Last year it was a small but nice event with mostly local bands and one big name: Nightwish. With about 13000 people Sauna Open Air was a huge success. This year things got kicked up a notch. Whilst Tuska largely abandoned big names, Sauna Open Air came up with even 2 huge names: Slayer and Megadeath. The festival was almost sold-out with about 20’000 sold tickets and it can be only hoped that the organizers haven’t gone over the top with Slayer and there will be another Sauna Open Air in 2006!
Thursday
NORTHER
There’s a surprisingly big crowd at this early hour and the people have a blast as I arrive for the 3rd song. Norther had a lot to offer because the show was full of movement and they enjoyed playing despite the tropical heat. Brilliant! (SM)
PAIN
For a while PAIN is no insider tip anymore in Finland and with the new line-up all the attention is focused on the girls on guitar and bass. PAIN played a nice set but it took a while until the crowd was really into it. There was more moshing and headbanging at the NORTHER gig… Outside of the moshpit people were standing about nodding slightly in the typical Finnish manner but with the last 3 songs things really took off and the people went crazy to ”Shut your mouth”, ”Same old song” and ”On and on”. (SM)
SLAYER
They got quite old and chubby, those guys. Well, everyone’s getting older, right? Fortunately, you couldn’t notice that at their gig, ’cause they really couldnt be accused of apathy. After their really awful show at Wacken 1 year ago, Slayer seemed to really make an effort this time around and played an awesome set with all the classics and a down-to-earth performance. Encores included ”South of Heaven”, ”Silent scream”, ”Mandatory Suicide” and after ”Angel of Death” the evening was drawn to a close. Respect! A worthy headliner even though, according to rumours they were totally overpaid. Alright, life threats to Saskia now ’cause I know for many Finns Slayer equals God but God can never be too expensive, can it? (SM)
KOTIPELTO
The set was mainly made up of songs from the ”Coldness” album and was belt out by Timo Kotipelto with full vocal power to the crowd. At the end there was of course a Stratovarius cover which was performed with Timo Tolkki and Jens Johannson. A must-see for fans. (SM)
SONATA ARCTICA
The people love them and I have never seen a show where there was no conga line or crowd acting from wannabe dragonslayers. Here were no conga lines which ruins my score (or was I just away getting a beer?) but a lot of dragon slayers. At the end again the joke song ”We need some vodka” but guys, at some point it’s not funny anymore… (SM)
SATURDAY
TERÄSBETONI
Foto: Melanie Kircher
Translated the band’s name means ”ferroconcrete” and they not only look like a Manowar version with Finnish teenies, they also sound like them. Why this band is so successful is completely unclear to me, just as with The Darkness but if you like it ”true” and you don’t put a high value on hair on the chest and originality then you should check the guys out live. In some way funny… (SM)
SENTENCED
A coffin and sad faces in the crowd – it is time, Sentenced bid their farewell in Tampere. Perfect sound and no wrong notes or cue difficulties that culd be noticed made this concert to a highlight. The set was the same like on their other farewell concerts only the last song was surprisingly ”Vengeance is mine”, although the usually close their set with ”End of the road”. Even though everyone had liked to hear more, it was a great concert and the band seemed to be in top form. It’s really sad but now one can be curious about how the bandmembers will try to console us, for there won’t be only Ville’s second project ”Poisonblack”. (SM)
MEGADEATH
A real brilliant show in king-size format was offered by today’s headliners, Megadeath. They played, I believe, all their hits and got the crowd really going. They sang out loud to songs like ”Skin O’ my teeth”, ”The Scorpion”, ”wake up dead”, ”In my darkest hour” and ”Rattlehead”. There was still the Outro after ”Holy wars” and then everyone left the site with satisfaction in their faces. (SM)
SUMMARY
It was a great festival although in my opinion there should have been more bands on a small or medium level instead of the über-expensive Slayer. Dio probably wasn’t that expensive but also unnecessary from my point of view. I hope that Sauna Open Air will survive and we will report for you again next year. (SM)
Miikka Kuisma (MK), Saskia Meerabaum (SM)
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