Sapattivuosi - Tavastia, Helsinki (FI) 17.04.2009
'Oi ei, nyt se tulee taas!..'

Fans of the legendary musician and vocalist, infinitely talented person and a simply wonderful man - Marco Hietala, don't necessary have to wait for the concerts of his main bands - Nightwish and Tarot, whose gigs are so rare in Finland, unfortunately. As a person with an enormous creative potential, Marco can't stay at the same place and takes part in various musical projects all the time. That's why he can be seen a lot more often at least on the Finnish stages.

In some magical way everything that Marco participates in, is sentenced to success. So was the case with a band, which recently supplemented the long list of his achievements - Sapattivuosi. The band existed since year 2001 and has already released 2 albums, however, before Marco Hietala took the stand of their ex-vocalist Hannu Paloniemi, Sapattivuosi were a lot less known, even though they had achieved a certain level of success.

Sapattivuosi play cover-songs of the all-time greatest band Black Sabbath, translated to Finnish. On the 1st of April 2009 they released their third album - Ihmisen merkki, already with Marco on vocals. This album is dedicated to the era of Ronnie James Dio in Black Sabbath's history. Due to the album release, Sapattivuosi managed to find some free time in Marco's tight schedule and went on a small tour around Finland.

April the 17th 2009, Tavastia, Helsinki. The announced show-time is 23:30. Half an hour before the show by insensible degrees the club is getting quite crowded. The public is rather diverse: except for the countless apparent Marco fans, there are also many people, who probably have been brought there by nostalgia and devotion to Black Sabbath's music.

At the set time Sapattivuosi arrived on stage. Marco went out the last with an innocent smile, as if he was just passing by and decided to check out what is going on in Tavastia. The crowd got steamed up in a moment, because you just can't resist this person's insane charisma.

They started the show with the song Laki 666, which is the cover-version of Mob Rules. Right from the first song it was obvious that if any member of Black Sabbath happened to be among public this evening, they would be very proud. Maybe they would even envy that Marco didn't sing in their band.

With every next song it became hotter, it made you want to jump higher and applaud louder. To be honest, many people in the audience, including me, came to this concert only because of Marco. So it was a very pleasant surprise to see how harmoniously musicians blend in one band, how relaxed and, at the same time, enthralling their music sounds. It takes a lot more than one genius vocalist to reach such an effect. Marco enraptured everyone with his voice, made funny faces, rocked and simply beamed, naturally outshining the other band members. He has been smiling for the whole evening, so one could see the great pleasure he gets from the performance.

During this gig Sapattivuosi destroyed any kind of prejudices that Black Sabbath's music should be untouched. A mixture of talent and great music can never lose. The feeling of excitement was indescribable: unbelievable guitar solos banging in Tavastia's walls together with Marco's smashing vocals.

Sometime in the middle of the show, as a lull before the storm, Marco took an acoustic guitar and sang Planeettakaravaani (Planet Caravan) - a magical song, which gives you the feeling of flying. During this moment only Marco and his guitar could be heard in the club. The atmosphere was so intense, I felt like holding my breath just not to frighten away the enchantment. It was the right time to put your lighter in the air and start dreaming of innermost things.

However, the lull wasn't long, so once everyone came back to their senses, it became hot again. Marco was giving out some kind of a breathtaking drive and made the public cheer and applaud more and more. Ozzy Osbourne might have torn bats apart, but Marco Hietala can do better than that. He doesn't need any tricks to drive the public insane, his stage presence is more than enough for this.

However, all good things come to an end. After a short break and two more songs Sapattivuosi finished their performance with their latest single - Pelon Lait (Neon Knights). They made their first video with Marco for this song; it is also being actively played on Finnish radio stations. The guys couldn't fully express their happiness and kept on thanking the audience, and the latter couldn't be more thankful.

Maybe for some die-hard Black Sabbath fans such a comparison would be unacceptable, but in my opinion, Marco could easily compete with Dio in vocals and stage performance. I hope that those, who didn't approve the idea behind this band, changed their opinion. The legendary bands remain that way, but one can express one's devotion to their music in different ways. Sapattivuosi found an outstanding way to give their tribute of admiration to the legendary Black Sabbath, and for that the band truly deserves loud applause.

Pictures: Jana Blomqvist | Report: Tanja C.

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