Well...
Raised Fist @ Pakkahuone, 18.12.2015
I arrived to the venue just in time for Raised Fist to start. Bummed I had zero chance to catch the supports as Engel would have been a new acquaintance and Tryer seems to get better each time. Flashing lights, band enters the stage and the gig begins. I think Flow was 3rd one and it just kinda went past. By the 4th song I had to find my friend who has seen Raised Fist years back. "Is this seriously this ..lame?" and my friend told with disbelieving look in her eyes that she was just saying the same thing. What an absolute let down. What made it worse was all the talking. I get it when it's the last show on tour and band wants to give credit to the crew that makes sure the show goes on. That's totally understandable but what a difference it would have made had that been the only longer speech of the night, but no. All the repeating of Koskenkorva etc crowd pleasing chitter-chatter "Sorry Helsinki but Tampere is better." made it clear to me I'm not the target audience of this night and the few devil's horns raised by members of the crowd reassured me of this. 14-year-old me would have been stoked over this more of a alt/nu-metal sorta gig than what the old fart that I'm now was. Thirty minute mark and it seriously felt like 1/4 of the set was just talking. Something is not right when in these settings Dixie Chicks document called Shut up and sing pops in mind. To me the members of the band don't exactly look like they would need those mid set speeches as a break to catch some breath. Was there some equipment tuning? If so I'd suggest re-thinking the setlist order as this was as far from flow as it could be.
I really, REALLY wanted to like this show and be as mind blown about it as I had heard and read from several others who've seen them before. Not only cos I paid that 30€ that now truly feels like it went to waste but because I do enjoy their records, especially From The North. Hot damn I've been playing that a lot and my wishlist setlist would have included way more songs from it. Because Raised Fist has good songs, I kept waiting and waiting when the live would HIT me like most of the people there. Man and Earth yesss.. or no. In Circles oh yeah now....or not. It was like waiting a cake to rise but nothing happens and when you take it out the oven it's just a limp blob looking nothing like pictured. This gig felt too rehearsed and polished. Best described as shopping mall hardcore, easy access with the catchy choruses for those that don't actually listen to any (other)hardcore bands. I'm not an expert though. I say this with all the respect and without taking anything away from the years the band has been around working hard "from the club to the squat / you people choose the spot" building their career. I much rather have this type of music fill venues this size and be played on radio than some auto-tuned crap where quirky looks of the artists mean more than the actual songs. Pakkahuone is not the most ideal venue to check out a band for the first time either. More intimate setting would've most likely distracted from all that "shopping mall" vibe. When Rise Against announced the shows with RF in relatively smallish venues in Italy, I was looking into flights and travel plans until turned out it would not be possible at that time. Had that worked out I have a feeling the tone of that gig report maybe would have been quite different.
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