THUNDERSTONE HARMONICA NIGHT
3.3.2004, ON THE ROCKS, HELSINKI

On a Wednesday-night people filled one of the coolest rock clubs in the center of Helsinki, On The Rocks, to witness a unique show from Thunderstone. They're the only band playing on this particular night, so they have the time and space they want. Well, the space isn't exactly all they might want, the stage is what the place has to offer, the band can hardly move in it and are quite down near the crowd. The show begins at eleven and the crowd is already well packed near the stage. There's still some space between the band and the crowd though, but all will change during the evening. The band hits the stage and the equipment is somewhat different what they're used in having. Kari Tornack (keys) has a harmonica on his lap this time, while Nino is playing an acoustic guitar. The band states that they'll make this a yearly event, so they hope it will be a success. We'll see what happens in the future.

The first part of the show is an acoustic medley of songs such as "Spire", "Eyes Of A Stranger" and "Virus" and the boys can still manage to get loads of energy in the act, eventhough you feel like being hit with a brick in the face, like you just turned 80 and went to see the local dance orchestra. Well, everybody's still having fun and that's most important. Even the guys are smiling on stage and fooling around. "Spread My Wings" follows in full version and electric, then it's the cover-version part of the evening starting with Iron Maiden's "Wasted Years", Yngwie Malmsteen's "I See The Light Tonight", then hops on stage a guest, which is Sethian's Wilska (also seen on stage with Nightwish) and the song is Dio's "Holy Diver" and that works out perfectly. Then another Dio track follows, "Rainbow In The Dark".

The last cover is Joan Baez' "Diamonds And Rust", here Nino takes the bass and Titus the guitar. This still fails to get the full attention from the fans, they're a bit too young to remember such song. Titus Hjelm (bass) explained this was the last time to hear them play these covers, as the band is taking new ones in the show instead.

But the last part of the evening is the best of course, the band plays as usual and the songs are "Until We Touch The Burning Sun", "Sea Of Sorrow", "Voice In A Dream", "Drawn To The Flame", "Mirror Never Lies", "Me, My Enemy", "Forth Into The Black" and "Let The Demons Free". When the last part of the show comes, the crowd is drunk of course by now and the front of the stage is well packed and lots of action going on.

Mirka Rantanen bashes the drums with dedication and Pasi Rantanen hits the high notes, but isn't at his best tonight, seems like he had some trouble in a few places.

All in all people enjoyed the show very much and the band was cheered on stage couple of times, though it still seemed like a short show. I have to say this was probably the second time I witnessed On The Rocks having good sounds, though this show still didn't reach as good ones as the passed Urban Tale album release party. Erkka from the band was watching the show too, and so was Kimberly Goss from Sinergy, the guys from the promising new act Sentiment, Marco Sneck (visiting keysman in Charon), so Thunderstone's music draws all kinds of fans and musicians to see their shows.

Report by Satu Reunanen
Pictures by Kari Helenius
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