Helldone 2008

Well, it’s the beginning of January 2009 which means that New Year’s Eve was celebrated all around the world. This Eve I found myself once again in beautiful Helsinki, Finland to attend Helldone, the annual three-night music festival that ends with HIM performing to their hometown at Tavastia at midnight on December 31. I went last year for my first time and for some reason just had to experience the Finnish winter one more time. I’m so glad I did and that I hadn’t burned any contacts with HIM’s people over the year because they provided me with photo access once again and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to try out a new camera. What follows is not exactly the type of book that I wrote last year. To be honest, I spent most nights drunk and happy, meeting locals and even getting caught up on world events while sharing a light with someone in the smoking area. My tripmate Jess and I spent most days sleeping, recovering, and then foraging for food before cleaning up to start another night out. It seemed appropriately “Finnish” in a way and for the first time I felt my age. Sigh. Anyway, let’s get down to why I was there in the first place...
Helldone 2008 marked the tenth anniversary of HIM’s New Year’s Eve show at Tavastia club, the tradition that began the Helldone Festival. This year was the fourth official year of the festival and unlike last year, per the fans’ request, it featured only Finnish bands. It also included 3 additional performances at Nosturi in Helsinki and then in the towns of Oulu and Tampere. The neighboring “chill-out” club next door to Tavastia, Semifinal, featured drummer Jussi69 from The 69 Eyes spinning records.
The lineup included:
HIM
KYPCK
45 Degree Woman
Stam1na
Diablo
Godsplague
The 69 Eyes
Negative
Sara
At Tavastia, I was very interested in seeing Negative, lead by striking blonde lead singer Jonne Aaron, who performed to an adoring crowd, because they are a total throwback to the Sunset Strip glam rock scene from 1986. I wish I knew more about these guys, but I can name one song that I recognized from the setlist: “Won’t Let Go”, off the 4th and latest album “Karma Killer”.
Introduced by Bam Margera and wife Missy, along with a spacy Andy McCoy from Hanoi Rocks, The 69 Eyes did not disappoint. This quintet formed back in the early ‘90s in the clubs of Helsinki and while gothic, are anything but gloomy. Their influences include Guns ‘N Roses, The Misfits, and Sisters of Mercy which made me very excited to get to see them. There’s a whole lotta look going on with this band and they always seem on the precipice of taking themselves a bit seriously, but they were a blast live. In terms of Finnish rock, these guys could be considered titans.
On New Year’s Eve, HIM sounded perfect onstage and changed up their setlist a little bit to include some old favorites like "When Love and Death Embrace" and their cover of "Rebel Yell". There were a lot of classic setlist songs like "Your Sweet 666", "The Sacrament", and "Funeral of Hearts". They didn’t play "Vampire Heart", much to my disappointment. However, Ville looked like he’d had some good rest and even more so than last year seemed to enjoy the performance. The crowd loved every minute of the New Year’s celebration, though Ville did have to dodge being hit by a banana thrown by an audience member at some point. In reaction, Ville simply shook his head and scolded the person in his strangely sedate way. He seemed to speak more Finnish than I remember from last year, though he did take a few minutes to promote his father’s sex shop in the Kallio district in English.
At the Nosturi show, a Finnish woman said to me in a vitriolic tone after I asked what Finland thinks of HIM “I think HIM is an ok band and Ville is sexy, but I don’t understand the fuss. I don’t get how “this band” has suddenly become responsible for putting Finland on the map.” I was extremely entertained by this because her boyfriend held nothing but pride for HIM and what they’ve done for Finland. In fact, he loved them so much that at one point he fell to his knees and sang HIM lyrics to her while she responded with indifference and walked away. In a purely platonic, friendship sort of way I think J and I have had a very similar type of exchange! Happy New Year everybody! UNBELIEVABLE-K