Apocalyptica
I don’t usually go see the same band twice in one week, but the ticket to this show was an early Christmas present. Apocalyptica for Christmas, how could I say no?!
A venue that holds 1100 people is small enough to have a decent view wherever you’re standing, unless of course a tall person is standing in front of you. We found ourselves a nice spot on the third row, centre stage, but looking around we noticed that the balconies were still empty. They were pretty low and ran up to a metre from the stage. After thinking about if for 10 seconds we decided to go for it. Best decision ever. We were standing directly in front and above Paavo, and had an amazing view of the entire stage.
The first one I had eye-contact with was Eicca. His big blue eyes were staring straight up at me. Nice. Paavo soon followed, looking up a lot, especially when he was urging people to clap and shout along. I didn’t comply. Shaking my head while grinning at him. He just grinned back and tried again. Paavo is beautiful when he’s playing; eyes closed, mouth twisted open in a wicked grin. Pure concentration. In fact, they all are. Compliments to Mikko. That guy drums like a madman. He has to in order to keep up with the others. From our spot we had a perfect view of the drum-kit, we could finally see what Mikko gets up to. He could see us too, both him and Antero were grinning at us from time to time. Laughing at our behaviour.
Most embarrassing moment of the evening: Perttu looking straight at us while we were messing about during Bittersweet; singing along with dramatic movements and having a giggle, while a spot was shinig straight at us. He had a clear view. Whoops.
The show was great! Much better than in Amsterdam. The setlist was exactly the same as last Sunday. They are recording a dvd during Monday’s show in Düsseldorf and use the gigs before that to rehearse the songs. The guys were grinning throughout the show, having a good time and joking around. There was more interaction between themselves and with the crowd. Paavo and Eicca had a little moment nodding their heads alternately. During the climax of Hall of the Mountain King Antero, yes ever so quiet Antero (!!) came out of his seat to do a cello-battle with Paavo. I have the pictures to prove it if you don’t believe me.
When they came back out to do the encore, Paavo walked up to me, pointed at me and stuck up his thumbs, mouthing ‘great’. I was a little surprised and confused, so I frowned and shrugged and then he nodded. So thank you, Paavo! Respect to the little Mohawk-man.
Verdict: Amazing, powerful, fun, unreal and cunfusing. I'd do it all again tomorrow if I could afford it!
Imre
Pictures of this gig are here!
