THE BITCH PARTY – feat. WALTARI & more, Helsinki, FIN
18. + 19.9.2015, Backstage Club
Bitch party? Definitely! Besides being a bitch and proud of it, the line-up Party Boy Agency had assembled made any true music afficionada’s mouth water…
Unfortunately, a strike situation – no public traffic whatsoever all Friday, and taxis almost impossible to get – had already added a few extra kilometers to my shoe sole wear + tear earlier, plus an “extra bonus” of getting caught in a terrible thunderstorm in the middle of nowhere… No more rain in the evening, but let me put it like this, it took almost 1,5 hours to reach the club, luckily without having my contact lenses blown off my eyeballs on the way…
Maybe it’s therefore understandable why on way-too-late arrival my mood was a bit low, but rapidly improved when hearing that the first band had only just started – never been so happy about a schedule delay!
Because it had been a shame to miss Musculus – they are way too much fun to watch. First, there’s the weird costumes, second, there’s the crazy Glam-Rock-Metal mix. Therefore they could be described as the Finnish version of Turbonegro. Although the band asked for bloodshed and slamdance on the dancefloor, it was only cheerful disco / ballroom dance they got, but this is already quite a lot for rather reserved Finnish audiences and the first act of the night…
The club was fuller than I had expected to find due to the circumstances, and it had continued to fill up further, so when Keoma entered the stage, they faced a pretty large crowd. Gee, I had seen them before, but forgotten how good they are – well, OK, at least until those few songs where they put in too much of -core-stuff, for my taste. What I like best is their melancholic Melodic Death of epic dimension, with a touch of Progressive, and luckily the set remained focused on that. Need to fetch one of their Ep releases…
Naturally the headliners For The Imperium attracted most audience attention right away, and they seem to have quite a fanbase. No wonder with such versatile singer and a style difficult to describe – there’s Prog, there’s Metal, “heroic” clean singing as well as evil growling (done by just one person), there’s a bit of Dream Theater, including a skilful drum solo (luckily not as extensive as DM) and lotsa powerful Metal riffing – maybe you simply check out the band’s home page.
I did not stay to find out whether the crowd demanded encores. Feeling pretty tired and hoping increase my chances to catch a ride by leaving earlier, I cut my evening shorter than planned, and BEHOLD – a taxi!! Vacant!! A few meters from the club!! Never been so grateful and happy about that before… And then a bee line to ZZZZZ after such a rough day…
PS: The presenters of the night, Tomi & Dan from Macaroni Penguin Music, deserve a mention here. Top rating for their research efforts and the level of hilariousness!
Day 2 began for me punctually in a bit more relaxed fashion thanks to functioning public traffic, yet the previous day had left a little reminder… not what you might think, I mean some strained leg muscles due to excessive walking … It was a pity that many decided to arrive fashionably late and therefore missed Blate, because their Grunge-style is quite appealing. And those guys look in nature almost as cute as in this video – but their somewhat static stage show might need to be worked on. And no, I’m not talking about the video now…
It seems that pretty much everybody knew Wankers Of The Zoo Crew, or WOTZC, and their Rock-Alternative-Groove mix, because they kept the pit area evacuated – well, not counting those 2 slightly suicidal die-hard-fans directly at the stage. Yet the charismatic and versatile front man Tommi could hardly ever be found there. The microphone cable restricted his activities a little bit, but still he delivered a crazy and hyperactive show, which gave a nice introduction to all the madness that was still about to come…
I’d suggest to replace the entry of “totally insane” with “Waltari, Band” in Finnish dictionaries. Those legendary Kings of Crossover had not played too many gigs in recent years, therefore the pretty big crowd seemed anxious to finally see them again. And what can I say, I totally forgot my sore muscles as soon as “Kärtsy” Hatakka and his guys pulled off their crazy mix of pretty much everything between Grindcore and Reggae – simply fantastic! Besides stuff from the new album “You Are Waltari”, they did not forget classics like “So Fine” or “Far Away”, and even an acoustic a-capella serenade in the middle of the crowd was part of the set. Live premiere also for Atte Palokangas, who replaces the injured drummer Ville Vehviläinen on tour. No wonder the audience asked for more, and the band seemed to have so much fun that there was more than just one encore block… what can I say, I enjoyed this show a lot and only recommend to check those guys out when they come to your town, e.g. Oct 1 Hamburg (see tourdates)!
Band websites – day 1:
FOR THE IMPERIUM http://www.facebook.com/fortheimperium
KEOMA http://www.facebook.com/keomafinland
MUSCULUS http://www.facebook.com/wearemusculus
Day 2:
WALTARI http://www.facebook.com/waltarimusic
WOTZC http://www.facebook.com/wotzcofficial
BLATE http://www.facebook.com/blateofficial
