The Date: 23.7.2005
The Place: Espoo, Awalon
The Album: Signs of Life
The Cheerios-team collected me from the parking lot of Dipoli. In
the muddy side of the morph mobile was written: here goes the
cheerleaders
I squeezed myself in the backseat with 3 other girls and we were on the
way. Beside the Awalon door was an over enthused bouncer and when we
went for the door, he stopped me after three of us had gone trough it.
Not because he wanted to see my id, we just had to wait that the other
three had cleared the way. After I had finally gotten in, I noticed
Petri and Mako and they immediately gave me a group hug =)
That made me
feel welcome and more at home in there, because after seeing fairies,
trolls and space cowboys for two days straight (ropecon) entering into a
normal nightclub was like a plunge into another dimension. Urban
disco-hell with mirrored ceiling =) But the DJ was quite good, and soon
enough I invaded the dance floor with two girls that I had never met.
When I was on a break, this man came to talk to me and was kind of
hitting on me, but I wasn’t interested. It was really hard to get rid of
him, but luckily the DJ announced that the band was due on stage in a
few minutes and I once again surged in the front row. He didn’t follow
me, thank God.
Just before the guys came on the stage, Queen’s We will Rock you was
played. As it is seen in photos, the stage was so miniature that only
Tapio’s drum set fitted in there. The rest of the band was on the floor
and some gate installations were put in front of them to stop the
audience. It was very weird feeling to be so close to the guys when they
played, for them also. Mark commented that more than once, and only
when he climbed next to the drum set, he could see the whole audience.
In the side of the stage was a kind of bar counter and he even climbed
on top of that and shook hands with the audience.
Initially I was glad that the gig place had an age limit of 22,
which meant no screaming teenagers that could puncture years with their
voice. But I hadn’t taken account the influence of alcohol on some
people. Once again, someone just had to break a pint, and the glass
shards fell on to the stage also. Mark said that if he slips on them and
slits his jugular, the gig would certainly stop then and there. There
were also some women, who pulled at his shirt, tried to hold his hand
for ages and all but fell over him despite of the gates. I think that is
just rude and borders on harassment, after all the guys are up there
doing their job.
But there were also some good things that the ‘stage’ brought. First
of all, you could actually see Tapio the whole time, he wasn’t hidden
by the other guys, his drums or smoke and lights. In the front row you
could practically see everything. And where I was (in front of Ollie) it
wasn’t hot at all; a light breeze was blown from somewhere. At one
point when Ollie had to change place in the stage, he slipped past Mark
and was forced to take a hold of Mark’s hips. After few of us wohooed,
Mark said something about gang bangs on the stage…And then admitted that
it was a bad joke =)
He also remarked at some point that if he would threw the microphone
in the audience, the same speeches would be delivered without
hesitation, ‘nothing you haven’t heard before’.
Because the stage was so small, Mark couldn’t jump around as much as
he wanted. And because the audience was so cramped, we couldn’t jump
either. So I just let the music take me wherever it was taking me,
sometimes with my eyes closed. It is amazing how my emotions can change
in a heartbeat because of the music. Sleep sent shivers up my spine and
brought tears to my eyes, and then a second later 3 A.M made me almost
laugh with delight (despite of the words). After being on the road a
fairly good amount (this was my tenth time), it is inevitable that the
songs also hold memories and feelings from other gigs and events.
Once again it seemed that the gig was over in a flash. After the gig
we stayed in the Awalon, met briefly Bolo Hamwich and Toola, that man
came back to hit on me, I got rid of him and spent a whole lot of time
in the dance floor. When the Cheerios were giving me a lift back to the
Dipoli, it was nearly 3 A.M and that song was played…
A HUUUUUGE hug and thanks to the Cheerios-team for the transportation and advance ticket!
sunnuntai 24. heinäkuuta 2005
lauantai 16. heinäkuuta 2005
The Adventures of a Superfan: part 2
The Date: 15.7.2005
The Place: Vaasa, Rockperry
The Album: Signs of Life
The day started out rainy, but fortunately the rain stopped by the time the gigs started. Ollie had just told me the day earlier, that after that Kaisaniemi Pop all of the gigs had been rain-free.I was supposed to meet Carpe Diem and Jariq there, but only Jariq was able to make it. Carpe Diem had things that included her friend’s bachelor party and no babysitter..She told me that her heart bleeded, but she couldn’t come to the gig.
So, me and Jariq went in the front row an hour before the gig, to watch the soundcheck. There we met this lady, whom I had seen in the Seinäjoki acoustic gig. And I found out, that she is a teacher at my hometown!
Because this was a festival-gig, there was a huge gap between the audience and the band, and those awful metalbars. But that didn’t bother me that much this time, I’m getting used to them and I had a blast in spite of them.The gig started traditionally with Don’t mess with me and it was much shorter than the night before (but every time the gig seems too short, every time). The audience was amazing, I think I have never heard so loud singing in any of the gigs before.
The sounds were great, bigger and more aggressive than at Klubi. The whole show seemed more energetic and Mark jumped around more. Maybe it was because the stage was outside (and bigger) so it wasn’t that hot, not like in the Klubi. The show included also the showdown and the clapping and yelling patterns as the night before. When Shallow was played, I waved my fan with the music and Mark shot me a knowing glance :)
After the gig was over, I changed a couple of words with Mark and Ollie. I was just talking on the phone with Carpe Diem, when the whole band walked by and Petri yelled that ‘say Hi to your mom’.
That comment still makes me laugh!
The Place: Vaasa, Rockperry
The Album: Signs of Life
The day started out rainy, but fortunately the rain stopped by the time the gigs started. Ollie had just told me the day earlier, that after that Kaisaniemi Pop all of the gigs had been rain-free.I was supposed to meet Carpe Diem and Jariq there, but only Jariq was able to make it. Carpe Diem had things that included her friend’s bachelor party and no babysitter..She told me that her heart bleeded, but she couldn’t come to the gig.
So, me and Jariq went in the front row an hour before the gig, to watch the soundcheck. There we met this lady, whom I had seen in the Seinäjoki acoustic gig. And I found out, that she is a teacher at my hometown!
Because this was a festival-gig, there was a huge gap between the audience and the band, and those awful metalbars. But that didn’t bother me that much this time, I’m getting used to them and I had a blast in spite of them.The gig started traditionally with Don’t mess with me and it was much shorter than the night before (but every time the gig seems too short, every time). The audience was amazing, I think I have never heard so loud singing in any of the gigs before.
The sounds were great, bigger and more aggressive than at Klubi. The whole show seemed more energetic and Mark jumped around more. Maybe it was because the stage was outside (and bigger) so it wasn’t that hot, not like in the Klubi. The show included also the showdown and the clapping and yelling patterns as the night before. When Shallow was played, I waved my fan with the music and Mark shot me a knowing glance :)
After the gig was over, I changed a couple of words with Mark and Ollie. I was just talking on the phone with Carpe Diem, when the whole band walked by and Petri yelled that ‘say Hi to your mom’.
That comment still makes me laugh!
perjantai 15. heinäkuuta 2005
The Adventures of a Superfan: part 1
The Date: 14.7.2005
The Place: Tampere, Klubi, Tammerfest
The Album: Signs of Life
My day started brilliantly. As I was passing the Klubi somewhere around 6.30 p.m, I spotted the guys outside. It was pure coincidence that they were there that moment when I was going to my friend’s place to drop off some things. Naturally I stopped and went to say ‘Hi!’. That hi turned into a half an hours talk with Mark, I interviewed him for a indiezine that I was part of then.
After that talk I stayed where I was and after a while the t-shirt sellers (edit: Petri and Mako)came to talk with me and then Ollie appeared, with a motorcycle helmet in his head (helps him to wander about unnoticed:). We had a really nice talk and then guys had to go to haul their stuff up to the stage.
The timetable had gone a little awry, so the soundcheck was played when the audience was already in. But you don’t hear any complaints about that from me. The soundcheck was quite short for obvious reasons, but Mark did sang a little Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Under the Bridge and I loved it!
Humane wasn’t all that bad, harmless good-natured poprock, I kind of liked it. After that I surged to the front row and earned a couple new ‘friends’ as I used my laced fan to ease the feeling of some girls. It was like sauna there and a breath of cooler air was a life saver. Then Satu, Tiia, Perla and Jack-Of-All-Trades appeared and the gig started soon after that.
We were all blown away by that fact that Lift was a first song to be played and all of the albums songs after that, including Maybe Tomorrow is a better day. It was really refreshening, like a whole new show. I had my fan with me the whole time to ease the hotness and sure enough, Mark snatched it from me a couple of times. First time he used it to make dramatic poses with it and second time he cooled himself and all the boys as well with it. He had earlier commented that it was very beautiful and now he said to the whole audience that it is very useful as well. I just laughed my ass off.
New additions (since I last saw them) to the show were a kind of showdown with Mark and Ollie. At some point when Ollie played his guitar, Mark staggered backwards like the music was hitting him and vice versa. Also new clapping patters and yells were introduced by Mark (hey hey, ho ho, Tampere, Poets of the Fall) and the audience was happily doing what he asked.
After the gig the Chearleaders and I formed a line to hug Mark and after that we went to get a table. The DJ was playing really good music and my legs (my whole body actually) wanted to dance. It had been almost 6 moths since I had been able to really go out and dance in a club and I was so loving it! Satu was like ‘what the hell you have been taking woman?’ because I was all over the place. Only water, one long drink and a whole lot of PotF.
The Place: Tampere, Klubi, Tammerfest
The Album: Signs of Life
My day started brilliantly. As I was passing the Klubi somewhere around 6.30 p.m, I spotted the guys outside. It was pure coincidence that they were there that moment when I was going to my friend’s place to drop off some things. Naturally I stopped and went to say ‘Hi!’. That hi turned into a half an hours talk with Mark, I interviewed him for a indiezine that I was part of then.
After that talk I stayed where I was and after a while the t-shirt sellers (edit: Petri and Mako)came to talk with me and then Ollie appeared, with a motorcycle helmet in his head (helps him to wander about unnoticed:). We had a really nice talk and then guys had to go to haul their stuff up to the stage.
The timetable had gone a little awry, so the soundcheck was played when the audience was already in. But you don’t hear any complaints about that from me. The soundcheck was quite short for obvious reasons, but Mark did sang a little Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Under the Bridge and I loved it!
Humane wasn’t all that bad, harmless good-natured poprock, I kind of liked it. After that I surged to the front row and earned a couple new ‘friends’ as I used my laced fan to ease the feeling of some girls. It was like sauna there and a breath of cooler air was a life saver. Then Satu, Tiia, Perla and Jack-Of-All-Trades appeared and the gig started soon after that.
We were all blown away by that fact that Lift was a first song to be played and all of the albums songs after that, including Maybe Tomorrow is a better day. It was really refreshening, like a whole new show. I had my fan with me the whole time to ease the hotness and sure enough, Mark snatched it from me a couple of times. First time he used it to make dramatic poses with it and second time he cooled himself and all the boys as well with it. He had earlier commented that it was very beautiful and now he said to the whole audience that it is very useful as well. I just laughed my ass off.
New additions (since I last saw them) to the show were a kind of showdown with Mark and Ollie. At some point when Ollie played his guitar, Mark staggered backwards like the music was hitting him and vice versa. Also new clapping patters and yells were introduced by Mark (hey hey, ho ho, Tampere, Poets of the Fall) and the audience was happily doing what he asked.
After the gig the Chearleaders and I formed a line to hug Mark and after that we went to get a table. The DJ was playing really good music and my legs (my whole body actually) wanted to dance. It had been almost 6 moths since I had been able to really go out and dance in a club and I was so loving it! Satu was like ‘what the hell you have been taking woman?’ because I was all over the place. Only water, one long drink and a whole lot of PotF.
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