Now it's time for some fanaticism. :D Because last Saturday I could be seen (and heard) in Kemi harbour wawing my hands in the air and screaming loudly. The reason to this was Sonata Arctica (those who were surprised, please raise your hand).

Our train left a bit before eleven am. The sun was shining rather warmly so the last thing we'd be suffering was cold. In the sunlight those small whits, that propably came from fireweed or something, were very visible. At first they were a source of amusement. One reason to that was that they looked like the small spider from popular Finnish children's books by Mauri Kunnas. But when I found them in my nose they made me feel rather uncomfortable. Despite those whits the train arrived to Kemi in time and dropped out a load of people that where obviously going to the same place as we were.

We found the hotel quite easily and after quick unpacking and freshening up we headed to the place the gig was held. When we had a rough direction all we had to do was to follow the noise and "those long haired, suspicious looking people that you don't want to meet on a dark alley". We didn't have to walk long until we saw a people in a loose queue that followed the grass areas. It seemed like there weren't so much people there so I dared to hope we'd get good places. Because there wasn't any "official" line formed yet we made a quick visit to the merchandise stand. Due to my thin wallet I bought a 5 euros wristband instead of 25 eouros t-shirt or about 30 eouros hoodie. Still I was very happy with it. We returned to the waiting people, my friend carrying a t-shirt in her bag and me having Sonata's logo around my wrist. About 1,5 hours before opening the gates people started to form a tighter line. Wondering why they did it so early we took our places in the still a bit unorganized queue. Standing under straight sunlight on the sand covered downhill made my back and feet hurt but I didn't let it bother me. As the time passed more people gathered behind us.

Something like ten minutes before seven pm the security officers divided the crowd into three queues and started letting people to the area. When I had passed the security check and the next thing was to show my ticket they said that because I had a printed ticket I should have taken another line. Near the most left queue there was already some people with printed tickets waiting for them to be let in. To me this didn't cause real trouble and with some help from my friend who had got through wothout any problems I managed to get a place from second row (thank you!).

After getting inside the area there was still an hour of waiting left, before Sturm und Drang, the support band would start. An hour however changed into 1,5 hours and my feet were hurting quite a lot. I had never listened to SuD more than I had heard from the radio. So, because of that and some problems with the PA system I didn't really get anything from their performance. As an interesting detail I need to say that their bassist (?) was wearing Apocalyptica shirt.

Ten minutes later than it was said Sonata's intro started. It made the crowd scream pretty loudly. More noise was heard when the band members entered he stage at the end of the intro. I can't say that I wasn't screaming as well. :D

I couldn't write about the whole gig song by song without sitting here the whole night so I'll just let the setlist and a couple of videos tell it for me. The vid in the box is mine, the rest aren't. :)

Intro
Paid in Full
8th Commandment
Caleb
Last Amazing Grays
Fullmoon
Replica
Black Sheep
Tallulah
Flag in the Ground
White Pearl, Black Oceans
Draw Me
Pää, olkapäät, peppu... (a finnish children's song)
The Cage
Finland's national anthem
In Black and White
Don't Say a Word
Vodka



Flag in the Ground
Fullmoon
Last Amazing Grays

About the songs I have to say that Flag in the Ground and Last Amazing Grays are from Sonata's upcoming album, so this was a world premiere. :D

I also got some pics even I only had my older, smaller camera with me. Videos I shot with my mobile phone.


In the 1st pic there's Elias Viljanen and in the last two Tony Kakko.

After the gig we stayed near the area. We didn't see anything, but it was nice to sit under the tree and feel the night. I don't usually like staying up late. Anyway I was in bed around 2 am.