Céline’s concert in Helsinki August 24th in 2020 is sold out! The tickets came on sale this morning at 10am (loca time) and were all sold (VIP packages not included) out within hours. The extra concert will be held on the next day Aug 25th and the tickets will come on sale tomorrow morning again at 10am (finnish time)
My name is Kat, and in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a Red Hot Chili Peppers enthusiast.
After seeing them in Moscow in July 2016, I have fallen completely head over heels with the beautiful energy that they create...and thusly decided to see them as much as I can.
This concert in Helsinki would be the first time I go to a major arena concert by myself and the first time I’d see RHCP by myself, and the first time I was aiming to be in the front rows!
As someone completely green, I had a lot of idealized notions of what it might be like...
I thought I’d bring a ukulele and play a few RHCP songs I’ve learned (oh I did prepare), and everyone would sing with me, joined in holy harmony and unison of love (fast-forward: it didn’t happen).
As I was aiming to be in the front (and had no idea how), I decided to go and queue two and a half hours before the arena opened. When I got there, all bright and enthusiastic, with my water, salad, snacks and ukelele, there were quite a few people - some with fold-out chairs even! I came up to the lady who seemed to be the last in line, asking if this was the line for the standing area. “I’m not really sure what this is”, - she said. ”I’m just sitting here.” Alright...
I come up to a group of chatty American girls, but they clearly had no intentions of communicating with anyone outside of the clique. So I make myself comfortable and ease into a long evening of waiting...It must be said that the hours flew by pretty quickly.
When I got my ukulele out, I got a few surprised looks. When I started quietly playing it, a bunch of dudes just started laughing. It did discourage me a little bit, but I didn’t stop until I played all of the songs I’ve learned!
Finally, it was time to enter the arena! My enormous smile was wiped off as soon as I heard the words “you have to leave your ukulele in the cloakroom”...No pleading helped. I could tell that the security guy felt sorry for me, but they don’t make the rules, do they? Apparently, it’s dangerous...as it can be used as a weapon. A ukulele?!
So I had to go all the way around the line and give my darling little uke away. As I made my way back, defeated and cursing my enthusiasm, I noticed that a few new doors opened, for new lines! So I managed to get a fairly ok spot in the line to enter the actual arena. In that line, I met an absolutely lovely girl named Usva, who really helped me feel at ease and less lonely (you can see Usva’s beautiful embroidered jacket in this photo). Needless to say, it’s great to have someone to chat to, especially when that someone is absolutely wonderful! We waited for about half an hour (had a chance to use the bathrooms, HOORAY), and started our descent - to get to the arena, you have to go down a few flights of stairs!
Whilst waiting, we exchanged our hopes for the songs that we might hear tonight. Even though I’m happy with whatever, I would’ve been ecstatic to hear Around The World, as they’ve played it in Moscow and it mentions both Alabama and Moscow and is simply a FANTASTIC song.
Got inside, stood around the 4th row - not too bad!
Some guys who were waiting with us in the line outside got sent back outside the auditorium for running. Don’t run in Hartwall arena, kids! And so we waited...sat on the floor, waited...got some free earplugs (amazing!!), waited...listened to Battles, waited...dealt with some drunk guys, waited...and finally it was time!!
All of the tiredness, all of the loneliness, all of the shyness DISAPPEAR with the first sounds of the music that you love. I have never seen the Peppers so close, and all of the hours of waiting immediately made absolute perfect sense!
I must say that the actual concert is a bit of a blur - I have a habit of switching off from the outside world and dissolving in the music, losing myself in the sound. When it happens, it’s a good concert.
All I can say is...they started with Around the World. They didn’t tease it or just include it, they OPENED with it! I couldn’t help but capture snippets of the immense happiness I was in the midst of, to remind myself that it really did happen on cold winter nights :)
Every song was greeted with a wave of love and excitement! The jams are extraordinary - to know that this is an absolutely unique sonic moment happening right before you is utterly mesmerizing.
I mean, Scar Tissue, DN, Maggie, Nobody Weird, Sick Love (another one I was hoping for!!), Snow, Parallel, Go Robot...
...and they played Did I Let You Know. It’s a song that I had loved passionately even before I loved the band, and when they began playing it I couldn’t even believe my ears, I literally pinched myself!
Followed by Californication, Soul to Squeeze, Suck My Kiss, By the Way, Goodbye Angels and, of course, Give It Away!
It was also the first time I got to see the phenomenal Tait Towers lights in action (they had a whole different setup in Moscow). Needless to say, it was absolutely insanely magical!!! You are surrounded by a world that is fully commanded by the sounds of your favorite music!
There was a sweet exchange between Josh and Anthony when Kiedis asked Klinghoffer if he had something in his back pocket, and Josh thought he meant it literally :) He teased Hybrid Moments by the Misfits, a tune that was new to me...I was standing there, utterly shocked and moved by the fact that JK and Flea and everyone was literally so close to me!
Somewhere near the end, the strap of my bag broke and everything fell out - money, iPod, phone, keys - driven by total adrenaline, I exceeded the speed of light, dived right down into the blessed mosh pit, got all of my necessities in one swift motion, somehow made my bag work again again and swam up to the surface...to find myself much closer to the stage!)
It’s a night I will never forget, as it was a first in many ways.
Heading out to see Slipknot & Behemoth at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki tonight...I’ve never seen either band before...am I gonna love it?? #Slipknot #Behemoth #hartwallarena #Helsinki (at Finland) https://www.instagram.com/p/B88-JC8HB8q/?igshid=o5sfjbmu2nuf
Roger Waters, Us + Them Tour 2018. Hartwall Arena 2018/08, Helsinki.
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I expected more solo material in the set as he has quite a strong repertoire where to pick from. It was a great show anyway.
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#rogerwaters #rogerwatersusandthem #hartwallarena #helsinki #finland (at Hartwall Areena Helsinki)
