I hate the way that promoters decide to have an absolutely dead period and the bring their minds together and bring every fuckin band I am dying to see all together. Amorphis was one of these cases. So, I had absolutely no money, my neck still ached from previous Friday's Iced Earth gig and I had gone through some serious crap at work. Then again noone cares so lets move on a bit.
Being a bit pissed off for having lost a perfectly good opportunity to interview the guys since they were leaving too early and I was still working while they where having the interviews I arrived at Rodon Club a short while before 20:30 when the gig was supposed to start, to realize -in my surprise- that in about 10 I was already at the front bars having enough room for a small brigade to headbang. Unfortunately they didn't have the advertisement they deserved, and if it wasn't for that flyer at Iced Earth I wouldn't even know (ok, I would, but much later). I estimate that about 700 people where there, too few for such a great band, in my humble opinion.
Crimson Sunsets started off to warm us up. I've seen them before with The Gathering (if I remember well) and I really liked them. This time they seemed a bit nervous especially their vocalist (George?). Their own songs are really good and I am sure that these guys have a great future, they just need to believe a bit more into what they do. They also did a cover on Ozzy's Perry Mason, which was a bad choice since it was performed rather good by the band but George failed to keep up with the song. Still, a decent appearance, we'll definately hear more of these guys in the future.
After a while, it was time for the great band from Finland to step on stage. I've been waiting for a long time to see these guys, and I was really curious to see the balance in their playlist between the old brutal and the latest softer material. Well, to my surprise Amorphis is one of the few bands that have gone through all these changes but still honour their older material and to that extend. See the playlist and judge for yourselves. Goddess (Of The Sad Man),The Way,Against Widows,Forever More,The Castaway,Alone,Better Unborn,Crimson Wave,Tuonela,Summer's End,Drowned Maid,In The Beginning,Divinity,My Kantele,Black Winter Day,Magic and Mayhem (Thanks to Kostas from the Amorphis messageboard for the playlist, I was too busy to keep notes of the order of the songs ;P). Though Greed is missing (and most of us screamed our lungs out for it), I find the playlist quite satisfying and the only thing better would be even more songs.
Pasi did a great job handling both the soft and the brutal vocals and his stage appearance was limited to just singing, but then again I'd rather have someone giving everything he has on that than jumping around asking people to scream with him fuck posers *cough*.
Needless to say that the rest of the band performed just perfectly, the sound was great, and it was one of the few times in Rodon that the conditions where enough for someone to watch and headbang decently.
The crowd was great, singing along, having mosh pits and I am sure the guys were quite surprised by the reaction and welcoming they had. So I guess they will be back soon? I sure hope so.
One of the few times that everything was almost perfect. And I say almost because right after the gig there was an empty space where my car used to be, since some cops decided that Friday night is a good time to earn some extra money by stealing some cars to earn their percentage of the fee. Thank you guys for allowing me to pay half my monthly wage to get my car back, I am sure that I would pay less if I was a drug dealer, a big FU well deserved. Oh well, at least the shitheads will never know how it's like to watch Amorphis live ;P.
