Weekend of fangirlism

It has been long enough since my previous Nightwish concert babble, so let me tell you about last weekend. Not only was it one of the most epic Nw-trips of  my lifetime but also, sadly, the last one for the time being.

First of all, there's a map to illustrate the distance we needed to cover in order to get to the venue, and that is approximately 600km right there. So, we spent long hours in a car with rain pouring down for the most of the journey. Nevertheless, our BMW disco was quite an entertaining way of travelling, and I at least had loads of fun singing along to familiar songs and whatnot.

The event in question was a two-day festival at a hotel car park literally in the middle of nowhere hence we were to stay in the hotel for convenience's sake, and from the courtesy of our parents' wallets. Now the really important thing is that also all of the artists were most likely going to be staying there as well. hehehehehee
Yes, I believe al of us can see the disastrous consequences that such an arrangement is about to have. Brace yourselves.

Oh, one more thing to start off the perfect weekend was the cancellation of one of the bands due to perform on the same day as Nightwish. They were some kind of a reggae-y music group with a few unspeakably annoying radio hits, and nobody was sad to see them replaced by Battle Beast, consequently one of my top favourite bands. Every single time they announced this change at the festival I had to perform some sort of a victory dance just because I was so happy to see them again.

On the Friday which was the first day of the event, we saw such great Finnish metal bands as Turmion Kätilöt, Kotiteollisuus and Amorphis (of which I was particularly glad), and also met our brand new group of friends with whom we'd spent another Nightwish -related day only a week before. Not also to be forgotten how, upon seeing Floor Jansen check in the hotel earlier that day, both of us practically fell down on our knees and had to lean on a couch for a while to be able to walk again. I believe this is a textbook example of what a 'Floorgasm' can be.

Anyhow, the first day was musically a very rewarding experience, even if the weather was awful: the top temperature of the day was something like 13 degrees Celcius with occasional showers and wind. Excuse you, Finnish weather, but this is supposed to be the hottest season of the year.

On Saturday morning, I had my alarm set at 8:15 or something equally ridiculous as I had promised to go check the gates for other enthousiastic  Nightwish fans. I only saw some Russian athletes jogging in the woods, and returned to the hotel room.
At breakfast the first people we saw were the two singers of Turmion Kätilöt, one of them still in previous night's gear and all, and I mean look at these guys. Would you not cackle a bit?
I can only imagine what the Russian athletes must have thought.

Past ten in the morning we sat down in front of the gates to secure the front row, but we really could have slept at least three hours longer and still gotten there before anyone else. Personally, I don't mind queuing especially in good company so I think it was quite a nice day to spend the day until they opened the gates and we got in the festival area. However, it was really cold again, and I ended up wearing two pairs of stockings, skiing socks, multiple shirts, a scarf and a leather jacket and even then my fingers were freezing cold.

But then again, had it not been as cold as it was I wouldn't had visited our hotel room as often as I did, and then I wouldn't had seen Floor on a treadmill at the gym, Troy at the hotel's reception or Tuomas going down to a restaurant with his girlfriend. So yeah, I'm not complaining.

In the end, we didn't even have to run for the main stage because there was practically no competition at the gates, and thus it became a very relaxed day. Later on, when other people started pouring in the area you could see from a lot of people's faces that they'd thought they could just walk in and get in the front row - but darlings, that's not how it works with Nightwish fans. Not even when you're that high up North. We are fucking crazy.

The first band played random FinnHit covers - stuff that my parents would've enjoyed. But then we had Battle Beast who rocked like hell, and can I just say how freaking awesome they are. And I could also point out how lucky I was to see all of my three favourites on the same weekend: Amorphis, Battle Beast and Nightwish (but we're still getting to that).

The next artist was Johanna Kurkela whose ballad-centred music genre was kind of out of place amongst all of that rock and metal but I don't even care because she is such an adorable fairy lady, and I completely fell in love with her.

And she's so prettyyyyy.

by Samu Puuronen

Just before Nightwish we had Eläkeläiset (The Pensioners), but none of their music really makes sense unless you're Finnish so I'm just going to leave that there. Though apparently they are also really popular in Germany for some unknown reason. But they were great.
And they laughed at us. Like everyone seems to do these days.

Buuuuuut. The most important thing ever in the universe: Nightwish.

I'm not even exaggerating when I say that I nearly started crying during their Intro. It's just so emotional to know that this is it, this is the last time on the current tour - and you will have to wait for the next one for two years. Fortunately, Nightwish has such an energetic and positive show every time that even if I at times felt like crying it soon turned into laughter. When it ended though, that's when I broke down a little.
I was extremely glad that they'd replaced Over the Hills and Far Away with Ghost River and Song of Myself. Otherwise it was the regular setlist that they've been playing throughout the summer.

Intro: Crimson Tide

*

1. Dark Chest Of Wonders

2. Wish I Had An Angel

3. She Is My Sin

4. Ghost River

5. Ever Dream

6. Storytime

7. I Want My Tears Back

8. Nemo

9. Last Of The Wilds

10. Bless The Child

11. Romanticide

12. Amaranth

13. Ghost Love Score

14. Song Of Myself

15. Last Ride Of The Day

*

Outro: Imaginaerum

I don't actually remember much details; it all went so fast. I just let every single moment of those way too short 90 minutes fill me completely. It wasn't a lot more special than other gigs because they are always special to me by definition, but I think the band had a little something in there emotionally, given that it was their last appearance in Finland for a while, and that made it just that tiny bit more intense for me as well.

As I already hyped in my London gig post last Autumn, Floor Jansen is the goddess of Metal and my queen. As she's done more shows with the band she has become even more of a vital part of the whole Nw-experience for me, and I really hope that they will continue together. Previously, I don't think she has taken much of direct eye contact with the audience but this time I definitely caught those beautiful eyes multiple times (and melted inside).

eeeeeeep *__*

Easily one of the best things of occupying the front row with a large group of people is the attention you get from the band. And the best thing of all, ever, is when you see that they recognise you. Even though mostly it is highly questionable whether the band members actually remember your face or if it's just your hoping that they do, this time I think, it is safe to say that yes, we were recognised by most of them.

A joke that has carried through the Imaginaerum tour has been my "love affair" with Emppu, the guitarist. He is quite a flirt on stage as a rule but last summer my best friend pointed out how he seemed to spend slightly more time smiling at me than anyone else - and this summer it just escalated completely. And I'm not even kidding, for he was playing in front of me practically all the time last weekend. I don't know what it is - maybe he remembers me because I'm remarkably shorter than others, have red hair and smile all the time. I really don't know, but it has been so much fun. But now I can't look at him at all without cracking up completely. And yes, I am still a flaming homosexual woman. But I can't not flirt with Emppu. Deal with it.

no, you need to stop

I also proved my epic lack of maturity at our hotel the next morning when I was completely unable to go and talk to him even though he was just sitting there looking like he wouldn't mind the slightest. And yeah, then he just had to wink at me when he left, and I practically fell off the sofa. So. There. A round of applause for the failure that is me.

Since we are already in the topic of me not being able to act like a normal adult human being around certain musicians, let's talk about Tuomas. I have long been painfully aware of the sudden shutdown of intelligence that happens to me when close to Tuomas, and so I wrote him a letter because delivering it to him would probably be doable unlike saying anything other than 'thank you'. I managed to give my letter, and I didn't even babble anything stupid but I trembled so bad that I it was embarrassing. But what did I expect with four hours of sleep? Maestro himself seemed to be in a coma-like state as well since we went to bother him before he'd even had a chance to have his morning coffee. So another great success story there.

No, but I'm really happy of all this. And even if being slightly sleepy, Tuomas was still extremely nice and seemed genuinely appreciative of my 'epic letter' as I introduced it.

And I could go on and on, countless little things that happened, but perhaps this is sufficient for now. I'm still so exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally of everything that's happened that I can't really even believe that I didn't just imagine all of it.

But no, the fact that I left my wallet at the hotel is quite real.

And the real tragedy is that I finally got Emppu's guitar pleck but it's in the wallet now.

Luckily they just called me and said that it's been sent.