Amorphis π€ In a few hours at Kulttuuritalo, #Helsinki
#gigs
Within Temptation didn't disappoint <3 Sharon den Adel is an absolute goddess, her voice and stage charisma is amazing.
Unfortunately JÀÀhalli is a bit tragic as a venue. There wasn't even a proper cloakroom this time. Thousands of people fighting for limited space with jackets and bags. Corridors and bar areas crammed so full of people you pretty much couldn't move properly. Kind of wish there was less crappy venue in Helsinki for large gigs like this.
Oh yeah, Tarja Turunen! Her voice fit pretty neatly with Sharon. Unfortunately, the home crowd was filming even more than usual when she was one stage.
Last song was "Mother Earth", just like in Amsterdam 2 years ago, absolutely favourite, and possibly the first song I ever heard from the band <3
2023 was most a really nice year, personally. Obviously being extremely privileged, living in a country which isn't at war, isn't really suffering from #climatechange (yet) and isn't a total police state (yet, we're going that way). I made new social connections, kept old ones alive and dug deeper into the wonderful world of #polyamory (π's to my darlings). I had many wonderful moments with my kids, who all stayed healthy and are growing up to be fantastic, if not sometimes annoying, little human beings. I traveled, visiting Brussels for FOSDEM + friends and then Prague, all by train, and then a family trip to the UK by plane. I went to awesome #gigs, the highlights being Jinjer, Gojira (twice!), Trivium, Ignea, Huora, Vimma, Infected Rain, 22-Pistepirkko, Soilwork and many others. I almost broke my leg in a moshpit π€. I went on more dates than I can remember. I attended many marches, against the populist right wing government Finns decided to vote in, but also to demand more climate action. I also attended various XR actions, though not as many as I would have liked. I survived three rounds of layoffs.
But most of all, the year was about #cycling. I managed to log 182 activities into Strava for a total of 3227km, which is more than 2022 and 2021 combined (1503km and 1280km, respectively). I made my first 100km+ day ride by visiting Porvoo and tested out some bikepacking gear during rides in Tallinn and Tampere. I also started planning my first proper multi-week #bikepacking trip in central Europe for May 2024.
Still, seeing the year as positive does require forgetting a lot of things that are not personal. Like the utter failure of #humanity to converge on climate action. Personally, I've already lost hope. We're just going to ride over that cliff. How big the drop is just depends on what we do to mitigate it. Currently we're not doing much, and the direction isn't necessarily going to improve. With right wing governments on the rise, climate action just isn't going to be a priority. And at least in the democratic countries, you can't go blaming "the government for not doing anything" when it's the voters who are gullible fools, voting populist right wing parties for very very selfish reasons. We, the citizens of these countries, are responsible for change not happening. Maybe this crisis is just too big for our species to handle.
2023 was also the most violent year in a long time, with more #conflicts globally than we have had since a long time. While the world should be converging on the big issues, we're doing what humanity knows best - building borders based on imaginary nationalist ideas and smashing each other to pieces.
Can we, as a species, improve in 2024? That remains to be seen.
I'm already getting excited seeing #Jinjer live again in #Prague, beginning of February. Such an awesome band, so much energy π€ The variety of the voice of Tatiana is simply epic. Also I've never been to Prague.
And before that, #FOSDEM again! After a pause of two years! 2023, be good now, don't ruin this for me.
#newhere
Hi weβre Goldskool an act from SE London, UK, who play original music with a nostalgic twist and no-nonsense lyrics.
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If you live or work in London, UK youβll know some of the acts above lived and played there, so check out our live events on our feed and come say hello.
Have a great day and thanks for reading
Goldskool
#gigs #indie #music #acoustic #goldskool #live #tour #original
The cool thing about going to #gigs for a band you know, is discovering bands you don't know. One such band is "New Pagans", who I saw warming up Skunk Anansie in Hamburg in March. Alternative #rock with strong vocals, some cool guitar sounds and an energetic live performance. Hoping to see them again some day.
