As most of you might know already, I live in Turkey nowadays. So it was a big and expensive decision for me to come all the way to Finland to see a concert. But since I was promised to get to the backstage, I couldn't resist, and got to the plane. I don't remember if I've ever been looking so much forward to a concert - not even another E-type concert.

The day started really well, the weather was great as I jumped in the car with my mom and little sister (9yrs) who have also totally lost their souls to E-type. We came to Ekenäs as the park's gates were opened already, but since we heard it would take time before E-type would perform, we didn't hurry to the concert-area.

It was a really beautiful day in Ekenäs. Sun was shining from a clear blue sky, and the people were on good party mood. The last day of the "Popkalaset" -festival had started. The park was relatively crowded, and the people who weren't interested in Sås & Kopp or Markoolio were lying on the grass getting tanned, and life was smiling. People were of course waiting for the main artist of the day and the whole festival - E-type.

E-type would be on stage at 5pm. The show started a bit late, but that only made the front-row-girls shout his name louder and louder. During the last half an hour before the concert would start, those girls had sung bits of just about every E-type-song and been screaming and shouting for him to come to the stage that was covered with a huge Swedish flag. It was really hot, it must have been around 25 degrees in the shadow, and as the sun was shining on the party people… it was a blessing that the festival crew were dealing out cold water to the people in the front during the whole concert.

Finally the moment came, and the audience could hear the bass of "Life" and E-type's voice repeating the phrase "I've got life". And finally even the flag would drop. The screaming around me (front-left of the stage, 3rd row - later 1st) was breaking my ears, even though I was a good girl wearing my earplugs. Luckily I was surrounded by some really young fans so there was absolutely no pushing.

It is funny to see E-type performing in the bright daylight, since his shows are designed to work in the darkness, with all the fireworks and such. But still the show still was really great. That man sure knows how to take his audience. He was jumping down from the stage to be closer to the audience, and throwing towels and bottles of water to the people who were really sweating and burning in the sunshine. He was also praising Finland in many ways and saying he should maybe move here… And the fans were more than happy about that. The guy seemed to be on wonderful mood, being very satisfied with the situation.

The songs they played were the same they had played on previous gigs, only leaving out "Princess of Egypt" and "Banca Banca". In a way it was a bit disappointing that they didn't play more songs from EuroIVever, only "Life", "Campione" and of course "Africa" as the show stopper. Instead of the songs from the new album, they were performing a lot of old "classics" and made the old fans really happy. But I have a feeling that the new fans were a bit lost, not necessarily knowing the songs at all.

The band has also learnt some acting. In the middle of "Free Like a Flying Demon" there was a demon attacking to the scene, and the whole band ran and hided at the other end of the stage. But luckily E-type is a brave man, and as the rest of the band was - with Johan leading - running across the stage to escape, he managed to kill the demon with a few bombs. After the demon was killed, he sat on it and the song could continue, and as he stood up, the festival crew came and carried away the corpse of the demon. There was no doubt - E-type was the hero of the day.

/// Myra