The beach, the sun, and even sunnier music found their friends among the audience. The stage got the finale it deserved with Jazzgangsters.

The gangsters didn't draw as wide audience as Soul Captain Band, who performed before them, but it didn't matter - they had an equal amount of groove. Among reggae and ska-beats they played their own instrumentals and gangster-versions of wellknown jazz-songs. A special mention to the female vocalist - nice to watch, even nicer to listen to.

Someone must keep an eye on these gangsters. In addition to "destroying" Rentolava, they stole a worthy load of new fans.

Text: Ilkka Ritvanen

Photo: Antti Vänskä

Translation: Juha Ekholm

One of the three MC:s announces straight away: "We are the most unprofessional band in th festival!" meaning they take it easy, not that they are not capable.

And so it seems to be, the sound is relaxed and they seem to have good time. The audience arriving down to the site seem to be enjoying themselves.

The knees start to go up and down as if by themselves. The rapping don't seem to work, it's too teenage like. The one moment that stood out was a freestyle song during which the boys were taking the piss out of the other artists at the Relax stage.

Towards the end of the set the beach was full and the front of the stage packed. The people like them, I don't.

By Markus Heikkilä

Photos Riikka Kurki

Translation Lärwi xxx

They have been going for over ten years and traditionally their gigs have been very god but this time something wasn't quite right.

It's not enough that you recognize the songs from the bass alone. The solo guitarist was messing up and kept the audience on their toes but they didn't manage to reach their normal standards. I can't really say what was wrong but Tenkula looked a bit ill. Maybe it was his own fault?

Singer Ville Laihiala's normal style is not to asslick the audience but this time he was positively fucked off. He was slamming his microphone around and swearing at the audience. The best moment of the gig was when he left the stage during the last song and left the band do it. What is going on boys...

But of course you can play a shit gig every now and then and it can't always go well and it pisses you off. For me Sentenced means a lot and it's not because of one gig. The new record coming out in the beginning of the next year is a must. We heard two new songs during this gig and one of them had a new improved feel.

That's how it went this time. You can't always win.

By Roihu (Mikko Roihuvuo)

Photo: Leila Oksa

Translation Lärwi xxx

If feels just as pretentious as asking the audience to "give it up for" Don Johnson Big Band one more time.

Comperes familiar from mainstream radio channels are an odd choice for the festival. It would be much more rock'n'roll to have the doorman from local pub Jokela doing it. He could just growl the absolutely necessary information into the mike.

By Markus Heikkilä

Photo: Antti Vänskä

Translation Lärwi xxx

They opened the set with "Megafon" and the audience was sold in front of the singer Ebbot from the start.

The band played brilliantly, songs worth mentioning are "Big Time", a slow number "Under The Sun" and the excellent "Independent Luxury".

Ebbot even went into the audience to sing and made the them literally fall on their knees during the climax of the gig.

Twelve songs including the encores this was the best retro rock has to offer. For me this was also the best gig at the festival. I like this band enourmously.

Pertti

Photos: Pasi Räsämäki

Translation Lärwi xxx

The audience is somewhat tired from partying on Saturday and they don't tend to get to the area until the program has started in earnest.

The best strategy is to book a band who not very many people will not want to miss.

Don Johnson Big Band was the right choice was this job. Their popularity has gotten bigger and bigger and it is not showing any signs of slowing down.

The percussionist dreadlock haired U-Sonic, who is also known from Rinneradio has gotten a more important role in the band during their live gigs. He was also rapping and beatboxing with Tommy.

The Johnsons are old hats at Ilosaari Rock. They've played here during the last few years and if they are as good as they are now and keep the audience interested I can't see why they shouldn't return in many summers to come.

By Olli

Photos Pasi

Translation Lärwi xxx

The audience consisted mostly of big and older than average men, which in turn made the gig visually not as pleasing as it could have been. A 1,5m pygmy like me couldn't see anything. Despite of that, it did sound heavy. As it is generally known, Tarot is atleast 100 years old, and I guess the fans age with the band. Yet I felt a bit sad for not having a leather jacket and a denim waistcoat. I think I'll have my revenge on mankind and go buy myself Tarot's t-shirt.

Text: Any

Photo: Pasi Räsämäki

Translation: Juha Ekholm

The shelf are many metres long and they are full of plastic bags. Although there is loads of stuff everything in well organised.

People are queuing in an orderly manner as well. After all theywant to get their drinks back.

By Riitta

Translation Lärwi xxx

The quietest moments of the day are during a show, especially a big name band. Supervisor Jani Alen tells me that they have 90-100 people selling beer over the weekend, 40-50 people a day.

"We sell more beer than cider", he says.

"When the staff have fun, the audience have fun too", Alen adds.

"We haven't had any trouble makers, people even give us tips sometimes".

He says it's a hard job but most people come back to work there year after year.

"About half of the people here have worked here before. Some of them are here for the tenth time", Alen remembers.

By Riitta

Translation Lärwi xxx

Apparently the rock crowd like to listen to this sort of heavy-ish, simple-ish riff mayhem - with added "fuck you" addressed at the audience - for the tent was packed full and some unlucky ones even had to stay outside. The radio-friendly hit songs got the audience singing along, which I suppose is the way things ought to be. After the show peole clapped their hands long enough to get an encore.

I suppose listeining to them play beats getting beaten up.

Juha Ekholm

"In the old one that looked a bit like a circus tent we had some fantastic rock moments but the wheels have to keep turning", YleX stage supervisor Niksu says.

"We couldn't even get the old tent back anymore this year and we wanted to move forward anyway so getting a new tent was natural choice".

The new tent is going to be at the festival for many years to come. The interior of the tent is suitably dark for a rock festival. The lightshows never looked their best in the old tent which was white. In the darker tent the stage lights look so much better, you also have to remeber that in Finland it doesn't get dark until very late in the evening during the summer.

Although the tent is new there was no problems setting it up.

"We didn't have any problems. We had the best professionals in Finland country doing the job", Niksu says.

Everything else at the YleX stage has been going well too. Technical side has been alright so the bands have had the chance to concentrate in melting the audiences ears in the best rock tent in Finland.

Teppo X. Koskinen

Photos Leila Oksa

Translation Lärwi xxx

What's more the ice hockey team known as Kemopetrol was performing as Heavypetrol, or that's what you could've thought by the way they were playing.

Do you still remember the time when the Finnish music press kept referring to the band as the Finnish Portishead and triphop categorizations were flying around? Either they were wrong from the word go or then keyboardist/composer Kalle Koivosto and his posse have just let their rockin' demons loose. The maestro himself was behind the most extravagant guitar solo of the night, even though it came from a synth in stead of a guitar. Big difference, I guess.

A bit surprisingly the radio hits were placed in the middle of the set and during the last moments the band played just regular cuts from their older albums. To give an example: If the recorded version of Child Is My Name sounds like it's waiting to go slowly out, the only thing the version heard tonight was waiting for was to blow up like a volcano.

A good gig from a good band.

Wording Olli

Imaging Antti

Those, who dared to come see Santtu Karhu & Talvisovat at stage three don't have to guess. In good or bad, a band singing in the Petroskoi dialect of Karelian language doesn't even try to attact everybody's attention. Despite of that, it sounds good.

Talvisovat plays ethnic rock, with a strong emphasis on rock. Ethnic shades were mostly audible in forms of an armenian duluk and a couple of less heard instruments. And they didn't forget accordion-rock either.

After a quite an anemic start, they managed to attract more people, although it's doubtful if anybody really came to the festival just to see Santtu Karhu. Even better if somebody now is enthusiastic about this very individual member of the Fenno-Ugric family.

Text: Ilkka Ritvanen

Photo: Leila Oksa

Translation: Juha Ekholm

You know you can't go wrong when the band begins their set with a Finnish version of Motšrhead's "Iron horse" as "Rauta-airot." More treats were offered in forms of "Kuolleen miehen kupletti", "Piispa ja minŠ" and the fresh "Aamun hiljainen hetki", which contained some especially wild guitar solos. Radiohits "Leimu" and "Ei ole ketŠŠn kelle soittaa" were saved to the end of the set. Musically Viikate is a great combination of heavy guitar riffs merged with tints from The Shadows-type of rock. Encore paid respect to whom the respect belongs to, Roky Erikson, by translating his "Night of the Vampire" to "Vasten kuutamon siltaa." This is dark segment of Finnish rock at its best!

Text: Rokki-Pete

Translation: Juha Ekholm

Photos: Antti Vänskä

The supervisor Tapio tells me that this year people have asked for general information like where the Relax stage is, where can you buy condoms and where are the drinking water points. The Lost and Found is getting smaller and smaller each year.

"If we get about 20 lost wallets and purses during one night it's not a lot, after all there's 19 000 people here", Tapio says.

There's no point in trying to find your lost friends at the Info Point. TeliaSonera (a Finnish phone operator) meeting point is the official spot for hunting your mates who have gone wandering.

The one thing the Info Point has had to do a lot this year is breaking into cars.

"We've helped people get back into their cars when they've locked themselves out", Tapio explains.

Tapio thinks overall the festival gets more mellow each year.

"People are clearly having a good time but the idiots have luckily stayed home", he says.

By Riitta

Photo: Leila Oksa

Translation Lärwi xxx

For a long time the band was semipopular but some time around last year it blossomed. Ever since the band's been touring all round Finland and why not? After all Egotrippi is one the most skilled and intelligent bands in the genre. So this Sunday afternoon the festivalgoers gathered to sing along to the hits and listen to the world's most modest ego trip ever - Egotrippi the band.

Once could critisize the band for playing it safe, but it's not their fault that the songs are spilling over the brim with hit potential. And there's nothing you can do about the fact that people know the songs by heart. That's why creating a celebatory atmosphere wasn't difficult at all, and basically that could mean that the band would let themselves off easy.

Alas, they don't. For the greater glory of Ilosaarirock we got to hear a fine gig played with a full heart and them some. The interaction between the band and the audience was especially gratifying. The biggest hits were saved for last, which in itself was a working solution.

Why is it, by the way, that men who normally wouldn't be caught dead singing do not shy away from slipping into a falsetto on an Egotrippi gig? Real showmanship was on display in the way the band got their audience to quiet down for the prettier bits in the middle of a scorching July afternoon before turning up the heat once again.

The band's playing really makes one's heart sing. It's accurate and it works perfectly but doesn't lose the joy of a live performance. Egotrippi deserves every last bit of success they've got and it isn't that hard to vision the band playing on the main stage late at night.

Now to prepare for the next time and work on my falsetto: "nyt tiedän miksi sydämeni laulaa..."

Teppo X. Koskinen

Pics: Leila Oksa

The supervisors of the cleaning gang are two young ladies Aino and Tarja. The girls take care that the toilet paper doesn't run in the portaloos out and that the whole area gets thoroughly cleaned before each festival day.

First on the site are the bottle collectors. 99.5% of glass bottles in Finland are recycled. You get a few cents for each bottle when you them back to the shop.

After the glass collectors have finished a sweeping machine runs over the grass areas and the cleaners take all the loose rubbish picked from the ground away in giant binliners.

Cleanliness is something you don't normally notice but when things get untidy you see it straight away. When nobody complains about the site being filthy things are going well.

So a big thank you to everybody who take care of this important work.

Please remember Jukka, the poor man at the Popoffice (the festivals organisers) who has to listen to all the complaints after the festival.

Translation Lärwi xxx

Photo: Leila Oksa

"Gigolo" and "Shine Like A Star" started the set off and invited people to move closer. After that we heard "Sugared" in the middle of the set and the big hits "Lauren Caught My Eye" that sounds a bit like Blondie and "Still Alive" which takes influences from Van Halens "Jump" and "Year 2000" by Pulp.

Style wise The Crash were a good choice for the main stage.

By Poppi-Pete

Photos: Antti Vänskä

Translation by Lärwi xxx

They started out with a low tempo song before switching into a tad faster beat, but only for a moment. For the rest of the set the tempo stayed nice and easy except for a few faster numbers.

For the majority of the listeners the band's playing seemed to be nothing more than a backing track for the setting sun. Had it been raining, the gig could've turned out horribly wrong - reggae just doesn't work if it's raining cats and dogs. Luckily the gods of weather looked upon us in a good mood and the sunshine music counterbalanced the shitty portaloos quite nicely. After a short while the audience begins to build up more and the going gets all the more better. Put your hands up and wave 'em around!

During the last song of the main set the singer gets an apparantly off the cuff idea. "Everybody grab something you can spin around!" he commands and the audience obeys. Soon shirts of all kinds are spinning around like it's the last day on Earth. Here's a trick for other artists to try.

When the encore starts, some of the people in the back are caught in Jamaican grooves and to close things off... "Let's do the shirt thing once more!"

Markus Heikkilä

Pics: Antti Vänskä & Riikka Kurki

Anne Myller works with this sort of thing and has started a "Girls, women and alcohol" project with a couple organisations.

During the summer festivals they go round festivals trying to get the message through about drinking too much.

"When people see the t-shirt on us (it has the same message) or the postcard they come and tell us it's not true. Loads of people say it's not fair towards women either. It's not about that though, it's about alcohol not being fair.

Mervi has personal experience of not having her drinking under control.

"I'm sober now and don't drink but I know a woman can't drink as much a man. If only the young people would understand it", she wishes.

By Riitta

Translation Lärwi xxx

When you have nearly 200 hundred peoples requests to take care of, different fruitbaskets and vegetable selections are a job in themselves.

In Ilosaari Rock it is Sanna's job.

"It's been a bit quieter today but I've had to run around sometimes. Some of the foreign bands arrived all at the same time yesterday and we had to take everybody at once. We did manage it all though", Sanna sighs.

This years riders haven't included any weird requests. For instance Iggy Pop who was at Ilosaari a few years ago wanted to have dwarfs to entertain him. This years unusual request was from Melissa Auf der Maur: two organic avocados. She seemed to like them and the band seem to enjoy the rest of the rider as well.

The catering have received other thanks as well. American punks Blood For Blood thanked the catering department. In the States punks get treated like the ugly stepchild but over here in Ilosaari Rock get treated just like everybody else.

Hold onto your seats and guess what the bands ask for first: water and coffee! And the riders haven't got requests for tons of booze and one whole field of cocaine field either These days it all about being healthy, vegetarian and vegan food is in.

But we did have a bit of rock'n'n roll type behaviour as well, thankfully. Blood For Blood and Danko Jones drank so much alcohol the dressing rooms ran out. But the polite gentlemen went to see Sanna about it and she found them some more.

Teppo X. Koskinen

Translation Lärwi xxx

"They are not use-once-and-throw-away cameras. After they film has been developed 89 % of the camera is recycled", Antti Autere says.

They haven't sold this many cameras at any other festival.

"This is a good rock camera. You don't have to worry about loosing or breaking an expensive camera. And the picture quality is really good", Timo Turunen explains.

It is the cheapest "digi" camera on the market, you can get your photos on a CD as well.

In the Kuvamaailma shop on site it is also possible to have your photo taken in the Rock Frame. You put your face into a slot cut into the official festival poster which has very academic looking reading glasses. They've taken hundreds of pictures already.

"This is not commercial though, you are allowed to take a picture of your friends in the frame as well.", Autere says.

By Markus Heikkilä

Photo Ilkka Ritvanen

Translation Lärwi xxx

After that they switched into an alternative mood and kept on going. Their rigorous playing is better than a couple of years ago and that is good. I can't quite point my finger at what has changed, but after they got a new drummer the groove has gotten less robotic and that could be a change for the better. They don't go into detail as much as they used to but instead rely on the good atmosphere to keep things going, without forgetting to leave room for some improvisation. Some of the bridge parts of the songs had gotten a sturdier feel and livened things up just about right. The sound mix was magnificent as always with stand-out performances from both the bass end and the drums with their backing track.

The bass playing is worthy of pointing out especially. During the last half of the gig I noticed some hesitation on the drummers behalf but nothing to complain about. The rapping flowed smoothly and a surprise visitor MC brought some additional colour into the mix.

The audience seemed to respond better to the new songs but never stopped dancing for a moment. When the last song finished with a huge applause, the guys came back on stage to do an encore. Ending the set with a hit song wrapped things up nicely.

Written by Jokke

Pics by Pasi Räsämäki

The seven piece band's trumpet player Alexander was celebrating his birthday and what a perfect way to do it. And a perfect day.

As soon as they started playing the audience was loving it. It is impossible not to at least tap your toes inside your trainers but most people were dancing. And you didn't have tell them twice. One foot forwards, hey! Second foot back, they've been watching Madness videos.

"Come closer, enjoy the show!"

Sometimes the horn section manages to make their instruments sound so low and jazzy it felt like they were recording the title music to an old 30's black and white gangster film. The guitar solos break the songs and even though one can't understand what they singing (they sing in russian) it doesn't matter. The singer knows "Kiitos!" though: "thank you" in Finnish.

This type of sound is perfect for the new Relax stage and all the artists and staff down there have been very plaesed with it. Hopefully we'll have the Relax stage at Ilosaari Rock again next year.

And I hope the boys from St.Petersburg come back as well.

Lärwi xxx

Photo: Riikka Kurki

The first song hinted towards the direction of AC/DC, later the course turned towards Purple and Sabbath. In addition to all the good, the strong vocal resources of the singer are worth a special mention. The peak of the tight set was the second last song "Rock Me To The Top" during which the guitar department rose on top of the PA-stack to play and pose. Excellent opening for Sunday's Ilosaarirock. Old School rules OK!

Text: Rokki-Pete

Photo: Antti Vänskä

Translation: Juha Ekholm

To others, defining the concept is a bit harder task. Let us to try anyway - with various lineups Tapani Rinne has created music, which combines techno, hiphop beats, ambient and the magically haunting saxophone played by the maestro himself.

This year Rinneradio had battle Auf der Maur and Mariska for the listeners, but even despite of the two other big artists, the third tent was nearly full.

Rinneradio did not fail the expectations. The bassclarinet created an atmosphere, which compelled to close your eyes and enjoy, but on the other hand, you just had to keep your eyes open due the pounding dance beat. The additional vocalist heard during the end of the set was a definitely uplifting experience.

We all knew it beforehand, but let it be said once more: you just can't overdose from Rinneradio.

Text: Ilkka Ritvanen

Photo: Riikka Kurki

Translation: Juha Ekholm

The honour of being the first act to play on Rentolava were Jamstream and they fit the bill gracefully. I'd heard of the band but I hadn't heard them. However after this gig I'll make sure to get to know them better. Their playing was full of youthful energy but also very skillful. The band's relaxed funk was all the more engaging because of the vocalist's buoyancy. There could've been more crowd but at least everyone who showed up had a good time.

The real bomb was dropped by Quintessence whose gig goes straight into my personal top ten list of all time Ilosaari performances. Their music was a high-concentrate dosage of 'niiiiiiice' - jazz, soul and hip-hop. The latter was best exemplified by vocalist Emma Salokoski's and the keyboardist's dialogue. It's obvious that the band has achieved this level of quality by playing together for a long time.

Emma's singing was incredible, as she controlled her voice perfectly. The Finnish Erykah Badu singing was spellbinding. Another rare thing was that jamming along to Quintessence didn't require any sort of toxication. Gimme more of this.

Antti

Pics: Riikka Kurki

Attached to that black bird's nest is a man of small stature but great voice - and an even greater charisma.

But who's surprised by the response? What sort of festival would hire a b-class act to headline the first day? And let's not forget the proverbial fulfillment of the band and festival's long-time relationship, what with fireworks and all.

Some sort of greatest hits principle was probably applied in choosing the songs. Obvious highlights were the opener Daavidin fuzz back from their "angry young punks" era, the duet waltz Alla jalavapuun sang in with Maija Vilkkumaa and the final encore trio that started out with a new song and ended with two of the band's best loved heavy metal thrashings, Minä olen myyrä ja Homo sapiens.

Thank you for visiting, please come again.

Olli

Pics: Leila Oksa

The second stage was full of enthusiasm as the canadian band began their show - and maybe there really was some magic in the air, as the audience got complimented as the best of their six month tour after the second song.

Business as usual, the band just couldn't end their show without being forced to play an encore. As a typical very luminous Finnish summer night fell outside, the audience inside the second tent were treated with a lullaby-like song, performed by Melissa alone just with her bass guitar, and one could see tens of cigarette lighters being waved in the air.

Hell yeah, I'm convinced.

-Juha Ekholm

Photos: Pasi Räsämäki

Jukka Poika and Jenkkarekka are first band in that genre in Finland. Jenkkarekka means jenkka truck, jenkka being a type of Finnish folk dance, like polka.

The band was loving it and so was the audience. They were dancing along, the stage was filled with the message of love and winds were light and warm. Rolling, mellow and relaxed sounds floated in the air.

The bands members are familiar from others combos like Soul Captain but Jukka Poika and Jenkkarekka are a completely different project.

The bands' lyrics divide opinions and cause discussions. They don't really say "don't use soft drugs", in fact the opposite. When you listen to them you kind of get to know what they think of smoking dope. They tell it like it is.

They could've not chosen a better stage for the gig. The sun going down and the nice Finnish summer evening were the perfect backdrop.

By Satu Irisvik

Translation Lärwi xxx

The guys are hot as hell. Come to think of it, there is something very infernal about them. Even though a lot of people accuse the band of selling out, it's damn hard not to dig them. Especially on a day like this when storm clouds began to gather just as the band stepped on stage. The headbanging started right away and atmosphere was oh so wonderfully filthy. Thoughts of self-pleasure were flowing my mind.

On stage CoF looks so bloody good it's no wonder that a lot of new fans were made on this gig as well. In addition to old songs, some new stuff were heard as well and they didn't sound half bad.

The heaviest band thus far - by far.

-Anya

Photos: Leila Oksa

Their spot in the schedule wasn't an optimal one. Both Danko Jones and Jukka Poika

& Jenkkarekka were playing at the same time, so the competition was hard. But respect must be handed out to Kaucas and the Finnish hiphop scene, for the audience wasn't as scarse as it could've been.

Kaucas offered plenty of similes but their quality was varying. Some of the stuff worked okay, some of them were a bit off. However what was lost in smoothness was gained in attitude and the flow never broke.

Visually the posse could be a tad more active but the gig worked just fine. People! Go listen to them, if you have a chance. They're well worth it.

Juri Oinonen

Photo: Leila Oksa

Numerous f-words where shouted both during the songs and in between them, but despite their sociopathy the co-operation of a vocalist who looks like a butcher and the guitarist who provided backing vocals seemed quite amusing.

The audience seemed to consist mostly of diehard fans of the band, basically all songs were more or less sing-along anthems and the pit was what you'd generally expect to find in a concert of a hardcore band from the US of A. And given the amount of half-naked bodies crashing into each other, this was the number one performer in the whole festival for many. Unfortunately some accidental violence took place during the gig, but hopefully nobody got seriously hurt.

Afterwords from the band itself: Having toured big European festivals this summer, the band wished compliment Ilosaarirock for the best audience and the best organization. And of course, the gig was the best they've played this summer.

Text: Ilkka Ritvanen

Photo: Leila Oksa

Adaptation/Translation: Juha Ekholm

The stylist of the record company must have beaten his head to the wall during the promo shoots, or as one might see from the included pictures, given up completely. The band looks, apart from their drummer Olli-Matti, as if they'd be more at home with their sideproject Loozer, which concentrates on playing the songs of the legendary Weezer.

Apart from the visual details, the concert was a good example of music with rocks in it. The bass was audible all the way to the beer tent with a respectable volume. The melodies and little solos of the guitarist Jute enhanced the songs which mostly were based on heavy powerchord riffs and the synthesizer provided a nice addition. And you really can't help admitting, Hannu is a damn good vocalist. During the song "Kuuluisa" the audience got into the correct mood for singing along, and the radio powerplay hits "Kauas" and "Voisiko Olla Tänään Se Päivä" were nicely sung by the audience alone, when Hannu gave them a chance. The band and the audience seemed to have fun - doesn't that imply the gig was a success and a good one?

Text: Heikki

Photo: Riikka Kurki

Translation: Juha Ekholm

Redrama, whose chosen language is English, is the reigning czar of our domestic scene. As is mandatory, the backing beat was provided by a DJ armed with two Technics MK1200s and a sampler. Additional support came from two back MCs. The DJ spins a couple of tracks to warm things up. For a moment I mistake one of the back MCs to be Lasse himself but soon the master enters the stage and really gets things going.

Redrama sounds just as good live as he does on record. I'm reminded of Beastie Boys' gig in Ruisrock 1998 - the crowd gets into the groove immediately and the eponymous track from Everyday Soundtrack gets them dancing like mad. Hands are waving around from left to right and the atmosphere is like that of a tele-evangelist preaching.

The DJ joins in the rapping, apparently in Finnish. Regrettably it's almost impossible to make out the lyrics, which sorta kills the mood in a hiphop gig. But the real bomb is just about to be dropped. The blast wave from Hang It Up sweeps down all the tents on a five-mile radius.

Knuckleheadz, a new single, is played as the encore. The norwegian MC Critical joins Redrama on stage on this song... I think. I've no idea what the man looks like but the main thing is that everybody is enjoying himself "like fuck", as Redrama puts it.

The audience gets Redrama to do an another encore which he does a cappella, accompanied only by waving hands. After umpteen thankyous the gig ends with - what else? - a sampled explosion: KA-BOOM!

Markus Heikkilä

Kuvat: Riikka Kurki

The third song Forever More started the hitlist followed by Lay Down Your Arms Girl, Gothic Girl and Wasting The Dawn. We also heard the latest single Lost Boys, Dance D'amour, an old favourite Velvet Touch , Betty Blue, and the mighty finish to the set, Brandon Lee.

It was the first time for me I've seen the band during their major fame and I thought they had enough attidude spiced with the right amount of quality songs. The new CD will be well worth waiting worth if the new single is anything to go by.

By Rokki-Pete

Photo: Antti Vänskä

Translation Lärwi xxx

Even though the band was the first to play on second stage, meaning the showtime was earlier than is usually considered appropriate for civilized countries, one couldn't tell that looking at the crowd: the 10,000 person tent was packed full.

A summer full of touring has perfected the Mokoma boys' choreographies so that most of the proper boy bands pale beside them. Their synchronized headbanging was a sight to behold. One would almost suspect that the whole thing'd been prepared in advance, but in truth it's probably just the rigorous touring. The gig begun with three Rapunzels moshing in unison on stage as Marko Annala joined them. The beastie boys from Lappeenranta worked out such a sweat that the organizers had to spray H20 on the audience to keep their body temperatures in check.

Most of the material heard during the hour-loung gig was from their newest album, but did include such standards as Seitsemän sinetin takana and - as befits a stage co-sponsored by the radio channel YleX - the playlist-friendly Uni saa tulla. Takatalvi sparked off a singalong with the crowd, so§ one can only hope that Lord of the Weathers wasn't too offended by such a choice.

Marjut

Mokoma, ie. hairy men on the roll. The YleX stage got very hot and extremely atmospheric when Mokoma were playing. A full gig of heavy thunder is easy achieve when professionals are on the job.

Each and every one song got a thunderous applause. However, the one that got the best response was Takatalvi which was pretty appropriate, as this was Mokoma's last gig this festival season.

Boogieman Any

Photo: Antti Vänskä