We saw the Raskasta Joulua (Heavy Christmas) tour in Mikkeli on our way to the Winner and Nordic Winner dog shows in Helsinki. I’m just now getting around to publishing the pictures since I originally promised the promoter to wait for band approval to publishing the shots. Since I haven’t heard anything from the band in over two months, I’m going ahead and publishing them.
I must admit that as a Spotify (free) user I eagerly anticipated the release of their iPhone app and was fairly certain that I’d upgrade to a Pro account when it comes out. Now the app has been out for quite a while and I still haven’t made the plunge.
A Pro account doesn’t cost all that much, only 9,99€ – which is about half the price of an album on CD. As such, for the amount of music available it isn’t too much since I already by an album or two every month (if not more). Of course there are technical reasons why the iPhone app isn’t so tempting after all, but a large part of my procrastinating comes from the fact that a lot of the music I like isn’t available on Spotify (smaller and older Finnish bands for example).
Spotify is a great source for music discovery and for listening to various music at work (I don’t need to sync mp3s to work from home). And many a band has found their way to my buy albums list because of the chance to listen to their work on Spotify.
Reading the recent post by Mokoma on FaceBook (via) on the amount they receive for a hundred album plays on Spotify clarified my stance. I’d much rather pay more for an album knowing that the artist receives more money from it – especially when I know that very few albums around are ones that I’d listen to a hundred times anytime soon. I’m also starting to understand why Johann Kustannus pulled their catalog from Spotify.
As a slightly off-topic ramble, I wonder if there are any albums that I’ve listened to a hundred times. From the albums I have a few might be close (Dream Theater’s Images and Words and Steve Vai’s Passion and Warfare) since they both predate mp3s and large libraries of songs to shuffle. I’ve also had both albums for over 15 years.
What I’d still like to know is the difference in revenue the band gets from online sales (e.g. iTunes) and traditional CD sales (full price). The cheaper price of album sales through iTunes is tempting since I could basically buy two albums for the price of one. On the other hand the bonus CDs and such are also tempting…
I also know that I’d like to see Spotify stick around since it is a great tool for music exploration and getting to know bands and artists. And yes, it does do bad things to my buy albums list.
For a long time I’ve felt that there are some bands that should be protected from most attempts of creating covers of their songs. And naturally, because of the title Queen is one of them.
Almost every time I hear a cover version of a Queen song I cringe and either want to run away screaming or destroy whatever radio is playing the cover. And don’t even get me started on the pan-pipe muzak versions…
I remember seeing a message on the Ytsejam mailing list way back in 1995 that the upcoming A Change of Seasons EP from Dream Theater would have a live medley with a Bohemian Rhapsody cover. I trembled ;) Here was one of my favorites about to cover an all time classic. Something no one should cover.
After picking up the CD as soon as doors opened in the local music stores (and skipping all of the lectures that morning ;) I rushed home and popped in the CD and started listening. Once I got to the medley and heard DT play Bohemian Rhapsody I was floored. This was a good cover.
I should probably clarify that up to that time I hadn’t heard a Queen cover that I liked. Even Freddie’s memorial was a let-down vocally. Up to then, the only real exception was Metallica and Stone Cold Crazy (youtube).
The pre-release hype on DT’s new album coming with a bonus-CD of covers with some Queen tracks had me hopeful. Once I found out which tracks they were, I went to Spotify and listened to them (since I recognized none – I really have to finish collecting all Queen CDs).
I must admit, DT exceeded my expectations. Then I happened to hit Brian May’s soapbox (which doesn’t have a feed so I don’t remember to visit it often enough). Apparently I wasn’t the only one impressed:
Bloody Hell …. !
Dream Theatre seem to be amazing … thanks – I had not heard this …
And later in June after seeing DT live:
… Yes, the redoubtable Dream Theatre. IT was a revelation. Their scope is way beyond covering Ancient Rock Bands, of course … and actually way beyond Rock, I’d say. They are what would have been called, about 30 years ago – truly ‘progressive, with more than a touch of fusion’. But their musicianship is way beyond even that. The whole band are virtuosos …
P.S. And of course, while writing this I bumped into a tribute album to Alice Cooper (Spotify). While all the versions are quite good and are performed by very good artists most leave me wanting a bit more. Just goes to further show that making a good cover is difficult.
Even though the pictures from Amorphis’ gig had been up in our gallery for ages, I finally got around to selecting and editing the best shots of Brother Firetribe’s last gig.
They are a side project for many of the members – just a way to have fun – that play good old 80s style hard rock. I know many die-hard metalheads who tried to hate them, but failed. But then again, what do you expect when the musicians are skilled and the music is mostly upbeat hard rock. It does make you smile.
Musically the gig was very much what you’d expect. Good, fast moving music and an enthusiastic crowd. When compared to the other metal acts we’ve seen in Kellari the audience was much more colorful (the black uniform of metalheads were more to the back). The band seemed to enjoy themselves and really worked up a sweat (as can be seen in some of the pictures).
The gig was the first one we went to see in Kellari (which celebrated it’s first anniversary at the time), so the venue was unknown. What little I could tell from their website was that they don’t have all that much lighting on the house but at least they don’t prevent photography in any way.
The bang lighting didn’t make things any easier. The light was mostly from the back and generally quite red. Liberal use of the smoke machine meant that I didn’t get any decent shots of the drummer.
The venue doesn’t have a separate area between the stage and audience for photographers so getting a good spot for photography means getting there early and staying where you are. Luckily I’m not small, so keeping my spot and staying steady in the pit isn’t an impossible task.
Every time I’ve seen Nighwish play live I’ve enjoyed how Emppu Vuorinen interacts with the audience – even from the larger stages that Nightwish play on in Finland. Brother Firetribe’s vocalist Pekka Heino is also great with the audience and I got several good shots of him interacting with them (us).
The full set of pictures can be found in our photo gallery.
Hmm… A bit late to blog about shooting the show over a year ago. But then again, I am eagerly waiting for the release of their new album tomorrow.
Last year Amorphis played live in Joensuu at a small pre-festival gig (Kohti Rokkia 08) of three bands. Of the three Amorphis was definitely the one we wanted to see, the other two not so much. Although I feel that because of hometown loyalty I should like Stam1na and Mokoma as well…
As a venue the Joensuu Areena is large, so we had to start navigating through the crowd as soon as the previous act quit to get far enough to the front for some decent images. Since the venue is large there were enough lights and the smoke didn’t linger too long around the stage.
The shots are almost all vertical due to our position in the pit and not a separate area for photographers. Trying to catch the less prominent members is always hard – even more so from the pit. The shots were all taken with a Canon 30D and 70-200 f/4 L (non-IS).
Sometimes a rare momemt makes the shot, even if it isn’t technically all that good. Esa isn’t famous for going up to the mike and I almost missed this shot.
These shots are some of my favorites, the rest that I published can be seen in our photo gallery.
