Nosturi, Helsinki Finland 4.12'01

The first disappointment of the evening was that the venue wasn't even sold out. So what could you possibly expect from such a small crowd ? The good side of it was though, that you could see the bands better. The second disappointment was the poor sounds with the support bands.

Nostradameus from Sweden started the show and the crowd was really lame. But the sounds weren't the best either. The guys only played 5 songs and those included "The vision", "Murder", "The Crown's inn" and "One for all, all for one". All the support bands only played 30 minutes, which again I must say wasn't enough, and other fans felt the same way.

The next band to enter the stage was the frenchfries..ehh, I mean frenchmen; Heavenly, who got a much better welcome from the crowd compared to Nostradameus. It could be, because their name and fame has been floating in a lot of mailing lists. And I've only read good things about them. Heavenly's set was also only 5 songs and they were "Destiny", "Sign of the winner", "Riding through hell", "Condemned to die" and "Time machine". And eventhough their singer has a unique voice and he's good, he did overdo his screams a lot of times just making himself sound very foolish. But I was really impressed of what I heard otherwise, they're really powerful and have great melodies.

Next was the finnish Lullacry and finally something for the guys to look at. Lullacry's blonde singer Tanya has the charisma you hardly get to see these days and she beats a lot of men in the testosterone department. Lullacry played 9 songs and some of them were: "Damn you", a Wasp cover "Love machine" which was even more powerful than the original, "Sweet desire", "Trust", "Bonfires of time", "Without the dreamer" and "Be my God". The sounds must've gotten a bit better 'cos this time I heard more bass. Or maybe it was just me drinking too much Battery and it not going in my stomach but instead in my ears ? Anyhow, a very energetic gig, though the crowd didn't seem to react much. Is this again that old rebellion against female musicians, that guys feel threatened when there's a woman doing a "mans" job ? But I'm hoping Tanya will continue performing for a long time.

And finally the main band, Edguy, started their set with "Fallen angels" and now the sounds were as they should've been all the time. Then "Tears of a mandrake" and the crowd went nuts ! Then "How many miles", "Land of the miracle", "Painting on the wall", "The kingdom", then some crowdsinging or actually crowd yoddling, in which Tobi is really good at, "The headless game" and during this Tobi put panties on Eggi's microphone and they started tossing them around, then "The Pharaoh", "Vain Glory Opera", "Save Us Now", "Wings of a dream", and finally what many were waiting for; "Avantasia" eventhough it's not Edguy's song. Personally I freaked out 'cos it's an awesome song. My friend couldn't move, she was also so thrilled. So that got a great reaction !

After that Tobi was joking and singing Boney M's "Rivers of Babylon" ( or some other old Babylon song), like they'd play that, but thankfully no ! Instead they played their own "Babylon" and the last song was "Out of control". I was waiting to hear more Avantasia songs, so I was disappointed not hearing more of it. While the last songs were played the band joked around and Tobi even disappeared from the stage ! Only to be found running from front of me, waving at me, smiling and also singing at the same time ! And off he went, running many rounds around Nosturi. How in the heck was it possible that he was able to run around like that and not be kidnapped by some female Tobi fans ?! Such a small package you can easily stuff into your bag..hmmm...anyhow, jokes aside. Edguy played a very long set and in the end hardly got their asses off the stage. Tobi even said Finland feels like a second home. I guess so, since they've been coming here for years mixing their albums and have a lot of friends here. I wish You, Edguy, many more adventures in our pleasant Winterland for many years to come !

Also check out the interview with Jens Ludwig, his ten all time favourite albums and his Beast Side Story. Coming up: Nostradameus interview in near future.

Gig report: Satu Reunanen (blame it all on my louzy memory !)
Photos: Kari Helenius