to holmgard and beyond!
I hardly have the time to write here anymore but now it's 1.07am, I'm KINDA threequarters way through preparing for tomorrow's stifle joint (that's the knee to you!) dissection, and am suddenly feeling awake enough to write about what has to be one of the most amazing, most awesome, and downright coolest experience ever.
So anyway when a couple of months back one of my friends over here studying at Sydney uni too asked me if I wanted to go for a Turisas gig with her I was like hmm okay so I got hold of the band's albums... and truth be told, their music didn't exactly blow me away to start with. I mean I thought they were really good but just different from what I'd normally listen to? But sometimes, seeing the band live is worlds away from listening to them on your iPod (I'm sure most people get what i mean!) and in this case... my god what an understatement. Two days after their gig and I am still completely in awe of how damn good they are live and how amazing they sound and safe to say they have found a HUGE NEW FAN... Haha maybe it's because I'm in concert withdrawal but their two albums are now on repeat and I think they will be for ages to come.
Anyway- my FIRST proper gig in Sydney! (Bluejuice was not counted because they are gay and the tickets were ten bucks and it was at Manning) It was at this place called Factory house? Or factory theatre? Can't remember, but it's at this pretty industrial area and it looked kinda dodgy.. and after we got off the bus that was made even more so by the predominantly male crowd dressed in black with long hair and piercings and tattoos. HAHA I can imagine Hwee recoiling in horror! But it was pretty interesting, and definitely a change from seeing silly mats and their silly skinnies queuing outside gig venues. There was some woman dressed like some dead bride or something, like in a big frilly dress with white make up and blood down her face. People are SO WEIRD.... and we were pretty much the only two asian girls there. Okay, it actually wasn't THAT intimidating. It should've been, but somehow it was alright!
Froze outside for pretty long before they finally let us in and we got some merch (woohoo band tees ftw) then they let us in... the opening bands Dead Letter Circus and Be'lakor (both local bands) were pretty good. SUCH a far cry from local bands back home -_- But okay after that Turisas finally appeared on stage in their furs and face paint and crazy eyes and all and everything went absolutely WILD. But it was pretty damn amazing!!!! Got knocked about quite a bit but it was good fun and there were some seriously crazy guys (one of them swinging his hair around like a windmill) and some drunk people but on the whole everyone was pretty good and gave us our space. Again, SO different from Singapore gigs, ahaha.
They were so amazingly energetic on stage, Mathias (the vocalist) was fantastic and he looked SO GOOD HAHAHA (yes hwee he looks freaky they all look weird etc I still maintain he looks good though ;) ) And omg Netta is soooo pretty! She's apparently really young, like 19 or 20 and obviously all the male fans are besotted with her. And I think Jussi, the violinist (I THINK) plays the violin so well!
Mathias
How gorgeous is she??
The gig ended like REALLY fast it seemed though they played for more than an hour I think? They finished off with Battle Metal and then... it was over :( I was still COMPLETELY blown away by the sheer awesomeness of how good they were when my friend (also called rachel) happily was like ok we're waiting for them to come out the last bus is at 1.40 am and I was like WHAT okay can.
So we stood outside in the parking lot until everyone else had gone home and they'd locked up the whole place and turned off the lights, and it started to rain, and we could see our breath condensing in front of us, and feel the cold penetrating every fibre of our bodies I swear... I think it was almost an hour. We watched everyone get into cabs and leave, saw Dead Letter Circus leave, yelling that they were gonna "walk back to Brisbane", saw Be'lakor leave as well...
then FINALLY Turisas showed up, looking quite normal, sans fur pelts and war paint. I think we must've looked pretty sad standing there in the cold half soaked so they looked pretty darn surprised when we went up to them to say hi haha but they looked really exhausted as well (the about-to-concuss kinda look that I wear for at least half the day every day)
And we had like a proper decent conversation with their vocalist Mathias which was really really nice. I can't for the life of me remember what we talked about because it was freezing cold and my brain probably wasn't working, and now at this point in time it all seems so surreal. I think a lot of it was about the sucky weather. My god, we talked to Turisas about the WEATHER.... And I remember asking him if they'd been to Australia before etc etc oh my god what a stupid question hahaha obviously they haven't. He was still really nice though and we managed to take a group photo with them! :)
And before we started to set off we kinda shook hands with them and said bye and awww when Mathias shook hands with us he gave us a hug as well which felt completely normal at the moment but now I think back and immediately think OH MY GOODNESS HE ACTUALLY DID THAT???
And the most epic part - as we walked off to the main road to get a cab we kinda heard him whistle at us and I remember thinking "Oh my gosh I bet they're asking if we want a lift" (because earlier I'd told rachel that haha but I was just kidding obviously) and true enough he was like, do you want a lift somewhere, where do you stay?
And that felt completely normal too. So to end off the night, we basically hitched a ride with Turisas' tourbus and the driver dropped us outside Sydney Uni. Haha I still can't believe something like that actually happened and it probably was, and will always be one of the BEST experiences EVER. AND the reason why I painstakingly typed it all out is so I won't forget what happened :D Even though I think I forgot most of it already, ahaha. But wow. WOW. I have been converted into a true Turisas fan hahaha and no it's not (just) because of the free bus ride :p
PS: They dress like that because it kinda fits into the whole vibe of their songs NOT because they are psychotic ah, their songs all about wars and battle and finding the path to victory that sorta thing and Turisas is like some Finnish god of war or somethingggg like that correct me if I'm wrong...
I should create a Hug List. Ie, the people I wanna hug before I die hahaha that includes Roger Federer and Alexi Laiho among others ;)