Ankkarock 2007
Ankkarock ("Duck rock") festival really rocked. The weather was beautiful and the sun shone and I finally got a bit tanned. I took a dragon henna tattoo to my right ankle with the other girls, but it's starting to fade already.
Saturday was spent with Finnish bands only. I saw Rubik for the first time and it was really nice to just sit on the grass and listen to them play. The day started in a nicely relaxed way with them. Music was good but it didn't really stick in my mind afterwards... I should listen to them more.
Kotiteollisuus... umm. Haha. :D You know how they are all big and manly men and they play heavy metal? The kind of people you'd expect to be homophobic? I and my friends had our jaws hanging down from astonishment when the guitarist and the singer (in the photo) suddenly kissed each other at the end of their concert. arkangeli says this is the second time he saw it happen. So very strange.
We listened to a bit of The Bellrays while eating lunch. Okay, they were the only non-Finnish band for me. Sounded pretty nice. It was perhaps the first time I saw a black woman singing in a rock band. Cool!
Zen Café played like they always do. I think they rock more live than on a CD. Von Hertzen Brothers was a new acquaintance and I should definitely find out more about them. They played beautifully and I really liked the singer's voice. Maija Vilkkumaa had an amazing voice as always, I love listening to her, and we managed to hear almost all of the most important songs (for me) even though we were there for only half the concert or so.
Ismo Alanko Teholla was just as fun and weird as usual. I only knew about half the songs and the ones I knew rocked and the ones I didn't were strange. Lastly, Apulanta was in a really good mood, chatting or telling jokes in between almost every song. My favourite songs came up and I was happy. Before they left the stage, the singer bowed to the audience three times on his knees, so I guess he felt good during the concert. :))
Sunday started with Amorphis. I knew maybe one of the songs they played, but that was a good one and I'm glad we went to see them even though I didn't know much about them.
After that it was already time for the Japanese band Dir En Grey. We were pretty close, just inside the fence, and were able to see them pretty well. I was disappointed when they came on stage and they hadn't dressed up at all, mostly had T-shirts and jeans on. Maybe visual kei is not in fashion anymore? Oh well. The band's music reminded me a bit of early Korn. A lot of shouting and next to no melody. The singer Kyo was pretty hot when he danced during the slower parts of the songs, though. Yummy. :P I started to feel a bit nauseated when he cut himself across the chest/stomach area and the blood began to drip. Had to sit down for a while. I didn't appreciate it much, but from what I've read he does that or something worse pretty often... should have expected it. After the concert Jone Nikula, the presenter, came out, grinned at the crowd of hysterical teenagers and said that while no one should mock an enthusiastic audience, you girls should give up now and go get some water to drink. "There is not going to be an encore and you've been drying up here way too long already." It was amusing.
We saw one song by Poets of the Fall (they looked much less gay-in-a-bad-way than last year!) and a couple of songs by The Ark. The singer was funny, he had real diva-like gestures. I don't really like their music all that much, but I could've watched them for a bit longer.
Sonata Arctica rocked again. They play epic and beautiful music and the whole band is really sympathetic. Who else would come on stage in a normal checkered shirt? :) After Sonata we went to listen to the last couple of songs by Lapko before they also stopped. Too bad we didn't have the possibility to see more of them. One more band I should listen to and I've been saying it for a few years already.
Nine Inch Nails was the last band to play. They were very cool. I only knew about five songs of the set, first two or so and last three, but they rocked anyway. Made me want to dance along the music. The show was disturbed when Trent Reznor had just started singing the last song, Hurt, which is a beatiful, sad and slow song and suddenly there were loud bangs from the direction of the other stage were PMMP had been performing: fireworks. You couldn't hear him sing at all over the bangs and he stopped for a while. "Well, this is a first," he commented. Luckily he continued playing after the noise had abated. I would've felt bad if he hadn't. Stupid people who can't wait for a band to stop before doing the firework thing.
I lost my voice almost completely on Saturday. It was a bit better on Sunday and again a bit better today, but it's not back to normal yet. Hasn't bothered me at work, though. I have the evening shift this week, which is good, because I can sleep later and I have time to update LJ from work. Yay. Maybe I could even continue posting Japan photos.
Saturday was spent with Finnish bands only. I saw Rubik for the first time and it was really nice to just sit on the grass and listen to them play. The day started in a nicely relaxed way with them. Music was good but it didn't really stick in my mind afterwards... I should listen to them more.
Kotiteollisuus... umm. Haha. :D You know how they are all big and manly men and they play heavy metal? The kind of people you'd expect to be homophobic? I and my friends had our jaws hanging down from astonishment when the guitarist and the singer (in the photo) suddenly kissed each other at the end of their concert. arkangeli says this is the second time he saw it happen. So very strange.
We listened to a bit of The Bellrays while eating lunch. Okay, they were the only non-Finnish band for me. Sounded pretty nice. It was perhaps the first time I saw a black woman singing in a rock band. Cool!
Zen Café played like they always do. I think they rock more live than on a CD. Von Hertzen Brothers was a new acquaintance and I should definitely find out more about them. They played beautifully and I really liked the singer's voice. Maija Vilkkumaa had an amazing voice as always, I love listening to her, and we managed to hear almost all of the most important songs (for me) even though we were there for only half the concert or so.
Ismo Alanko Teholla was just as fun and weird as usual. I only knew about half the songs and the ones I knew rocked and the ones I didn't were strange. Lastly, Apulanta was in a really good mood, chatting or telling jokes in between almost every song. My favourite songs came up and I was happy. Before they left the stage, the singer bowed to the audience three times on his knees, so I guess he felt good during the concert. :))
Sunday started with Amorphis. I knew maybe one of the songs they played, but that was a good one and I'm glad we went to see them even though I didn't know much about them.
After that it was already time for the Japanese band Dir En Grey. We were pretty close, just inside the fence, and were able to see them pretty well. I was disappointed when they came on stage and they hadn't dressed up at all, mostly had T-shirts and jeans on. Maybe visual kei is not in fashion anymore? Oh well. The band's music reminded me a bit of early Korn. A lot of shouting and next to no melody. The singer Kyo was pretty hot when he danced during the slower parts of the songs, though. Yummy. :P I started to feel a bit nauseated when he cut himself across the chest/stomach area and the blood began to drip. Had to sit down for a while. I didn't appreciate it much, but from what I've read he does that or something worse pretty often... should have expected it. After the concert Jone Nikula, the presenter, came out, grinned at the crowd of hysterical teenagers and said that while no one should mock an enthusiastic audience, you girls should give up now and go get some water to drink. "There is not going to be an encore and you've been drying up here way too long already." It was amusing.
We saw one song by Poets of the Fall (they looked much less gay-in-a-bad-way than last year!) and a couple of songs by The Ark. The singer was funny, he had real diva-like gestures. I don't really like their music all that much, but I could've watched them for a bit longer.
Sonata Arctica rocked again. They play epic and beautiful music and the whole band is really sympathetic. Who else would come on stage in a normal checkered shirt? :) After Sonata we went to listen to the last couple of songs by Lapko before they also stopped. Too bad we didn't have the possibility to see more of them. One more band I should listen to and I've been saying it for a few years already.
Nine Inch Nails was the last band to play. They were very cool. I only knew about five songs of the set, first two or so and last three, but they rocked anyway. Made me want to dance along the music. The show was disturbed when Trent Reznor had just started singing the last song, Hurt, which is a beatiful, sad and slow song and suddenly there were loud bangs from the direction of the other stage were PMMP had been performing: fireworks. You couldn't hear him sing at all over the bangs and he stopped for a while. "Well, this is a first," he commented. Luckily he continued playing after the noise had abated. I would've felt bad if he hadn't. Stupid people who can't wait for a band to stop before doing the firework thing.
I lost my voice almost completely on Saturday. It was a bit better on Sunday and again a bit better today, but it's not back to normal yet. Hasn't bothered me at work, though. I have the evening shift this week, which is good, because I can sleep later and I have time to update LJ from work. Yay. Maybe I could even continue posting Japan photos.