of course, most of all, thank you, Tony Kakko, for creating such magnificent songs, for writing such amazing lyrics, for having such a fantastic voice, for actually turning up at all, for your sincerity, and for the fun you always seem to have. I love you, not in that blind, over-the-top fangirly way, but because to me you are someone who's got everything right. You see the beauty and the sadness and yet life is positive for you. You make life good for the rest of us too :)



And that, I think, is that! Except to say, this is how I felt after the gig:





And also, for anyone wondering what the whole "Too metal for one hand" thing is about, this is where it comes from:




SONATA ARCTICA:
TOO FUCKING METAL FOR ONE HAND!!! \mm/