I have to admit I was drunk almost the entire time I spent on the festival area, so I might have missed a lot of acts which would've been worth checking out and my memories of the acts I did witness could be dim.

Friday

We arrived at the scene around six, so I missed the first two acts, The Uul of Palmes and Escape to Death. SA-Int made sure that we knew we had arrived on a punk festival, but I didn't like their stuff that much.

Baxter Stockman was the exact opposite: their music was probably the least "punk" of any act during the weekend, but I liked them a lot. In the 90's there were a lot of bands which tried to sound like Nirvana, Fugazi or Primus, but I don't there were any Finnish bands which combined those influences as well as this trio does. (It is quite likely that their actual influences are not that mainstream, but those were the bands I thought of during their set.) The only complaint I have is that when the audience asks for something faster, you should be able to provide them with something faster.

Agatha was the second act of Friday which made me smile like a maniac. They didn't have the most memorable songs, but the intensity and tightness they played with was impressive. I wish they had made more contact with the audience though, it kind of felt like they were playing for each other. And, to sound like a complete idiot, I have to add that it is really nice to see some beautiful girls on stage.

Speaking of beautiful girls, the only act on the main stage which impressed me on Friday was Masshysteri. There was something very Swedish about their style and sound, but in a good way, not in a Dis-something way. Even though it was raining like hell at this point, I had a great time.

But that was the end of fun for that night as the amount of water actually became unbearable. We hitched a ride back to Tampere and had some well deserved sleep.

Saturday

After getting back to the festival site and swimming in the lake, Taantuma took me completely by surprise. The whole concept of a nine-year old kid singing songs about comsuming too much alcohol might be a bit questionable, but I don't think I saw anyone who wasn't smiling during the set. Hei Johanna (by Karkkiautomaatti, of course) actually gave me goosebumps and literally made me cry. It's been a while since any band has done that to me.

Lebakko seemed to have a good time on stage and I liked their stuff quite a lot, but playing a Wasted song as a cover is not the best idea when it just shows that your own songs aren't half as good as theirs. I didn't witness much of Abnormi because I was too busy talking about hockey and the climate in Winnipeg (don't ask, it's a long story), but they seemed to have a lot of guests on stage and a lot of energy as well.

Spoiled Betty played a rather uninspired set. It's nice to watch your friends on stage and I had a good time, but something just didn't seem right. Johanna's vocals weren't loud enough, and by looking at the mixers expression, she had no influence on it, so it must've been Johanna himself who was causing the problem. And I waited for her to raise her foot on a stage monitor, but she didn't, which was a shame. (Inside joke, sorry.)

I think it had been like ten years since I last saw Punk Lurex OK. Their lineup had gone through some changes, but they were just as good as before. They played a lot of newer stuff I didn't recognize, but also some older hits and a couple of great covers. I love their version of Ever Fallen in Love (originally by Buzzcocks, naturally).

I'm not a big fan of heavy metal, but even I was impressed by Born to Hate. It's definately not the kind of music I would listen to at home, but the amount of energy and intensity they put into their live set was indescribable. After them, Leatherface seemed kind of lame. Ok, they have a lot of great songs and they played them well, but in order for a gig to be great, there needs to be some sort of connection between the audience and the act and in this case it was simply missing.

After hearing and reading about the organizational disaster which took place at the same time in Pori, I feel obligated to thank the organizers of Puntala-rock. The laid back, yet effective approach can never be matched by any so called professionals because they lack the love which only amateurs can have.

I also have to thank the good people of Veganissimo for providing us with the best food I've ever had on any festival. Too bad their restaurant went bankrupt earlier this month, I never had the chance to pay them a visit there. I sure hope they can still provide hungry punks with the kind of catering they did in Puntala.

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.)

When I arrived around ten o’clock, the venue was empty. Virgin Oil is a rather average Italian restaurant operated by one of Finland’s biggest daily consumer goods chains. It also has a bar downstairs and a stage upstairs. I think the capacity of the venue is around three or four hundred, but there were around twenty people there.

I thought it had something to do with the Finland – Russia football (soccer for the American Idiots) match which had just ended, that people would trickle there from other bars where they had been watching the game, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Thinking about it, I don’t think there are too many people who appreciate both football and a) all-female punk rock b) drag queens. (Except for me, of course.)

Morgan Deveraux was the first act of the evening. He/she (don’t you just hate languages which use different personal pronouns based on something as diverse as sex) was really entertaining. Correct me if I’m wrong (I’m not that familiar with the genre), but don’t most drag queens just act like they’re singing? Well, she doesn’t. And I’ve never seen a drag queen on stage with two guitarists who also play on top of the playback. Strange, but entertaining as hell.

Next up was Kide. She was one of the guitarists on stage with Morgan Deveraux and her band featured almost the full lineup of Liquid Sisters. Straight-up rock n’ roll has never been my cup of tea, so I’m not sure what to say about her performance. I don’t think I thought it was bad, but the fact that I don’t remember too much of it says a lot, I guess.

She joked that it was a support gig for her trip to Berlin, which luckily wasn’t really the case. There were apparently about five people who had actually paid the admission of 6 € to get in, the rest of the thirty-something “crowd” were on the guest list. I’m still kind of pissed that I didn’t get my ticket in advance, it would’ve been cool to have a ticket with seat number one. Or even three. (Of course there weren’t any seats, but the advance tickets did have numbers printed on them.)

Kide is playing in Berlin on at the end of this month, so all you Germans out there (I’m pretending I have an audience here…), go to Monster Ronson’s Ichiban Karaoke on the 26th of June. (Oh, I should probably mention that Liquid Sisters is playing there too.)

My initial impression of Liquid Sisters was based on the three tracks they have on their MySpace page (someone really should offer bands a way to promote themselves with a Free Network Service). It was kind of off-the-mark. I thought they were more generic riot grrl punk than they actually are. Live, they were a lot more versatile, bringing into mind as different comparisons as Dead Kennedys and Crass.

They played a set which contained apparently all their songs, plus Somebody Put Something in My Drink (by the Ramones, of course) as an encore. Their lyrics differ a lot from one track to another, which is nice. A combination of political, personal and humorous content has always appealed to me. (The title of this post is from one of their tracks, not sure what it’s called. And, for the record, the reason why she doesn’t want to go to work today is “because it sucks ass”.)

After the gig was over I had to thank the band. The first member I spotted was the singer Peppe. She was really impressed that there was at least one person who she didn’t know and who had paid to see them. So impressed, in fact, that I received a free copy of their “Fuck That Shit” EP from her. It contains the same recordings they have on MySpace, so it’s not really anything shiny and new for me (except that the cover rocks!), but for the first time in my life I have record which has authentic signatures of the band members (well, almost all of them, anyway) on the cover…