A One Night Stand

There was something significant about Saturday night. In addition to savoring the glorious feeling of a subsiding hangover, standing in line outside Nosturi, i was taking in the buzzing anticipation rippling through the crowd. Bittersweet as it may be, this is the one and only, last ever gig Finnish punk fiends Manifesto Jukebox and Endstand are ever gonna play. 

The folks in line know this, and this is surely a show some of them have been looking forward to for years. At nine in the evening, the line is immense - the second half of which was behind me at the time the above photo was taken. Nosturi is sold out. 

The place is packed. After making it inside, i spend most the Wasted gig trying to find a spot where 160 cm is a tall enough height to get a view of the stage. These spots are scarce in a sea of fist-pumping people and the occasional stage-obscuring Mohawk.

Manifesto Jukebox has been around since 1998. It's clear these guys know what they're doing, and after the first five minutes it becomes evident their attitude hasn't suffered  regardless of their absence from the Finnish punk scene in the past couple of years. I gotta hand it to Antti Luukkainen. In addition to being rather charming in his role as vocalist for the Atom Notes and singing bluesy tunes in Last Calls, he manages a rather convincing scream. My admiration is cut short when, suddenly, from somewhere in the dimness, a pint comes sailing and hits me in the head. Having stated my whopping height above, and the ratio of tall people and even taller hair, i'm not sure how this was possible, seeing as i was quite concealed (at least when it came to glimpsing the stage). Nevertheless, the plastic vessel in question managed to avoid every head but mine. I almost had to laugh when it happened - this was clearly karmic payback for the unproductive and slightly hazardous habit of pint-throwing i sometimes slip into in the wee hours of the night. That'll teach her. There's no question, i deserved it.

By the time the band finishes, the heat is becoming intense. I race to the bar (along with half of the folks there) and, after deciding not to risk what's promising to be a good night with a beer, order a pint of coke. I weave my way in back through the crowd and we settle in front of the black curtain drawn in front of the stage and wait.

  

I've never seen Endstand before, i've only heard stories describing the relentless energy of frontman Janne Tamminen. And i'm not disappointed. He looks like a big kid on stage. Until he opens his mouth. And roars. He has a presence, and he puts all of it into the music. A circle pit forms almost instantly, drawing half of the people present into the spiraling whorl. There's clapping and screaming. There are fists in the air. There are people on stage, jumping into the audience. There are people who have flown in just to see this gig.  "We're just a bunch of small town guys who had too much time on their hands - if we can do this anyone can", Janne says. Too quickly, the gig is over and the guys have left the stage. I realize my t-shirt is sticking to my back. I turn around, look into the crowd and see something i've never seen before: the roof of Nosturi is sliding open. It looks more than a little surreal, seeing the clouds from inside. The night air feels nice. What a night of firsts and lasts.