Gig reports

Jyrkkä 2005 Festival, 14.08.2005 @ Jyrkkäkoski, Finland

Having had an insanely good time at Jyrkkä 2004, we returned to the northern town of Pudasjärvi with great expectations. This time we had two days and nights of partying to look forward to - twice the fun? At the very least.

An early August twilight was already falling over Jyrkkäkoski when Axes Denied hopped on stage to conclude an intense two-day streak of rocking and rolling. We started with Xenon 2 Megablast, the first song we ever played to an audience. The song had been absent from our live set for some time, and it seems to be a good idea to give even the big hits the occasional rest, because it got the audience going with even more energy than usual. We kept up a solid pace with Delta, Super Mario and Bruce Lee, but then Anaboli Stereo took a moment to thank the festival organisers and asked the audience to quiet down for a little surprise number. The atmosphere was solemn, verging on pious, as Rondo played the Epyx world records theme solo on his cherished harmonica.

The rest of the gig was a lot of things but definitely not solemn. We switched back to full party mode with Magical Sound Shower, a very popular piece and always immense fun to play. After the epic Star Control 2 medley we lightened up the mood a bit with Leisure Suit Larry before going in for the kill: Commando, International Karate, Giana Sisters, Bubble Bobble and Turrican 2 all in a row ensured a memorable night for everyone. For the encore (Ocean Loader) Anaboli managed to talk the shirts off a considerable portion of the audience (also some girls). Of course the whole band rocked topless too!

After the show things got even wilder, with We Are the Champions blasting on the PA system while organisers and artists guzzled vodka out of a ten-litre bucket. Later on the dance floor at festival's disco venue we went beyond wild an into the domain of the surreal: a bunch of drunken guys pogoing like crazy and tunelessly hollering the lyrics of Enter Sandman while at the same time a large video screen delivered episodes of an old Finnish children's animation show non-stop.

The Jyrkkä Festival is a cool mixture of rock 'n roll, club partying, sauna, camp fire chilling out with friends and just purely having fun! Summer will soon be over and the season of outdoor events with it, but we're not planning to go into hibernation - stay tuned for club gigs to cheer up those dark autumn nights!

Most of the pics by Jiwa.

You can surely play air guitar in the beat of Super Mario Brothers.

Unlimited beer and our AD-mobile which functions as a super cool tour bus.

Jyrkkä has also a large disco which is a strange mixture of 80's - early 90's design and traditional Finnish woodcraft. Lights at the place really rock!


Rondo playing with his sausages at the camp fire. Great moments at the Jyrkkä 2005...