Finland is another festival richer: this year marks the first edition of The (Big Stone) Rock Fest. Surprisingly enough they managed to get quite a few major names on their line-up. With names like Rammstein and Evanescence as the headliners for the event, it seemed to hold much promise and we just had to be there to see what was going on there at Vehkala park in Vantaa.

We sadly missed the blistering set of the local extreme metal guys of Musta Paavi, but still managed to catch most of the Metsatöll (***) show. The band from Estonia delivers music that is a mix of thrash/heavy metal with folk and they do this very well. Despite them being on the big outdoor main stage, they didn’t seem to get lost amidst all of the space on there. And their multi-instrumentalist Lauri “Varulven” Õunapuu switched (traditional) instruments like it was nothing! Very cool band to start your day with.

Of the show by Finnish hard/glam rockers Santa Cruz, we only heard a few faraway tunes since we had an interview scheduled with Guano Apes. But the guys have a new song out right now that you definitely should check out! To after all get our fill of hard/glam rock for the day, we could luckily turn to the main stage for rock legend Michael Monroe (****). We were treated with a show full of bluesy rock ‘n’ roll with a setlist of his own songs combined with some Hanoi Rocks, Demolition 23 and even Creedence Clearwater Revival classics. Michael ran around on stage like a young stallion (as usual) and expressed his unhappiness with how far away his fans were from him. (It might be a good idea for the organisation to find a different system for the “fan zone” when it’s not as busy, ’cause the emptiness between the stage and regular crowd looked pathetic and kind of sad for the interaction between band and fans…) At a certain point he was so fed up with it that he decided to climb down the stage, cross the “fan zone” and join his fans right at the fences. Kudos to the stagehand who clearly had to work really hard to be able to give Michael enough length of wire for his mic!

And then it was time for some youth sentiment for me personally: Guano Apes (****)! Back in my teenage years I’ve played songs like Lord of the Boards, Open Your Eyes, Big in Japan and You Can’t Stop Me hundreds of times if it wasn’t more. So I was more than excited to go see them on the tent stage that day. And they delivered exactly what I expected: a very energetic alternative rock/metal show with a bunch of (unknown for me) more recent songs interlaced with their classic hits. Sandra proved she still has a great voice and a stage presence that just drags the crowd along in the fun. You couldn’t really notice it, but apparently the drummer wasn’t feeling the greatest. They gave the tip to not let your drummer go see Rammstein a day early at the festival you’re playing the next day… Great show, can’t wait to hear some new work and see them again live.

Swedish “pop” metal/metalcore sensation Dead By April (**1/2) mounted the main stage next. They were clearly ready to rock the stage and festival and threw themselves completely in their setlist. To me personally they got a bit lost on the huge stage and their music isn’t really my cup of tea to hold my attention for long. Still a really decent gig and check out their latest album for sure (for our review go here). We missed out on Peer Günt, due to the interview we had with Proteus and friends with who he was performing with at the afterparty later that day. Though from what I’ve heard online and from far away, you should check them out if you miss Lemmy & co, ’cause they very much sound like the Motörhead of Finland!

One of the top acts of the day was definitely Stam1na (*****)! The Finnish metal band always delivers a kick-ass show and proves every time that they deserve their “star status” in their home country. The crowd went wild, the band relentlessly banged their heads and delivered crushing riff after riff. They love their fans and aren’t afraid to open their mouth and voice their opinions. So of course they also had to comment on the special “fan zone” which created a big stretch of emptiness between the stage and the main crowd with a “did you win something? or are you something special or so?”. And that love for their fans is very much appreciated, which resulted into the public being there singing “happy birthday” for one of the members’ dad while he was filming it.

Evanescence (****) was the headliner of this second day and clearly didn’t bring as much people to the festival grounds as the day before. Which actually resulted in a much more relaxed day with a more positive vibe hanging around. Some might say that the band is already far past the height of their career, but Amy Lee and her friends were there to show that the opposite is true. As always the charming frontwoman brought the tracks with passion and that impressive voice of back in the day. Her vocals actually progressed in a very positive way with the touch of aging. It still has the same flawless sound, but now with more of a soulful touch.

Despite the fact that Amy is the only original member and members of the band have been changing regularly, you could see the chemistry between all of them. Especially what seems like a strong friendship between Amy Lee and the most recently joined lead guitarist Jen Majura. They kicked off immediately heavy with one of their more heavy hits: Everybody’s Fool, shortly followed by Going Under. The rest of the setlist was a mix of a few oldies with new songs ’till the next highlight in the show… Amy Lee sat down at her grand piano again to bring their biggest hit to date: the ever hauntingly beautiful My Immortal. And of course they closed down their show with the one song that brought them their first breakthrough. I was so ready to sing and shout along to Bring me to live! But what a disappointment for me… Where was the male vocal part? The whole song is so strong and memorable because it plays with that “beauty and the beast” sound and nothing came back of that except for a part half rapped by Amy herself. I’m really wondering if none of the guys in the band could’ve done the other vocals, kind of a letdown to end a great gig with.

For me one of the best (and most unique) acts of the weekend was the afterparty of the Satuday. The organisation made the bold choice to put (DJ) Proteus feat. Erilaz (*****) in the tent to start up a last party. Proteus is a renowned hardstyle, trance and industrial DJ that is also part of the industrial metal/EBM outfit Erilaz. For this occasion a unique gathering took place of artists from several other bands and projects to bring a one of a kind set. The first half of the gig was dominated by songs from Erilaz, so a sound that anyway already was more in the direction of metal. The second half consisted out of songs from DJ Proteus, but instead of it being played from a mix panel all of it was played live with the exact same set-up as before. Which resulted in one of the heaviest electronic music shows I’ve ever seen! Or in other words: an industrial gig on steroids, pretty impressive stuff. And the people who weren’t there, really missed out on one of the shows of the year…