Category: Music

Written by Elena Paraschiv

Power metal back in line! Helloween started their world tour “Hellish Rock tour Part II”, together with Gamma Ray, at the end of February. The band first hit the stage in Barcelona, and after Italy, Greece and Eastern Europe, the pumpkins are heading to Scandinavia. First stop : Helsinki, on March 29, at The Circus. In Finland, Helloween will rock the Finnish audience three nights in a row. After Helsinki, it`s Tampere turn to be energized to the maximum on March 30 at Pakkahuone, and Oulu on March 31 at Club Teatria.

Helloween was formed in 1984, by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry and Powerfool. Since its creation, the band has experienced various line-ups. Among members who have taken part in this project, include Michael Kiske and also Kai Hansen, now the lead guitarist, and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray. Helloween released their fourteenth studio album, “Straight Out Of Hell”, on January 18, 2013. The album produced by Charlie Bauerfeind, who works with the band since 2000, is a masterpiece that lasts just over an hour. “Straight Out Of Hell” is a return in force of one of the most popular power metal bands, proving to even the most pessimistic of their fans that Helloween is back in business! A comeback to the real Helloween sound. The album picked position No.4 in Finnish Albums Chart.

Seeing on the same stage Gamma Ray and Helloween in Bucharest, those two emblems of the genre was delightful. The night was opened by Shadowside from Brazil. It was not a very good start. 30 minutes of pure torment. The lead-singer was trying too hard to reach those high notes and to sing the melodic parts. What was supposed to be a power metal start was nothing but an attempt with no success.

Next, Gamma Ray. Even though Hansen had some problems with his voice, the show was flawless. The public reaction was one to match with the show, as they played throughout the setlist along with the Germans from Gamma Ray.

GAMMA RAY SETLIST. BUCHAREST 2013

Anywhere in the Galaxy
Men, Martians and Machines
The Spirit
Gamma Ray (cover Birth Control)
Master of Confusion
Empire of the Undead
Empathy
Rise
Future World (cover Helloween)
To the Metal
Encore:
Send Me a Sign

And finally, the long awaited band takes the stage in force in the praise of the public. Helloween show started with two tracks from their new album “Straight Out Of Hell”, “Wanna Be Good” and “Nabataea”, (the best song of the material). So, the band threw the first power metal pill of a really dazzling night. Helloween`s show, had two moments that are fully enjoyed by those present. First was Daniel Löble`s drum solo: spectacular, incredibly, unbelievably good, and the second was the song “Hold Me In Your Arms”. This moment escapes from the power metal sphere with acoustic guitar and a more soft interpretation of Andi. Definitely, one of the best Helloween`s ballad-type song. But the show returns immediately to the power metal vibe, electrifying the public.

The full set, the lights, the sound…all entwined with the perfect voice of Andi Deris, the magnificent drumming of Daniel Löble, the perfect bass of Markus Grosskopf, the majestic Gibson of Michael Weikath and the beautiful “Youth Gone Wild” of Sascha Gerstner, made the night a classy power metal show.

So, if you haven`t buy the ticket to see those two great bands…it`s time to hurry up, because this show is one of those shows that stays in your memory forever.

HELLOWEEN SETLIST. BUCHAREST 2013

Wanna Be God
Nabataea
Eagle Fly Free
Straight Out of Hell
Where the Sinners Go
Waiting for the Thunder
Steel Tormentor
Drum Solo
I”m Alive
Live Now!
Hold Me in Your Arms
If I Could Fly
Hell Was Made in Heaven
Power
Encore 1:
Are You Metal?
Dr. Stein
Encore 2:
Halloween / How Many Tears / Heavy Metal (Is the Law)
I Want Out (cu Gamma Ray)

Text: Antonio Diaz
Photos: Torey Mundowsky

From the fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada, came the American rock band The Killers to put some sunshine into the cloudy Finnish winter. As its charismatic vocalist Brandown Flowers asserted at the beginning of the show “It had been too long Helsinki” and the people of the capital were really eager to see them live.

It was not actually that my impression when I was walking the few meters that separate Pasila Train Station from Hartwall Areena, the venue where the concert was about to take place a few minutes later. Just a bunch of fans were pacing fast towards there, so I imagined that the venue was going to be half empty, being a tuesday evening. Far from reality, it must have been actually my fault for arriving a bit late and missing the opening band Louis XIV, because actually Harwall Areena was almost fully packed with fans, many of them female, eager to move their feet. And they have a good change right from the start to shake the body, with the band starting strong with Mr. Brightside, continuing with some other infamous themes you must have listened to countless times in the radio stations or at the nightclubs like Human or Somebody Told Me.

It is undoubtedly Flowers the one who carries on with the charismatic part of the band. With his neat appearance in leather jacket and perfect haircut, he has this look of healthy young American boy with a touch of mischief in his gestures that get both the approval of the mothers and the screams from the young girls. Alternating fast pace songs with some other slow intimate moments with dimmed lights and Flowers on the piano, the band produced a solid show, if not to be remembered as outstanding, at least totally satisfactory to have a couple of hours of a good time listening to light heartening music and some touching moments like when Branson dared to sing a cover of “Forever Young” infamous song.

Of course, after the first part of the show, it was compulsory for the band to come back to the stage for an encore of 3 songs and put the cherry on top of the cake with Battleborn and Flowers jumping to shake the hands of most people in the front row. Good show and good impression for being the first time I saw The Killers onstage, a band that transmit the feeling to know what they want.

If I would have to complain about something, I would say more about the organization in Hartwall Areena. First, because if you have the fetish to try to catch a setlist or a guitar pick from the roadies right after the show, security in Hartwall Areena is inmediately pushing you 20 seconds after the show ends to the exit. Secondly, because actually for exiting the venue, you have to walk all around the sports hall and takes 20 minutes, some organizer should have the bright idea to open a few more doors once the show is over to make the exiting of people easier… Luckily when it is winter in Finland, it is not so bad to be under shelter for a few more minutes before the cold outside bites your skin…

THE KILLERS @ HARTWALL AREENA
26TH FEBRUARY 2013

MR BRIGHTSIDE

THE WAY IT WAS

SMILE

SPACEMAN

BLING

MISS ATOMIC BOMB

HUMAN

SOMEBODY TOLD ME

FLESH N BONE

REASONS

FROM HERE ON OUT

DUSTLAND

READ MY MIND

RUNAWAYS

ALL THESE THINGS

ENCORE

JENNY

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG

BATTLEBORN

Just before Christmas Helsinki got ready for a doses of great hard rock coming from the neighbouring country Sweden.

As headliners, a living legend: Europe! I still remember being just 6 years old and seeing Europe performing The Final Countdown on the national Spanish TV. It was maybe at that time the most popular foreign song heard and sang in Spain during that year… For many children of my generation, the first approach to see and listen to guys with long hair, electric guitars and leather jackets.

I would have never suspected to see them finally for first time in my life 26 years later in Finland, but life always has surprises awaiting for you. The venue was The Circus, and this was also the first time for me to see a concert there. On the positive side, I must say that it is spacious and with great acoustic, and its location in the heart of the city in Kamppi square makes it really easy to reach. On the less good side, the lines to wait at the entrance for giving or taking back your jackets from the wardrobe are pretty chaotic, and ordering a drink can take ages…

But before Europe, for warming up the environment, we had another great Swedish band that enjoys great popularity in Finlan: Mustasch. Also first time for me to see them live, and I must confess that their popularity is well deserved. Ralf Gyllenhammar and his boys gave a high voltage performance, making the crowd go wild with some of their anthems like Double Nature, Down in Black or 6:36 while the vocalist sprayed the first rows with beer, sharing great chemistry with the audience while trying to say some dirty words in Finnish or inviting some girls around for “funny times” at the backstage. They acted and sounted raw, wild and powerful, like a hard rock band with attitude should act on stage. Even when I was dreaming of seeing Europe live, I must say that at the end of the night, my feelings were that Mustasch had stolen the show.

And it is not that Europe´s concert was bad. Joey Tempest, John Norum and the rest of the band gave quite a decent show, and I certainly got goosebumps listening to some classics that will endure in the history of rock music forever such as Carrie, Rock the Night or of course The Final Countdown that ended the night. But still I noticed that same than for me, for many in the crowd they did not know some of the new songs and also the acoustic part of the concert left the people cold, so in general it was a concert with more up and downs than the previous of Mustasch, where every song was lava from a raging vulcano.

All in all, you cannot ask for much better than this before Christmas. Legends still keeping the flame alive plus one of the strongest current Swedish bands gathering more and more fans in Finland. Santa Claus did not give me a guitar pick as a present, but who the fuck cares when you walk to the bus stop still humming “The Final Countdown” inside your head…

Europe. Setlist at The Circus 2012

Riches to Rags
Not Supposed to Sing the Blues
Firebox
Superstitious
Scream of Anger
No Stone Unturned
Carrie
Demon Head
Acoustic set
The World Keep on Turning
(Fleetwood Mac cover) (John Norum on vocals)
Drink and a Smile
Open Your Heart
Love Is Not the Enemy
Girl From Lebanon
Sign of the Times
The Beast
Rock the Night
Encore:
Prelude
Last Look at Eden
The Final Countdown

Mustasch. Setlist at The Circus 2012

Heresy Blasphemy
Down In Black
Mine
It’s Never Too Late
Deep In The Woods
Bring Me Everyone
6:36
Damn Its Dark
Speed Metal
Parasite
Double Nature
I Hunt Alone

Photos: Antonio Dìaz

Helsinki suffered a night of good old glam rock with the presence for first time of the band from Kuopio, Reckless Love, at Nosturi, one of the most famous concert venues in the Finnish capital excepting Tavastia club.

It was the first time for the band from Kuopio to be present at Nosturi and they were nervous about it as they recognized later during the show. But for warming up, nothing better than the local band Santa Cruz, featuring their debut album Anthem for the Young and Restless. With a very direct classic hard rock style and a fun attitude on stage, they left the audience more than pleased during their 45 minutes performance. Maybe they still carry a bit of an “amateurish” attitude on stage, but you cannot deny either that they are still very young and these kind of gigs are a perfect proof for them to gain more experience for future bigger goals.

A few minutes later appeared on stage the main band of the night: Reckless Love. Having harvested very positive answers from critics and the crowd with their latest release “Animal Attraction”, the band led by charismatic singer Olli “Twisted” Herman made the crowd have a very good time. A lot of young sexy rock chicks among the spectators, but also mother with their daughters and even small children, all enjoying the same and raising their arms with hits like “On the Radio”, “Animal attraction”, “Beautiful Bomb” or “Badass”.

It is no secret that many of the tunes of the band are aimed with deference to the female audience that see in Reckless Love a sort of replacement for Negative and their another Finnish sex symbol Jonne Aaron; the figure of their lead singer with long blonde hair, a body of a young Apollo and androgynous facial features turns a sector of the crowd crazy wherever he goes. Olli knows perfectly how to take advantage of this, with studied poses or giving the gift of removing his t-shirt until 3 times during the concert, throwing in one of those occasions his t-shirt of MTV to the mass below him.

Even though, the band also showed enough humble attitudes to thank repeatedly their fans for their support, the hours that some of them spent waiting to be in first row and the opportunity to play in one of the most charismatic Finnish venue, a compulsory place that every band that counts in Finnish music scene has to test. Reckless Love passed with a very high mark during their introduction to Nosturi, and maybe this is just a warming up for bigger ventures waiting for them in the next years.

Photos: Antonio Diaz

Legendary American rock band Motley Crüe visited Helsinki and FREE! Magazine had to be there to let you know how it went! Personally, I had a special motivation to see them, because they are basically one of the few big bands I still had not had the chance to review live. They were scheduled to play two years ago at Sonicsphere in Pori, but a huge storm made them cancel the show (a polemic decision, becasue others such as Alice Cooper or Iron Maiden stayed and played, but well, let´s not enter into that).

So there I was, two years later, ready to enjoy their show without cancellations in a week where Helsinki had seen 3 days ago another huge event with the Sonicpshere concert happening on Monday, and then this Rockin Helsinki festival organized on thursday. Although being organized on a working day, assistance was pretty good, although not a totally sold out. Also weather turned to be sunny and nice (during the morning it seemed that it would be cloudy and rainy), which helped to keep the spirits up.

Before Motley, a couple of bands to warm up and please the crowd. Honestly I arrived a bit late and paid more atenttion to getting beers in the drinking area than listening to Crashdiet, but during their 40 minutes of show they seemed to entertain the audience and displayed good high energy. They already seem to have a good fanbase in Finland, so all good for the young Swedish band.

After a pause, another Swedish band hit the stage, the quite well known in Finland Hardcore Superstar. I had had the chance to interview them and see their gig in Tampere a few years ago, and once again they did not dissappoint. They seemed pretty comfortable with the audience and enjoying playing in Finland, and although they did not have much time to play, they gave a solid show where of course they could not miss in their setlist classics like Dreaming in a Casket or the ending Don´t Celebrate Sundays.

About the organization of the festival, I had to say that had pros and against. The place is certainly great to organize concerts at Kaisaniemen Puisto, just a few metres away from the main railway station of Helsinki. Super easy to reach by transportation. But although held in a park, basically there was no chance to sit on benches or on the grass, and the queues to order drinks were long beyond exhasperation. Besides, organizing big shows in the centre has another downside: you cannot make any noise after 22:00. If the concert is starting as scheduled, that should not be a problem, but the point is that Motley Crüe entered the stage almost half an hour later than scheduled, at around 20:30. So that means they only played for one hour and a half.

And how was the show? Well, I have mixed feelings about it. The beginning was promising, starting with one of my all time favorites Wild Side, with 2 sensual girls on both sides of Vince Neil. But once the show was advancing, I kind of had some moments a feeling that I would not have expected, and it is feeling a little bit bored in some parts of the concert. The setlist was good, and I really felt goosebumps with some classic songs like Dr. Feelgood or Girls, girls, Girls, but I still could not get rid of the feeling that the band was not connecting with the audience and was just there to complete their short setlist and leave. Audience was actually behaving quite cold, maybe cause the sun had set, or maybe cause there was not much of special effects, no fireworks, etc to warm the show. The biggest feature on that side is the classic 360 degree drum set of Tommy Lee turning around during his solo, and the invitation to join to a young female Finnish fan to sit there with him for a few seconds.

I don´t know, maybe I would have enjoyed the show more at an indoors arena with more pyrotechnical effects, or maybe Motley is (expectingly) not as wild as some years ago, with no more Jack Daniels bottles appearing and being drunk magically on stage… It was nice to see them once in a life, but for an audience that pays more than 60 euro for a ticket, enjoying such a short show of 1:30 hours with no encore after they had cancelled their previous visit to Finland felt like too little. I honestly almost enjoyed more watching Hardcore Superstar than the main headliners…

Motley Crüe. Setlist at Kaisaniemen Puisto 2012

Wild Side
Live Wire
Too Fast for Love
Saints of Los Angeles
Shout at the Devil
Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.)
Looks That Kill
Piece of Your Action
Primal Scream
Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room
Drum Solo
Dr. Feelgood
Girls, Girls, Girls
Home Sweet Home
Kickstart My Heart

Sometimes you go to a gig and you feel that you did not get what was worthy the ticket. This is not the case with Rammstein. The Germans visited Finland again, and gave proof of why they are nowadays one of the most amazing bands in the world to see live.

It does not matter if you speak and understand German or not. They have been able to connect with the international audience not singing in English, which is already a merit that not so many bands can be proud about, and the theatrical perfomance that accompanies their show is just outstanding. I can just imagine how difficult must be to rehearse their tours before starting. That is Rammstein, a band with a solid career that entertains you song after song while their music makes elevate your feet from the ground almost unconsciously.

During this Made in Germany Tour, they just played safe shooting hit after hit of their already 17 years of career together. But the schenario was up to the challenge. The band appeared from one lateral side of the arena with the band walking slowly, holding both their flag and the Finnish flag. Without losing time in speeches to the audience, frontman Till Lindermann and his boys just went straight to business to play amazing song after amazing song: Sonne, Keine Lust, Asche zu Asche, Mutter, Du Reichst so Gut… The Germans sound and act still as powerful as when they astonished the worldwide audience with that already far in time classic live concert Live Aus Berlin. Of course it could not be missed in the setlist their most popular hit Du Hast, whose chorus was shyly chanted by the Finnish audience when Till lent them the micro.

If the audience was a bit cold, excepting the first rows of unconditional fans, the band did not let the temperature drop, coming for a first encore crawling all over the bridge (and that short trip had members of the band humping on each other and getting whipped included) that linked the main stage with a smaller stage in the middle of the arena, ready to perform Bück Dich with Lindermann soaking the first rows in water with a fake penis. And that is what Rammstein is about, powerful catchy music, fireworks, masculinity with muscular Apollonian bodies displayed, sense of humor and sexuality mixed in an explosive cocktail.

The big surprise of the night came at the start of the second encore, when Rammstein was joined at the stage by Finnish cello virtuosos Apocalyptica to play together an amazing version of Mein Herz Brennt.

More classics like Engel or Amerika delighted the audience, with the band putting the cherry on top of the cake with Pussy to finish a rounded concert. Well, more than the cherry, we could say that putting the cream on the cake, because Lindermann took control of a giant mobile cannot painted like a penis that bathed on foam half of the areena. Is there any better way of making the audience reach a climax at the end of a live perfomance?

You can love them or hate them, but in my personal humble opinion, if you want to see a band that offers something unique, raw, powerful and provocative in the rock scene nowadays, you should not miss this tour. Rammstein is still a must see live!

Rammstein & Apocalyptica. Helsinki. 15/02/2012

Deep Purple visited the Finnish capital performing together with the Frankfurt Philarmonich Orchestra, a pre-Christmas gift that no real rock fan could miss!

I had seen the band some years ago in Madrid, and one of my first most vivid memories is remembering singer Ian Gillian wearing a horrible hawaian t-shirt… Well, this time Gillian just appeared onstage together with the rest of the members of Deep Purple in a more normal t-shirt, eager to please the Finnish audience.

It was the first time in my life that I assited to this kind of combo of rock band playing together with a philarmonich orchestra, and my feelings at the end of the concert were mixed. The name of the current tour is “Songs that Built Rock”, and certainly, when the band starts to play tunes that have forged the history of rock like Highway Star, Woman from Tokyo or Strange Kind of Woman, you fully realize that you are facing a piece of music history live.

However, the general arrangements for the concert left me with a bit of “cold” feeling. Hartwall Areena is a cold place by itself to hold a concert (a venue where usually ice hockey matches are held). All the audience was sat, so nobody would stand up, and the organization, although polite and helpful, was as usually happens in events organized in Finland, too tight following the rules. Even at some point Gillian talked to the audience to say that he did not mind if they were taking pictures of the band, when some security person recriminated a spectator. The audience was in general lacking passion and non-reactive, and maybe during the setlist, there was an abuse of too many solo parts by most of the members of the band guitar solo linked to keyboard solo linked to a drum solo…

About the interaction with the philarmonic orchestra, it left some epic moments like when guitarist Steve Morse makes a duel with his guitar against the director of the orchestra holding his violin, or when the string section fully supported the classic Perfect Strangers, the only song that really moved me all over the show, sounding extra powerful. But in some other moments, the show turned to be too slow and lacking rythm. All in all, I have to praise the attitude of the members of the orchestra, that for some moments seemed to be having more fun onstage sharing moments with Deep Purple than the audience of the concert themselves. Of course, another peak of the night is when Steve Morse started to tease the audience playing some famous riffs to finally start the archifamous one for Smoke on the Water, undoubtedly one of the riffs that is forever inserted in rock history.

Deep Purple came back to the stage to perform a short bis including more classics like Hush or Black Night. As I said, if you are a truly fan of the band or a truly fan of rock music, you will enjoy the novelty of watching them perform together with an orchestra. But I miss a bit more of the “chaotic and wild” feeling that a rock concert should be about…

Deep Purple´s Setlist – Hartwall Areena. 2011

Highway Star
Hard Lovin’ Man
Maybe I’m a Leo
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture of the Deep
Woman From Tokyo
Contact Lost
Guitar Solo
When a Blind Man Cries
The Well Dressed Guitar
The Mule
Lazy
No One Came
Keyboard Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Smoke on the Water

Encore:
Hush
Black Night

Deep Purple plays “Perfect Strangers” at Hartwall Areena