Bad Jokes and Group Hugs

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!