I realized, that this year I’ve seen more concerts than any other year before. Also, I went to my very first music festival this summer! So I thought I should definitely write like a summary about all of them. Prepare yourself to face some good and not so good concert pictures and some fangirling 😉 I’m going to start with the very first concert I went to this year, and it was…

HALESTORM – Nosturi, Helsinki 26.3.2013

I wasn’t actually too familiar with this band before, I just started listening to their music like only couple weeks before their concert, I think. A friend of mine recommened their music. She was thinking about going to their concert and somehow I ended up going there also, because why not? I rarely regret going to any concerts and I surely didn’t regret this decision either, it was one awesome rock show. Lzzy Hale, the singer of the band, was one energetic, powerful and talented rock chick. I also want to give points to his brother Arejay Hale, who was one funny guy and madly talented drummer at the show.

LANA DEL REY – Hartwall Arena, Helsinki 16.6.2013

My, oh my. I thought this wonderful lady would never in a million years come to this small country, so far away from the USA. When I heard she would come with her Paradise Tour and play a show here, I was beyond excited. Funny fact is, that the first time I heard her music, I hated it. But even when I hated it, something kept me pulling back to listen to it, again and again. At some point I got used to her style of singing and fell in love with her music in general. To this day, I still don’t think she’s the greatest singer on the planet earth, but she’s something special anyway. Sometimes it’s not about who has the best singing voice, but who’s music you connect with, who’s music you get inspired by, who brings something unique and fresh to the table. To me Lana Del Rey has all those qualities, but that’s just my opinion. Anyway, back to the concert. I went full on fangirling with this one: waiting outside of the venue in the rain and all of the weather circumstances you can think of. I also tried to see her at the airport, but no luck with that one. All of it was worth of the wait though, because it was one of the most stunning shows I’ve ever seen. The stage with all it’s decorations was visually very, very beautiful. Sadly I don’t have too many good pictures to prove it. Lana carried herself with elegance throughout the whole show and performed well. I loved the fact, that there was an actual orchestra performing with her. Personally I loved Young & Beautiful and Blue Velvet, they sounded great live.

ROCK THE BEACH (music festival) – Hietaniemi, Helsinki 26.6.-29.6.2013

Rock the Beach was my very first music festival experience ever. I also did some work at the festival, so I got to see some behind the scenes stuff, that happens at music festivals. Because I was working there, I was able to be at the festival everyday. I got to see many bands, that I probably wouldn’t seen otherwise and I met so many amazing people who were also working there. To be honest, I had such a great time there and I still think about those days with a warm heart.

Green Day, 30 Seconds to Mars and Rammstein were the ‘main bands’ at the festival. Personally I was looking forward to seeing 30 Seconds To Mars perform live the most. I knew that they always have very cool shows. Not only that, of course. I also find their music very lifting, interesting and inspiring. Their show at the Rock The Beach was everything that I expected and more. Green Day was awesome too, but I didn’t get to see them too much, because I had a shift at that moment, but I saw some parts of the show. To me, the coolest moment of their show was, when a fan got to play Billie Joe Armstrong’s guitar on the stage by himself and actually got to keep the guitar later on. Besides the main bands, I also enjoyed seeing Paramore, A Day To Remember and so many other amazing bands. I loved how the singer of Paramore, Hayley Williams, was like one crazy energy ball at the stage. She really kept the audience going. I must mention also, that the crowd at the A Day To Remember show was insane. There was couple mosh pits happening and all kind of crazy stuff. But you know, it was all good rock ‘n’ roll.

WITHIN TEMPTATION – The Circus, Helsinki 27.7.2013

Within Temptation probably is my all time favourite band. I’ve been a fan of their music for 8 years now and that’s the longest time I’ve been listening to any band without getting sick of their music. I could go on and on, how much I love Sharon Den Adel’s angelic singing voice, how much I appreciate their lyrics, how much I love their style of music, mixing classical elements and rock/heavy music together. This particulal concert was my second one by them. They played many songs from their latest album ‘The Unforgiving’, but also some old songs, which was fun. I went there with a dear friend of mine, who has been listening them almost as long as I am. After the show she told me, that recently she had been listening only to mainstream music and not anything like Within Temptation, but now she remembered why she loved this band in the first place. Their songs actually have meaning behind them, she said. And I couldn’t agree more.

I also saw The Pretty Reckless in Orlando, FL last month, you can read about it here: [click click]

