Korpiklaani - Beer Beer live @ paganfest oberhausen 2011: Not so silent and solitary, but great fun!;-)

Now the crazy crew around Kai and his girlfriend (me and Levin) boarded the moshmobile;-) and made for Oberhausen on Saturday, 12th of March. It was the first metal concert I have been to for quite a decade, and it showed...;-). We had some quality food by Kai´s mother (thanks a lot, was great and tasty!) and quite a bit of booze and some really strange joking. We met some friendly people and saw both very attractive girls and... something, well... something;-). Would not be fair to state that in public... and the folk know what I mean. Had something against our hearing capapility, and .... Korpiklaani, the absolutely "mad mongers" (quote from one metalhead). It was my favourite of the evening, even though those other bands were not actually bad, either... well, for the most part...;-). Would not be fair to state that in public, too, and it´s not fair at all, for the band in question simply did not get their soundcheck wired, being somewhat difficult to mix.

Anyway, it was strange, that all the noise and wild partying gave me something not very different from that which I get in silence and solitude. There were lots of guys in extremely scrawny leather, most with a look of menace in their eyes. But when you talked to them, they were respectful and even polite! Some kind of a reality check. I daresay it´s because everyone has got the knuckles tight, and most are aware of that. It´s a hard community, and for this fact noone wants to get their face rearranged to the designs of someone else;-). For that simple fact, it might be, that most treat each other with respect.

Strange solution, but a solution still.

Anyway, we met some friends of Kai´s and Marie´s, (his girlfriend) and spent some quality time there.

It was nine hours of noise and party, and when I came home, I was all finished, but somehow with a kind of strength in my heart that wasn´t there before. And something to think about.

Ville Sorvila from Moonsorrow said one sentence that nearly made me quit the event:

"The world ended yesterday."

With the catastrophe of Japan in mind, this conveyed a little too much meaning to my liking. I can rectify my decadent amusement in the face of desaster by many excuses, as we all can.

There have been many desasters in my life, personally as well as globally. Some things made me carry on:

the woods, friends, love, fire, steel, books, writing and listening to this hard, dreamful, noisy music.

Many texts deal with exactly that: To carry on in the middle of desaster. To stand as long as one can. To find hope even in the utmost destruction.

I hope that the people in Japan find this hope, and that we all can find this hope. And the power to carry on and to show that there are alternative ways of living that do not necessarily detsroy the habitat. And metal music gives me a part of this power, with every sawing, biting, itching, aching chord and growl and scream. That´s not for everyone. But all of my readers have something that gives them this power. It might be simple things, a bird fluttering, a flower. It might be a way of living, a simple cup of coffee in the wild. It might be listening to the words of a preacher, or an imam, or a philosopher or even a guru.

It does not matter, as long as it makes you carry on.

For me, there was a kind of katharsis effect, as Korpiklaani followed up with all the humppa tunes and wild violin and drum lines and Jonne Järvelä´s voice and half of a forest built on stage. It was much more lively, and I did not hear the words "Odhinn", "Valhalla" or "Thor" once, which was a bit inflationary with all the other bands. It was unique, and it made me feel alive, not depressed.

And it´s a tiny part of my hope, that life will find its way, somehow, when I can feel alive even in the face of the catastrophe.