Arion have been touring Europe together with Brainstom until just the day before this gig, because of that frontman Lassi Vääränen asked the fans to help them find the energy for yet another gig, unfortunately the fans didn’t seem quite awake yet. Luckily their set was only about 30 minutes long, so they managed to keep the energy high for their whole set which included ‘Wings of Twilight‘, ‘Bloodline‘ and ‘At the Break of Dawn‘.
On a less positive note the sound wasn’t all that good everywhere and in many places the bass kinda overpowered the rest of the music, this was the case for all three bands of the evening.

By the time Sonata Arctica is starting, the place is packed with people. And by now the crowed has also woken up and is happily clapping, stomping and singing along to the songs. Especially during classics like ‘Tallulah‘, ‘FullMoon‘ and ‘San Sebastian‘ singer Tony Kakko can take a break from singing and let the crowd take over. The whole gig felt really emotional, this is partly because I’ve been a fan of Sonata Arctica for many years and therefore have many memories connected to their songs. But it is also due to the fact that Tony is a great showman. In addition to his vocals still being fantastic, he is also captivating with his many facial expressions. The “Charlie Chaplin of the Metal world”, how my mom lovingly calls him, is always making sure that there isn’t a single dull moment with him on stage. Keyboarder Henrik Klingenberg on the other hand doesn’t even look like he wants to be at the gig, which is a recurring issue. He looks bored and even unhappy at times, which makes me question if he even still enjoys being in the band.

Before the end of the show, Tony Kakko thanks the fans for being there with his usual speech about keeping live music alive. I appreciate the thought, but after this many years it’s starting to feel a bit redundant. To switch things up, at least a bit, Tony also says that “Loppumyynty” (Sold Out) is one of the most beautiful words in the Finnish language to him. After asking the crowd if they still had energy for more, the show continues. Before we reach the end of the show Tony shows us that, even though he’s doing mostly clean vocals nowadays, he’s still very much capable of growls as well during the final song of the performance ‘Don’t Say a Word‘. After approximately an hour and five minutes, it’s time to wrap things up with the obligatory ‘Vodka‘ song and some bows.

While the stage gets prepared for Stratovarius the crowd in the front row is changing up as well. In general, it seems as if Stratovarius‘ fans aren’t quite as loud and active as Sonata Arctica‘s. While the atmosphere stays really good it just seems like these fans have an overall more quiet approach to enjoying their live gigs. Stratovarius obviously put a lot of thought into the small details of their stage set up. My favourite feature of the stage design are the glowing rubber ducks on the Jens Johanssons keyboard, even though I’m not sure if they quite fit with the rest.

The show consisted of older and newer material, but it was certainly the older songs that got the crowd more excited. Especially ‘Black Diamond‘ and of course ‘Hunting High and Low‘ really got the crowd worked up and people to sing along. Or at least those fans that lasted till the encores, because as soon as singer Timo Kotipelto announces that they will now play the last song of the evening, a whole bunch of people stormed towards the exit and out of the building. A bit too early if you ask me, because not only did they miss the obviously still to come encores (we all know the drill by now) but also the last songs turned out to be the 10-minute long ‘Visions (Southern Cross)‘.