Golden Anniversary but way more metal

Does anyone know what a Golden Anniversary is? It's to celebrate 50 years of marriage. Well, Im not married, but, I had a sort of Golden Anniversary last night (I feel like "golden anniversary isn't very metal sounding. Can I just call it a "Bloodiversary"?). I went to my 50th concert! I've been going to concerts since I was 13 and like most people that love music, I love concerts. The first concert I went to was to see HIM at Kool Haus in Toronto (it may have even bee their first concert in Canada which is neat) way back in 2004. My friends and I went to a signing at HMV on Yonge Street and waited in line for a long time and didn't even get inside the building before the band had to leave. For a HIM obsessed teen, I was quite sad, but I remember the concert was amazing. The second concert I went to was HIM, again, and I remember it being just as good. I didn't go to many concerts 1) because no bands I liked ever came to Toronto 2) I lived 2 hours from Toronto and didn't get a driver's license till I was about 18 3) the majority of bands are foreign and therefore play shows on random nights of the week, Wednesday seeming to be the most popular 4) for the most part I had my head, and ears, shoved far too far up HIM's musical ass and didn't listen to a ton of other stuff half the time. This was in the days before Youtube was around so I couldn't easily listen to "unknown" music from Finland.

Before I went to Finland I had only been to a total of 8 concerts (HIM x2, Apocalyptica, Lady Gaga (don't judge cause she is fantastic at what she does and Im still more kvlt than you), Semi Precious Weapons, Mötley Crüe, Alice Cooper, and 30 Seconds to Mars) and since we all know how much I love the majority of Finnish created music, I kinda hit the motherload when I went there for 8 months. My first concert was Negative, with Private Line opening for them, both two of my all time favourites, and it was only about a week or two after I arrived in Finland. Talk about hitting the ground running! During the time that I lived in Finland in 2011/2012 I think I went to 38 concerts. Keep in mind this is just single concerts i.e. bands playing at different venues, Im not going to count the individual bands I've seen cause that's just ridiculous, and I've seen a lot of bands more than once but at different venues. I think that works out being at least 1 concert a week (I went home at Christmas time for about a month so I don't count that month) but in reality sometimes I'd go a month with only one concert and other times I'd have 2 in one night of 3 in a weekend (thinks back to Easter weekend 2012 where I had a concert a day, in two different cities, and need to sleep for a year after that but it was so worth it).

I went to so many concerts not only because I love going to them and I wanted to see as bands of my favourite bands as I could, but also because they are so inexpensive to go to in Finland! I normally just had to stay in Helsinki and could have my pick of who I wanted to see, I went to Tampere a few times for shows and to Jyväskylä twice but that also combined with seeing friends as well. Quite a few of the shows I saw were for free or between 6 and 12 euros. I think the most expensive one was Nightwish for 48 euros, to be fair it was at Helsingin Jäähalli which is a hockey rink, and Michael Monroe (but he was at Tavastia both times and that is an expensive venue. Go there for at least one show but it's not the BEST venue and it's expensive), Wednesday 13 and Stratovarius were all over 20 euros. Plain and simple, Finland is much more of a concert country, at least for "local" bands, and even then some bands from Finland rarely play in Finland, but it's still better than bands doing North American tours and going to almost everywhere in the States then only hitting Toronto and Montreal, and MAYBE Vancouver if they have a Washington state date, Im sure Canada's east coast concert goers weep all the time. I understand it's not the bands that decide where they go, insert *come to Brazil fan scream right here* but booking agents and the powers that be need to understand that for a band to gain more of a fanbase and, more importantly, keep existing fanbases, they've got to hit some places that they might not be so big in. 

So then that takes us to my 50th. I saw Finntroll last night at the Opera House in Toronto. I went with my friend, and fellow trollhag, Caitlin and it was our last concert before I head to Finland. Kind of hilarious to me that my last show in Canada for a long time is a Finnish band. I'v been lovin' all up on folk/pagan/viking metal for the past 2 years so finally getting to see Finntroll, who I don't listen to THAT much right now, but will more now since last night, was amazeballs. I hadn't been to the Opera House before but I liked the venue, best one out of the ones I've been to in Canada, and it reminded me of a tiny version of Virgin Oil Co. in Helsinki. There was a Charles Manson look alike that Caitlin and I legit thought was going to kill someone, I found Caitlin's future husband, I watched a girl try to pull a guys beautiful hair off, and the main observation of the night between us was "Vreth has no butt" (Caitlin and I are butt conoisseurs, fyi) and all in all it was a fantastic end to my Canadian concerts. I'll miss having Caitlin as my trollhag concert buddy and she needs to get her ass to her homeland soon so we can go to more (I KNOW YOU'RE READING THIS. MAKE IT HAPPEN).

Finntroll at The Opera House on August 12th in Toronto, Canada. Photo by Caitlin

If I can manage, my first concert back in Finland, which I leave for in just 6 days, will be Korpiklaani at Klubi in Tampere on September 5. Im hoping to make it happen, even if I won't have anyone to go with, cause I've already missed them twice, in two different countries, and Im dying to see them. Fingers crossed!

As mentioned earlier, I fly out in just 6 days! So excited to handle it but also going to be so busy and tired this week! Don't forget to follow my Tumblr and my Instragram (which is currently not being used because my Smartphone died and I have yet to get a new one)!