A weekend at On the Rocks: Finnish sauna and witches’ magic
A remarkable first autumn weekend in Helsinki for Rock music fans at On the Rocks club with truly amazing guests – Crashdïet from Sweden and Starbenders from the USA.
September 7, 2024
Saturday night was a hell of a ride, a totally sold out show, the whole venue was so crowded you could barely move. Crashdïet (start photo) is a well known and very adored band in Finland, no surprise all tickets were sold out days before the show. And to be honest, for such a big and loved band we would need a venue 3 times bigger than cozy little On the Rocks: too many fans, too little tickets.
This Crashdïet show was the final one for their Finnish mini tour. A local Finnish band The Vantages had joined them on the road as an opening act. It’s been a very nice surprise, those young talented guys bring the vibes of love metal, continuing the legacy of HIM, Negative and other Finnish love metal bands from early 2000s.
By the time Crashdïet hit the stage, the whole venue was overloaded by people, close to the stage it was absolutely impossible to move or even breathe. Crashdïet arrived in a new updated line-up (more details in our INTERVIEW). This year, the band went through some major changes. John Elliot from Confess joined the band as a new lead singer, Michael Sweet (Martin’s brother) from Toxic Rose took over the drums and Peter London finally came back. Unfortunately Peter had some family problems and couldn’t attend the Crashdïet concerts in Finland. But Ludwig from Confess came to fill in and did a great job.
As always, the band gave so much energy and heat, it could actually burn down the place. Needless to say, by the end of the show the whole band and all people in the pit were soaked in sweat. It felt like being in an actual Finnish sauna, everything was wet. Even Martin’s guitar went off a few times; it’s been like playing in heavy rain. This show was literally the hottest start of the autumn concert season.
September 8, 2024
Totally different vibes and energy we got on the next day at the Starbenders show. Have to say this band was a surprise for many people, more than half saw them for the first time. And it’s definitely worth to come and see this band: The ambience and energy they are spreading are truly magical.
You can close your eyes and their music will take you somewhere far away on strawberry fields, drinking cherry wine, feeling the kiss of sun and smell of the herbs. Starbenders totally enchanted the audience, some people looked like under a spell, some girls were crying, I got shivers down my spine during every song. It felt like being in one of these 90s movies about witches. The magic of Starbenders definitely works; the audience loved them so much. This is definitely this kind of band and show that leaves a lasting memory in your heart.
Certainly a great autumn kickstart for On the Rocks club with this amazing rock’n’roll weekend and those awesome bands.
photos: Starla Larsson
