Can’t sleep. These kind of things… they have the tendency to remind you of how temporary this whole gig is. And how you should make more of an effort every day… more of an effort to live fully, to connect with people, to appreciate what you’ve got. Why does this kind of knowledge only last for such a brief moment though. And then you’re back to the normal futile worries and wasting your time. It’s depressing that it takes such big shocks to make small realisations.
In an attempt to think about something else I thought I’d tell you about the concert. Not that there’s an awful lot to tell… Suzanne Vega herself was, or would have been, good – if it wasn’t for the awful venue. We got there just before 10pm and the only seats (there was only a tiny seated section) were already occupied, and probably had been since the doors opened at 9pm. The space was pretty much just an empty hall with a few stands selling drinks.
The warm up act, Fork, came on at 10pm. To be honest, I’m not quite sure what to make of them. The group consisted of 4 people, two girls and two blokes, and the gist of the thing was to do cover versions of different popular songs by using only their voices as instruments. So a whole lot of human beat boxing action and high pitched singing in the tune of Toxic, Smooth Criminal, and the especially painful, Bohemian Rhapsody ensued. There were some gems, like Autiotalo, that got the crowd going. 😀 I think the biggest crowd-pleaser were the extremely tight white jeans worn by one of the men however.
By the time Suzanne came on stage it was 11.30pm and my feet were already starting to feel the hard concrete. At this point the hall got so crowded that it was practically impossible to see anything unless you were at least 6″ tall. But all that was still cool, I was happy to just listen and enjoy the music… if it wasn’t for the constant flow of people squeezing their way through the crowd, back and forth, presumably in the hunt for more alcohol. And by this time, most of the crowd was so drunk already anyways that they were concentrating on anything but the artist on stage, constantly talking too loudly and creating all manner of disruption. It was beyond infuriating. And to think that all of these people actually paid (quite a lot in my opinion) money to see this concert! If you’d want to just go and get so drunk you don’t even know where you are, why not go to a pub! The gig was part of the Tammerfest festival, so I guess this was then supposedly what they consider ‘festival atmosphere’. 😐
As annoyed as I was, and as worn out from standing on the hard floor being shoved by people for hours, Suzanne still managed to deliver an OK set. Nothing magical or life-altering, but there were some highlights, which made it worth it. When Heroes Go Down, In Liverpool and (I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May were especially memorable. She tried to connect with the people during a joke or two, but mostly she seemed to be going through the motions a bit. Quite predictably, and it must get a bit tired for her as well, Luka was the big crowd-pleaser, but it was Tom’s Diner that got everyone participating in a brief moment of lucid excitement over being there.
I don’t regret going as there were moments that made it worth it, but that was definitely the last time I’m paying to see a concert in a venue like that.