Sauna open air metal festival

I had my first taste of heavy metal concert last night at the Sauna open air metal festival. As is typically Finnish, we had to walk through a pine forest to get to the venue.

When we finally got there (it was a 40 min walk), I was greeted by a sight reminiscent of the time I went to the Laird Hotel in Melbourne...the place was full of shirtless, muscular, hairy men dressed in leather or army pants.

I tried not to gawp (too much).

I made my way pass the eye candy and headed to the main stage, where I got to see Queensryche and Accept perform their sets. Then it was off to look for some dinner.

I ended up with a plate of potatoes with sausages, onions, cheese and hunks of pork. It is suppose to be quite traditional: i.e. what Finns traditionally do with their left overs from the night before.

After gorging on the high carb, high fat meal, I made my way back to the main stage for the headline act, Judas Priest. Wow. What a show. There were flashing lights, various outfit changes, lots of smoke and flames, and even a motorbike. The audience went absolutely crazy (the only time I have seen Finns show any sign of emotion; Finns have such a poker face).

The people around me started to play air guitar (it's moments like this that I wish I had learnt a musical instrument). Towards the end of the set, the guy behind me started to do that head banging thing, whipping his long hair back and forth in a move that would make Willow Smith proud. A word of advice: do not stand too close in front of a guy with long hair doing head banging motions - I got myself a nasty bit of hair whippin!

Six hours after first walking into the venue, it was all over (Finland has very strict city noise laws). Getting out of the venue was like a pride march...I found myself shuffling out with all the half naked muscle men and the bears into the bright Finnish night.