Greetings, reader!
There are very, very few things in this world that are better or as good as live music. So, as the second edition of Music Month continues, today's post is somewhat of a love letter to live music. Similar to the "Top 10 movie experiences of my life" post I did a few years back, this post is a bit less critical/analytical than most of my posts, as it's written with a very personal touch. These concerts have been, for various reasons, the very best live music experiences in my life.
Also, if I've seen a band more than once, I'm only including their best gig to make the list more diverse and interesting.
Here are my honorable mentions: Bon Jovi at Ratina, Tampere 2013; Pulse at Paviljonki, Jyväskylä 2016; Slash at Hartwall Arena, Helsinki 2013; Unknown Decoy at Poppari, Jyväskylä 2020; Ursus Factory at Lutakko, Jyväskylä 2020.
10. Haken at Tavastia, Helsinki, 2019
I actually saw Haken live for a second time just this month - but even though some elements were better this time around, I do see my first experience of seeing Britain's best prog metal band live as the overall better gig. This is mainly due to the setlist, as the 2019 gig included The Architect and 1985, which are my 2 favorite Haken songs, while those masterpieces were absent from the 2023 gig (understandably so, as they focused on new material as the two most recent albums hadn't gotten tours to be played on until now).
Also, the Tavastia gig included a fan dressed in a giant cockroach costume being invited to dance on stage while they play Cockroach King, as well as an encore that ended with a prog metal cover of TOTO's Africa. Other than that, it's many elements that apply to both Haken gigs I've seen - astonishment at the technical skill of the musical wizards in the band, amusement at their live presence being that of jazz musicians instead of the typical metalhead/rockstar tropes, and enjoying it all in the best company (Atte and Eetu, dear friends from high school and diehard prog metal enthusiasts, were my partners in crime for both shows).
9. No Use at Riihivuori, Muurame, 2017
No, really. If you haven't heard of No Use, that's likely because they're a local thrash metal band in which several of my friends play. But in all honesty, this doesn't make the top 10 as a nice shout-out to them, but because on its own level it really is one of my favorite live music experiences. In terms of raw and real grittiness, this gig was just something else.
Where to start? The band played on a small, set-up stage halfway down a downhill skiing slope, as a part of some snowboarding event. It was snowing heavily, and the band's gear was only barely covered. The falling snow definitely hit some of the drums but drummer Taneli Manninen played on, paying no mind to the wetness. The freezing temperature felt like it should turn guitarist Tuukka Pitkänen's bare fingers into icicles, yet he played his riffs and solos quite flawlessly. In short, it was a perfect "everything's going to shit, but hey, the show must go on" gig. I even remember participating in a two-person mosh pit with fellow crowd member Tatu Telin, who since then has joined No Use and is their current bass player. Funny how life works out.
8. Metallica at Kantolan Tapahtumapuisto, Hämeenlinna, 2019
We drove out to Hämeenlinna with my father and brother. As I knew that several of my high school compatriots were also at the gig, I arranged a rendezvous with them at some point, and ended up watching the gig with them while Dad and Ville kept each other company. To this day, whenever the 'Tallica gig of 2019 comes up with the boys, they always fondly remember my Dad buying us all beers to show his appreciation for our tight-knit group of rock enthusiasts. Good times.
The gig itself? Absolute dynamite. Metallica is somewhat of a polarizing live band among musicians, as many have criticized drummer Lars Ulrich's lack of capability to stay in tempo like a typical professional drummer. This drummer's two cents: Ulrich's creativity and unique playing style more than make up for his time-keeping issues, and what Metallica does when playing live is hellishly impressive: while Lars doesn't always hit the mark in a conventional manner, the band has played together for so long that they all stay in the exact same occasionally-fluctuating tempo as Lars, finding their own unique groove from it. And really, unless you're a purist and an elitist, what does it matter whether a drummer keeps a metronome-like beat or not, as long as everyone in the band has the same pulse?
Also, their setlist was pure fire. Master of Puppets ending the first set before the first sort-of encore, which started with my all-time favorite Metallica track For Whom the Bell Tolls, and ended with the rapid-fire energy blast of Seek & Destroy? Intense stuff, man. Not to mention the second encore starting out with the brutal Spit Out the Bone, before closing things off with the classic combo of Nothing Else Matters and its perfect transition into Enter Sandman.
7. Flogging Molly at The Circus, Helsinki, 2019
So, here's a funny story. My friend Atte and I discovered the Celtic punk band Flogging Molly by accident, through a pun, in the first year of high school, and quickly became fond of their music. The following summer, I was a volunteer worker at the Provinssi festival, and by some miraculous chance, this not-that-well-known Celtic Punk band was performing there. I obviously went to see them, and when they were throwing stuff to the audience before their last song, their bass player Nathen Maxwell threw a can of beer, and I proudly caught it. (And politely gave it to the thirsty-looking gentleman next to me, as I was a young-and-mild underage angel).
Three years later, Atte and I traveled to our nation's capital to see Flogging Molly together. The whole gig was amazing - the live energy of punk rocking maniacs on the drums, guitars, bass and vocals spiced up by accordion, violin and mandolin players dancing and prancing around with their folksy style is quite the sight to behold. They also played all of my favorite Flogging Molly tunes, and the mood in the audience was ecstatic. And, as they are getting ready to bring things to a close, bassist Nathen Maxwell throws a beer into the audience, and Atte catches it. Out of all the common experiences a set of best friends can share, that sure is one of them.
6. The Aristocrats at Äänekoski, 2016
One of the most experimental things that I've seen this neo-progressive rock band do is choosing to do the Finland portion of their European tour in Äänekoski, out of all places. I'm assuming that they planned the tour by blindly sticking pins on a globe and seeing where they end up.
Also, this was not just a mere gig: the first portion was a workshop by this power trio, as they opened up the backstories to three of their songs, explaining how they were written and what sorts of musical phenomena went into them. Then, we got an actual full concert including these three songs and many more, from one of the most technically skilful rock lineups in existence.
Being a drummer myself, I was especially mesmerized by Marco Minnemann's out-of-this-world drumming. I got to meet him after the gig, and I'm not sure if I've ever been quite as star-struck. All in all, a fantastic experience.
5. Foo Fighters at Hietaniemi, Helsinki, 2017
Some people think that you turn 1 year older when the clock hits the actual time of your birth on your birthday, whereas others think that you've entered a new age immediately when the clock strikes midnight and the date turns into your birthday. I reckon the first one makes more logical sense, but I'd like to believe in the second one, because that would mean that I turned 18 years old while watching the Foo Fighters live.
Yep, my last day as an underage person was spent travelling to Helsinki, and watching an epic array of warm-up performers (VANT, The Kills, Apulanta AND Biffy Clyro) before getting to main performer, whose set lasted well past midnight and into the date of my 18th birthday. The setlist was incredible, too: I had seen their standard setlist for that tour online and was expecting that (it was a typical 'save all the greatest songs to the end' set) - but for whatever reason, they went a different route in Helsinki. Dave Grohl and company OPENED with Everlong, followed by Monkey Wrench and Learn To Fly, and even so, they were able to keep the momentum up till the end.
4. Apulanta at Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, 2019
This one might look like an oddly high ranking, but I'm sticking with it. Apulanta is the one Finnish band that I've been a fan of for the longest - I loved their music as a little kid, and I still get excited over it to this day. I've seen them live three times - the first time, at the Lutakko club in my hometown, was cool as hell, and the second time, as one of the warm-up bands for the previously mentioned Foo Fighters show, was very decent. But the third time I saw them, in a special concert celebrating their entire career so far at the prestigious Hartwall Arena, blew it out of the park.
First of all, this was no normal concert with one song following the next song. This was a spectacle, with an overarching alien invasion plot coming into play between every few songs, complete with fake news clips that they had shot with a real, famous Finnish newscaster. When the climax of this plot was reached, with the arrival of big hit Pahempi Toistaan at the end of the set, lead vocalist Toni Wirtanen jumped into a makeshift spaceship to shoot the aliens down while singing the song.
Also, the setlist felt like it was divided into several mini-gigs. After the first set of 'normal songs', they shifted the whole stage set-up and played several of their old, nu-metal-influenced songs with a DJ on stage with them. Then, they played many of their grandest songs with slightly new arrangements, accompanied by a full-on orchestra. After this, the band (even the drummer) took to the front of the stage, to play many of the punk rock hits from their golden years to my absolute delight (I would never in a million years have expected to see the underrated Minä Olen Voittaja from their second album in concert, and this surprise made me squeal with joy).
They even opened their encore with the beautiful Valot Pimeyksien Reunoilla, which Wirtanen dedicated to the women of his life - his mother, wife and daughter - who were all there in the audience. Tears, man.
3. Iron Maiden at Kantolan Tapahtumapuisto, Hämeenlinna, 2016
Iron Maiden has been one of my (and my brother's) very favorite bands from our childhood to this day, and we've been lucky enough to see them live more than once. The dearest of these memories was the 2016 gig, from the Book of Souls World Tour. The Kantolan Tapahtumapuisto venue is just different gravy, and the band was really in their element.
What really made the concert special was the fans - Iron Maiden has one of the most fierce and loyal and all-around awesome fanbases in the world, and the Finnish people's love for metal music and this individual band was on full display. Quite often in Finnish concerts, the people in the front rows are the only scream-and-yell-and-jump fans while the people in the back resort to nodding their heads with their hands in their pockets. Here, however, we were quite far from the stage in the middle section of the audience, yet pretty much everyone there was shouting the lyrics along, pumping their fists and waving their hands, and it was great to be a part of such an invested and energetic audience.
Also, an encore starting with Number of the Beast, followed by Blood Brothers and concluding with Wasted Years, goes f**king hard.
2. Guns N' Roses at Kantolan Tapahtumapuisto, Hämeenlinna, 2017
Here's another story of my brother and me - big Guns N' Roses fans from childhood, we had a phase in our youth when we got heavily interested in the dramatic story of the world's most dangerous band, reading the biographies of Slash, Duff McKagan, Axl Rose and even Steven Adler to really get the full picture of what went down in their dynamite rise to fame and their notorious mess of a break-up. Reading all that left us with two thoughts: 1) it would be the coolest and most triumphant thing in the world if the members made amends after all these years and were to reunite, and 2) realistically, that was never going to happen. One had to dream, but an idealist's pipe dream was all it felt like, too good to be true. Too much damage had been done, and the words 'not in this lifetime' had become quite the catchphrase for the idea of such a reunion.
Years later, a childhood dream came true. Slash, Axl and Duff made up, going on tour and even naming it the 'Not In This Lifetime Tour' as a wonderful reference to those infamous words. I had spent years listening to the old Guns N' Roses, fully believing that I would never see those musicians on the same stage, and I don't think I've ever been proved wrong in such a majestic fashion.
1. AC/DC at Kantolan Tapahtumapuisto, Hämeenlinna, 2015
Yep, the top 3 is all shows from this sweet venue in Hämeenlinna, and the one topping the ranking is my first time there. A part of me wanted to pick the other AC/DC gig I've seen - their Helsinki Olympiastadion concert from 2009, which was my first rock concert. You never forget your first, even if you were only nine. The fact that my dad took me to an AC/DC show when I was nine might been as weird by some (my mom) and as borderline bad parenting by others (also my mom, at least at the time) but I see it as grade-A evidence of being an awesome, kick-ass parent. I mean, look at how I turned out - when you listen to the material of my second band Squealers, I'd argue that music like that can only be made by someone lucky enough to have a parent who raised them on rock n' roll and took them to see AC/DC at the mere age of nine years.
But despite the magic of the first, I had to choose my second time seeing AC/DC, the main reason being that we were up front, just a few meters away from Angus Young whenever he pranced to the catwalk for some serious guitar work. Seeing the world's most rocking band from such a close distance, with the volume blazing and the audience's energy matched only by the levels of the retirement-age dinosaurs with the energy of rebellious teenagers on stage, was cathartic. Around one per cent of Finland's population was estimated to be there, at the opening event of this massive venue, and we sure enjoyed the hell out of ourselves.
Of course an AC/DC show is made all the better by their legendary stage props - the iconic inflatable doll from Whole Lotta Rosie, the Hells Bells bell, the cannons-and-fireworks spectacle of For Those About to Rock (We Salute You), you name it. But the most spectacular thing of all was Angus, running amok while spreading the righteous message of rock and roll with his insane guitar solos. What an experience.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for the final post of Music Month II, as I rank the Big One: My top 10 favorite bands of all time.
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