(Source: pink-as-fl0yd, via wipe-away-the-debt)
After over a month long break from gigs, I went to small club Yo-talo in Tampere to listen some underrated power metal. I was super excited about the gig because I’ve been waiting for years to get a chance to see Dreamtale live. Apparently it required me to move to their hometown and just start waiting for the announcement. But more about Dreamtale later.
Schedule of the concert was the following: 22:00 (10 pm) doors open, 23:00 (11 pm) opening act, 00:00 (midnight) headliner. Even though I enjoy night a lot more than day, I honestly don’t think gigs should be this late at night. But I guess this time it was the right call.
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I arrived to Yo-talo 30 minutes before the opening act Burning Winter and nobody was there. The whole area where the stage is was completely empty. I walked past the stage to the bar and there I saw about 10 people watching a hockey match between Finland and Russia. And this game was the reason for late showtimes and lack of people. Finns are obsessed with hockey when team Finland is winning. I don’t care about these games between nations because everything outside the actual sport causes way too many facepalms and lack of faith in humanity.
Anyway, I ignored the match and went to buy a drink. This was only my 2nd time at Yo-talo so I didn’t have any strong opinions about the place but the bartender changed it all. I asked for a coke and I got a coke but the bartender didn’t say “3 euros please” like I expected. Instead, he said “3 Federal Reserve’s fraud units” (free translation). I was so happy with this because that is exactly what every national currency in this world is. But the bartender couldn’t possibly know I criticize the system (capitalism) too. After my day was made, I went back to the stage area and waited for Burning Winter as people started to filter in.
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As usually, the Burning Winter gig started few minutes late. Only handful of people cared to come to see them. Many people were probably still celebrating Finland’s victory. But it didn’t seem to mind the band and all less than 40 of us enjoyed a lot.
I did not know anything about the music Burning Winter plays but I assumed it’s basic Finnish power metal. I was surprised by the intro of the first song because it didn’t sound power metal at all. It was more like a Metallica cover. After a while it changed though and began to be much more like what I expected. But I was still slightly “frozen” and not completely convinced about this band.
Burning Winter - Queen of the Night
The intro riff of the 2nd song was so powerful and perfect that it wiped away every previous though I had about this band. All I could think of now was that this band is amazing and easily worth more than 50 people in the audience. Unfortunately the song doesn’t sound even closely as good on album as it was live.
Burning Winter - Killing the Light
These songs were from their latest demo “Queen of the Night”. I already showed you the sexy album cover :P
The rest of the show they played some older stuff. It was good too but still somewhat neutral and didn’t provoke any special feelings. But I was happy that they played almost full hour even though it meant delaying the Dreamtale gig even later to the night.
Burning Winter - Wings of Fire @ Yo-talo 10.5.2013
After the show I bought “Queen of the Night” demo and told the guitarist they are doing great job. I wasn’t the only one giving positive feedback and later Burning Winter updated their Facebook status telling how thankful they are about the new fans they got. And if they keep evolving like their new demo shows, this band might be big deal one day. Of course not legendary but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them opening for Sonata Arctica or Stratovarius.
Yo-talo kept slowly filling with people. I was still wondering “is this all the people who care about Dreamtale?”. Nobody was waiting in front of the stage.
Immidiately when the intro song, The Shore, started playing, 30-40 people walked quickly closer to the stage. It all happened so fast that I almost had to stay in the back. Luckily I managed to find a free spot on the 2nd row before even more people joined to the “dancefloor”.
Dreamtale’s tour was promoting their new album World Changed Forever. As usually on concerts like these, first songs of the gig were from that new album:
I listened to the new album couple of times on Soundcloud before the show so I knew a little about the first songs. People around me seemed to be much more familiar with the new material.
The fact of actually being on Dreamtale concert kept the excitement up in the beginning but the old songs were the reason I went to see them in the first place. My happiness rose beyond imagination when old classic Yesterday’s News blasted through the speakers. It’s one of my favorite Dreamtale songs. Everyone else in the club had similar reaction aswell and the atmosphere was on the ceiling and beyond.
I thought I know at least half of Dreamtale’s songs perfectly so I could sing along but on that gig I had a huge blackout. Dreamtale kept playing the old classics but all I could think of was “This sounds so familiar but I have no idea what song it is”. It was very annoying but it didn’t stop me from having fun.
Usually great concerts pass in front of your eyes and ears way too fast. The enjoyment makes 1 hour feel like couple of minutes. At Dreamtale’s concert it was just like that too but as they kept playing more and more songs I had sudden realization that it had already been quite long setlist for such a small gig. And there was no end in the horizon. The feeling of “this gig is never going to end” was pure beauty and perfection. I’m never going to forget that.
After nearly one and a half hours of very familiar songs the band left the stage. The crowd began cheering for encore, except one angry drunk lady. She kept yelling “STOP!” and tried to grap peoples arms so they wouldn’t clap. It was no help and the band came back to the stage. This drunk lady pushed herself right to the front row and gave the band the angriest look ever. She didn’t get any reaction from anyone so he walked away. I’m still wondering what was her problem. I haven’t seen before anyone who doesn’t want an encore :D
The gig reached it’s highest point during the first song of the encore. Even I recognized it was Powerplay, regardless of my awful blackout. I have no words for that moment, you seriously need to experience these kind of things yourself.
The very last song (before the outro) of the very long setlist was Where the Rainbow Ends. One of the best Dreamtale songs. Even though it isn’t my all time favorite it’s great ending for the concert. It’s one of those songs that get stuck to your head and I kept singing it on my mind for the rest of the night. It was also the song where the audience got their chance to show how loud they (we) were. It was only a simple “GO!” on the chorus but it sounded great.
The concert was over at 02:00 (2 am) and everyone disappeared as quickly as they came closer to the stage. Only me and couple of other fans stayed to the very end and enjoyed until the very last second of the beautiful outro Destiny’s Chance.
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Damn! That’s over 1300 words! Sometimes writing is hard work but I enjoy this a lot and I really do hope you guys enjoy these stories aswell.
[video]
Awesome way of learning new songs :P
Sexiest album cover I’ve ever seen! You should definitely check them out if you’re into power metal.
Yo-talo, Tampere, FI
