Heavy Metal Bingo

Last weekend a mass of black-clad folk flocked to the shores of Ruoholahti and descended on Kaapelitehdas. The glinting studs, the billowing leather jackets and the involuntary neck spasms and hair tossing meant that Finnish Metal Expo had come to town once again. The annual event, which is the love child of a bizarre three-way between an exhibition, marketplace and festival showcases all manner of things pertaining to metal and music. Needless to say, the music is loud, the hair is long and the beer is a-flowing.

And so it was that Tuomas and i found ourselves in the midst of the leather-suited men and corseted women, slightly lost and more than a little out of place. But we were here on a mission. And not just any mission, a mission that we were awaiting with equal amounts of trepidation and good humor: In this convention for the satanically-inclined, we were gonna be hosting bingo. Yessir. 

Our bingo-hosting was gonna take place at the Nosturi stand, where we had been happily drafted to entertain expo-goers. In addition to bingo our fun-and-games arsenal consisted of a seriously difficult heavy metal trivia quiz, and Satan vs. Jesus foosball. In previous years the stand had been manned by an unbeatable foosball god, a title to which neither Tuomas or myself felt we had any claim to. Which is why we (and the smart folk at Nosturi) felt it prudent to include other pastimes as well, lest we lost the weekend's quota of give-away tickets within the first hour. And so armed with games we came. 

To our surprise, turns out that Tuomas was far from crap at foosball, and for the two times that i had previously tried my hand at the game, i wasn't half as shit as i expected (and i won against Tuomas). What's more, we weren't the only ones to think our stand was the shit. The hardest of heavy metal fiends threw aside their prejudices (and skull-mounted staves, as was also the case) and got their bingo hat on for the chance to win free tickets to various gigs at Nosturi (or a lollipop, in case they lost.)

Tuomas and i agreed that in addition to assuming the role of a bingo caller, rocking at foosball and occasionally sneaking off for a clandestine pint, making people happy by giving them tickets to see their favorite bands was the best part of the job. I mean, look at the dudes in the photo above, who rejoiced and praised the heathen gods after winning tickets to see Fear Factory. If that's not love and dedication, i don't know what is. 

Moreover, spending two days quizzing people on some seriously arcane metal lore has its perks. 'Oh yeah?' you say. Yeah, cause now i know which song Udo Dirkschneider did not cover back in 1986. Betcha you don't.