Category: Music

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.

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

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)

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

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.

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.

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!