Just Like You by Three Days Grace, today's was obviously a mix of a lot of Sonata Arctica songs! Because my god that was one awesome gig! The trip there, the support acts, and of course Sonata itself, everything was just doused in total sweetness =DWe arrived at the venue at about 16.30. And bam, there was this big line already. Apparently people had been waiting there since 12.30, in the rain and all! Props to them ^^ We went for a bite at the snackbar a couple of blocks away first, once there we saw lots of ppl in Sonata shirts, a funny sight really.
Then we went back to the venue. The line had grown about twice the size now, but luckily once the doors opened things went pretty fast. We got a good spot somewhere near the stage, left of center. After taking pictures of an empty stage, looking at the people around us and a wait that seemed to take forever, Ride the Sky started playing.
Well, I gotta hand it to em, they're not all that bad really =) I thought the music was pretty good! It's just that they radiate this feeling of 'We're old' in their act. The limited bodily motion of the lead singer and the way the drummer tossed his stick up but then didn't manage to catch it just had this big "We're too old for live act" stamp on it. In my opinion that is. They did have a pretty solid sound though, so all in all not bad. A nice touch was Sonata coming halfway through their act and tossing cookies(?) in the crowd! Also the way they got up on the staircase and clapped in measure to Smile From Heaven's Eye showed some real support to their support act (as does Tony wearing an Epica hoodie). Nice to see Sonata doesn't treat them as some inferior act.
Then after another loong wait (or at least it seemed so) Epica started playing. I had my thoughts about them and didn't expect much of them. I knew the guitarist was a grunter and I just don't like grunting. It wasn't as bad as I had expected though, so that was good. The audience really had a nice time judging by all the headbanging, so I guess they did a good job. It's just not really my cup of tea I guess. Good stuff nonetheless =D
The third wait really seemed to take forever. The suspense when the stage aid flashed his lil light towards the tech area, signalling the start, was just killing! Then when they came on everything just went nuts. Had I been casually nodding along on RtS and Epica, on the first notes of In Black And White I just went ballistic. Been jumping, singing, headbanging, everything like a madman! For all the toes I stept on, I'm sorry ^^
The setlist was absolute win. Highlights were Tallulah, with the entire crowd singing along. I had tears in my eyes, no lie! It's such a wondrous song after all. Equally sweet was Black Sheep, Tony replacing the first 2 lines of the song by "We're not Iron Maiden, we're not from England. We are Sonata and we come from Finland!", and referring to Elias on the line "Temple of the Evil" (Elias' nickname being E.Vil).
The encore was awesome, with Tony using the audience as drumkit. It worked surprisingly well! =D
And of course The Cage with the obligatory Vodka afterwards!
My ex-gf, who I went to the concert with, was even lucky enough to catch Henkka's towel [insert mild jealousy here] !
I could ramble about each song but it's faster to just say everything about the show was bloody amazing! I took lots of pictures, got a hoodie and shirt afterwards (really lucky, last one on both!) and we went home tired, but absolutely satisfied!
Until next time, Sonata! Kauniita Unia!
Elias' Child In Time solo =)
