In November 2022 I finally made it to Finland, but it wasn’t for a holiday or a long weekend to explore Helsinki, it was to go to a Lost Society gig.
Me and my gig buddy Roxxi had been talking about going to Finland for a gig for ages but the gigs were always on days when one of us couldn’t get a day off work or we didn’t have the money. Well, the planets finally aligned for us and gave us a gig to go to.
We arrived on the Friday night as the gig was on the Saturday, we didn’t want to rush around on the day of the gig.
We thought there would be loads of people queuing early at the venue so we got there for 9:30am and ………. We were the only ones there for 2 hours until another person came along lol.
We had extra layers on but it was still freezing cold so we did laps walking around the stairs going up to the venue doors and a few times around the venue to keep warm because I kept getting cramps in my thighs. The staff in the restaurant directly opposite, Peloton Cycling Eatery, were happy for us to go in and use their toilets and buy coffees to warm up so they were life savers throughout the day.
We did a numbers system in the queue so Roxxi was number 1 and I was number 2, and when the doors opened, Roxxi was in the venue in a heartbeat to get us a great place to stand at the front lol. I seriously think that her spirit animal is a whippet lol.
Before Lost Society came on stage, we heard a lot of angry shouting behind us and it turned out that there were some people who had had a few too many drinks and were fighting with each other. It looked like security had sorted it but just after Lost Society’s intro music started, it was turned off because there was fighting again. A lady that worked at the venue came out on stage to show security where the fight was and they removed the people fighting from the venue. She started speaking in Finnish so I asked the lady next to me what she said and it was something along the lines of “music is about love not hate”. Quite possibly the best saying ever! Unfortunately, what we didn’t realise was that our new friends from the queue had problems with drunk people crushing them into the barrier later on in the gig. I feel bad that I didn’t notice or realise what was going on as I would have tried to help. It is a shame they had to deal with people like that.
Lost Society was absolutely amazing!! The vibe from the band was just so energised that it felt like they were charging the whole room. They played a lot of the songs from the new album as it hadn't long been released. My favourite song of the evening was Stitches. It’s been my favourite Lost Society song since I saw them supporting Blind Channel back in September. I just frigging love how it gets everyone moving and because Samy doesn’t need to play the guitar on that song, he comes down to the front to sing with the fans and has a bit of a climb on anything he can lol. We especially got a treat when he climbed up on the bar that was keeping the barrier a set distance from the stage and the bar moved so Samy ended up holding on to Roxxi for support lol. She didn’t complain at all, in fact she had the biggest grin on her face. Hearing Suffocating live was such a moving experience. It was just Samy on stage and you could feel the pain in his voice and see it on his face while he was singing that this song was written straight from his soul. I looked around and saw loads of people crying. I think it’s amazing that a song can move people so much that it brings them to tears. The words mean that much to them knowing that they aren’t alone in how they feel and Samy is a brilliant example of how getting help can work because he brought himself out of the darkness that had taken over him and he has become a better and stronger person. Nonbeliever was one that I didn’t think they were going to play but I am so glad that they did, I absolutely love this song as it was brilliant live. They have the best lyrics ever! ‘Nonbeliever, I can see you. You think you are above us all. Nonbeliever, I forgive you. But I can’t win this war before you fall’.
I have had so many people who didn’t believe in me and I have proven them wrong so this is sort of an anthem for me. Samy had problems with his guitar during this song but he gave it to Middy to sort out so he wasn’t without his guitar for too long. The legend that is Middy soon had Samy’s white guitar set up to be used while he took care of the other guitar.
Hurt Me was a real crowd pleaser, I think that there were more people singing and getting into this song than any other song that was played. And with lyrics that are
‘hurt me, I wanna feel pain.
Hurt me, I wanna feel your shame.
Hurt me, I wanna feel pain. I’m crazy but you’re insane’,
Are you surprised haha? This is a fantastic song live, the album version is brilliant but hearing it live is a million times better as you can feel the vibration of the instruments coming through the speakers and it just makes you want to move your whole body.
Like all amazing gigs, it was over way too quickly and it was time to leave. As we had both had such a brilliant time, we wanted to stick around to see the guys and thank them for putting on a great show. It was cold and raining when we came out of the venue but the Peloton had an outdoor smoking area with a wooden roof that at least kept the rain off of us while we waited.
It wasn’t long before we were the only ones left outside, everyone else obviously didn’t like the rain haha. Arrtu was the first to pack up and leave, we think he was driving home which is understandable seeing as they have had so many gigs this year, I bet he loves being able to go home to be with his family. Samy came out to put his stuff in the van and then came over to us to say hello. He was so lovely and stood talking to us for a little while. Then Taz came over to chat to us and then he went and got Mirko. I love that they took the time to come out and talk to us so we could tell them what an awesome gig it was. It meant a lot to us that they were that considerate. Even getting drenched by the heavy rain and a car driving through a big puddle completely soaking us didn't bring us down, we were on a massive gig high. I don't know what time Roxxi went to sleep but I passed out at about 2:30am after eating some food and going through all my pictures from the gig, I took over 800 pictures and some videos, thank goodness for sport mode on my camera lol.
I had so much fun in Helsinki that I can't wait to go back again for another gig, I might stay an extra day next time though so I can do some proper exploring.
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