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| Gas, Burton, Ville, Mige, Linde HIM |
On Sunday, September 22nd, several friends and I loaded up in my car to drive south to a HIM concert many hours away in Atlanta, Georgia. So great is our love for the band HIM that this is not our first long distance trek to catch just a glimpse of the magic that is their music. And, in fact, all of the fans that we have met while waiting in line or perhaps enjoying the show, have all traveled long distances to witness this band's mesmerizing stage presence. The pull of their euphonious music can only be equated, and I am not exaggerating here, with the power of the moon that governs the ocean tides.
The band HIM hails from Finland, and their music, which is sometimes called "love metal", is a homogeneous mixture of divine melancholia and hope-filled doom. I was first introduced to HIM many, many years ago while in high school when a few of their early songs were added onto a friend's mixed c.d. I devoured those three songs and rabidly went in search for more. Now, their music is the soundtrack of my life, and each new album only adds depth to my love for them.
A HIM concert is a quintessential experience that delved deep into the shadowed areas of souls, luring the crowd into a mass ecstatic frenzy of pure devotion. Throngs of "devotees hand on to, and sign every note, their bodies pulsing to the rhythm, writhing with the need for more.
What does this have to do with Southern traditions and the typical feel of my blog? EVERYTHING. For, there, at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia, a venue that was once a prominent downtown Southern Baptist church, countless fans gathered for a metal show. Unseen forces and an unheard mystical call lead HIM fans all to a place once used for worship (of a different, more traditional southern-friendly kind) so that they could show reverence for this mighty band which brings them to their knees.
Heartagram symbols were displayed freely on jewelry, t-shirts, jackets and tattoos, and no one was overheard asking what the symbol meant. The Heartagram encompasses a vast variety of meanings, but to the concert-goers of a HIM show, it's the easiest way to show love and support of a band that has been bleeding poetry to them for twenty years. It represents the circle of life, dark and light, love and hate, life and death... People stood outside in the hot sun, lined up and down and around the sidewalks of Luckie Street for hours in peaceful, polite company. And when at last the show began, and this Finnish band of all bands took to their throne, the audience did the only thing they could do. They released out exalted, passionate cries to the band they love, and fell into the hypnotic rapture that can only be inspired by HIM.
Wow. You pretty much summed up the exact feeling all HIM fans have when talking about them or having the opportunity to seeing them perform LIVE! I think the Atlanta gig was one of the best gigs ever...they had so much energy and were so ALIVE! Afterwards I talked to fans of the other bands that were there and they were very much liking what they heard from HIM. We all left that venue with our souls on fire for more! =)
ReplyDeleteGreat topic for your blog this time, Victoria~I whole-heartedly agree with all you shared and with cincat, too! HIM is not for the weak-hearted or wavering. I wrote a lengthy comment earlier, and, of course, my stupid computer ate it without saving! Mostly what I had said was that I admire this band because every single member has mesmerizing qualities individually, they all seem like dudes we’d like to hang out with, have a drink with. And along with these cool guy attributes, they also just happen to be a musical force unlike any other I have ever encountered. I have encountered MANY bands. HIM fans are die hard, maybe because we can all relate to the A-minor heartsongs from which their one unique genre “Love Metal” was derived. The lead singer, Ville Valo, has a voice which often leads my mind towards believing he is THE Fallen Angel himself. Such a beautiful voice. He is hypnotic and beautiful. I began my journey of total dedication to this band after serious perusal of their song lyrics. Writing poetry is Valo’s ultimate gift, and he serves it on a platter of black velvet. As we all attended the HIM service at the restored Atlanta Tabernacle, there was a reverence in the air. Light spewed forth from the stage as well as from the original church chandelier that hung like a halo over the evening. As the songs were sung, and the collection plate was passed, all eyes were fixated on center stage, I reached a point of nirvana so acute that I simply surrendered and laid back (as far as one can in a 100-year old theater seat), closed my eyes, and just absorbed the feeling that is HIM. Encompassed by very old stained glass windows, the stage was backdropped by the pipe organ that covers the backstage wall. And, as all eyes viewed upward, towards the band, towards the light, towards Heaven, if you will…it was a moment of holy fire where all hearts beat as one. If you are a HIM fan, you are like me, anxiously awaiting their return. If you are not a HIM fan, then you are missing the entire reason for music in the first place. Transcendence! A phenomenal band and an evening I will never forget.
ReplyDeleteFrom the mouths of babes, wisdom will pour forth. And after all, compared to the vastness that is the universe, aren't we all still children who have barely learned to stand on their own? And yet there are those among us who have discovered that they are able to move others with their words. Upon discovering this, there are those who decide that they will use this power of persuasion for evil intent. Those like Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Jim Jones, and a great multitude of other hatemongers who used their power of persuasion to cut down and enslave those around them. But there is another side to that coin. There are those who use their power to help better the world. Siddhartha Gautama, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.. It is in this category that Ville and HIM find themselves in. While they may not be attempting to teach the unwashed masses about a better life through enlightenment, or using their words to try and encourage their people to endure the hatred because a better day is coming; their central message is the same. The base theme, that all of those who use their powers of persuasion for the betterment of the world around them, is the same message.
ReplyDeleteThe message is love.
ahh what a night that was....
ReplyDeleteand then, of course, we ALL loaded up and went to see them again, in Atlanta, this time was Tuesday, March 18, but this time was at Center Stage, my preferred Atlanta venue. Did they bring the message and mightiness again just a few months later along with their Finnish Heartagram-brandished selves? Yes, they surely did. We waited for hours in cold weather, but it too was a very fine show and another we hold tight and close in our hearts. Nothing like HIM fans....nothing like ....HIM <3
ReplyDeleteSeeing HIM is an experience like no other. No wonder we all continue to load up and drive long distances to see them whenever we can!
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