Porcupine Tree from England has gained such a big
following with their two latest albums Deadwing and Fear of a Blank
Planet, that a gig at a big ice hall is possible even in Finland.
The venue should originally have been Kulttuuritalo (Culture House),
but it was sold out very quickly so they moved the show to a much
bigger Jäähalli (Ice Hall). I hadn’t been there since
Metallica’s “And Justice for All tour” Also this
venue was pretty full, so the band clearly has a big fan-base in
Finland. And not without a reason, since the band is in really tight
shape and has been able to gain also a lot of metal heads to their
side along with the more traditional prog and pop audience. In
Helsinki, as well as in Tampere the following day, the support act
was Hidria Spacefolk, Helsinki’s masters of instrumental and
progressive space/trance rock, and at least in Helsinki they did very
well.
Hidria Spacefolk
The doors opened at 19:00. The lights in the hall shut
down at 19:45 and Hidria Spacefolk entered the stage. Apart from the
extra percussionist, all the members seem to now have short hair. At
this point the band said to the audience “welcome to this prog
evening”. The first track we heard was the familiar
“Symetria” that goes in 3/4 rhythm and brings to mind
Kingston Wall. The other guitar player Sami was at first a bit too
loud and there was some feedback. The track got heavier towards the
end. I somehow felt, that the band played with a bit heavier touch
than usual, or was it just the louder volume? During the second track
“Radien”, also from their latest album, the sound got
better and the main floor begun to fill up. The track included some
nice repetitive grooves and at times they got heavier again.
Then they played ”Pajas” that progresses
in 5/4 rhythm and the percussionist joined in. The band was on fire
and we get to hear some really great guitar solos. The end of the
track was more peaceful atmospheres and differed a bit from the studio
version, I think. The audience clearly liked what they heard, anyway,
and cheered very loudly. The bit kraut rock styled 7/8 pounding
“322” came next. Here Janne conjured up some rather low
frequencies form his synthesizer. “Sine”, the superbly
played, rather dark final track from the new album ended the excellent
and short set. Way to go guys! So now they have warmed up for Ozric
Tentacles, Hawkwind and Porcupine Tree.
At this point there was plenty of time for a beer.
More people were showing up and when the intro started at 21:07, the
hall was almost full of enthusiastically shouting fans. They had hung
up a big screen behind the band for the excellent videos mostly to do
with the themes of the new album. The gig started off in a familiar
manner with the new album’s opener “Fear of a Blank
Planet” that surely worked very well right in the beginning.
Amazing! In the beginning of the little more peaceful “What
Happened Here?” that can also be found on the new album Steven
sung without his guitar and some exiting patterns were projected at
the background. Then they returned to a bit older material when we
heard the track “Sound of Muzak” from the album In
Absentia. There were a lot of cigarette lighters out there during
the single track “Lazarus” and some old home flicks were
shown on the screen. The applause after the song was deafening!
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
At this point of the night it was time for the new
album’s long main piece “Anesthetize”. There was
some sped-up video images running at the background and Steven Wilson
played some keyboards in the middle. During the more laid-back, Pink
Floyd styled part they showed some slowed-down images of gigantic
waves which was very suitable for the atmosphere. “Open
Car” got the audience to raise their fists in the air with its
jerky metal and beautiful chorus. Then they played an over ten years
old “Dark Matter” that started with a great, mystical and
ambient synth thing. It was very nice to hear some older material as
well, but when will they play something from the first three albums?
We didn’t get even “Radioactive Toy”? During the
rough “Blackest Eyes” the audience went just nuts. Heavy
stuff! “Hate Song” from Lightbulb Sun followed next and
Colin Edwin started the track in a superb way with his bass. Wes
didn’t play at all on this one but did some backing vocals at
times. Steven freaked out some pretty psychedelic stuff on his guitar
and during the more jamming ending also the drummer Gavin Harrison
got to show off his abilities. The highly beautiful and sad ”A
Smart Kid” came next and there was some programmed rhythm in the
middle. “Way Out of Here” from the new album was one of
the most magical moments during the show. “Sleep Together”
from the same album ended the main set with its funny robot video and
other psychedelic images. In the end Steven was playing keyboards again.
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree let the audience cheer their lungs
out before they returned to the stage to play the old single track
”Waiting Phase 1”. Wes played acoustic guitar and it
was really nice to hear this amazing song! “Trains” was
a natural choice after that, and the audience was very excited.
Another superb track. For the last track the band still gave us
“Halo” from their latest album and I must say that it
was a very strong performance. Some of the lyrics of the track were
projected to the back to a great effect. A marvelous ending for an
amazing gig! The sound was excellent and these fellows sure are
top-notch musicians. The voice of Steven Wilson is unbelievably
emotional and beautiful and I’ll never get tired of listening
to him. This surely was one of the best gig I’ve seen this year,
or ever for that matter. The band promised to be back soon, and I for
one will be there again!
Steel Mammoth, Sunburned Hand of the Man. Black Box, Semifinal, Helsinki, 16.10.07
For some reason I hadn’t previously visited the Black
Box club that concentrates on experimental music and films and has lately
been active at Semifinal, although Artemi unquestionably has had some
very interesting artists. It’s just very rare that I go anywhere on
a weekday when I have to be at work on the next morning... But this time
I just had to go and it sure was worth it! Unfortunately the second
foreign act Hush Arbors had cancelled all the shows in Europe which was
a little backlash since I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve
heard from Keith Wood.
Steel Mammoth is a new meback to toptal band of Jussi Lehtisalo
where he is let loose to spread the noble message of New New New Wave of New
Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal. This time Jussi plays the guitar and the live
and also features another guitar player, a bassist, a drummer and a singer.
The other members have been scraped together from all over Southern Finland
from different bands (Haare, Platipus, Tigerbombs, Anssi 8000 & Hot Cake etc.),
so there are no other Circle/Pharaoh Overlord members involved except Mr.
Juicyifer. Ektro has released one CD EP by the band earlier this year (my
review is now online at Zone), and the debut full-length is also just out.
The band utilizes early 80’s heavy metal clichés in a funny but
effective way and combines them with stoner rock and hypnotic kraut rock.
This was their first live performance, and they had just one and a half
rehearsals before it. There were moments when there was a bit of uncertainty
in the air when for example the drummer was trying to figure out whether they
should already go for the chorus or not but the playing worked just superbly
at its best and the music just took you away. The musicians wore quite a lot
of studs but there would have been room for some more... The gig started
rather quietly but the first track still started to rock pretty early on. The
second track was a bit creeping “Midnight Witches’; unbelievably
great stuff! “Nuclear Barbarians” is a repetitive boogie rocker
equipped with stoner chorus and this song rules. There was some marvellous
going also in “Slow Death” and its great, hypnotic kraut rocking
put the audience in metallic trance. At some point a rather massive-sized
man dressed in a metal ox helmet that Ilkka the singer had made at a Boy
Scouts camp when he was 11 and black leotard appeared on stage and this stage
spectacle was very suitable for the atmosphere of the gig! It was obvious
that this also made the band members wild and they whipped themselves into
fierce performances. I had been very tired the whole day, but a few beers
and Steel Mammoth really made the adrenalin flow. I was also smiling a lot,
can’t deny that. The gig ended with extremely tightly rocking number
from the new album called “Metal Infant”. This was the longest
track of the show and had quite a lot of soloing and a long ending. Even
though it was a Tuesday night there were a lot of people present and they
evidently enjoyed their experience. The gig was unfortunately only about
half an hour long, but I could have easily had the same amount more... Well,
hopefully next time! This band would be great for Roadburn, for example.
Steel Mammoth
Steel Mammoth
Steel Mammoth
Steel Mammoth
Steel Mammoth
Steel Mammoth
Steel Mammoth
Steel Mammoth
I hadn't heard that much of Sunburned Hand of the Man
from the States although they have played in Finland before and the name was
of course familiar from several places. This free-form/psych/noise/folk band
that has an international cult status was on tour with quite many members,
especially since Arttu from Avarus etc. was on the second drum set for a large
part of the gig. The show started off with tribal-like, minimal rhythms and
chanting. The second track was tight psych/space rock and reminded me of
Hawkwind’s “You Shouldn't Do That”. Excellent freak-out!
The rest of the gig was also pretty intense stuff and the audience went nuts.
The first encore included some seriously heavy riffs and the second was
psychedelic, rocking improvisation that again reminded me a bit of Hawkwind.
In addition to guitars, bass and drums the band used for example synthesiser,
saxophone and some reeds to create an occasionally very chaotic wall of noise.
The band seemed to be very happy with their performance, and several of the
members told me that they thought it was the best so far on this tour. I can
now officially proclaim myself as a fan of the band on the basis of this gig
alone and luckily I got two CDs to review from the guys. The night was very
successful in every way and the experimental films that were shown before and
in between the bands added a nice bonus to the atmosphere. The lightshow at
Semifinal is unfortunately almost non-existent so somebody could have brought
in some extra gizmos for that. The DJ was some guy called Samu and he played
some excellent picks. I was especially impressed with his gradual evoking of
the spirits before the first live act. It was definitely worth while to loose
a few hours of my sleep for this club!
Ilosaarirock, Joensuu/Finland, 13th–15th July 2007
As soon as I heard that Porcupine Tree, one of my
favourite bands, would come to play at Ilosaarirock, I knew I just had
to get to see them. It was to be their first ever performance in Finland,
and the same festival would also feature for example Hidria Spacefolk and
Opeth. Who cares if Joensuu is rather far away from Helsinki... Well, I
had nice travel company and the trips went just fine, no problem. On
the way to Ilosaarirock we made a totally spontaneous visit to the
“Museum” of Machanical Music in Varkaus, and it sure was a
very interesting place and had an extremely eclectic guide.
www.mekaanisenmusiikinmuseo.fi.
I had never been to Ilosaarirock before,
so I was a bit anxious. The
festivities started on Friday with two separate clubs: Sulo that took
place on two of the festival stages and Töminä at the nearby ice
stadium. As my travel mates stayed in town enjoying the serving of the
local bars in Joensuu centre, I headed for the festival site and I was
there just in time to witness the end-half of Ismo Alanko Teholla show.
Mr. Alanko has taken with him his trusted man Teho Majamäki, and
together the duo played songs from Ismo’s back catalogue from the
Hassisen Kone days all the way to Ismo’s latest solo material. The
first track I heard was “Kun Suomi putos puusta”, after
which we got “Tyhjällä tiellä” by Hassisen kone while Ismo
sung by the piano and Teho played the vibraphone. The full YleX tent
was enjoying themselves a lot and the audience applauded very loudly.
Then Ismo switched for more recent material and guitar.
“Peltirumpu” by Sielun veljet was played with guitar and
percussion, on “Kanoottilaulu” Ismo just sang and danced
while the audience sang with him.
Jarkko Martikainen
I have never liked YUP,
and the band’s main figure Jarkko Martikainen
didn’t convince me with his solo show either, so I went to order a
beer. That proved to be quite a hard task, since the alcohol stalls
were totally undersized compared to the audience at Sulo, and I spent
close to an hour queuing. Something like this shouldn’t happen; in
other parts of the world this might have caused a riot. This definitely
spoiled the festival spirits of many people to some degree. Just when I
got a couple of beverages CMX was starting their set. The next album of
the band is rumoured to be some kind of a sci-fi epos, but during this
summer Yrjänä and his company tour powered with the hits from their old
albums, unfortunately. The show started energetically, and it stayed
pretty straightforward and radio friendly. There was a short hard core
burst in the end for the old time’s sake. After the gig I walked to
town in a mild rain to join the others in a bar. During the rest of the
night I had some fun, which was nice!
CMX
CMX
Saturday arrived with a little hangover
(all those Jägermaisters...),
but a couple of painkillers and some beer helped a lot. So I left
relatively early to see what was happening at the festival site. The
security control at the gates was a lot tighter than on Friday when I
could have brought almost anything with me. There wasn’t that much
people there while Happoradio played on the main stage. They are a
pretty boring band playing commercial rock.
Happoradio
The sun was shining in
between the clouds and more people started to show up little by little.
One of the stages at the festival was the rhythm music oriented
Rentolava (Relaxed stage in English), that this year was concentrated
on reggae. Puppa J & Tasoittavat had to cancel their gig because Puppa
was just about the have a child, but a very obscure Profeetta ja Uusi
maailmanuskonto who have esoteric MySpace site and share musicians with
Tasoittavat was playing in stead of them. The band have just released
their debut album that got some awful reviews features the Prophet who
declares the good news of psychedelia, a lot of synthesizer players and
an electric drum kit. This seemed pretty interesting so I just had to
watch a couple of songs although Hidria Spacefolk started at the same
time on Kolmoslava (Stage Three). The fist track begun with synth
bubbling after which the Prophet started his chanting for mind-
expansion; soon a relaxed reggae beat played with the electric drums
joined in. “Psychotropic will never cool down...”. The
second number about psychosis was much more punchy and faster. Very
brave lyrics and psychedelic stuff, I must admit, I have to investigate
further later on.
Profeetta ja Uusi maailmanuskonto
Profeetta ja Uusi maailmanuskonto
Then I had to run to see Hidria,
and the band was on fire. Their tight
groove was enhanced by a djembe player. The roofed area at Stage Three
was full-packed, and some of the people were dancing like mad. The
audience was evidently excited and clapped their hands and yelled
wildly. The band played tracks from their albums with high volume while
the video projections were running on two screens. They had a nice
surprise saved for the last track when up to four beautiful girls
danced with fire. A very successful ending for maybe the best
performance I’ve ever seen by Hidria Spacefolk! And this was also the
first gig by them that I saw sober... Also the band members were very
happy with their performance. This is the most psychedelic and best
instrumental music in Finland.
Hidria Spacefolk, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Hidria Spacefolk, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Hidria Spacefolk, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Hidria Spacefolk, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Hidria Spacefolk, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Hidria Spacefolk
Hidria Spacefolk
Hidria Spacefolk
After that Maj Karma played on the Main Stage
for example songs “Viihdytä minua”, ”Ukkonen”,
”Sodankylä”, ”Kokki, vaimo, varas ja
rakastaja”, ”Metallisydän” and
”Romanssi”, they even had a drum solo in the set. This
isn’t exactly my thing, but they still play pretty okay, heavy music.
Maj Karma
Klaus Thunder & Ukkosmaine was a humorous and
entertaining two-man pop band with synthesizers, backing tapes and
vocals. I wasn’t laughing that much, though.
Luckily Husky Rescue started their set soon on the
nearby YleX Stage, and this band sure was a lot more interesting and
enjoyable experience. I hadn’t really heard them apart from a couple of
hit songs, but the group’s atmospheric indie pop touched me more than a
lot of the stuff you hear on radio. The soft-voiced female singer also
made an impact.
Husky Rescue
Husky Rescue
I still left in the middle of the show to check out
Stonegard from Norway, and I could easily listen to their heavy metal
with melodic vocals and growling backing vocals for a while.
Stonegard
After the press conference I watched
Ville Leinonen & Chrisse Forever Band for a while, and I must say
that popular song really isn’t my cup of tea.
CunningLynguists from the US played on Stage Three and these
pretty convincing hip hop dudes seemed to have a rather drug-friendly
message... A very nice surprise was Suhinators who played at Rentolava
by the water. The band played groovy but relaxed stuff that even
included an analogue synthesizer and some UFO sounds! The first track
was pretty much in the reggae vein, then they went for a bit more
energetic moods and the third, very good song was wilder and trance-
like.
Suhinators on Rentolava stage
Every time I arrived to the Rentolava area I felt
like I had arrived to a whole different festival when the
dreadlock-haired boys and slim, half-naked girls enjoyed the water,
relaxed music, dancing and each other. A very good atmosphere!
A couple of guys are making a documentary of the music at Rentolava
and the reggae way of life in general and it should be out this Autumn.
Also Calexico’s Mariachi-Americana styled
psychedelia with horns worked very well on the YleX Stage, and we
also got to hear a cover by Arthur Lee’s Love.
Calexico
Calexico, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Calexico, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Before that, Sonata Arctica
didn’t get much attention from me, but Rubik was
much better than I suspected, a hypnotic and tight band that also has
some space sounds and other psychedelic stuff in their sound! I only
briefly checked out PMMP, and Dunce was a very mediocre metal band.
Dunce
And now let’s go to the point.
I had seen a lot of Porcupine Tree
t-shirts in the audience all day long, and their fan base in Finland
seems to be quite big. The fans gathered in front of the YleX Stage
well in time to shout the band’s name. I was really happy, that
Porcupine Tree played on the roofed YleX Stage, since their excellent
video projections and lightshow has a much better visibility. I don’t
know how wild the fans usually get on the band’s gigs, but I’m pretty
sure that the guys were surprised by the enthusiasm of their Finnish
fans. The atmosphere was so intense that one could have sliced it with
a knife! The whole, huge tent was clearly full of total fans, and there
we no casual festival drunkards in the middle, because everybody was so
into it and putting their souls into the music. The atmosphere was just
unbelievable! After the keyboard into they started with the first,
title track of the new album “Fear of a Blank Planet”, and
the sea of audience swelled wildly in the waves of energy. The sound
was superb all the way from the beginning, although Wilson’s vocals
were a bit too low in the mix in the beginning. I was a bit surprised
when the band played next “Lightpulp Sun”, but it sure was
very nice to hear this one as well, and the new version was just swell.
“Open Car” from Deadwing followed next, and worked
perfectly. Then they got back to the new album, and we heard the long,
excellent track “Anesthesize”, and the heaviest parts
boomed like ten atom bombs. Gavin Harrison really is a dazzling
drummer, and the other guys are just amazing as well... The band was
unbelievably tight and energetic. “Blackest Eyes” that
combines the beautiful with the heavy stuff was also superb. Then they
played “Way Out of Here” and the bit Massive Attack styled,
dark “Sleep Together” from the new album, and the bands
leader, singer/guitarist Steven Wilson also played some keyboards on
the latter. The rest of the song seemed to have some jam spirit?! After
the tremendous applause we heard the excellent “Trains” and
the catchy “Halo” as encores. The band played over on hour,
but I definitely would have needed at least 30 minutes worth more of
this ear-candy, for example “Radioactive Toy” and a few
other older numbers... Absolutely one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen,
and I’m sure the thousands who could fit in the tent feel the same way.
This gig alone made it worthwhile to travel to this festival.
Porcupine Tree, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Porcupine Tree, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Porcupine Tree, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Porcupine Tree, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Porcupine Tree, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Porcupine Tree, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Porcupine Tree, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Porcupine Tree, photo by Tero Honkasalo
After Porcupine Tree the only Finnish gig this summer
by HIM didn’t feel like anything. I doubt if any other band
would have made much more impact, though. This was probably what most
of the people at the festival wanted to see, but the going was pretty
weak.
HIM, photo by Tero Honkasalo
HIM, photo by Tero Honkasalo
HIM, photo by Tero Honkasalo
So after e few
tracks I went to check out the Metelli club at the ice stadium. 1800
tickets had been sold for this metal happening, so the event was almost
sold out. Impaled Nazarene has just finished their gig when I arrived,
and the next to play would be Amorphis. I had already noticed some of
their members looking very excited before the Porcupine Tree gig since
they are big fans. After some minor problems the band started a little
behind schedule and we heard “Myrskyluodon Maija” as an
intro. The gig itself started right away with heavy pounding and
growling vocals. The band was pretty energetic. “Against the
Widows” and “In the Beginning” worked well, and then
they played the mid-tempo new single track “Silent Waters”.
The new full-length will be released 29.8. During “My
Kantele” (one of my favourite Amorphis tunes) I just had to call
it a day although I didn’t want to miss the rest of the great gig and
Finntroll was still to play.
Amorphis
Amorphis
Amorphis
Amorphis
Amorphis
Nieminen ja Litmanen
started my music dose on Sunday with their groovy
Scandinavian action jazz, and this surely was an excellent way to get
back to the festival mood. The gig of this great organ-drums duo
climaxed towards the end when they played “Leo Jokela (bailaa
Kalastajatorpan pyress salissa vuonna 1969)”, but there were also
other highlights in the set. The going varied from rather jazzy groove
to The Doors styled atmospheres, the hypnotic and a bit kraut rock like
“Tutankhamon” was played “because metal is so
trendy”, and at some point they went for dance music with disco
rhythms. A very enjoyable and positive gig!
Nieminen ja Litmanen
I had to listen to Lännen-Jukka
for a while at the Main stage, and J. Karjalainen played the
banjo and sung with the aid of a violinist and guitar player. They
played rather nice folk music that had influences both from American
and Finnish traditional music.
Lännen Jukka
Soilwork from Sweden was heavy, modern
metal and a pretty okay band. Dalindéo played nice jazz music and
Aiyekooto and His Afrobeat International was a really big band with for
example two bass saxophones.
Soilwork, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Dalindeo
Aiyekooto and His Afrobeat International
Viikate didn’t really work for me,
Magenta Skycode’s indie pop only a
little better. During the energetic and raw Disco Ensemble it looked
for a while that we would get a real hurricane on top of us, but
luckily the heavens just decided to wet us, after all. At this point it
was a good move to escape under the roof at the YleX stage, and RJD2, a
hip hop legend from the Sates was actually a very positive revelation.
This guy really is a top-notch disc spinner. He had come to Finland
with a whole orchestra. At times the music worked really well and was
even quite psychedelic, but some of the tracks were unquestionably too
usual and commercial.
Disco Ensemble
Opeth from Sweden begun their set on the
Main stage at eight o’clock, and this was the highlight of the
day for me. Although I only got the band’s albums that include
Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson, the band
still plays about the best metal done nowadays. Suitably progressive,
heavy enough, and lovely melancholic stuff. I had only seen the band
once before at Sweden Rock, and my expectations for the gig were rather
big. The band just got a new guitar player about two months before, and
this surely was his time to show what he was made of, and the dude did
well. This show was like a gift from heaven for all the Opeth fans,
since the band played their only gig this year at Ilosaarirock. They
said they were sorry to be a bit rusty, but the tracks like
”Blackwater Park”, ”Liberance” and
”Damnation” still went very well. My only complaint is the
too short set, since you really can’t fit that many tracks so long to
one hour! The gig still crowned the festival on Sunday in a great way,
and after the gig we had to start the drive back to home. It would have
been nice to check out Von Hertzen Brothers at the Sunday’s Päätös
club, but what can you do.
Opeth audience, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Opeth, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Opeth, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Opeth, photo by Tero Honkasalo
Opeth, photo by Tero Honkasalo
All in all, Ilosaarirock was a very peaceful festival,
and also the local authorities were pleased with the way it turned
out. Apart from the Friday’s beer queues everything worked out
great, so the organizers truly had everything under control. From the
total of 80 bands I totally missed many of course, but the supply was
very varied and of high quality, any way, and I was very pleased to
notice that in stead of the huge best-selling acts the organizers had
mainly booked more interesting artists who are maybe still sort of
bubbling under. These acts are usually closer to heart to the true
music fans. This is also the reason why the audience was rather
specific because most of the people were there most of all for the
music, not just to drink themselves to oblivion. A very functional
concept. If they will keep on including some interesting bands,
I’d like to take part also in the future.
12th Roadburn festival, 013, Tilburg, Netherlands, 20–21 April 2007
This year I would have my second Roadburn experience
and after last year’s excellent party I was really looking
forward to this festival concentrated on stoner and heavy psych rock.
This time would be even more special: I was going to play discs at The
Green Room with Kozmik Ken from the UK! The list of the performers
looked very promising as well, although I must confess that the list
included many bands I had never heard of before.
I left Helsinki on Friday morning and was a bit
worried whether my budget flight would be on time since I had to be
in Tilburg around two or three. Luckily the flight was only a bit
delayed and there were some familiar faces from Circle and Pharaoh
Overlord on the same flight since the guys were on they way to play
at the very same festival. I was so lucky that the PO keyboard
player Juho couldn’t join them because of some work duties and
I was able to squeeze in the band’s van transportation from
Amsterdam airport to Tilburg and escaped the hassle with the trains.
We shared a hotel room with Ken in the same hotel where the bands
stayed and it was very close to the festival building (013). After
chatting and chilling out for a while with Ken we arrived to the
festival site well in time to receive our wristbands, food coupons
and beer coins, after which we started to focus on our
responsibilities for the night. The doors were opened on Friday at
16.00 and we started our DJ set with Ken downstairs at The Green Room.
013 is really quite a huge building that has three separate live halls
and a rather big backroom space where it was able to get some food
and refreshments.
Sword
The first band to play at the festival was The Sword
and they started their gig at The Green Room at 17.00. The crowd was
starting to pour in and when the band played the space was well
occupied. Coming from Austin, Texas, The Sword plays tight heavy metal
and sounded surprisingly good. They had a sort of NWOBHM attitude but
their music was even tighter and fresher. Occasionally they went for
rather heavy; even doom metal-like moods. As Ken commented “they
pour a lot of soul in it”. I’d love to hear them also from
an album! Pharaoh Overlord started at The Green Room at 17.45 and I had
time to watch their heavy, repetitive riffing for a while and they were
doing a great job. Later on I heard from several individuals that the
PO gig was one of the best on the festival. Luckily they were able to
get Perttu from Imatran Voima/Itäväylä to step in on keyboards since
he lives in Holland at the moment.
Pharaoh Overlord
Here’s the setlist for Pharaoh Overlord:
1. Untitled
2. Black Horse
3. Untitled
4. Untitled
5. Mangrove
6. Skyline
I sadly missed Orange Sunshine who played on the main
stage, but Ken was friendly enough to free me from my duties so I
could check out On Trial at The Bat Cave upstairs. This Danish psych
rock band was one of the most important things for me at the festival
since I’ve been a die-hard fan for ages but I had never seen
them live before. The band started with “Blinded by the
Sun” in a tight way and were burning and the smaller, upstairs
room was filled with people. Then they switched in the stoner rock
gear and presented their heavier side with a fuzz-filled track. At
some point half of the audience apparently went to see Clutch to
the main stage, but that didn’t really matter. On Trial played
an excellent gig in all aspects and the set included both heavier
stuff and beautiful, melancholic tracks in just right combination
and of course covers by The 13th Floor Elevators and Roky Erickson.
The audience was totally into it especially during the faster, rockier
pieces. The volume was quite loud during the end part of the gig,
even at the bar, so I couldn’t go to take pictures from the
closer range anymore. The crowd yelled like crazy and moved along
the music. One of the best gigs I’ve ever seen! We really should
finally get this band to Finland as well.
After On Trial I watched some of Porn who were really
not psychedelic although they had some stoner influences. They seemed
mostly to play slow and heavy stuff with screaming vocals. I had never
heard the band before, and they were not bad at all. I was very pissed
off but this was the second time that I only had time to catch a
little bit of marvellous UK space/psych band Earthling Society, but
their performance was really convincing. It’s absolutely
worthwhile to get their latest album that was friendly placed in my
hand at some point during the night by Nasoni’s Hans-Georg! Next
time I promise to watch the band’s full show...
Here’s the set list for Earthling Society:
1. Kosmik Suite no.2
2. Council House Mystics
3. Outsideofintime
4. Kosmik suite no.1
5. Wromg!
At this point I had to get something to eat and I
found myself sitting at the Guru Guru’s dressing room opposite
to the band’s drummer. Then I headed back to Green Room to
spin some discs; Sun Dial was supposed to start there at 20.30.
This was possibly the most important gig of the whole festival for me,
since Sun Dial has been one of my favourite bands for years and years
but I had never seen them live. The band was there just as a trio, so
they had no keyboards. The gig started with a tranquil intro with
guitar and cymbals while somebody did some poetry. Then some peaceful,
moody jamming followed that soon changed into almost stoner rock. Then
we got another new track where Gary went totally wild with his guitar
and the bass player’s Rickenbacker rode roughshod over the
audience, as well. This was really great jamming and the full-packed
room was totally into it. The band surprised me by playing a third,
previously unreleased track in the row. Then they moved to the more
familiar grounds playing fast versions of old songs. “Exploding
in Your Mind” was dedicated to the festival’s organizer
Walter, and the track worked very well in deed. After
“Rollercoaster” they played another new track/jam and the
gig ended with a tremendous, hypnotic and psychedelic version of
“Mindtrain” during which the bass player seemed to have
some kind of mental break-down and laid down the stage for a while.
It was a totally amazing gig I must say! I was like reborn after this
experience. Sun Dial is without a doubt one of the best bands in the
world!
Guru Guru
Guru Guru
Guru Guru
I totally missed the legendary Blue Cheer, but I heard
form a couple of friends that they had been a minor disappointment.
Sadly, the same thing happened with Swedish Siena Root and UK’s
Josiah, although I would have liked to see them both. I was able to
check out Melvins for a while and the band sounded good playing to the
full-packed main hall. The German kraut rock legends Guru Guru were
starting their gig a bit late at The Green Room and they started with
psychedelia right away. I hadn’t seen them before so I was
really looking forward to see what kind of set they would play. The
set included also rockier material, but they pretty much stuck to the
kraut ethos. They played a lot of classics from along the years and
the band was in great shape. The show also included a suitable amount
of little craziness and humour, and at one point Neumaier played with
a weird mask on his head and also performed the tinkling of the
various, vague metal objects show that is some sort of bravura of his.
A great gig, that’s all I can say, and the audience shouted
along like mad.
Causa Sui
Causa Sui
The Danish Causa Sui released their debut album on
Nasoni in 2005 and I like the album a lot. The band played as the
second to last act on Friday at the Green Room, and unlike other bands
in this room they had their own video projections that were played by
Walter himself. The band did play a really good set with their
psychedelic projections and I liked them a lot. The band also has a
new album out now but I haven’t heard it yet.
These songs were played by Causa Sui:
1. Intro
2. White Sun
3. Interlude
4. Top of the Hill
5. El Paraiso
6. Newborn Road
Volt
After that I still watched the Volt show at the Green
Room but I don’t have that many recollections of them since
Walter gave us some more beer tokens, but as far as I can remember the
band played rather raw and rocking stuff... A totally amazing night!
Then we tried to get into other local bars with Ken and Jussi
Lehtisalo to continue the night, but they didn’t take in any new
customers. So we had to settle for the Salmiakki Koskenkorva liquor I
picked up from the hotel room and we talked with many people on the
street claiming to be Vikings. We also got invited to an after-party
at some local couple but we still were smart enough to get to the
hotel soon enough and after a couple of drinks we went to sleep.
Ken with Salmiakki Koskenkorva
Astro Kozmik Goblins
...
Growing
On Saturday the doors at 013 opened already at three
o’clock, but I managed to circle around Tilburg before that and
found for example a few record stores. The city seemed pretty nice. I
was feeling a bit numb but a couple of beers etc. helped the situation
a lot. The live music started with Acid King on the main stage, but I
totally missed them. At ten minutes past four Growing started at Green
Room and I had absolutely no idea what to expect. The band had two
members with guitars and a hell of a lot of effects and their gig
started in a very relaxed manner with some psychedelic, bubbling
sounds. Then some backing sounds joined in apparently from a sequencer
and at some point everything dissolved into really trippy psych
soundscape. There were times the guys went a bit too far in my opinion
and the music turned pretty evil. And this was still just the first
track! The second one started in a quite vague way followed by some
riff-oriented stuff and then some really weird stuff. The next number
went straight to the moon, really far-out weirdness. This was a pretty
interesting band, anyway, but it was a good thing for my mental health
that they played a bit shorter set.
Here’s the set list:
1. Limbo
2. Sword Fight
3. Lightfoot
4. Old Man Time
5. Morning Drive
Hidden Hand
Circle did a sound check next, and I went to see
Hidden Hand at the main hall for a little while. Wino is an old idol
of mine from his time with Saint Vitus and Obsessed so I was
anxious to see what the dude is up to nowadays. Hidden Hand’s
music was heavy, but occasionally they also had some more melodic
stuff to offer. The band was really good and Wino was in great shape
especially during the solos. The hall was full and the crowd really
seemed to enjoy what they heard. One of the tracks was a bit like
stoner rock, really tight and even funky. What a groove! I must get
some albums by the band...
Circle started at Green Room at 17.40 with some
mantra-like soundscapes. The set that was especially put together for
Roadburn included a lot of new material and improvisation, and the
live show featured for example Rättö’s stationary
jogging and an armwrestling competition in between Rättö
and Lehtisalo. We heard a really fast version of
“Nopeuskuningas” and the band played a truly rocking,
heavy-driven set with lesser amount of keyboards. There were also some
kraut rock rhythms and more peaceful jamming in there, of course. The
audience corresponded with roaring applause! It was also nice to hear
Jussi and Janne sing, as well. These Finnish boys really know their
beer-fuelled psychedelia...
Here are the tracks played by Circle:
1. Intro (untitled impro)
2. Feed My Rabbit
3. U.M.F.G. Horsemen
4. Neverending Dinner
5. Uhraus
6. Nopeuskuningas
7. Untitled chaos impro
8. Tulilintu
9. Puutiikeri
10. Untitled raiser impro
11. Murheenkryyni
12. Earthworm
13. Outro (untitled)
Orthodox
Orthodox
Orthodox played at the Green Room after Circle and
they started their gig with a monk choir intro after which the band
appeared on stage dressed up in black, hooded capes. I hadn’t
heard the band prior to this, but I liked their heavy music a lot. The
stuff they played was usually slow and gloomy doom, but there were
also faster metal parts and even some psychedelic jam elements. At
times the band sounded even like space rock! This was a really nice
new discovery, and I’ve been listening to their music
afterwards. Too bad that the CD-R copy of their new, forthcoming album
I got from the band doesn’t work properly.
Here are the tracks they played:
1. Geryon”s Throne
2. Solemne Triduo
3. El lamento del Cabrón
4. Parte II. Apogeum
Pelican
Pelican started at 20.30 and this was another band I
hadn’t heard before. The group wasn’t that keen on our DJ
music, and that made sense when their begun their set. The band had
rather heavy, post-metal sound, and their music didn’t really do
it for me, since they totally lacked the psychedelic element. A pretty
okay band, anyway, and at times they had a little bit of sort of
post-rock attitude. I was pretty bored at one point, but in the end
they rocked nicely and the audience went nuts.
Colour Haze
Colour Haze
On Saturday I didn’t see any of the bands at the
Bat Cave and, apart from Hidden Hand, I also missed everything at the
main hall, but what can I do. The DJ thing with Kozmik Ken was very
enjoyable, though, and we often succeeded in keeping on and growing
the mood created by the other while playing the records in turns. A
great opportunity for this appeared before the Colour Haze from Germany,
the last act of the night, who are probably one of the best advocates
of the stoner genre at the moment. We surprisingly had two hours to
spin discs and Ken did a wise move and went to the hotel to pick up
some more CD’s. Colour Haze played a long set in between 23.30
and 1.15 and proved at least to me that they were one of the best
bands at the festival. This trio really knows how to jam and they have
a rather original style. In addition Stefan’s guitar work and
vocals sound very cool. A superb gig and a very good way to end this
excellent festival!
On Sunday I travelled to Copenhagen with my Danish
friends for a few days, but that’s another story. The trip back
to the airport was spent with the wacky company of the Circle/Pharaoh
Overlord posse again, and I really had some hilarious time listening
to their hang-over stories... For example they called Kozmik Ken
Meteor Jack or Cosmic John because they couldn’t really remember
his artist name...
All in all, Roadburn 2007 was an extremely successful
event, and I really can’t think of anything that could have been
done better. The taste in music varies, of course, and not everybody
can like every band, but basically I felt that the audience was very
happy with everything the festival had to offer. The personnel at the
013 were very professional and friendly, and it was also great to meet
Walter and Jurgen, the organizers of the festival, who also seemed to
really enjoy the atmosphere themselves. Great guys! One of the best
things about festivals like this is that you can meet friends from all
over the world that you’d usually only be in contact with though
the internet. It’s nice to put some faces on the names! Now all
there is to do is to start waiting for the next year’s festival
that will last for four days! I really hope to part of it one way or
the other again, since I’m ready to do more for this kind of
festival.
Syd Barrett in Memoriam, Semifinal, Helsinki, 6.1.2007
Syd Barret’s importance for psychedelic rock and pop and for music is general has been very signifigant, and his passing away last year has touched many people. So it was very much in order to arrange also to his fans in Finland an opportunity to enjoy the man’s immortal music live interpreted by great bands and to reminisce how excellent tracks this musical genius wrote during his heyday.
Barrett Syng Alive
Barrett Syng Alive
Semifinal is a relatively small venue, but all who wanted could get in for this long-awaited commemoration. There was just the right amount of crowd for the place, and the atmosphere was very positive. The professionally-made video projections paid tribute to Syd in their own, marvellous way and there were also some other psychedelic lights to create the right mood. DJ Humanoid made magic with the suitable picks from his record collection with the help of Mike Camaro. It was very nice to hear for example “Jupiter Island” by Porcupine Tree played at a club atmosphere.
Barrett Syng Alive
Barrett Syng Alive
The live show started at little bit after eleven when Jaire Pätäri from Octopus Syng took the stage to play a couple of songs of Syd’s material by himself. “Wouldn’t You Miss Me” was the first track and we all surely miss Syd, of course. “Golden Hair” was played as a duet. Jaire’s live band Octopus Syng Alive then entered the stage as Barrett Syng Alive, and they played a superb set. The band was relatively well rehearsed for the gig, although all of them naturally were familiar with the material already. The set that was formed of Syd’s solo material and Pink Floyd’s early singles plus “Flaming” progressed very well, and especially Jaire’s liaison with the other guitarist Samuel Leminen worked out great. Jaire topped himself as a show man as he got wild with his guitar and for example played with his teeth, and he really took his audience in other ways as well. The highlights for me were “See Emily Play” sung by Samu and “Candy and a Currant Bun”. A bit rarer side if Syd was presented with ”Two of a Kind” and ”Bob Dylan Blues” that Jaire dedicated to his old, late friend from Kouvola. Many of Syd’s solo tracks got some new life as decent band versions. Really psychedelic stuff!
Jaire Pätäri
These tracks were played:
1. Wouldn't You Miss Me
2. Bob Dylan Blues
3. Golden Hair
4. Terrapin
5. No Good Trying
6. Two of a Kind
7. Late Night
8. See Emily Play
9. Octopus
10. Flaming
11. Candy And a Currant Bun
Pink Projector
After the about one hour long gig it was again time to listen to some music from albums as we all anxiously awaited for the evening’s headliner, Pink Projector led by the Vadelma activist Kalle Kuisma. The band had previously played some very successful Pink Floyd cover gigs. This time their repertoire to tribute Syd was composed of “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” that started and ended the show as well as most of the album Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Kalle played the guitar and sung most of the tracks, and Samu played guitar also in this band and sung a few tracks. On keyboards they had Kasper Mårtenson, Kalle’s old band friend from the Sea Reach times, who has also played in Amorphis and Mannhai, for example. The guy excelled with his Moog and other equipment. All the other musicians did a great job, as well. The tracks went very well honouring the originals but freely and lively. There was also some horn in there, and on “Shine of You Crazy Diamond” also some female backing vocals. The audience went nuts and was really much into it. One of the highlights was “Interstellar Overdrive” when the band was joined by Heikki Puska with his guitar from the group Uzwa. Also Pink Projector’s gig lasted about one hour, and some more stuff of this quality would of course been nice to hear, but despite the furious applause by the enraptured audience there was no encore.
Pink Projector
Pink Projector
Pink Projector
Here’s Pink Projector’s set list:
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (part I)
2. Astronomy Domine
3. Lucifer Sam
4. Matilda Mother
5. Pow R. Toc H.
6. The Gnome
7. Chapter 24
8. Bike
9. Interstellar Overdrive
10. Arnold Layne
11. The Scarecrow
12. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (part II)
All in all, the Syd Barrett in Memoriam was a very successful event in every aspect, and I would now like to thank all those involved for making this happen. The bands sounded really good considering the limitations of the venue, and I’m sure that also the rest of the audience enjoyed the ambience and program of the evening. Syd’s music will live for ever but it was really nice to get to feel it in such a lively and powerful way. I’m sure the Madcap laughed and shone happily somewhere at the gates of dawn...
