Hi all,
I started to write this message on the road into my Palm handheld which went wrong then and landed in the trash..
so it's a DOOMED double review of the Swiss gigs.
It was my first time to see the band on the 17th of April in AARAU, Switzerland. It was funny because we had some friends in our company who went to see the Welsh Catatonia band (with "c") and they were shocked when Fintroll began.
Anyone who accused the SWISS audience being boring, passive .. was right, mainly for this concert (OK, easy for me to say it as I'm Hungarian.. but I've seen enough swiss shows to say that they are usually cold as ice). Noone danced, exept 2-3 girls twisting in front. No singing and not even clapping to the rhythm. The band was calm, cool and a little bit emotionless but I can understand it. The rhythm section was cute and cool
and ANDERS played wonderfully, though I don't really like his kind of (80's style) posing. But my first surprise or worry was that I couldn't really hear JONAS's voice.. I was afraid he can't sing as good as on the CD but I think the mixing was bad, the sound was awful.
..
but at least Aarau is a town, not like the next venue, SCHINDELLEGI on the 19th of April. This place was a far industrial area near a village which is located in the mountains somewhere, literally "in the middle of fucking nowhere". No street name, no address, even my friend couldn't find it with GPS.. oh.. and no lights on the streets. So it was almost an hour to find it from the main train station (no need to tell, the last train goes at 11, so you're stucked). Despite of this, the audience here was much better, hence the mood, the show was more lively. People sang, clapped, danced.. Though lots of them was there for only Fintroll.. strange. I travelled there alone, because I couldn't miss this another show. After having dinner in a fancy restaurant dressed pretty in white and beige I felt _really_ uncomfortable among those authentic dark black metal guys in the club
One red T-shirt was the lightest color I've seen exept on myself.
The band members seemed to be more friendly, walked around the place before the show started, mingling with the crowd
But one mug of beer was not enough camouflage
) so I stopped MATTIAS for an autograph... He seemed to be surprised when I pulled out a Katatonia guitar-pick from my pocket instead of a CD or such.. but I'm not sure what kind of attitude I could reflect. (option 1: she might have a guitar and wanna be a star, what a crazy bitch.. option 2: she has no money therefore she bought the cheapest thing we sell, option 3: if she's into guitars, why not asked the solo player instead of the bassist? She may want something from me, ha-ha.. option 4: this is a chick and a pick and I sign it no problem) He was very nice, and just then I started to feel like a scared teenage fan so I quickly escaped from the scene to have a beer... damn, I can't be still such a stupid bitch 10 years later!
So that's all about my "meeting the band" adventure.
I really enjoyed the show from the first moment to the end, it was great, and it SOUNDED great! I made some pictures mostly during the first 2-3 songs, then I stopped. Some other people did the same but there were some chicks in the front who constantly attacked them with the flash light during the concert, they were annoying .. I don't think it's a polite thing. I don't remember the setlist, it was something similar that mentioned before. The encore was the greatest - of course, it was pity that they left in spite of the good mood. I hope to see them again ASAP!!
(which is a great improvement as a fan, because before these times I didn't even know who played in the band.. mea culpa, usually I don't give a shit about biographical info when I buy a CD until I see the guys with my own eyes.)
I have my regular net connection down, but later I try to post some pictures. Cheers,
Dora
