Ilosaarirock - The best weekend of the year!

I spent last weekend on a music festival in the eastern Finland with my friends. We drove there with, stayed at my friends moms place and had a blast! It was the best festival I ever went and here's why:

- The lineup was AWESOME! So many artists I really like and the gigs were AMAZING!

- The best friends I could ever imagine for a weekend like that were with me! They rock! -- And they are what made the trip so great!

- The weather really pampered us and it didn't rain at all during the weekend.

Ilosaarirock festival has been advertising themselves as the best weekend of the year, and this year - for me atleast - it really was.

Our weekend started on Friday morning when we started driving from Helsinki towards Joensuu. It's over 400 kilometers drive from Helsinki, so we spent a good part of the day in the car. We listened to some of the artists we were going to see and had coffee breaks regularly enough to keep everyone happy. We had no hurry and we got to enjoy the scenery on the way.

When we got to Joensuu, we settled in and started preparing for the festival. It was going to be a busy day as the artists we wanted to see were all playing one after another. It took me a while longer than intended to get ready and we were a little late to see Ismo Alanko (old, very experienced and well known Finnish artist). I really liked it when he played some of his older songs that have turned into classics during the years.

After Ismo Alanko we went to the chill-out-zone. It's inside the festival area and you are allowed to drink your own drinks there. We hangout there for a bit, went to see Disco Ensemble and then headed to see Jenni Vartiainen. The gig was brilliant. We were standing there, in the bar area next to the main stage, drinking (ridiculously expensive) beer. I was standing in front of my friends among the other people who were dancing, jumping and singing along with all the songs. At times I'd look back to check on my friends... They are not that into Jenni Vartiainen and they were standing there, in middle of the crowd that was dancing and singing and enjoying the gig to the fullest. I laughed a little, they did look a little like they didn't belong that far in the front lines. She played almost all of my favorite songs and the one that she didn't play, I understand - it's a slow and sad one telling about the grim history of the Seili island (I almost visited the island a week before), not something you want to hear during the best weekend of the summer. Absolutely fabulous gig!

After the gig was over, we headed towards the next one we really wanted to see. It was CMX, a band that I would like to call old as stone. They actually started playing at 1985, so they go way back and are an important part of Finnish music scene. Their songs are usually references to mythology and religion. Some of the songs very powerful. Especially on this gig where they played with a full orchestra. Yet another amazing gig. They were playing in smaller stage, in a tent, while I think they could've easily worked on the main stage as well. We were dancing and enjoying the gig.

Then it was time to head to see the evenings main artist: Nightwish.

Even though Finland is the country of metal and I know half of their songs by heart, I'm not sure if I've ever seen them live. Definitely not after Floor Jansen took her place as the singer. So for me this was kind of meeting them for the first time. My first impression on Floor Jansen was that she's kind a stepmother, a lovely one, trying to claim her place in the hearts of the children, who still remember their mother and miss her a lot. Nightwish comes from near Joensuu, so this must have been pretty much the hardest audience ever for her. Also -- if I may criticize -- I don't understand why the new songs written to her are not bringing out her amazing voice. She did grow into me during the gig. She is a good choice for the band and they seemed to have fun and play very well together. The gig was awesome and the fire effects were stunning and the show looked really good.

The walk home after the first day was pretty interesting. We didn't want to walk, so I tried to hitchhike. There was one old Cadillac stopping and offering me a ride, but I would've had to leave my friends behind so eventually we walked. The sky was getting lighter, we talked about music and life. It was good. When we got back to the house, me and Tuukka sat outside for a while, drinking one more beers and talking about everything until the sun was up in the sky.

The next morning we woke up each at our own pace. Venla went her own way to see some bands at the festival and me and Tuukka took our time to get back to the area. We spent some time at the chill-out-zone before we headed to the area to see Von Hertzen Brothers play. Venla wanted to go swimming, so we did. This is one of the things that make Ilosaari an unique festival: there's a stage (Rentolava) located next to the lake so that you can actually see and hear the bands playing perfectly in the lake. We spent most of the gig out there in the lake while Tuukka was sitting on the grass enjoying the summer day.

The next artist we wanted to see was playing several hours later so we headed back to the chill-out-zone. We sat there, enjoying the sun and listening to some music that was coming from the festival area.

A while later we headed back in to see one of my favorite bands, Apulanta. They are originally a Finnish punk band, but now they have become more mainstream. I kind of grew up listening to them and their music has been with me in so many different phases of life that there isn't another band that has been there as long as they have. I remember listening to them when I was a teenager and I remember seeing one of their many farewell gigs at Tavastia years ago... Their music has been very important to me and I assume it always will be.

After Apulanta Venla went to see a few more gigs and me and Tuukka headed back to the house. We stopped on the way to get us a pizza. We took the pizza with us, sat on the riverbank and had some wine with it. It was amazing. The light summer night, the river floating in front of our eyes, the well lit bridge... Eventually we finished the pizza and walked the rest of the way to the house. Venla arrived like three minutes after us. She had watched the rest of the bands and somehow miraculously gotten a taxi to the house.

We didn't go to the festival on Sunday as we all needed to be home at a decent hour. The ride back was not the happiest one as we were pretty hangoverish, except for Tuukka. He was driving and laughing at us.

The advertisement promised much, but the festival delivered even more. It truly was the best weekend of the year.

#ilosaari #ilosaarirock #musicfestival #festival #music #bands #Joensuu #Finland