February recap

Okay, so a month ago I declared I wanted to bring my blog back to life.
Not quite credible if I don't post then for a month.
But hey, when you don't have inspiration, you don't have inspiration. It's as simple as that.

Now that February is coming to a close, I do have some things I want to share.

Tarja Turunen

On the 13th of February I went to see Tarja Turunen (website) perform in the Melkweg in Amsterdam.


I met with a friend to go to the concert and even though the support act was just plain horrible, we had a great time.

As usual the main act was absolutely breathtaking, awesome and made me want more! Tarja has a very intriguing voice and is able to capture the emotion in the lyrics perfectly. These live shows will always give me goosebumps and leave me shattered inside.

The weirdest thing about this show was that the audience was very mixed. I saw people with Nightwish shirts, which was her former band. I saw elderly people and people dressed like you would think they went through the wrong entry door and should be at the r&b gig in the next room.

But when the first notes of the Gary Moore cover "Over the Hills and Far away" were set in, everybody sang along. And the energy continued when she sang the Nightwish song "Wish I had an Angel". It was just absolutely amazing.

I'm definitely considering going to her shows when she comes back to the Netherlands this May.


After the show I miraculously had plenty time to catch my train home.
I could even afford to skip a train so I didn't have to hurry and run across the Amsterdam Central Station. Initially I had second to last train home, but about halfway in the route, I heard the driver announce they were not going any further than the station we were at. Passengers in the direction of Zwolle had to wait for 20 minutes until the intercity would arrive (guess what, the last train home!).
Luckily that train arrived in time and I was able to fetch my bike from the guarded garage. In the end I got home somewhere around 1.30am.

Birthday party

The next day, I had to do preparations for my birthday / post renovation housewarming party. So I had to get out of bed a bit too early for my liking. But since I'm not a home princess and my vacuuming and cleaning is pretty much always behind, I had quite some work to do.

I tried to make this very nice birthday cake with filling and fondant decorations. Well that failed miserably.
I guess I never learn to experiment and practice with things before wanting to do it perfectly and show it off. It suffices to say I was quite frustrated with the cake.
Luckily I also made some cinnamon sticks and cupcakes that did turn out very nicely!

The next day the first of the guests to arrive were my dad and my stepmother. I'm glad they showed up first, because they brought some very much needed extra chairs! I wouldn't have known where to place all the other people that came by if they hadn't brought the chairs.
Since no one else was there yet and our awesome Dutch speed-skaters were doing their thing in Sochi, we watched the Olympics until some more guests arrived.
As the day progressed, at some point I found my entire living room filled with people! It was the busiest birthdayparty I'd ever had! Everybody got along with everybody and it was just so much fun.
Around dinnertime the first batch of birthday guests set for home and I had some little time to prepare for the evening.
The evening was a bit more relaxed when it came to hosting the party. I'd decided it would be a self service evening and put the booze, drinks and snacks on the table. There weren't as much people as in the afternoon, but it was fun nonetheless.

I had three friends staying over night, so Sunday morning I made some breakfast or rather brunch because it was almost noon when everybody was awake. After a little while of talking and making plans for the summer everybody headed home and I had my house to myself again.
Next up on my agenda was the Turisas (website) concert in Tivoli de Helling in Utrecht on the 24th of February.
Even though I'd left the office just before the weekend with a horrible migraine found myself forced to stay in on Friday as well, I was lucky enough to be fully recovered by Monday.

I had the Monday off and used the free time to visit my grandparents that hadn't been able to come visit my birthday party. My grandfather has his birthday the day after mine, so it was kind of a double party. I made some cupcakes for the occasion and around noon I went on my way to their home.
We had a very nice afternoon and they were nice to have their diner early so I could make it in time to the concert in Utrecht.

Turisas

In Utrecht I met up with two friends of mine and we walked to the venue.

Turisas is a band that has a special place in my heart. I've known of them since 2007 and ever since I've only missed one of their Dutch shows. At one point I even saw them 5 times in a years time, with shows spread over Europe. Well.. One was in Amsterdam in March 2011, the second was at Summerbreeze Open Air festival in Dinkelsbuhl, Germany. The third and the forth were in October in Tilburg and Leeuwarden as part of the Heidenfest tour and the final show was in Helsinki in February 2012 at the Helsinki Metal Meeting.

But anyway, I was discussing their show on February 24th 2014 in Utrecht. It was the first headlining show since March 2011 and it was about time too!
Being a headliner act gave them the opportunity to play some songs that are too long for the short festival sets. I'd been checking out the set lists from previous shows online and had only one hope: That they'd play Rex Regi Rebellis.

First thing I did when we arrived at the venue was checking out the merchandise booth. Turisas had recently posted a message on Facebook asking their female fans what they were missing in regards to the merchandise. After many comments about the sizing and fitting of the girlieshirts they announced they were taking it up with their distributors. So I was very curious whether or not there would be a girlie shirt that would actually fit me. And guess what, there was! I am now the proud owner of an awesome Turisas girlie shirt that fits me near perfectly.

The support band initially wasn't so bad. I'd looked them up on Spotify and they sounded nice. Live however, their appearance wasn't very impressing. In fact, they highly reminded me of another band. And I don't like copycats.
When the roadies were building up for Turisas we were able to get to the front of the stage.

The show was awesome, unbelievable and pretty much indescribable. They are such a great live band, with a lot of energy and great entertainers.
And I was so happy when I found out they were indeed going to play Rex Regi Rebellis, which I hadn't ever heard being performed live.

Everybody sang along with the whole set list and it was definitely the best concert I've been to in a long time.
I had almost forgotten what an excellent band this is!

When I got back to Zwolle I had to walk home, because the last bus leaves around midnight and the last train arrives around 1am. The taxi driver didn't want to bring me home for €1,70 and my bike was still at the office because I'd been to sick to cycle home and one of my colleagues had brought me home.

I got home around 1.45am, completely broken and tired as hell. But with the biggest smile on my face. Still reeling with the catchy folk metal tunes.

So that's it for now!
In March I have another concert I'm attending, this time with my father and I might be going to the Jolla NL meet up at the end of the month!

Until we meet again!