29 March 2024

29/30/31-12-2007 Helldone

29,30-12-2007, Helsinki (Finland)
By: Nina Mende

The first Helldone festival in 2005 was a total success and only a few weeks into
the New Year Tavastia’s office was besieged by emails and phone enquiries about
Helldone 2006. Same story continued during year 2007 too so now the good people
of Helldone, that mysterious lot, were proud to present to you Helldone, Vol.
3. And tradition continues. This years line-up was:

Saturday 29.12.2007:
  – The Black League
  – Swallow The Sun
  – Mokoma
  – Von Hertzen Brothers
  – Snipe Drive
  – Mannhai
  – Barbe-Q-Barbies
  – Kings Of Fools

Sunday 30.12.2007:
  – Fields Of The Nephilim (UK)
  – Ajattara
  – Blake

Monday 31.12.2007:
  – Him
  – Skreppers
  – One Eye Shut

  Helldone takes place at Tavastia and Semifinal which are next to each other
  and actually one building, you just need to go down a little hallway to get
  from Tavastia to Semifinal. Besides Fields of the Nephilim, every band was from
  Finland.

I was only there for the 29th and 30th, but I still had lots of fun even without seeing HIM on New Years Eve. Because I was saying hello to some friends on the other side of the town before Helldone I did not get there before the first band started playing, that meant no queue to wait in for me, and since I had a photo pass I did not even have to worry for a good spot up front. But I was still in time for the first band: Barbe-Q-Barbies. 5 girls from Helsinki, rocking the house with their music.Since people don’t come to Helldone in the last minute like they ususally do for concerts, it was quite crowded already, yet not really full either. But  that was probably because it was only 9 pm and most people would mostly come to see Swallow the Sun or the main act which was Von Hertzen Brothers. Anyways, the ones who were there to see the band really enjoyed the show. It seems like the band has quite a fanbase which was nice to see, because the girls were good and I enjoyed their show. The singer has a powerful voice and they seemed very happy on stage and enjoy what they are doing.
Since the bands were playing at two stages it was quite a running back and forth between Semifinal and Tavastia, but that is just common for festivals.So the next band was on the Tavastia stage, and it was The Black League. They looked a little bit like a typical band from Texas/USA but they were from Helsinki/Finland, too. They play heavy rock’n’roll and it was nice watching them. The audience was enjoying it as well, sang along and rocked.
And back again to Semifinal stage to see Kings of Fools, from guess where… Helsinki/Finland. They decided to do an acoustic rock show. Kings of Fools are some funny folks, not only because they look like that but also because of the way they are. Really nice to see people enjoying their lives and what they are doing like that. That are probably these kind of people that always look on the bright side of life. They even had their own “bar” on stage, which was a table with beverages and a guy who was “serving” them and also singing some backing vocals. Semifinal was totally crowded now and everybody really enjoyed their performance, jumping and moving along, laughing and just loving the show.
Next on the Tavastia stage were Swallow the Sun from Jyväskylä. A death/doom-metal band, which was really nice to see. The guys are very active on stage rocking. Their fans were already waiting for Swallow the Sun the whole entire evening, and now they were really excited as the gig started. They were banging, jumping, shouting and rocking along. The singer has a nice voice and it was funny to see all guys doing the windmill, especially because the singer was wearing a hat and doesn’t have as long hair as the others. A nice show.
Semifinal again, on stage: Snipe Drive from Tuusula. Snipe Drive seemed to be quite young, but I might be mistaken. They play nice rock music and the audience seemed to be getting more and more although no more would be fitting in Semifinal.Everybody enjoyed the show a lot, they were cheering almost the whole entire time. Really nice to see.
And back to Tavastia stage because Mokoma was up next. Mokoma is a five piece metal band from Lappeenranta, Finland singing in Finnish. Their music derives from late 80’s, early 90’s Thrash and Death Metal, but Mokoma also mixes a lot of traditional Finnish melancholy in it’s music. Their fans were banging and doing the windmill big time, shouting along and sreaming stuff in Finnish. A great band and fun to see live.
Last time to go back to the Semifinal stage for tonight, this time for Mannhai from Helsinki/Finnland. Mannhai is a great rock band with a very impressive singer. Everybody at Semifinal was already waiting for them, so they all were rocking big time as the band finally entered stage. They rocked their minds out and had a blast, band as well as audience. A really impressive performance, not only because of the singers appearance.
And there we went again, over to Tavastia for the last time to see Von Hertzen Brothers. A great rock band from Finland. Their music is somewhat slow and melancholic,  yet full of positive emotions coming straight from the heart. The audience was totally enjoying their performance. Singing and dancing along to the music of the brothers. They had a great light on stage and it was a gorgeous atmosphere. I really enjoyed the long instrumentals Von Hertzen Brothers have in many songs.After about an hour later and encore the first night of Helldone and the wonderful performance of Von Hertzen Brothers was over. Oh what a night.
The second day would not be as long, only three bands were playing, it started later and ended earlier. Eventhough there were only three bands playing it was still both stages. The first band of the night, which was Ajattara, were playing on the Tavastia stage. Ajattara is a band from Helsinki/Finland who play metal and sing in Finnish. They have a quite big fan base and many people were already there to see them live. They were shouting and banging along a lot. The singer was also the singer of Mannhai, who played the day before.
Over to Semifinal stage to see Blake. Many people were there already as well. It was really crowded. A great band, many people could sing along and cheered really loud and really much for them. Nice to see.
Last band of the night and back at the Tavastia stage, my highlight of the  festival and maybe even of the year: Fields of the Nephilim. A band from the UK. That band is a legend, no, a mystery itself. A band that hardly ever plays live anywhere. So it was really amazing to see them live. They play really doomy music and there is always so much fog on stage that you can hardly see anything at all. So it was hard to take pictures or to see anything of the band at all.Their songs are all very long and dark melancholic, really great. The singer is a very impressive appearance himself, and just added the final touch to this horror-movie-like atmosphere. Amazing and I am just so glad that I got to see it and that they were so great live. And I think everybody in the audience was. Fields of the Nephilim just has this Wow-effect, very amazing and impressive. A great closing for the festival day and a perfect closing for my year and my Helldone since I wouldn’t be there for the last day