Pitkä kuuma kesä, Suvilahti, 27th of June, 2009

Ever since it was announced that Frank Turner would play in Pitkä kuuma kesä, I had been waiting for it. Sure, seeing Melvins and Social Distortion was something to look forward to, as well, but Frank was the real reason I paid a ridiculous amount of money for that one-day ticket.

I wanted to see as many gigs as possible, so me and my companion arrived to the festival site just in time to catch the opening act, Anal Thunder play their first chords. They weren’t too drunk this time, mostly because of the time, partly because personal reasons. They seemed to be having a good time despite that. They’re not the kind of band I would listen to at home, but I always enjoy seeing them play live.

They had a lot of stuff to say between their songs, mostly mocking the other guitar player who had apparently been drunk for a week. They also had a little bit of fun at the expense of typical crowd interactions like “Are you having a good time?” or “Is it hot out there?” It was really hard not to laugh to other bands using almost exactly these phrases later during the day…

Next up was Risto. I had heard rave reviews of his/their live shows, but had never witnessed one myself, so I had some expectations. It pretty soon became clear that the main stage was far too big for them to fill. I think a small club which forces people to dance would fit them perfectly.

Capital Beat plays ska, so I didn’t really look forward to seeing them. I bumped into an old friend of mine just before they started playing, so I didn’t actually pay much attention to their show. They sounded like a pretty generic third generation ska band. Not too original, not too impressive. Ok background music for other activities though.

Disco Ensemble has never been exactly my cup of tea, though I did enjoy some of the stuff they did when they were still called DisCo. During their set I had some lunch. I was getting ready for the main event (for me, anyway), so I don’t remember too many details about DE’s gig.

I had only seen Frank Turner play once before, and back then I didn’t know much about him. Now he’s one of my favorite artists, so the expectations were much higher this time, but he didn’t fail them.

I didn’t take notes, so I don’t have the exact setlist, but he started his set with I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous, played Substitute, Long Live the Queen, Photosynthesis and the title track from Love, Ire & Song, The Real Damage, Worse Things Happen at Sea, The Ballad of Me and My Friends from Sleep is for the Week and Nashville, Tennessee from Campfire Punkrock.

He also played a couple of new songs which are going to be on his new album Poetry of the Deed. Try This at Home is probably my new favorite F.T. track. I didn’t like Dan’s Song all that much, but the story behind it was funny.

Here’s a video of Try This at Home I found in Youtube:

At some point Frank apologized for having some problems with his voice due to playing 24 gigs in 24 hours the day before. I thought it was a joke, but apparently it was true:

“We’re shooting a video for the new single this week, for a song called “The Road”. The idea for the video is, I’m going to try and play as many house parties in 24 hours as possible, around London. This is where we need your help. We’re starting at 8pm on Thursday and finishing at 8pm on Friday this week – i.e. the 25th-26th.”

Frank also told he’d be coming back to Finland in December, this time for a club gig at Tavastia with his band. I’m still afraid he’ll make it in the US, big time, and he’ll have much better things to do than touring Northern Europe at that time, but still, I’m excited. Maybe then he doesn’t have to check his iPod after each song to see whether he still has time for another one…

I don’t think there’s much to add to that. I’m a fan, so I’m biased, but at least a few people who didn’t really know/like Frank beforehand were impressed as well. I would’ve liked to chat with him, but the security arrangements were a bit more strict than they were in Tuntuma three years ago…

I’ve never been a fan of The Melvins, but they have made some stuff I like. Their live show was certainly impressive, having two drummers who played like they were mirror images of each other. I enjoyed the headbangable stuff for some time, but before long, grew tired of the technical nature of their songs.

I spent rest of the day mostly in the bar area, mostly collecting cans which were good for a one euro deposit. Damn Seagulls was nice background music for getting drunk, The Sounds sounded a lot worse live than they do on album (I guess the appearance of Maja Ivarsson makes up for at least a part of that), Face to Face was rather generic american punk rock, as I expected.

Social Distortion wasn’t too bad, really. I don’t really like much of their stuff expect for White Light, White Heat, White Trash and they only played on song from that album (Don’t Drag Me Down). I have no idea why, because all of their earlier and later stuff is just so much sloppier and slacker. A lot of people seemed to agree with me, but there were a lot of hard-core fans who enjoyed every second of the hour and a half.

I decided to miss The Soundtrack of Our Lives and head for a late dinner downtown. It was a pleasant day, if a bit uneventful. None of the acts blew me away. I think the area was well organized, the proximity of the two stages worked well. On the negative side, the food supply was not diverse enough (only one type of vegetarian food, come on!) and there weren’t enough toilets (there never are).

It was also kind of strange how the event was (not) marketed. With ticket prices like that, you’d expect the festival to want to have some kind of presence as well.

(Sorry for the rather boring title and uninspired writing, but this is my second post this evening and I have a slight hangover, so I couldn’t think of anything better right now.)