The evening was promising at the
beginning. Lots of free drinks and food and a warm reception at the pub close
to the venue. But organization turned into a chaos due to the tight schedule
and I was really afraid that I would leave the place without my desired
interview. We were move in a rush to the zone close to the dressing rooms. Artists
were coming from the backstage for a short photo session and back to the
restricted area. There I could see Jenni
Vartiainen (who was looking astonishing and taller than I imagined)
together with Tidjan, the male
member of Kwan, and some other
popular people like Antti Tuisku (who
was looking shorter than I imagined) or the guys from The Giant Leap. Tarja
Turunen was a prey for the photographers, very elegant in a Marimekko black
dress, while I was not able to contact the person from her record company. The
interview seemed lost, so we went to take a look at the rehearsals. And there
was the little Anna Abreu: splendid
and sensual, with a vitality that should not surprise since she is only 17.
Being half Portuguese, it was clear that she could understand some Spanish, and
there we went with a surrealistic conversation where four different languages
were mixed in 5 minutes. As she explained, no time for after party for our
young lady; she had to come back home early after her performance to study for
an exam. But she still had time to break the rules and smoke a cigarette inside
Jäähälli under the passive supervision of the security man before the crowd
started to arrive to enjoy the show. Anna Abreu gave us good luck, since just
when we came back inside we got a short but fruitful interview with a very
friendly Tarja Turunen. The show had good and bad moments, and Anna and Tarja
were undoubtedly the most awaited ones by the audience. Time to go, and there
on the floor of Jäähälli lies the cigarette that Anna Abreu smoked some minutes
before. Even the tight rules in
charming personality of this little volcano. There will be always some
privileged ones. Our dear Anna shone on and off stage like a little flame
coming from a languid cigarette breaking the cold darkness of an empty sport
hall.