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Concerts Music

Vilnius Announces Two Headliners for Biggest Summertime Festival—Bastille and Clean Bandit

Six months into the 700th anniversary, Vilnius is hosting the biggest event of the year—an open-air urban festival As Young As Vilnius on July 21-25. The festival will reach its apex with a free concert in one of the greenest spaces within the city, Vingis Park. The park will become an international music arena for the night that will host the most prominent Lithuanian music stars and an exciting main act for British pop rock and electronic music fans—Bastille and Clean Bandit.

The artistic lineup will feature representatives of classical, electronic, dance, contemporary pop, rock, and other music genres. Last year’s festival, which celebrates the day of the patron saint of Vilnius, St. Christopher, was a major hit: the Scottish music star Lewis Capaldi was the main act, and there were over 45K spectators in attendance. The urban festival is also another big celebration of the city’s 700th anniversary—the official birthday and the accompanying Vilnius Light Festival were held on January 25th.

700th-anniversary surprise—two headliners

As a way of creating a night to remember for the concert’s attendees and marking the 700th anniversary, Vilnius has invited two headliners to share the stage. Bastille, a British pop rock band, has special ties with Vilnius as it filmed parts of a video clip for Things We Lost In The Fire in the capital ten years ago. The band has captivated global music enthusiasts with tracks like No Angels, Good Grief, and Of The Night, while its major hit Pompeii has 730M views on YouTube. Bastille does not shy away from difficult topics in their music—politics, classical mythology, and movie themes.

Another cult favorite—Clean Bandit—fuses electronic, dance, classical, R&B, and pop music genres and invokes the motifs from Mozart, Beethoven, and Dvořák musical pieces. One of the band’s top performing tracks Rather Be featuring Jess Glynne, has received a Grammy while Rockabye featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie toped most popular song lists for nine weeks in the United Kingdom. In 2018 Clean Bandit received two nominations at the prestigious BRIT Awards for Solo featuring Demi Lovato.

Blend of orchestra performances and contemporary A-listers

As Young As Vilnius festival’s program will consist of three parts. The first one will be run by the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre symphony orchestra, conducted by Maestro Ričardas Šumila. Popular arias performed by the Lithuanian opera stars Edgaras Montvidas, Kostas Smoriginas, Ieva Prudnikovaitė, and Aušrinė Stundytė will be an ode to the city’s deep historical roots and contemporary musicians that have reinvented the age-old genre.

The second part of the program will highlight some of Lithuania’s most-renowned musicians. Many A-list bands and singers will make an appearance as duos. For instance, Benas Aleksandravičius, the lead vocalist of the intense alternative rock band ba., which captured the hearts and minds of the young internet generation in just a few years, will join Monika Liu, Lithuania’s former entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, who charmed audiences worldwide with her jazzy and sultry lounge track Sentimentai. The duos will perform popular songs as well as new renditions of the old classics.

The third part will be dedicated to the key performances of the evening by Bastille and Clean Bandit. 

The city’s visitors coming to Vilnius in July will get the chance to attend other 700th anniversary events—Lithuania’s first-ever Vilnius Biennial for Performance Art on July 23-August 6, Midsummer Vilnius festival on July 17-28, exhibition Pavilion: Vilnius 200 Years Ago open at the National Museum of Lithuania till October 15, or an exhibition Vilnius Poker: The Exhibition available at the modern art MO Museum till January 14.

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Concerts Music

Within Temptation in Metro Areena, Espoo 20.10.2018

Setlist:

Raise Your Banner
The Reckoning
Endless War
In The Middle Of The Night
Stand My Ground
All I Need
Supernova
Shot In The Dark
The Promise
Faster
Mercy Mirror
Paradise
The Heart Of Everything
Forgiven
Mother Earth
———-
What Have You Done
Stairway To The Skies



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Articles Concerts Misc Music

Trip hop pioneer Tricky to headline Station Narva festival

Trip hop pioneer Tricky will headline the music and city culture festival Station Narva along Echo & the Bunnymen and Actress. The first edition of the Station Narva festival will take place in the easternmost Estonian city Narva on 21st-23rd September. From today, 27th August the single-day tickets for the festival are available for purchase for 25 euros.

The festival is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia and powered by Telia.

Tricky, one of the most influential trip hop artists, will perform in the post-apocalyptic surroundings of the grand industrial architecture complex of Kreenholm Manufacturing Company on Friday, 21st September.

Tricky, real name Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws, is a trip hop pioneer from Bristol, UK, currently residing in Berlin. A quarter-century after his first appearance on wax, and collaborations with Beyoncé, Yoko Ono, and Grace Jones, he still possesses a sound that he made entirely his own – a blend of hip hop, ragga, rock and disembodied lyrical threats, reconstructualising samples and slices of both the most respected black music and the tackiest pop. Tricky began his career as an early collaborator of Massive Attack before embarking on a solo career with his debut album, Maxinquaye, in 1995. The album went gold in the U.K and was nominated for Mercury Prize; the critics spazzed out and David Bowie himself wrote a prose poem about the artist for Q magazine. In 2017 Tricky returned with his 13th album, “ununiform“, a delicate, storming and intricate album that saw him take perhaps his most radical step yet – a journey into happiness and contentment, confronting his legacy, history, and even death itself. Four tracks of the album were recorded in Moscow, featuring Russian rappers Scriptonite, Vasily Vakulenko (Basta), and Smokey Mo.

The live music hotspots of the festival will be the Kreenholm Manufacturing Company and the cultural hacktivists’ headquarters Art Club Ro-Ro on 21st and 22nd September. Along Tricky the headliners of the festival are the grandmasters of nocturnal pop Echo & the Bunnymen and the cerebral electronic music producer Actress, both from the UK.

Station Narva music programme by day:

Friday, 21st September: Tricky (UK), Actress (UK), Jenny Wilson (SE), Una Bomba 50 + (EE), Zahir (EE), Grechka (RU), View (FI), Beebilõust (EE), RSAC (RU), Shortparis (RU), Propazha (EE)

Saturday, 22nd September: Echo & the Bunnymen (UK), Gazelle Twin (UK), 12EEK Monkey (EE), Mart Avi (EE), Joensuu1685 (FI), Fever Dream (IS), Sõpruse Puiestee (EE), Электрофорез / Electroforez (RU), Indrek Spungin (EE), Tam i Tut (EE), Eksponatika Clan (EE) Guesthouse (EE), PTF1987 (EE)

Besides the two-day music programme, the whole city will come alive with various interactions during Station Narva. On Sunday, 23rd September, Narva will receive the annual title of the “autumn capital”, followed by a public get-together meal at the long table on the shores of the River Narva. A trilingual stand-up performance will take place in cooperation with Comedy Estonia, and the European Commission Representation in Estonia will arrange Speak Dating sessions. Narva Art Residency will offer art activities and host public talks under the umbrella of the Narva’s BAZAR opinion festival. Station Narva’s info desk along with DIGIX Games Café will be open in the Narva College of the University of Tartu. The full programme of Station Narva will be announced in the beginning of September.

Station Narva 2018 Festival Passes are on sale at Piletilevi web shop and sales points across Estonia for 39 euros. Single Day Tickets for music programme on 21st and 22nd September can be purchased for 25 euros.

https://www.piletilevi.ee/eng/tickets/muusika/mitmesugust/station-narva-festival-2018-echo–the-bunnymen-uk-tricky-uk-actress-uk-jt-58198/

The festival pass and day ticket are not valid for the Comedy Estonia stand-up show on 23rd September at Ro-Ro Club.

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Concerts Music

Anathema at The Circus in Helsinki, concert on November 9th

Helsinki likes Anathema and Anathema likes Helsinki. The British band visits often the Finnish capital during their “The Optimist” tour, having increased the capacity of their gigs from Tavastia to a middle size venue as The Circus is, during their last appearances here. A tour that certainly has been packed with a lot of dates in just a few months, the day before Helsinki the band had also performed at Pakkahuone in Tampere, so they are really pushing the pedal with not much rest for several months in a row.

Even when being a cold Thursday and with the concert starting at a late hour after 22 p.m. the Finnish audience once more was faithful with a packed venue (although many people did not stay for the last songs of the Encore as probably they needed to head home for an early start at work next day Friday).

We will save here from commenting the gig of the opening band, the French metallers Alcest, as we just arrived on time to see the main performers, but they have been receiving quite a positive praise along this extensive tour, so we hope we have a chance to check them out later on.

With some minutes of delay after 22, Anathema, the band from Liverpool, took finally the stage appearing in their positions one by one slowly while the instrumental theme San Francisco sounded in the background.The 3 Cavanagh brothers taking the front of the stage with Portuguese drummer Daniel Cardoso supporting from the drums and the always unmistakable beautiful female voice of Lee Douglas to support the band through most parts of the show.

What came next was one of my favorite moments in the whole concert, the amazing 2 parts of “Untouchable“, a really epic work of melodic metal. Later on the setlist that followed was maybe not the best one for my taste, I would have expected a few more classic themes (for example the setlist of their release live concert Universal filmed in Bulgaria with an orchestra is superb for my taste) and we have to be honest with the weak reception of their latest album, as for many fans is the worst they have released in many years. But understandably, the band was touring with that new album, so the setlist had to be adjusted.

Some funny moments with guitarist Danny Cavanagh being very talkative to the audience “are you calling me a prick?” asked with some dose of British accent or “if you consider me a good songwriter, and I think I am ok, I hope you like next one” while his brother, vocalist Vincent Cavanagh jumped from one place on stage to the next hyperactive and cheerful, singing or hammering drums, spiking up the good energy levels of the show for the Finnish fans.

The show ended as traditionally with a powerful version of “Fragile Dreams” with a very tasty intro of Shine on you Crazy Diamond from Pink Floyd, so I would dare to say that, without diminishing the rest of the show with some pearls like “The Lost Song” or the crazy utopia of “Closer“, the start and the end were the best parts of the gig. See you soon Anathema!

Setlist:

San Francisco

Untouchable, Part 1

Untouchable, Part 2

Can’t Let Go

Endless Ways

The Optimist

The Lost Song, Part 3

Universal

Looking Outside Inside

Thin Air

Barriers

Pressure

The Beginning and the End

A Simple Mistake

Closer

Encore:

Firelight

Distant Satellites

Springfield

Back to the Start

Deep

Lost Control

Destiny

Fragile Dreams
(with Shine on You Crazy Diamond/See Emily Play intro)

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Concerts Music

The Sounds at Allas Pool, Helsinki

Indie music label Fullsteam celebrated its 15 year anniversary with a very special gig at an amazing location: Swedish band The Sounds playing at Allas Pool in the heart of Helsinki in Katajanokka district.

Finnish music scene has a lot to thank the irruption of Fullsteam in the business in Finland, a company that brought fresh air to a scene dominated mainly by heavy metal bands and has gained the hearts of a new generation of music lovers with a more diversified taste for pop rock style. To put the cherry on top of the cake, they organized a very pleasant event at Allas Sea Pool.

Allas Pool is a new public swimming pool that opened last summer in the heart of Helsinki, in front of the presidential palace, in a very exclusive great scenario just close to the sea where you can have a swim while watching the big ferries departing to Tallinn and Stockholm. From the Swedish country came the main act of the night, The Sounds, with Mira Luoti previously opening as performer the summer night where miraculously the weather respected and did not rain until the show was over.

The concert was a pleasant way to start a Friday evening, young hipsters Finnish fans were mixed in the crowd with some more older followers, almost everybody with a drink on their hands to warm up a weekend night out in the Finnish capital. The concert itself can be considered as a warm up for the incoming Flow Festival that will take place this next weekend with a great array of artists for all tastes, a festival that closes symbolically the music summer season in Helsinki (yes my friends, winter is coming…and summer did never fully arrive this year).

The Sounds delivered with their easy going attitude and happy music and put everybody’s mood in high levels, with their attractive blonde singer Maja Ivarsson hyperactively moving from one side to the other of the stage, teasing the audience constantly lifting her summer dress to show those long legs that turn crazy both men and women in the audience. Mood got at its highest with their huge hit Living in America, and although alltogether with the encore, the concert did not last too long, everybody seemed to be leaving the venue satisfied in search of night adventures or for a good rest before Flow Festival comes to town.

15 years of Fullsteam and hopefully another many more to come to continue bringing a fresh breeze to the Finnish music scene!

The Sounds Setlist at Helsinki Allas Sea Pool 04/08/2017

Song With a Mission

Queen of Apology

Shake Shake Shake

The Darkness

Seven Days a Week

4 Songs & A Fight

No One Sleeps When I’m Awake

Thrill

Living in America

Dorchester Hotel

Rock & Roll

Night After Night

Painted by Numbers

Encore:
Tony the Beat

Hope You’re Happy Now

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Concerts Music

Rockfest in Vantaa 2017 – 5 things that rocked and 5 things that not!

Vantaa celebrated a few days ago the first edition of a new festival in Finland: Rockfest (even when some artists would not know understandably the difference between Vantaa and Helsinki and would just salute to Helsinki from stage, but we can forgive that, right?).

As every time that a new event takes place, there are always good things and bad things to highlight. FREE! Magazine has been bringing you news in English about the music scene in Finland for the last 10 years, and once more we were accredited there to check the best festivals and venues in the country. Here are our top 5 things that we really enjoyed in the festival and the top 5 that maybe deserve some improvement if organization decides to repeat in following years the experience:

Things that rocked!

1. Rammstein

The Germans are always a safe bet for any concert organizer in Finland. Finnish fans love them, and they love the country back, visiting often this Nordic country. They headlined the festival the first day on Friday, and together with the sunny weather, brought a huge mass of spectators to enjoy the show. Their live performances never let down and can be surely counted as the best visual and music experience to enjoy in the last decades. Although the sound quality was not the best, they delivered what people wanted, straight to the point without wasting time in speeches, one hour and a half of strong music that hits like a straight bullet to the head.

2. Easy to arrive by train

The venue was located just in front of Vehkala train station, so even when was a bit far from Helsinki centre, transportation was very convenient to arrive. Another different story was when leaving at night…

3. Great selection of food.

Many stands with different choices of food for all tastes and other entertainments so the audience would not starve during the long hours of the evening.

4. The weather

Everybody living in the capital area of Finland knows that this summer has not been the best weather related so far. Pretty much, you could see the sun for a couple of hours and then follow up by 5 days cloudy, cold and rainy. However the gods of metal sent a wink to the festival and for 2 days one could enjoy in just shorts and T-shirt the music around. The audience responded, overall on the first day on Friday, going massively to enjoy the chance to hear music, drink beer and get some tan.

5. Guano Apes

This is more of my personal choice as I used to follow the band 20 years ago and never had the chance to see them live. It was quite exciting to be able to finally seeing Sandra Nasic singing some rock anthems like Big in Japan or Open your Eyes.

Things that did not rock!

1. The rocks scattered all over the festival venue

Yes, we know the name of the festival was Rockfest, but it felt a bit unnecessary to have to step all over big stones in most of the surface of the festival. I am sure more than one assistant ended up with the ankle twisted there. We also like Tuska (Pain) festival, and that does not mean we want to be whipped when entering the venue. Some grass areas to sit would have been truly appreciated instead of the choice between rocks or mud.

2. The drinks prices and the long queues on Friday

Of course festivals need to make money, but paying 7 euro (one euro gets returned if you give back the empty can) for a 33cl beer or cider is a bit too excessive. Not that the price would matter to many Finns who were decided to spend hundreds of euro to get wasted on Friday at literally any price. But still, too much, specially when we add queues of half an hour to order a beer or one hour to order a burger. If organization wants to put those ridiculous prices, at least they could beef up with more manpower to speed up serving.

3. Leaving the festival

At night security decided to close Vehkala station and make people walk a couple of kilometres until the next station in Vantaankoski where people could take buses, taxis or trains. At least organization could have let know of this in advance as most people got surprised the first night about how to reach back home.

4. The general list of bands performing

Painful to say, but the simple truth is that the festival did not have the quality to keep up for 2 days. It is true that the first day Rammstein attracted a big bulk of fans, but on Saturday assistance was maybe one third in comparison. Being honest, for much that Evanescence is a nice band to watch, it was not enough to headline the second day (practically all the audience left after their show without even waiting for an encore). The festival missed at least one more big name to headline for Saturday, so many people decided just to buy a one day ticket or simply not to come back for Saturday concerts.

5. The tent of the secondary stage was too small

Some people complained that they could not see a shit there like in the show of Kotiteollisuus that is quite a popular Finnish band. If you want to have a second stage, at least make it accesible and big enough for the spectators to enjoy.

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Concerts Music

Concert review: Iron Maiden 29/06/2016 in Finland

After seeing the legendary Australian AC/DC taking the stage at Kantola Event Park in Hämeenlinna last summer, it was again time to organize for second time a huge 1 day concert in this town, located around one hour away from Helsinki, with British metal icons Iron Maiden visiting Finland again as part of their Book of Souls World Tour.

First of all, kudos have to be given to the organizers LiveNation for improving significantly the logistics and organization of the event: the venue had considerably less assistants than last year, but in some way that helped to improve the general feeling around. A great selection of food trucks providing the visitors with a wide choice not to starve, cigarettes for sale, the drinking area considerably big and much closer to the scenario than last year and without having to wait one hour to order a liquid beverage, portable toilets also abundant and easily accessible, the path to reach the main gate less crowded and a lot of improvised bars around the park so you could stop for a drink in your way in and out of the concert.

Even the transportation improved. Although there was only one train available to go back to Helsinki after the show and was sold out, this time Express Bus company arranged efficiently many buses at 01:00 so everybody who wanted to come back to their home places could do it on due time.

Iron Maiden

If we add to all this that the weather was nicely warm and sunny, you have the perfect cocktail for a successful day of good metal music. And the offer was wide, apart from Iron Maiden finishing the night, before the spectators had another British, The Raven Age, the legendary local Finnish metal band Stratovarius and the Swedish Sabaton opening up.

As yours truly is a hard worker and takes a while to arrive to Hämeenlinna from Helsinki, I could only see the end of Sabaton’s gig. The Swedish visit the neighboring capital quite often, as they already gave a solid show last year at Tuska festival, and know very well how to please the Finnish audience.

Around one hour later, Iron Maiden took the stage. This would be my fifth time seeing them, the fourth time in Finland after having assisted to their concerts at Sonicsphere in Pori, at Ratina Stadium in Tampere and at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki.

As positive things of their show, the balance between new songs from their last album Book of Souls and the old classics was perfect. It helped that actually the last album has a very acceptable quality. After a first leg of the show concentrating on their last release, the last part focused on some of their old anthems. A few nice surprises like Powerslave and for my own surprise, to feel that my favorite song of the night was Blood Brothers, with a final part of guitar riffs that gave me goose bumps. It was probably the best song of the night together with Hallowed by the Name. Another pleasant surprise was that for a change, the show was not ended with 2 Minutes to Midnight but with Wasted Years.

The negative thing: the quality of Dickinson’s micro was awful. A lot of problems with the audio so his voice was continuously getting overlapped by the guitars every few seconds. A redundant problem that, although it seemed to improve a bit after The Trooper, was repeatedly suffered all over the show.

In any case, the fans seem gladly to forgive that, counterbalanced by a good setlist, Dickinson always amusing when addressing the audience and the typical great visual paraphernalia that accompanies every Iron Maiden gig with Eddie the monster fighting against Dickinson, huge inflatable monsters, the guitar players running around the stage and Janick Gers throwing it into the air and some of the best designed t-shirts in the heavy metal universe that you could purchase for a decent price in any merchandising shop around the venue.

Everybody left happy and in high spirits, and even when being a Wednesday night, that did not stop many Finnish metal heads from also leaving quite drunk (remember, it was a sunny summer day in Finland so cans of beers were blossoming in every corner of the parks of the city). Already looking forward to seeing who will come next summer to Kantola Event Park to delight us once more with good rock and metal!

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Mustasch on Tour!

Mustasch are starting their European tour this wednesday at Bastard Club in Osnabrück followed by many big summer festivals as Nordic Noise Festival (DK), Peace & Love (Swe) and Jurassic Rock (FI).

Upcoming Tour Dates:

04-May-2016 Wed Osnabrück (DE) Bastard Club
05-May-2016 Thu Karlsruhe (DE) Substage
06-May-2016 Fri Dresden (DE) Beatpol
07-May-2016 Sat Frankfurt (DE) Das Bett
09-May-2016 Mon Hannover (DE) Faust
10-May-2016 Tue Wien (AT) Chelsea
11-May-2016 Wed Dornbirn (AT)
12-May-2016 Thu Dortmund (DE) FZW Club
13-May-2016 Fri Kiel (DE) Die Pumpe
14-May-2016 Sat Copenhagen (DK) Nordic Noise Festival
21-May-2016 Sat Finland Helsinki (FI) Radio Rock Risteily XIX
10-11 Jun-2016 Fri Germany Loreley, St. Goarshausen (DE) RockFels Festival
07-Jul-2016 Thu Sweden Borås (SE) Sommartorsdagarna
07-09 Jul-2016 Fri Sweden Borlänge (SE) Peace & Love
16-Jul-2016 Sat Estonia Haapsalu (EE) American Beauty Car Show
22-Jul-2016 Fri Sweden Stockholm (SE) Kungsträdgården, Putte i Parken
05-Aug-2016 Fri Sweden Rejmyre (SE) Skogsröjet
06-Aug-2016 Sat Finland Mikkeli (FI) Jurassic Rock

with more to be added…

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Imagine Dragons live in concert in Helsinki at Hartwall Areena. 27.01.2016

Just a few years ago, if a rock band would introduce themselves to the audience playing in a big venue as coming from Las Vegas, Nevada, most of the people would have thought automatically of The Killers. But not anymore, Imagine Dragons, the young Americans from the city that never sleeps, have suffered a meteoric raise with just 2 studio albums released, Night Visions (2012) and Smoke + Mirrors (2015) that led them to appear in the capital of Finland for first time as show headers.

I was really curious to see them live also for first time ever, having heard so many good things about them, and not forgetting that if you are just a normal human being who watches movies, sees TV or play video games during the last 3 years, at some point you are going to recognize easily their 4 or 5 biggest hits once they start being played.

Imagine Dragons

As other compromises did not allow me to check the opening band Rival Sons and just arrived to Hartwall Areena a few minutes before Imagine Dragons started, I cannot give an opinion about them. Around 15 minutes after 21 Imagine Dragons stepped onto the stage and from there on that was madness coming out of the throats of hundreds of fans that would turn crazy on every movement or wink that Dan Reynolds would dedicate them on stage.

The venue had around 3/4 of capacity fulfilled, which is not bad taking into account that the concert took place a Wednesday and the weather in Helsinki did not really invite to go out. As I said, a lot of female teenage fans among the audience, but also audience pretty mixed with all kind of ages and looks. I even saw myself sitting close to me an old couple in their sixties that were really thrilled with every song. And that seems to be the strong point of Imagine Dragons, although sometimes they may sound too edulcorated (there were moments in the show when I was really thinking that they sound as some kind of Black Keys for teens) and aimed at young fans, they do not overdo it and they have the enough amount of good doses of rock to reach a wider audience. The vibe is always positive, soft indie rock with touches of funk, electronic music, ska… Listening to them live automatically transports you mentally to a warmer place, like watching a sunset during a beach party.

Undoubtedly their vocalist Dan Reynolds is the one where most of the eyes are focused on. Dan looks in general like a good boy with a touch of hipster mischief, the kind of pal that you could share a smoke in the terrace of a bar or accept as the new girlfriend of your sister. But the same with their style, the band does not overdo that “cool pose” and that is something that makes the difference. They really seem honestly flattered with the chance given to play for bigger audiences, they are humble and grateful in their interaction with the public (Dan commented that “he was blushing” when some female shouted a spicy comment at him in the middle of the show) and they had the small detail after the show to stay a couple of minutes throwing guitar picks, drum sticks and greeting goodbye to the audience, small details that make the difference.

Imagine Dragons

About the concert itself, the scenography was decent but nothing mind-blowing, the quality of the sound was ok taking into account that Hartwall Areena does not have the best acoustic eve for live shows and although I got a bit cold at the beginning, once they started to play hits like It’s time, I found myself rising from my seat dancing with the rest of the crowd. The big fireworks came at the end of the show when they linked anthems such as Demons, On Top of the World, I bet my Life and Radiactive with a very fun cherry on top of the cream as all the members were switching position onstage while hammering mercilessly big drums.

Things to improve? Maybe the setlist was a big short in general, and also the guitar solo Wayne Sermon did not provoke any special reaction on me (that could be cause once some months ago one sees a master as Joe Satriani, it is impossible then to measure with same standards). But all in all, I left the venue happily surprised and satisfied with a band that probably will have a lot to say in the indie rock scene during the last years. Not a bad plan to fight with positive energy and good music the gloomy cold weather of Helsinki.

Setlist:

Shots

Trouble

It’s Time

Forever Young
(Alphaville cover)

Roots

Hopeless Opus/Polaroid

Guitar Solo

I’m So Sorry

Gold

The River

Bleeding Out / Warriors / Amsterdam / Tiptoe / It Comes Back To You / Smoke and Mirrors

Demons

Drum Solo

On Top of the World

I Bet My Life

Friction / Radioactive

Encore:

The Fall

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London Rockers Reverted Announce Intimate Launch Show

London based hard rockers Reverted have announced a very intimate release show for their upcoming new record “Stripping The Worms”; an acoustic re-recording of their debut record “Sputter The Worms”, on November 3rd.

The band are set to appear at the legendary Shaka Zulu, a lush African themed bar and restaurant in Camden Town, where they’ll be premiering their new video “Time” and performing live renditions from “Stripping The Worms”.

Vocalist Tony Vega had this to say on the record and its launch:

“Stripping The Worms” is, for us, an intimate voyage of sorts. We aimed to preserve crucial elements of the songs while giving way to new gripping and exciting structures.

Herod

Fans can check out the band’s open invitation and choice clips from “Stripping The Worms” here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCErXm7swEA&feature=youtu.be

Completed by guitarist Danny Ruiz, drummer Ozzy Preciado and bassist Luis Lopez; Reverted formed in 2010 and quickly set to work putting together their debut EP “Tolerance” in 2011. They followed “Tolerance” up with the successful “Sputter The Worms” in 2012, which elevated the band to higher levels; selling thousands of copies independently and scoring the band coverage in Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Powerplay Magazine. The band also gained airplay on Total Rock and countless other stations across the UK, Europe and the US with the single “Die My Saint”.

The video for “Die My Saint”, their first music video, was released later that year with appearance on national TV such as Scuzz, Kerrang & MTV. The clip captured both the band’s explosive energy and their commitment to storytelling. In 2013 the band began working with acclaimed producer Pedro Caparros (Breed 77, The Answer) on their latest record “Stripping The Worms”; an acoustic re-imagining of “Sputter The Worms”.

Alongside their incredibly output, the band have secured support slots with American Head Charge, Evile, Fozzy, Kill Devil Hill and countless others. Not content with ruling the London scene, the quartet are set to hit the road throughout 2016 with tours in Central & South America, and Europe before heading home for a headline UK tour.

With a new album in tow and an insatiable hunger to hit the road, Reverted are looking to end 2015 with a band and lead a trail of fire through 2016. Book your ticket for November 3rd now, before they sell out!

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Raging Speedhorn Announce Support For Winter UK Tour

UK Sludge legends Raging Speedhorn have announced Ten Foot Wizard & Telepathy as the support acts on their upcoming UK tour this November!

The band are set to embark on a six date UK tour in support of their upcoming, as yet untitled, new record which is set for release in early 2016. Their first release since 2007’s “Before The Sea Was Built” and their first to feature new guitarist Jim Palmer.

The dates for the tour are:

Thu, 26 Nov 2015 – The Globe, Cardiff
Fri, 27 Nov 2015 – The Underworld, London (Support acts – Gurt, Ten Foot Wizard & Telepathy)
Sat, 28 Nov 2015 – Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton
Sun, 29 Nov 2015 – The Corporation, Sheffield
Mon, 30 Nov 2015 – Star & Garter, Manchester
Tue, 1 Dec 2015 – The Exchange, Bristol

Herod

The band, who launched a Pledge campaign earlier this year for their new record, have recently announced that fans participating in the Pledge will received a free live EP as a thank you.

Fans wanting to contribute to the Pledge can do so here – pledgemusic.com/projects/raging-speedhorn

Raging Speedhorn formed in 1998 and went on to release four records, the most successful being their second release “We Will Be Dead Tomorrow”, recorded by Billy Graziadei & Danny Schuler of Biohazard fame. The band achieved chart success with ‘The Gush’ in 2001, toured continuously with acts like Slipknot, Ill Nino, Rammstein and Will Haven, and performed at countless festivals across the globe, including main stage at the inaugural Download Festival in 2004. They split in 2008 following the release of their last record “Before The Sea Was Built” and a subsequent tour of Japan.

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Concerts Music

Room Full Of Strangers Hit The Road

US Punk mob Room Full Of Strangers are set to hit the road through Germany this autumn in support of their new album “Bad Vacation”, which is set for release on October 30th through True Trash Records & Godless America Records!

The band will be appearing at the following dates:

Oct/24/15 FR – Tranqueville-Graux, La BaZka
Oct/27/15 DE – Dresden, Chemiefabrik
Oct/28/15 DE – Berlin, Cortina Bob
Oct/29/15 DE – Hamburg, Monkeys Music Club
Oct/30/15 DE – Essen, Freakshow Bar
Oct/31/15 DE – Bonn, Kult 41
Nov/04/15 DE – Kaiserslautern, The Clearing Barrel
Nov/05/15 DE – Würzburg, Immerhin
Nov/06/15 DE – Leipzig, Zoro
Nov/07/15 DE – Crailsheim, Juze

For US whatever-punks Room Full Of Strangers, in 2015, it’s a Love / Hate situation. It would be easy for a band of working class guys, with roots in America’s Rust Belt, struggling to make ends meet, to embrace hate, lash out and become big drinking, fist-fighting, rock n roll clichés. In fact, for a period of time, that’s exactly what happened. The sons of immigrants and factory workers, Room Full Of Strangers haven’t always managed to plough the path of controlled chaos that they currently inhabit – for a while it was just chaos. It wasn’t so long ago that their shows were sparking mass brawls and, in one terrifying instance, witnessed the tragic overdose of a member on stage…

Herod

Led by front man Mick Mcluan, it was time to embrace their struggle, and the difficulties of being in a penniless band, in a very different way. They looked to other Rust Belt bands like The Stooges, Dead Boys, DEVO, Pere Ubu and Lux Interior, and instead adopted a new outlook – one they’d need to stick to, if they were to come out of this alive and well. The band got pro-active. Their own self-promoted (huge) warehouse parties drew the attention of proper venues and producers. The offers were coming thick and fast, and they now boast a live show so renowned that they’re invited invited to play CMJ every year and fests such as SXSW, CBGB Fest and have shared stages with acts as varied as Joanna Gruesome, Fan Modine (members of Neutral Milk Hotel), Jacuzzi Boys, Capsula (Bilbao Spain), The Misfits and – GG Allin’s band – The Murder Junkies.

Naturally it wasn’t long before acclaimed knob-twiddler and Godfather of the NYC underground art punk scene, Mark Kramer, known as Kramer (Jacuzzi Boys, Half Japanese, Sonic Youth, Daniel Johnston, Butthole Surfers) discovered the band and put them in the studio. The resulting sessions became new album ‘Bad Vacation’ – an album packed with collective experience, ferocity, punk spirit, all set to an us-against-the-world party soundtrack. This is a band who is influenced by its own collective personalities and life experience, and a band that ardently refuses to write music that is derivative of the sound du jour.

“Bad Vacation is about real people, places and things, and reflects on our life story as band. It’s kind of like being the main character in the movie Shawshank Redemption. At first you’re screwed, then screwed a little less and ultimately, if you’re patient and persistent, you get to crawl through a sewer pipe of crap to your freedom.”

~ Mick McIuan – Room Full of Strangers

Designed to carry you signed, sealed, delivered, in a sweaty heap on the floor, ‘Bad Vacation’ serves as a reminder that bad trips happen, but you can always come out the other side.

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Concerts FREE! Blog Music

Swiss Metallers Herod Debut New Video On Noisey Ahead Of Deathcrusher Tour!

Teutonic Quartet’s New Clip Announce Ahead Of Support Slot on Deathcrusher Tour With Carcass, Napalm Death, Obituary & Voivod This Winter!

Swiss noise mongers Herod have premiered their latest video, Northern Lights, through Noisey on October 13th ahead of their upcoming slot as part of the stunning Deathcrusher tour; opening for legendary death metallers Carcass, grindcore overlords Napalm Death, Floridian extremists Obituary and Canadian thrash gods Voivod!

The video can be seen here – http://noisey.vice.com/alps/music-video-premieres/exklusive-videopremiere-herod-northern-lights-224

Herod

The dates for the tour are:

Friday, 23 October – Wulfrun Hall – Wolverhampton, UK
Saturday, 24 October – Barrowlands – Glasgow, UK
Sunday, 25 October – Limelight 1 – Belfast, Northern Ireland
Monday, 26 October – Vicar Street – Dublin, Ireland
Tuesday, 27 October – Motion – Bristol, UK
Wednesday, 28 October – Northumbrian University – Newcastle, UK
Thursday, 29 October – The Forum – London, UK
Friday, 30 October – The Ritz – Manchester, UK
Saturday, 31 October – Trixzaal – Antwerpen, Belgium
Monday, 2 November – Live Music Hall – Köln, Germany
Tuesday, 3 November – L’Usine – Geneva, Switzerland
Wednesday, 4 November – Longhorn – Stuttgart, Germany
Thursday, 5 November – Folimanka Hall – Prague, Czech Republic
Friday, 6 November – The Factory – Magdeburg, Germany
Saturday, 7 November – Aalborg Metal Festival – Aalborg, Denmark
Sunday, 8 November – Tradgar’n – Gothenburg, Sweden
Monday, 9 November – Arenan – Stockholm, Sweden
Wednesday, 11 November – B90 – Gdansk, Poland
Thursday, 12 November – Rprogresija – Warsaw, Poland
Friday, 13 November – Täubchenthal – Leipzig, Germany
Saturday, 14 November – Music Hall – Gieselwind, Germany
Sunday, 15 November – Simm City – Vienna, Austria
Monday, 16 November – Backstage – Munich, Germany
Tuesday, 17 November – Estragon Club – Bologna, Italy
Thursday, 19 November – Schlachthof – Wiesbaden, Germany
Friday, 20 November – Astra Kulturhaus – Berlin, Germany
Saturday, 21 November – Speedfest – Eindhoven, Holland
Sunday, 22 November – Garage – Saarbrucken, Germany
Monday, 23 November – La Cigale – Paris, France
Tuesday, 24 November – Le Transbordeur – Lyon, France
Thursday, 26 November – Sala Riviera – Madrid, Spain
Friday, 27 November – Cine Teatro – Lisboa, Portugal
Saturday, 28 November – Sala Santana 27 – Bilbao, Spain
Sunday, 29 November – Sala Razzmatazz – Barcelona, Spain

Initially the brainchild of guitarist Pierre Carroz, Herod formed in Switzerland back in 2011 and have since gone on to carve a solid niche for themselves in the realm of head crushingly heavy metal with their 2014 release “They Were None”. Recorded by renowned Swiss producer Julien Fehlmann (The Ocean, Coilguns and Unfold) and mastered by Svante Försback (Volbeat and Rammstein), “They Were None” was met with universal praise by the media, and has seen the band go on to tour Europe a number of times.

Be sure to catch this stunning outfit this winter when they rip a blackhole through Europe with some of the finest extreme metal bands on the planet!

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Articles Concerts Misc Music

Nordic Thrashers Dienamic Announce Japanese Tour

Norwegian thrashers Dienamic are heading to Japan for the second run of dates! The band are heading over to support their new record “Afterlife” which will be released in Japan on September 3rd.

Dienamic

The band are to play the following dates:

Sept 3rd – Flying Son, Sendai
Sept 4th – Tight Rope, Nagoya
Sept 5th – Wild Side, Tokyo
Sept 6th – Wild Side, Tokyo

Straight from the heart and right in your face! Dienamic has a super energetic and intense live show, with unique audience contact and a great atmosphere. The band first saw the light of day in 2010, and ever since the first live show following the release of their self titled EP they have been bringing it on the stage.

With over 60 live shows to date, they have become a bone crushing five piece metal act that will definitely leave a mark on the world. The band has already toured Japan, most of central and eastern Europe along with their home country Norway. This band is addicted to touring and get out there every chance they have!

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Concerts Features Interviews Music

Blind Guardian in Helsinki 2015. Interview with guitarist Marcus Siepen

In a chilly spring Finnish evening the first fans queue at the doors of Nosturi while around the corner, at the terrace of Nosturi ‘s restaurant, some members of the epic German metal band Blind Guardian chill out before the show and attend their media compromises.

It is there where, sitting relaxed at a table, FREE! Magazine meets their guitarist Marcus Siepen for an exclusive interview:

Thanks for your time Marcus! As I guess you know Finland well as you have visited here in the past, what are your feelings when coming back here?

-Oh it has been great. We have played here a couple of times, we played at Tuska Festival and has always been great, the people are great and we have friends here in Finland. Me and my wife spent the whole day yesterday walking around the downtown with friends and we are looking forward to the gig!

Do you know good bars around the city?

Actually I have been to a metal bar, Prkl, and we have also been to Steam bar, that looks amazing. So yeah, we have been walking around.

What do you think of the Finnish audience, some people think they are a bit different when compared to other countries where they scream a lot.

They are a good audience, they are calmer here, yes. It changes it anyway from country to country. Spanish fans are different from German fans and German fans are different from Swedish fans and Swedish you cannot not compare them to Brazilians. And that is fine, as far as you know how to handle them. I don’t need to have people screaming all the show in order to see the fans are enjoying.

Blind Guardian

The band is cancelling 2 dates in Russia after this gig in Finland. What are the reasons if I may ask?

There were problems with organization and stuff and sadly we had to cancel, which is a pity.

So you will play in Russia, Belorussia and then Australia and Japan and after that you will have a summer break. Will there be time to relax or busy preparing your incoming live album?

We are already booked for the studio so we have to go through recordings and stuff and we also want to do a couple of rehearsals and there are still some songs that are on the list to be played that we have not played so far and we want to be ready for the next block of the tour. We leave for South America in September and we will be on the road almost until Christmas. And next year will continue, all the festivals, more individual shows, we will be on the road until Autumn next year.

I have heard that you were planning for long to do this orchestra album. Will there be time with this hectic schedule to work on that one?

There will be. The original idea was maybe to finish it on the summer break, which now will be occupied by the live album stuff, but we definitely would like to finish it next year. So that is a fixed plan.

Coming back to the current tour, even when talking to some of my Spanish friends who saw you in Madrid, we commented if you guys ever get tired when audience request “Majesty” all the time…

Yes we do! You know, Majesty is not a bad song, not at all. The thing is that it was written in 1986, so it is almost 30 years old and you know, at some point I really do not get the obsession with that song, when there are so many songs to choose from! But you know, we play it. It is just that we cannot always give in to the crowd to dictate the set. The funny thing is, in one of the shows we played recently, we actually put Majesty on the setlist, and we did not put Valhalla on the setlist. What happens? Right from the beginning nobody screams for Majesty, everybody starts to scream for Valhalla! Hehehe. And we are like fuck! What is this?! What is wrong?! Hehehe. So we ended up playing Valhalla as well…

I remember to have seen you myself live on the Forgotten Tales Tour when I was 16, more than half a life ago. How do you notice the change with the past of time with the audience. Is it still people who grew with the band or do you see new generations coming too?

It is a mix, and that is the great thing. Normally when we go on tour, we always see people who seem to be growing with the band, who were there on previous tours and they keep coming, but we also see younger kids, and that is great for us, as it means we are keeping old fans but we are gaining new ones as those kids are too young to have been in all those previous tours. It is great to see new generations digging our music.

And for you, how do you keep motivated after so many years playing?

We love what we are doing. I do not need to motivate myself as this is what we love to do. Anybody in the band. We still love the music that we are playing and we still love touring. Obviously sometimes you get tired of touring because it is demanding, all the travelling and stuff. So sometimes we look forward to taking a break at home, but then when we take the break we are looking forward to the next tour block because playing live is just awesome.

What about your new album Beyond the Red Mirror. Has it been particularly demanding as you have collaborated with different orchestras, 3 different choirs, etc.

It has not been different than previous stuff. People have been telling in the past “it will not be possible to play that song live” and it was possible. We have a keyboard player with us and it is perfectly possible to play all that stuff.

Blind Guardian

How do you perceive the reaction of the people to the new album?

The reaction has been pretty awesome. What normally happens in the past is whenever we went on tour with a new album and we play new songs, reaction to the new songs have been a bit calmer compared to the old classics and only on the next tour they were on even level. This time is different, we play 4 new songs and there is a 5th one coming that we are still rehearsing a bit and they seem to be instant classics. The reactions are almost the same as with Valhalla, Majesty, etc. The reviews of the album have been excellent, not only on magazines but also when you talk to people.

I know you are also a fan of fantasy books and they represent a big source of inspiration for the lyrics of the band. Do you follow Game of Thrones?

I love the books, I read all of them in a row and I am waiting for book 6 to be released. But I have a kind of love/hate relationship with the TV show. As if you consider it as only a show, it is very well done, great actors and settings… but they fucked up the story. They changed it so many things… and that is why I fucking hate it. I even did not watch The Hobbit movies for that reason. When Jackson announced he would do the Hobbit, I was curious, but when I read he was planning to do 3 movies of a book of 200 something pages… I did not want to see them. If somebody makes a movie out of the book The Hobbit, then it should be based on The Hobbit. Not 10% on the book and 90% on things that could have happened.

With Game of Thrones I watched the first 4 seasons and most likely I still will watch the 5th one, because as I said it is a love/hate relationship. When I watch it I try to forget the books but in the end I keep bashing and cursing, but then I keep watching it. If you could disconnect the show from the books, it would be awesome, but I keep thinking “That is wrong, they do not go there, they do not do that”.

Is it true that when Jackson was preparing the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies, there were contacts with the band to take care of the soundtrack?

The whole story got blown up a bit out of proportion. Yes, at some point we were asked to send some samples. There were some sites where fans could vote who they wanted to participate and our name kept popping and we were asked to send some stuff. Actually the orchestra project would have been fitting. But if we would have got that job, we had not released any album, our priorities was not releasing soundtracks. It would have been a cool experience but we preferred to focus on our albums.

Anything else you want to add for the readers?

Actually yes, for readers in Helsinki and everywhere worldwide. A message from the band to the fans: If you come to a gig, please leave the fucking phones on your pockets and try to see the gig with your own eyes, you will see the colors with better resolution, it is even 3D and better than 4k. That would be my message to readers! Hehe. It started a couple of years ago and it is getting worse and worse. Taking pictures are fine, but I have seen people standing on the front row not moving recording the whole concert for two and a half hours. If you want to see the DVD, go to the fucking shop and buy it, the quality is better. And as a band, it is not fun to play in front of phones! We want to play in front of an audience that enjoys! There are people who even record the show with an iPad!

So with that request full of sense, and with my 1996 concert ticket signed by Marcus, we let them rest for the show during the night.

And what came later? A venue really fully packed at Nosturi, fans delighted, a great setlist, new songs matching perfectly with the old classics, some surprises as hearing Guardian of the Blind and some other songs that almost brought a tear to the eyes of many old fans like Bright Eyes or The Bard’s Song… and a few requests from the audience to play Majesty that were dismissed :)))

Blind Guardian Setlist at Nosturi in Helsinki. 2nd of June 2015

1. The Ninth Wave 

2. Banish from Sanctuary 

3. Nightfall 

4. Fly 

5. Tanelorn (Into the Void) 

6. Prophecies 

7. The Last Candle 

8. Miracle Machine 
(Acoustic)
9. Lord of the Rings 
(Heavy)
10. Guardian of the Blind 

11. Bright Eyes 

12. And the Story Ends 

Encore:
13. War of Wrath 

14. Into the Storm 

15. Twilight of the Gods 

16. Valhalla 

Encore 2:
17. Wheel of Time 

18. The Bard’s Song – In the Forest 
(Acoustic)
19. Mirror Mirror