Home Sweet Home

Just got back from the sunny city of Turku. I'm still sweaty, hot and tired from traveling in a too hot temperature, my skin has the lovely hue of a boiled lobster and I really, truly do not want to go to work tomorrow. Just a few quick notes of pointless rambling before I hit the shower and then the bed, so that I won't forget anything.

- The ever-changing weather of Finnish summer. I left for Turku on Thursday when it was sunny and warm. Friday morning was sunny and warm. Came Friday afternoon and the rain started. Then came thunder. Then came messages that the festival site had lost electricity during the Turmion Kätilöt gig, luckily everything worked fine when we got there. Unless, of course, you count the thunder storm we had to stand right in the middle of on a field wrapped in a disposable rain coats waiting for the six German Masters (long story involving a few episodes of Sherlock Holmes and a few beers) to show up. The story goes that a security person had said that if the storm would continue for too long and there would not be enough time for Rammstein to play before the permits say that the fun must end, he would throw away his vest as far as he could and dig himself a hole in the ground because the crowd would tear down the place.

After that it was, of course, extremely hot and sunny for the whole weekend. Almost too hot to do anything but sit by the river in the shade and spend quality time with friends. Three of us braved the drunken hordes on Saturday and went to see Ismo Alanko and Tuomari Nurmio (good gigs, both of them).

- The Rammstein gig was good. Not as good as when they play in an indoors venue, largely because of the fact that for the first part none of us could see nothing but the pimples on someone's neck until we moved behind the mixing table to watch the show from the screen. Till's voice did sound a bit rough in places, and the security personnel showed us from where the term "concussion boat" comes from when they dropped Oliver, the bass player, when he came back from crowd-surfing. It looked as though he hit his face on the edge of the stage, causing my heart to take a few extra beats, but he seemed quite okay when he got back on the stage. Understandably slightly pissed off, but otherwise fine.

They did not play Benzin, Los, or Ohne dich much to my (very small) disappointment, but they showed up, they played great music and they put on one helluva display of fire and brimstone, so I'm a happy woman for a good while now.

- During their show the ground shook. Literally. It was a funky feeling standing there on a quaking (don't know if that's word. Don't really care right now ;) ) field as Links234 was playing.

- Meeting Turku-based friends after a too long time - awesome. Picnics by the Aura river - doubly so. Why don't we do that more often? It's only a two-hour drive between us... We even saw a young man jumping into the river for a quick swim, which goes down in the books of history as one of the stupidest things a man can do. Just because it's river-shaped and has liquid flowing in it doesn't mean that it's a) water, and b) safe to swim in.

- Um, um, there must be more but my brain's still on a screen saver mode so I'll leave that for later. Cool shower and my own lovely bed are awaiting.

A big thank you for those willing to put up with me in their own home, not to mention giving me rides from Helsinki to Turku and back again.