On the weekend of October 17-18 we did a large scale tour through Finland. Two shows. In Kalajoki and Oulu. Kalajoki is a small town about 130 kilometres south of Oulu and as far as I know the place is practically dead during the winter months. The town has one of the most beautiful beach areas in Finland and is therefore really crowded during the summer. The club was called Dyyni (Dune) and it was located right next to the sand dunes of the beach. We arrived quite late, a bit after 19, so I really couldn't see anything but judging by the really strong wind I'd say that we were quite close to the sea.
I felt that the club was not really our kind of place since it felt more like one of those fancier kind of night clubs, but at least the people working there were really cool already from the start. I don't think the place can be called a hotel but it did have some rooms as well. One of them was used as a backstage. Sometimes I just just can't get into the "concert mood". It's not about alcohol or anything. I just feel a bit out of my place. Kalajoki was one of those shows.
The show itself was surprisingly good. I wasn't really expecting many people to show up so the audience was a nice surprise. Not even nearly full, not even half full, but everyone was in the party mood so it wasn't bad at all. I'm writing this two weeks afterwards so I can't really remember the set list or basically any other details. If I don't do this right after a show I start forgetting details and they get mixed with memories from other shows. One thing I do remember from the show. During "Beer Beer" someone gave Jonne a pint. At one point he raised a pint up in the air but forgot that the ceiling was quite low. So he ended up breaking the pint and cutting his hand. It looked quite bad since with the beer it seemed like there was a litre of blood on the stage.
On Saturday around noon we got up, packed our gear and headed to Oulu. The first stop was for breakfast at a gas station in Pyhäjoki. It seems that the further north or east you go, the more difficult it is to get vegetarian food. Well, at least I managed to send a really ugly "Greetings from Pyhäjoki" postcard to the lady. C'mon. Why would anyone put a picture a town's office building on a postcard if the building is just a concrete block from the 1980's?
We arrived in Oulu well on time since the distance was only 130 kilometres or so. Teatria is not really that far from the city centre but I really don't know Oulu at all and the weather wasn't that good either so I ended up spending the afternoon at Teatria backstage getting bored. Teatria gig was like a first gathering of the Finnish Fire tour since three and a half of the four bands were present, missing only two Falchion members. It was nice meeting for example the Druidi guys and a gal again. The last time I met her was in St Petersburg, Russia and I don't think she was with Druidi at that point yet. Or was she? Does it matter? No.
Anyway, the gig itself was brilliant. Certain members slept the whole day and were in a great condition for a change. The Oulu audience was just as good as the last time. There must be something in their water. Or maybe it's the alcohol. Either way, once again we had a really good show in Oulu. Except for the small problem of stage falling apart in the middle of the show. Apparently they had torn down and rebuilt the stage for some reason and had done something differently this time. In the middle of the show I stepped on nothing. Suddenly a 10-centimetre gap had appeared in the centre stage and it was growing. I tried to catch to stage managers attention but at first he just pointed to Risuparta because he thought there's something wrong with the equipment. Finally I managed to point out the hole in the floor and they pushed the stage back together and tightened some straps which was nice. I mean, Jonne has fallen from the stage a few times, but never actually through the stage.
The show was over quite early so we headed to our hotel in the city centre and spent a couple of hours in the local metal bar with some Druidi and Battlelore members. Nice. I'm sure we'll get to do more that during the next four weeks.
The Sunday was shit. Crappy weather and you have to drive all the way from Oulu to Tampere. Oh well. It was a good trip.
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It's neither the water nor the alcohol, it's the air. The factories and their emissions have a big impact on the inhabitants of Oulu, and they were also sung about by many bands. Amorphis made a song about those factories' smoke, Led Zeppelin did mention it as well sometime. I don't know if you noticed the smell that originates from those factories and which every now and then takes over the whole town but that's pretty much the reason for many things here. It's just that the air in the Oulu area is slightly enriched with a mind-altering substance that causes this smell. Everyone here knows it but please don't go public with this knowledge.
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