SUNRISE AVENUE - Apollo, Helsinki(FI) 13.05.2009

Sunrise Avenue will give you multiple popgasms!

Finnish ‘pop-rock-phenomenon’ Sunrise Avenue have just recently released their 2nd album in Finland with an enticing name – Popgasm. It is still yet to be released in Sweden (27.05.2009) and in Germany (22.05.2009). The album consists of quite catchy trademark Sunrise Avenue songs, as well as touching ballads. It has all the prerequisites to follow the success of its predecessor, the band's first album – ‘On the Way to Wonderland’.

Due to this occasion, Sunrise Avenue decided to give a popgasm to their fans and played a magnificent gig at Apollo, Helsinki on the 13th of May. For yours truly it was a great chance to take a break from all the heavy music and finally enjoy something one can really dance to.

The place was full of people of different age, status, nationality, etc. However each and every one of them were brought there to get their share of popgasm. The space near the stage was already crowded mostly with girls and a few rare men here and there; the balcony was getting slowly packed as well. The announced showtime was 23:00 and I have to give it to the band, they were not late. Sometimes when you are waiting for something really exciting, you try to prolong every moment of it once you finally get it. That's how Sunrise Avenue went out on stage to all the cheers of the crowd. It felt like they are getting pleasure from every single second of it.

The mix of Apollo's grand decorations, the light wall behind the stage, which had Popgasm logo on it, all this gave me some kind of MTV feeling and also clearly showed the high quality of the performing band. The sound and lights were flawless. Sunrise Avenue are blessed to have a team of technical magicians.

There was something that surprised me a lot at first. After seeing about a million and one different club gigs in Finland, I have never seen so many foreigners at a concert. Apparently Sunrise Avenue are one of not so many Finnish bands, who make people from other countries/parts of the world/parallel dimensions find out that Finland is more than just a place where Santa Claus lives. When Samu Haber (vocals) started speaking English by habit, then stopped and asked how many people are there who are not from Finland, most of the people at the stage raised their hands. I guess, Sunrise Avenue are lucky to have devoted fans, who do not hesitate to travel up north to see their favorite band.

Guys started the gig with the songs from the new album and the audience already knew most of the lyrics by heart. Mind you, it was less than 10 days from the official release date. Music on Popgasm is quite easy listening and the lyrics simply get stuck in your head, so you can sing along even if you heard the album only once. Old known hits like ‘Fairytale Gone Bad’ and ‘Forever Yours’ were not forgotten and sung by everyone present in the club.

Samu was uncatchable. If he wasn't singing at the microphone, he was running around, rocking his guitar and interacting with the audience. Thanks to the great sound, you could really feel how deep and intimate his vocals are, especially while he was performing the band' s latest single ‘The Whole Story’ (which you can hear on most of the Finnish radio stations these days).

The songs were coming and coming, one better than the other: eccentric ‘Bad’, lovely and lonely ‘Sail With Me’, bold ‘ My Girl Is Mine’ and so on. All of a sudden a group of girls behind me lit up sparklers and raised them in the air. It looked magical, but the security guy made them stop. It is always beautiful when fans get united to show their devotion all together.

During the concert Sunrise Avenue introduced their new keyboardist - Osmo Ikonen . Osmo happened to be talented not only with the art of playing keys, but also beatboxing. Samu said they had to use that extra-talent of Osmo's, so the guys performed a duo, with Osmo beatboxing the rhythm of ‘Birds and Bees’ and Samu reciting the song's lyrics. I don't know whether this was an improvisation or not, most likely it has been rehearsed, but nonetheless it was great fun even for people, who are not into hip-hop.

The whole performance went somehow in a breeze and before we knew it, the band already left only to come back for the encore. They performed a few more songs, like romantic ‘Something Sweet’ and finished the set with a very kinky song ‘Nasty’. Samu made the audience sing the chorus a few times and the atmosphere was getting more and more nasty, in that kind of way . ;)

Before going to the gig, I listened to Popgasm for a few times, to find a song that would catch me and I could look forward to listening to it at the gig. The song I liked the most was ‘6-0’ and it was probably the only song they didnft sing. It was played as an outro, after the guys have left the stage and that's a pity, as the song must be great fun live.

The whole event was promoted by Radio Nova and one of their djs – Jupe Tuomola was there to greet the band with the release of the new album and announced that Popgasm has already sold gold in Finland! Congratulations!

All in all, the concert was truly great, Sunrise Avenue definitely enjoy what they are doing and make everyone around them enjoy it too. So if you feel you haven't had any popgasms lately, catch them on tour and they will make you do the dirty things you usually don't dare. ;)



Pictures: Jana Blomqvist | Report: Tanja C.

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