Photo Reports
The year stared off with Pain, who had a really fun and energetic show at Olympia-Kortelli in Tampere. Next up, still in January, was Sólstafir as Support for Katatonia, with a very moody gig. In March Kamelot came back into town and with them came Eleine and Myrath. While I’ve been waiting to see Myrath for a while now, Eleine isn’t exactly my cup of tea. Still, Madeleine Liljestam managed to capture me with her energy. In late April, Battle Beast rocked Kerhola in Nokia. In my opinion, you can never go wrong with this band, as they always give 100 percent and are always a lot of fun. In May, it was time for one of many Brymir gigs I had this year. And just a few days later, Sabatons ‘The Tour To End All Tours’ came to Finland. The stage production for this tour was absolutely grand. It also was very clear that Sabaton really appreciates the work we concert photographers do, which is unfortunately not always the case.
Summer season is festival season, and the line-up of Tuhdimmat Tahdit was just too good to pass on. Photography wise, Mors Subita were especially fun, as the sun hit the stage at just the right time and angle to paint everything in a golden light. But they weren’t the only band I enjoyed at this festival. Lordi, Metalite, Shereign, Diablo and Battle Beast were also a lot of fun to shoot. In July, I went on a little trip to Turku to see Amorphis and Lost Society at Logomos Terassikesä. And then ended the summer with Raskasta Iskelmää at Hönö, with a small and intimate gig.
But there were also still a lot of really great shows during the autumn, one of them Before the Dawn, Wolfheart and Brymir at Pakkahuone, Tampere. Another one was Sonata Arctica, who also stopped by Pakkahuone on their ‘Arctic Storm’ tour. My absolute highlight of the year was although Deathstars at Olympia-Kortelli. Guitarist Cat Casino engaged a lot with the audience as well as my camera, which made up for a lot of cool shots. In November I went to my first show at G Livelab Tampere, for Brother Firetribes ‘Man on a Mission’ Tour, which had fantastic light. Still in November I also saw Psychework at Hönö and one of Apocalypticas church shows for their ‘Matka Mieleen – Kaamoksen Sellot’ tour and finished it off with Melancoly Mass Festival in Tampere. Where I had a good time capturing Voidfallens performance. Of course, December also still held some highlights. First Poets of the Fall stopped at Pakkahuone for their 20th anniversary tour. Then it was time for another show of Amorphis, also at Pakkahuone. And then lastly, I had a lot of fun with Everwave and Shereign at YO-Talo.
Amorphis is one of those bands you can always sure about to be delivering a stellar show live, and since I moved to Finland, a band that we see performing at least once every year. While we already managed to see them at a couple of festivals (Alcatraz and John Smith Rock Frozen) earlier this year, there is something special still about a show of just Amorphis with a crowd that showed up just for this band. And seeing them at an excellent venue like Helsinki’s Culture House wasn’t something we’d be skipping on!
Finland is a great country to be at for metal concerts and events, though if we’re being completely honest, sometimes it feels a bit too “safe”, sticking to the same old bands and concepts over and over again. Luckily there are some booking agencies that try to bring a fresh wind in the Finnish event industry. That’s how we got the 2-day club festival Hellsinki Techfest, bringing together some of the most mindboggling bands for some extreme, and often experimental music! We went to the second night with Sirkuit Preiker, Khroma, Balance Breach and the UK masters of “grime metal” Hacktivist as the headliners!
It’s not a secret the Lord of the Lost are big fans of Finland. For that reason it’s very fitting, that not only their first gig of the year was in Finland, but also their last. They finished their gig year with a sold out show at Tampere’s Olympia-kortteli.
Of course, they didn’t come alone. The evening started with the locals of Rain Diary. After that, the direct support Gothminister, took over the stage with Zombies and Werewolf. And in the end they had a little reunion with Mr. King Satan when he joined them on stage for one song.
Without question, the biggest deathcore band in the world, Lorna Shore made their stop at Jäähalli, Helsinki bringing their biggest stage production yet to a sold out crowd during their The Pain Remains EU Tour. Flanked by the Dutch deathcore outfit Distant, English death metal act Ingested and American techincal death metal group Rivers Of Nihil, it was bound to be an epic night of breakdowns and blastbeats keeping the massive crowd in a constant moshpit. Check it all out from our pictures down below!
Nonpoint, (hed)pe, Sumo Cyco and special guests VRSTY made a stop in Angola, Indiana at The Eclectic Room on “The Million Watts Tour 2023”. What an absolute barn burner! This was the 4th time I have had the opportunity to capture Nonpoint and the 5th time seeing them live in less than 2 years!
VRSTY got the party started for the night! The four piece rock/R&B/post-hardcore blend, hails from New York City. Frontman Joey Varela started this project to just get his writing out into the world, and it has turned into so much more! Joining him on stage were Javy Dorrejo [bass], Chris Cody [drums], and Paul Gregory [guitar]. They kicked the night off with the track ‘F**ck You Forever’ off of their new album ‘Levitate’ that was released in October. My favorite memory of their set was when Paul was playing his guitar right in front of me and basically bent his body completely backwards! I was lucky enough to capture it.
Continuing the party after VRSTY was the Canadian based rock band Sumo Cyco! The band is led by singer Skye Sweetnam, in addition to Matt Drake[guitar], Oscar Anesetti[bass] and Joey Muha[drums]. They had a really fun vibe and energy. Some cool moments during their set were when vocalist Skye sang from the pit a couple of different times. At another point, she had the crowd crouch down low and then jump up at the same time. She was really great with fans and making the audience a part of the show! The band also did a really great cover of System of Down’s ‘BYOB’. They really did the song justice.
Next in the lineup was southern Cali boys hed(pe)! They were originally formed nearly 30 years ago as a sort of punk rock/rap/reggae fusion band. Current band members include frontman Jared Gomes, Jeremiah Stratton[drums], Kurt Blankenship[bass] and Nathan Javier[guitar]. This is another band that really interacts with their fans, and I basically felt like I literally could have been on a beach in California dancing and jamming to their music! Such a fun vibe.
And of course who everyone came to see, the amazing Nonpoint! Once you have seen them live once, you are just hooked, in my opinion. The band was formed in the sunshine state, Florida back in 1997. The lineup consists of Elias Soriano[vocals], Robb Rivera[drums], Jaysin Zeilstra[guitar], Rasheed Thomas[guitar] and Adam Woloszn[bass]. They have an amazing resume with so many hit tracks. With touring so frequently, they are really good about mixing up the setlist, and it’s kind of fun finding out which songs they are going to play next. And when they hit the stage and play, they PLAY. It is HIGH energy from start to finish! You are head banging, jumping, dancing, or moving your body in some form or fashion for the entire show! It’s an experience that is difficult to describe. This tour, they threw in new tracks ‘A Million Watts’ and ‘Golden Gloves’ in addition to some older songs like ‘Spanish 102’ and ‘Breaking Skin’. They also added in Beastie Boys cover ‘Fight For Your Right’. They ended the night with Elias and Sheed singing the song ‘Tribute’. For me, seeing Nonpoint is a form of therapy. It’s one of those situations of “if you know, you know”. If you’ve seen them, you know what I am talking about. If you don’t, hopefully you will soon!
Extreme was formed in Malden, Massachusetts, almost 40 years ago! (1985). They got world-famous with the ballads ‘More Than Words’ and ‘Hole Hearted’, both to be found on the double platinum 1990 album ‘Pornograffitti’. On June 9th of this year, they released their 6th studio album ‘Six’ and are touring the world with it right now! (It is their first studio album since ‘Saudades de Rock’, released in 2008)
We were able to capture them during their stop at Trix, Antwerp, where we witnessed the huge amount of energy they still have in them! The gentlemen of Extreme don’t seem to have aged at all! They performed a nice set of their hits from the past, as well as a majority of songs from their new album. The result was a very enthusiastic audience that loudly sang along to every song from start to finish in this sold-out Trix, as befits an old school hard rock party!
The crowd was warmed up by the compelling The Last Internationale, which took (got) no more than half an hour to get everyone ready!
On Saturday December 9th, we got a chance to see some of Finlands up-and-coming names.
The evening started with the youngsters from Lastout, of which I hadn’t previously heard of, but who were interesting to discover. After that, Everwave played us songs from their new album that was released just a week before the gig. They also used the chance to introduce their new bassist. Ikinä seemed to have the biggest crowed, which I guess is due to the fact that they are full of energy. And lastly, Shereign had their last gig of the year, which I enjoyed a lot as well.
It’s not a secret that Christmas is a big deal for Finns and it gets celebrated accordingly. Aside from the big events like Raskasta Joulua there’s also some smaller shows like André Linmans gig at the Trefaldighetskyrkan (a church) in Vaasa where we got to enjoy some Christmas songs in English, Swedish and Finnish.
You can never go wrong with Amorphis, so it’s no surprise that even on a week day they manage to almost sell out Pakkahuone even without any additional support act.
I had a blast at this hot show. Both as a photographer and as a fan.
