Alright, there is no sophisticated way to express all these feelings I'm feeling right now, as I'm unable to form complete sentences, but hey this is me, an emotional mess suffering from a bitch called post-gig depression. How did this happen?
Well, me and a good friend of mine saw my favorite band live on Wednesday. The Red Hot Chili Peppers. In order to see them we had to travel like 600 km by train to Tampere - which took whole night - wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning so we wouldn't miss the station, kill time till check-in time (our hotel was good 15 km away from the centre of the city - that's how crowded it was there, no rooms available any closer), then rush back to take our place at the ever-growing queue of eager RHCP fans who have for years and years waited for the band to come here. So you can imagine how I felt last November when I learned that they're coming here - well, my Facebook status pretty much sums it up...
In Finnish but if you can use your imagination you might see keysmashing and screaming and the word "hyperventilating" and that was about how I felt. Those 8 months of waiting were just torturous. Yet the day came sooner than I thought and I found myself lying awake on a squeaky bed on a train thinking about how one of my deepest dreams would be coming true in less than 24 hours.
After sleeping (uncomfortably but surprisingly well) we continued sleeping (just uncomfortably) at the railway station (with army hotties!!) before strolling around in the city, finally making it to our hotel (even the locals had hard time giving us directions - like seriously? You guys LIVE HERE) and back to the stadium, where we stood waiting from around 3pm till 5pm when the gates to the area opened. We didn't want to make it to the very front of the stage, as you can hear the music more whole-y from a distance, but we got very very nice places (except one tall guy standing right in front of us - like, come on, you would have seen just fine from behind us but we didn't from behind you!!), see for yourselves -
This was taken with 4x zoom. We got a nice view of the whole spectacle - the live show was ah-may-sing.
After doing my obligatory gig shirt shopping (I'll write more about this later!), we waited for the first supporting act, Poets of The Fall (a great Finnish band, one of my fave Finns! I didn't actually know they were going to be there until a day before the show. Most of my friends are going to see them tomorrow but ha, I saw them first!!) They were only passing by, throwing a powerful 30 minute gig to lift our spirits (geddit?) during our long wait.
You go, guys!
And thennnnnnnnnn on stage came The Vaccines from London. I love those guys. I love their music, a long before I heard they'd be the supporting act, so both acts were just a nice bonus to make this unforgettable night even more fucking unforgettable.
Ra ra ra ra
As the guys have only released one album, they played like almost every song from their repertoire, including a few songs from their new album released in September (although I heard it leaked on Youtube already. smh). A nice 45-minute set to get my groove on and drool over one particular hottie...
What is it with me and guitarists? Anyway, Freddie was amazeballs. Hands down.
And then we waited.... and waited..... and waiteeeeeeddddd.... Chilis were 45 minutes late but who's counting?
OH MY GOD IT'S CHAD OH MY GOD IT'S JOSH OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD IT'S CHRIS BACK THERE WITH THE RED BEANIE, ANTHONY'S DANCE PARTNER OH MY GOD!!!!!
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OMG I CANNOT I AM FLAILING
These screens on both sides helped a lot, as it was a bit hard to see from behind all those tall men HMPH
The live show was gr3at and the crowd was singing and cheering and fist-pumping omfg bless us
Just jamming here hbu
Flea's my favorite. My all time favorite. He's the best bassist in the world, he knows his shit, his jamming is absolutely beautiful, the intros, the outros, how the band plays together, it was a joy to watch. To hear. To experience in the middle of a 31,000+ heads crowd. Wow. :3
I might have had a bit of doubts about Josh before the album. Ok, a lot of them. But most of them vanished when the album came out... His playing is just hands down beautiful. It makes me cry just thinking about it. So now, after the gig, I open my arms and embrace his perfect soul and welcome him to the band with a wide smile and teary eyes. Perfect. Absolutely, purely, PERFECT.
They were playing Californication and the background was a cool drawing of Hollywood hills
Yep, like this...
... and then it changed to this.
Really, the show was perfect. The jams were amazing, they gave everything, Anthony doing his usual merry-go-round wiggling on stage, Chad throwing drum sticks on audience but never missing a beat (even with his shoulder taped tight he's the toughest drummer out there uhuhu), Flea hand-walking across the stage for encore, their briefs, how the crowd went mad when songs like Caifornication and By The Way came on.... Not to mention Give It Away, which is a perfect closing number. Been one since the day one.
After the gig we just rushed to the bus station to hail a cab and rode back to our hotel and crashed immediately once we get to our beds. It was an exhausting day but all worth it. I was feeling so empty. Like, I had been waiting for that day since fall 2006 and now... it's over? When are they coming back to Finland? Am I ever going to see them again? I just started crying thinking about it all and how perfect they were and everything. The next day we took a train back home - 6 hours feels so much longer in the afternoon than at night - and that was it. Dream come true. I saw them live and now I can die somewhat happy.
"I'm smiling!! I'm smiling because I'm looking at you, motherfuckers!!"
Judge for yourself... Am I having the best time of my life or not? I was smiling like that all through the show and the next day and on the train back and right now and.....
It was my first big gig. Ok, kind of first gig ever, but as I live here up north, it's not always easy nor cheap to first travel long to go to a concert. For example, my train tickets cost more than the concert ticket did. I'm just waiting for the day when I move down south so I don't need to spend hundreds of euros just to get to the stadiums haha.
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