30 challenges in 30 days - 7

Friends
Well... friends come and go. Just like all the other people in your life, I just think friends sticks around longer because you have something to learn or gain from them. And you have something to give them back. Something that will change their lives completely or maybe "just" smaller things like opinions or choices.
Some of our friends stick around for our whole lives, which is a very long time. How is that even possible?
I think the reason is the same no matter how long or short-lived the friendship is. Just getting along with people aren't enough for them to stick around. If we don't gain anything from each other it feels pointless. And that is the difference of a friend and an acquaintance. I have plenty of people around me who I get along with just fine, but I'm just not interested in hanging out with them more than I already do.

I recently talked to my best friend (since 8 years back) and we both decided to "just" be friends. I had realised that my life was going a completely different way than hers. We were drifting apart and I felt like all our fun and interesting conversations had gone out the window. It was sad but at the same it felt like a natural development in our friendship that I couldn't stop. I have other friends now who I am very close to. But since me and my other friend ended things on good terms, I know I can always talk to her whenever I need it.

My three best looney tunes

Mythological rock

I don't know many other bands that does symphonic power metal as good as Nightwish. Obviously they are very famous and have fans all over the world, which is pretty rare for a Finnish band. But rock is their thing. Whenever a Finnish band becomes famous, it's often a rock band. 
Although I do think that Nightwish lost a very important factor when they replaced their singer Tarja Turunen. I'm weak for opera rock when it has a fantasy sound and when the artists go out of their way to create fantasy clothes, shows and music videos. Nightwish's music is often described as symphonic power metal but I'd say the entirety of it should be called fantasy rock or mythological rock. It's enchanting and mystical.
The bands new singer Anette Olzon has a nice voice for sure, but there was something dark and mysterious about Tarja that can never be replaced. Anette feels more like a pop/rock girl to me which isn't what I want to hear when I listen to this type of music.

But sometimes a band just has to move on and if the band members feels like the line-up isn't working, then something has to be done. Tarja now works a solo artist which is going okay I guess. I wish she got better songs to sing because most of them are powerful, but hasn't got melodies that are interesting enough.

She's still going for the mythological look that I adore. 

I wouldn't mind walking around in clothes like that all day long! 

One of the few of her solo songs that has the same sound as Nightwish

Beautiful...

Tango rocks!

Addicted to failure

Turn that volume up and enjoy...

 

It doesn't get more Swedish than this....

Who knew Falun had it in them...

A couple of weeks ago I drove the looong straightforward way to Falun with Axel (dïethead) and my friend Sofie :) All for Crashdïet of course. This would be the last chance for me to see them play in Sweden this year, plus it was free! So I couldn't possibly stay home and do nothing. 

"Granny Goes Street" turned out to be a very small festival, but still pretty crowded. Mostly with annoying teenagers who almost ruined the night for everyone else in the audience by jumping around, picking fights and acting like idiots. But at the same time, they were the ones who got the crowd going...haha :P

While waiting for the gig to start we met up with Jonas (dïethead) and a friend of his. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures that evening, but I'll keep our good mood and fun conversations in my memory instead ;)

Finally the Crashguys got on stage. Me and Sofie decided to not waste our energy at being pissed off at the underaged guys who thought they had a chance with us, while being creepy and smelling like beer (very classy). We ended up standing at the side of the stage. Not the best spot, but we still danced and had a blast :)

The gig went so well! Except for when Martins and Peters instruments went dead, haha :P but everyone just laughed it off. The crowd was so wild. And the guys really enjoyed themselves, we could tell! 

Afterwards Crash came out to the merchandise, like they always do. To sign stuff and take pictures. We just waited a couple of meters away to give them some room to breath. I understand that it must be pretty crazy meeting so many people at once, taking a pic here and there, then signing this and that. I see no reason to put stress on any artist in a situation like that. Just saying Hi and talk for a while is good enough for me. Besides, Peter recognizes me from the Crashdïet forum and always takes the time to talk for a while which I appreciate :) I also talked to Simon who I had met the week before when I was in Stockholm with Lou. Haha yeah, he was one of the dudes that we partied with so it was fun seeing him again. I won't go into any details about that evening though, I haven't even told everyone on the forum that we partied with him. He was there as any other person, not as an artist and I respect that.

The guys told me that they were really happy about the gig too. I just got kind of sad when they said on stage that this would be the last Swedish gig for this album. And Simon asked the audience if we thought it was good or bad.... "what a fucking stupid question, how can you guys possibly give me an answer to that?" :P

All I know is that the guys are working on their fourth album now and I'm so excited about it!!!!

Fucking angel

At the end of August I met my brittish friend Lou for the first time ever! We had only spoken online up until then, but I think you know when you've met someone who can be a true friend. It doesn't matter where in the world they might be or how you meet them. So there was no doubt in my mind that we would get along just as great IRL :)

I picked her up at the airport and the following day we went to Stockholm. The plan was shopping and party, party, party.... and boy did we party....

We ended up meeting some cool dudes at Harry B James and the night just wouldn't end, even though the club was closing.... Heaven's gate next! Even though the age limit is 23 :P I guess the security guards could see what a harmless young girl I am ;) a fucking angel....
After eating breakfast at McDonald's 5 o clock in the morning and then hanging out in the city for yet another hour, we all said good bye. I made some new wonderful friends that night :)
Me and Lou sneaked into our bedroom at the hostel while the sun rose above Sweden. One hour later one of the other guests alarm clocks went off....

The morning after the night before...

And what do we have here... well ladies and gentleman, let me present the bright future of rock n roll. This band called Miss Behaviour played at Harry's that same night. I had never seen them live before but was blown away. Their singer Sebastian Roos lives up to any expectations you may have of a rock artist. With a smooth and powerful voice he shows the audience how melodic hard rock used to sound like in the 80's. The band has done a fantastic job with writing catchy tunes that gets you straight away.
Miss Behaviour released an album in 2006 but they have made some changes in the line-up since then.
After performing with some of Sweden's biggest rock bands such as The Poodles, they signed to the record company Avenue of Allies for the release of the record “Last Woman Standing”. Here are two songs from that album that I definitely think is worth sacrificing a couple of minutes for.