My Tuska-report
I have small bruises and wounds all over my body and legs, sunburns in my neck and my arms, an annoying headache, stupid cough, blisters all over my feet, nasty infections at my toenails, plus my back hurts like hell, my gums are still bleeding, I can barely raise my hands above my head and my nose and lungs are full of snot and dust. Still, it was well worth all that.
To make it short, it was an amazing experience, something that I will probably remember for the rest of my life. For the past several months, I've been unable to shake the feeling of desperation concerning my graduation out from my head; during the last weekend I felt nothing of that and now I actually feel like I could really start working on it once again - I just hope this feeling stays.
I went there to see only one band (yeah, guess which one
), but actually I was quite positively surprised by many other bands as well. Especially seeing Iron Maiden warm-up for Dark Tranquillity was a pleasure - it was a very nice gesture from them.
Too bad they played mainly songs from their new not-yet-released album; Powerslave was very good, nevertheless.
Dark Tranquillity were simply fabulous. I'm currently unable to go any deeper analysing the gig, as I still feel emotionally overloaded. Perhaps in a few days I'll try to write something constructive about it. Anyways, as can be seen from the pictures (at Gtranquillity's site, for example), I truly felt like a 6-year old kid at a candyshop during their performance
. Of course, as a a payback, I've pretty much felt like a 60-year old geezer ever since.
Overall, the atmosphere at Tuska was excellent. All the people were happy, polite and respectful to others; the security included (although they did not allow me to "ride" on Salamurhaaja's back for longer than a few seconds during the DT-show).
Thanks to each and every one of you who showed up at Tuska - it was a pleasure to meet you and I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to talk with all of you as much as I'd have wanted. I want to see you again some day.
Extra special thanks and hello go to the following people (sorry for not mentioning everyone:
- Rahvin, first and foremost, for simply making most (if not all) of it possible and for being a far more likable (and gay
) person than I had imagined. I definitely need to meet you again.
- Gtranquillity for both the interesting discussions we had and for listening to my not so interesting ramblings. I'll write you soon.
- Qsilver for the hospitality. I owe you more than one.
- Salamurhaaja for being such a jovial big teddybear - I hope your grim and true image didn't get completely shattered.
- Fireangel for the talks we had. Btw, Jules was extremely grateful for what you did.
- Ormir and Naku for the hot nights we spent together.
- Rusty for being a very nice guy. Congratulations for winning the title of "The Owner of the Best Hole in the Planet".
- Spike for being such a reliable and funny person - sorry for doubting your strength and balance, man.
- Yayo for being rather light to carry - hope you are feeling all fine by now.
- Hearse, Orchid and the other Thales-guys for the autographs.
- Zeanra for taking good care of my cap. Although I have to say I was pretty damn worried about it at Friday-evening. Had you somehow lost it...
- Last but not least, the wonderful members of the band. As many people said on Sunday, only extremely rarely are bands of DT's stature willing to do so much for their fans, and in so many ways. A most sincere thank you, and I hope we'll see again soon.
Also, my apologies to the entire English-speaking world - my pronounciation went from bad to horrible during the course of the weekend. I'll try not to rape the English language as much in the future.
-Villain
