05-03-2008 Amorphis

Date: 05-03-2008, venue: Tavastia, Helsinki (Finland)
By: Elvira Visser

Tonight there was no support band, but I think nobody wanted to see any either.�
We all came to see Amorphis and wanted them only. The venue was literally packed with people. The gig was sold out, and no wonder because Helsinki is Amorphis’ hometown.

My expectations were quite high because I have seen the band twice before and those gigs were amazing. Maybe today I was not in such a great awe of seeing the band and less adrenaline rushing through my body. Tonight I listened more to their songs. And what I noticed was that you could hear the keyboards a bit better. The hole blend of music got me a little more than at the other gigs.
They really took me on a Kalevala journey. (as their lyrics are based on the Finnishe epos Kalevala), they had taken me on their path through various songs.�
The band has been around for 18 years and delivered many albums. What surprised
me tonight was that, when you go see a band, they mainly play songs from their
latest album. Of course they did, they played: “Silent Water”, “Towards
and Against”, “Her Alone” and “The White Swan”. Never thought they would play that last one live, but this night they had played more songs I did not expect. Like “Into Hiding”, “Drowned Maid” and “Better Unborn”, which they also had not played in a long time according to them. You could hear it because the song was less perfect, not so polished. But therefore even more amazing.

  This gig had once again all the ingredients you need in order to get that Amorphis
  feeling, like I said it looked like they took me on a musical journey. They
  had the keyboards, played by Santeri Kallio, thatstood out a little more than
  on the CD. It is nice to listen to Amorphis because they have those beautiful
  melody lines and great guitar riffs mixed with the clean vocals and growls of
  Tomi Joutsen. This together creates their own sound.

  What I also noticed was that there were many foreign people around. And one
  thing people like to see is the head-banging dreads from Tomi Joutsen. Those
  dreads seem to be so long, but maybe it helps that Tomi himself is not that
  tall. But it is definitely a great thing to see.

  During the last song before the encore, “The Orphan”, Tomi Joutsen
  had left the stage. In this way the others played an amazing solo that lasted
  extremely long. It was time for the guys on the guitars to show their abilities.
  After the encore they played “Leaves Scar” and “House of Sleep”.
  Two amazing songs and a crowd that cheered. With “House of Sleep”
  I got shivers because it was so good and the only thing I could see was the
  arms of all the people in front of me up in the air. And many people were singing
  along. Definitely a great gig