Normandie (On The Rocks, Helsinki) - 7/9/2019 • GRIMM Gent

Normandie (On The Rocks, Helsinki) – 7/9/2019

22/09/2019

The Swedish band Normandie has been gathering quite the following in Finland with their almost poppy blend of rock and metal. The catchiness is relentless and their shows are always filled to the brim with high energy. Last time we caught them live briefly was when they were playing one of the stages on Finland’s biggest rock and metal festival Rockfest. This time they came back around Helsinki to play in On The Rocks, a venue they’ve frequented often the past years, to have one hell of a party with their fans!

Block of Flats (***)

Opening the night, was the Finnish alternative/indie rock outfit Block of Flats. Their blend of punky energy and poppy melodies & hooks delivers that typical indie rock feel. Not necessarily my cup of tea, they did their job in warming up the crowd for Normandie perfectly. One for one, the musicians were playing with clear passion and vocalist Jonne belted out his lines filled with emotion and at times what almost felt like anguish. Again, a perfect opener for a band like Normandie. Please do check them out if you feel you might like them, they’re releasing a new single soon!

Normandie (****)

Normandie has only been around for 6 years, but they clearly know how to take over a stage. As soon as they came in the room and took up their spot on the stage, the energy both on and off stage went through the roof. Vocalist Philip is one hell of a charmer and his vocal capabilities are up there. He was bouncing around the whole time, never losing his grip on singing clean and in tune. These guys are also one of those bands that seek connection with their crowd whenever they can, which I always love to see.

At one point for some reason they had to shut off the smoke machines, so Philip was asking the crowd to feed him even more energy than before to make up the difference. Their music nowadays is mostly of the more poppy and catchy variant, but live they absolutely rock the stage and Philip shows every now and then that he’s still able to grunt/scream a couple of lines.

And they know very well that they aren’t as hard as they used to be, but as tongue-in-cheek as they are, they still demanded from the crowd that they open up the room for a little wall of death. It was great to see that at a show like this there is more action in the crowd than at a lot of way heavier shows! This was an absolute pleasure to see taking place, see you next time!