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...
