25.7.2012 - AHOLA @ Kooma, Turku

I arrived to the venue soon after doors opened so it was a pride and joy to be able to watch the place getting nicely filled little by little. However, the wait was quite tedious because of the music that was being played. In my opinion it was totally wrong! If I say we had to listen to Danza Kuduro I think I say it all… Thankfully AHOLA was going to fix that!! 

The gig started past midnight and there was a nice atmosphere by then. The stage was “rock’n’rollishly” tiny and there wasn’t a free spot in the first row. We actually formed a small crowd, so it felt very good. The gig was great in all senses. There was a good mood between the AHOLA guys, the audience was participative, we sung and cheered… And what can I say about the music… AHOLA fired up my soul indeed! 

The best moment of the show was during As Long As I Live (Rock’n’Roll Is Not Dead), when J. made us sing. He sung “as long as I live” a few times and we had to reply with a loud “rock’n’roll is not dead”. It was such an awesome moment. The previous time I saw the band was in its second gig, so Stoneface wasn’t even released yet and therefore we hardly knew the songs. We couldn’t do much aside from being there and support the band. However, this time I noticed a big progress in everything and I felt so proud and happy for the band. Way to go, guys!
 

J.Ahola

14.5.2011 – Teräsbetoni @ Äijäpäivä, Tampere

Äijäpäivä, the day of dudes, was a day-long outdoors event that was supposed to take place in a beach area of Tampere. I say “was supposed to” because the event wasn’t that successful, so to speak. Teräsbetoni was scheduled to play in the afternoon and I was worried that given the situation the gig would be cancelled, but it didn’t and I was very grateful for that.

J.Ahola

At the beginning of the concert it felt quite awkward because nobody dared to go in front of the stage. I guess we were all a bit shy… but fortunately things already started to brighten up during the second song. A couple of fans appeared and went to the bar zone closest to the stage (the place was quite labyrinthine - the bar zone was on one side and separated with fences) and I joined them. Then the power of Teräsbetoni made some dudes finally go in front of the stage and when Metalliolut started to sound I was like “screw it, I’m going there too!”. From that moment on, more people probably felt the same way and came there as well. I mean, c’mon, it’s Teräsbetoni and they were pulling up a good show! There was a point when you had no other option than let yourself go and now it felt much better. And yes, we were a small audience, but despite of it I think I can speak for everybody when I say in the end we did our best to make the atmosphere bigger. Besides, the band seemed to be having fun, and if the band has fun I have fun with the band.

V.Rantanen, J.Kuokkanen, J.Ahola and A.Järvinen

On a funny note, after Metallisydän J. said something like “hey, this is called ‘the day of dudes’. What are so many gals doing here?”. The thing is, in the end I think we were more women than men. Hah! :D

J.Ahola

Anyway, in short I would describe the gig as strange but cool. In fact it seemed like a private gig and hey, this isn’t something that one can experience every day :)

Setlist

9.4.2011 Sports Academy, Helsinki

This gig was quite a peculiar one because it was in the middle of the afternoon and therefore there were less people than usually and also everyone was pretty quiet, but for me it was very nice nonetheless. Also, this time J. didn’t perform with Antti Mäkelä but with a guy called Gary Keskinen.

The thing I always liked most from J. were his acoustic performances and I had never experienced one before, so before the gig I was very nervous from the excitement. Once the music started, I was so thrilled! His voice really stands out when being accompanied by just two guitars.

They started with It’s a Long Way to the Top, the following song was Unchain my Heart, then I think it came I Want to Break Free followed by You Were Always on my Mind (touching performance here)... I can’t remember the order of the other songs, but they were The Temple of the King, Heaven and Hell, I Want it All (here we were asked to sing, but we were a shy audience), We are the Champions, Here I Go Again and the last song was Lady in Black. I still have one song left to mention and I mention it last because for me it’s the most special one from all the songs J. sings. It was the first acoustic song I heard him perform on YouTube and it’s titled The Show Must Go On (thanks a lot J. for playing this one!).

I found the gig a bit short and I would have loved to hear Who Wants to Live Forever too, but without a keyboard it wasn’t possible. But anyway, who cares. What matters is that it was a good gig, and I enjoyed every single second of it. Thank you guys for the lovely afternoon!

J.Ahola & Gary