The Post-Apocalypse (APOst)
Review of Apocalyptica concert in Seattle (by Katariina)
24 September 2005
The lights dimmed, and then went out. Apocalyptica came on, and they were, of course, absolutely fantastic. I started out right in the middle, one person from the front, but eventually ended up right in front of Antero. (I got a pretty good picture for Terrë) It was unbelievable how close to the audience they were. When Perttu would throw his head forward and let his hair drop down, there were girls reaching for it, and actually touching it! (what was that boy thinking?!)
At one point, Mikko stood and motioned to Perttu, “cut” and showed him his snare – it had a big hole in it. They finished the song, and Eicca said they would continue with some slower songs until they solved the “drum problem.” Soon, Mikko came back on, and they continued to rock.
The audience was obviously more into headbanging than listening, so Eicca acknowledged this by saying that “Seattle liked to rock,” so they really enjoyed the last few songs! Some drunk guy kept yelling “Hall of the Mountain King” during the quiet parts, and later, of course, they played it as an encore. After the two song encore, they came back out to great applause and cheering, and took a well-deserved bow.
Kristina and I went outside to try our luck waiting. It was kind of fun to watch the roadies load the tour bus with their stuff. The cellos went on the bus, and all the other equipment went below. And we watched them bring two cases of Heineken on board!
Kristina and I recognized Antero as he got on the bus, but I think we were the only ones, and we didn't say a word. Mikko followed shortly after, but he must have been in a bad mood because he usually comes back out and talks – he had a hoodie over his head, and he just got on the bus as well. A few moments later, Perttu got to the bus doors, and somebody stopped him to sign something. He looked a little taken aback, and said that he just wanted to put his bag on the bus first. He came back out and immediately started with autographs and photographs. At that point, there were not a lot of people waiting, but it was very intimate – there was not a lot of room to walk around. We talked to Perttu for a while, who seemed really shy at first that night. Eicca came out shortly after, and he graciously signed away. I turned to approach him, and pulled out the booklets of Apoland I had made. He looked at me and recognized me straightaway – and gave me a big hug! **melts** I said, “you probably don't remember me, but I told you about Apoland in Toronto…” and he said, “Of course I remember!” and laughed and hugged me again. I gave him the booklets and told him that they had some information about what we had done, some maps and pictures, and some random stuff. He seemed really excited, and said, “Oh, good, I was wondering about this…” and thanked me. I said, “Oh, yes, before I forget, I'm supposed to ask you if you would compose a national anthem, a national song for Apoland.” He laughed again, and said that he would have to think about that (but seemed very pleased)! What a wonderful man! So he has five copies of the booklet – one for everyone. I had wanted him to sign one, but when I gave him five, he said, “perfect.” So I let it go. He also has a printout of the e-mail with the condensed version of the “Perttu-Elessar” tale, so hopefully he gave that to Perttu, because I forgot to mention it!
Paavo came out eventually (why is he always the last one?) and bounded over to the waiting fans. He really is a great guy – I'm in love with his smile! He was kind of alone at one end of the crowd, and we waited patiently for him. He turned to us, and we got our stuff signed, and I said, “do you remember us? We told you in Toronto that we would see you in Seattle!” and he looked at us and said, “oh, yes!” Then he said, “You flew all the way to Seattle from New York? Why?” We laughed at him, and said, “to see you guys!” and he seemed genuinely puzzled by that – “Really?” I told him that we had been waiting a long time for them to come to the United States, and we wanted to see them while we could, as it may be a while before they returned. He really seemed very surprised that we would travel so far just to see them. Sweet man! We gave him our stuff to sign. Paavo looked at the Life Burns cd cover, and said he hadn't seen it; that he didn't have that one yet. I said I had to order all the music from Germany, and he said that Universal didn't have a distributor yet in the U.S., but that they hoped to soon. We told him we were always thinking about moving to Europe, and that we really wanted to visit Finland. He started talking about Helsinki, and how there's only really one big place to play, and that it gets a little boring. But he also said that there were a lot of clubs to go to as well. I was waiting for him to say he would be our guide, when Perttu came up to us, took Paavo's arm, and said, in a very cute way, “I must pardon him from you for a moment…”
So we stood against the wall for a while, and Paavo started to return to us. Kristina gathered her courage, and asked Paavo to have Antero and Mikko sign her sheet music and ticket. He looked a little uncomfortable for a minute, and she was sorry she asked, but he took them into the bus, and came out with them a few minutes later. Again, what a sweet, sweet person!
Kristina and I stood back against the wall again, and just watched the guys for a while. I overheard Eicca answer some questions a guy was asking about the cello, which he had recently started playing. He was telling him about the rosin they used, and that the black bows were for playing in general, because they were so rough on their bows, and the white bow was for solos. The guy asked him whether he attended Sibelius, and he said he had. He asked him how you got in and how much it costs. Eicca said you had to try out, and that it was free – the government pays for it. Which surprised me – I didn't know that! Especially since I am killing myself to send my daughter through college – and she has an academic scholarship that pays half of her tuition!
Soon, Perttu was next to us, kind of leaning against the wall, and we ended up talking to him for quite a while. He said he was in a very good mood, and that he wasn't always after a performance. He said when he was in a bad mood that he had to make himself come out and talk to the fans. Kristina said, “so you have to act happy around people?” and he nodded. He said he gets in a bad mood after he feels he gave a “bad” performance. He took out a cigarette, and said that he wanted to quit, but it was too difficult while they were touring, because it was too stressful. He also said that he used to have a problem with drinking too much, and that's what Farewell is about; saying goodbye to alcohol. Don't know if he was kidding or not. She then asked him about his finger and how it felt. He said it was okay; that he was living with it. He said that actually it was two fingers. He mentioned that a doctor he saw had prescribed antibiotics, but that it wasn't infected, but that it was a nerve problem – then he got a prescription for pain pills – which he liked! LOL! She asked him about the black nail polish, and asked why the ring finger didn't have polish on it. He just kind of picked at it, and then all of a sudden, he held up his middle finger and said, “but this one still works!!” and kind of waved it around. We just laughed, because it was so unexpected – like he just came to life. I then remembered what Tracey's request to ask about Schnappi, and I said, “So are you going to add Schnappi to your set list?” He kind of smiled, and said that it was weird – they were just sitting there, and the MTV cameras just came in and said, “so do something!” So they picked up the bongo, recorder, and ukele that were there, and improvised.
He said he was going to go on the bus and just read. Kristina said, “More Tolkien?” and he pulled out a Hermann Hesse paperback from his coat pocket. I was quite surprised – he said it was kind of difficult because he had to keep checking in an English dictionary! I said, “And you got to see Tolkein's grave when you were in Oxford, didn't you?” and he said yes. I explained to Perttu that Kristina had attended Oxford University the summer before. Perttu said that when Terrë took him to visit the grave, it had to be very fast. Holding his hands up as if on a steering wheel, he mimicked Terrë driving very fast, getting out of the car, and (pose) “click” (pose) “click” and driving back to Oxford. He said it had to be fast, as they didn't have much time to go there.
I asked him if he had any pets, and he said no. He then mentioned that he wanted a dog to keep on the bus, a little dog, and thought it would be cool to have this little dog running all around the bus, dropping little “dogshit” piles around all the time. It was pretty funny…
Just then someone standing there turned to me and said, “Katariina?” I said, “Yes…” and she said, “I'm Steph!” I was so glad to see her, and I just kind of went up and hugged her. She laughed, and pulled up her sweatshirt – the shirt underneath read, “Eicca for President.” How great!! I introduced her to my daughter, Kristina, and I also met Jen from the phorum.
Just then, Eicca came up to me and gave me another hug – he took me by surprise! He told me good luck again with Apoland, and got on the bus. By this time, there was nobody else around, and Kristina turned to Perttu and said, “well, we won't keep you…” but Perttu kept chatting for a few more minutes. Finally, he turned and got on the bus.
Steph has written on the phorum that at the Portland show, Perttu mentioned that he got this funny packet with information about Apoland. He seemed to be amused by it! So it seems that Eicca gave Perttu, Paavo, Mikko, and Antero the booklets with the information!