After a amazing night in Oslo, Mortis and I travelled to Helsinki on thursday. Helsinki greeted us with sun and 32 degrees. We met up with Thomas and Ronny at the "hotel". The first night we spent in city center looking around and drinking beer. We were most of the time at Rocks. The next day we also did some sightseing.

Concert rating: 9/10

After a amazing night in Oslo, Mortis and I travelled to Helsinki on thursday. Helsinki greeted us with sun and 32 degrees. We met up with Thomas and Ronny at the “hotel”. The first night we spent in city center looking around and drinking beer. We were most of the time at Rocks. The next day we also did some sightseing.

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The hot weather continued. We visited a metal shop and then had good lunch and beer at a place next to Rocks. Then it was time to get ready for the preparty organised by the qrazy finns. We arrived in fantastic settings 2 pm. There were 100 fans present from 18 different countries. There were beer, food, raffle and a accustic set by the Coverslaves. They also performed at the aftershow at Rocks and that set was really setting the place on fire. Great to hear those “rare” tracks seldom or never to be played by Maiden themselves. I talked to a lot of people at the preparty. Pitkät Viikset…
I`ll let the photos from the preparty speek for themselves. Thanks to Ilvis and the Crazy Finns for this experince. It was very well organized, cheap and a lot of fun. I will remember this as one of my best Maiden experiences!!!

Photos in this gallery wihout Kjagen.com watermark are from pro photographer Aku-Axel Muukka. Thanks
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All of the party walked to the stadium. The atmosphare was great. The Olympic Stadium looked impressive. After a grillimakkara outside we went inside. Listened to the Alice Cooper set while standing in line to buy beer. The poor beer organization was a bit of a surprise since everything else in Helsinki was great organized.  Anyway, after the Cooper set we lined up in front Doug Hall. And when Maiden hit the stage we had perfect sound straight from the start. The concert was one of the best I`ve seen. Every guitar solo and vocals were so clear and defined. The concert did not suffer from the daylight througout the gig. I thought Bruce was not at his best in Oslo, but in Helsinki it was a joy to watch the big screens when he belted out the classic lines. Highlights of the show this time was The Talisman, Blood Brothers and Wickerman.
And after the show we went straight to Rocks and to the afterparty without standing in line ( arranged by the Crazy Finns) And that was a great way to finish the trip.

Thanks to Finland for a great trip and experince. We`ll be back for more.
See some of you in London!

Kjagen, july 2011

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