Review: Munarock 2011: Caroline, Hybrid Children & Damian Cullen Band
Gee, how time flies... Even Easter 2011 has already taken place! And to celebrate the Easter holidays within a special framework, the 2-day festival "Munarock" (in English: "Egg Rock") was held on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday at "Gloria" in Helsinki, with many well-known bands from Finland. Due to our busy schedule, we made it only to the first day of the "Munarock" festival and even on that first day, we made it only to the last three bands. It was a pity, without any doubt, but our main focus was on Caroline anyway... 
Just recently we discovered Caroline coincidentally in a bar while they played a very felicitous acoustic set. This, the instruments were plugged in and no sooner we arrived at the "Gloria", the quintet entered the stage and... My goodness! Most of the band members are in their early twenties but they look like they came straight from the '80s! Well, due to the current 80s-revival there are many young bands who experiment with animal print clothes and hairspray but in the case of Caroline, they don't define themselves only by the perfect glam look. That becomes a minor matter as the voice of singer Tommy Gun is indeed more impressive. If you only listen to his voice, you would expect an old rocker who lived hard and is already in his fifties. But that young guy on stage isn't even half that age and, of course, he doesn't look like he has lived hard. On the other hand, it's quite amazing where he is getting his stage presence from. He is only 22 years young but acting like he hadn't done anything else but performing on stages for decades. Full of self-confidence but without the slightest trace of arrogance. Full of Rock'n'Roll but without silly poses. Sometimes he rocks with the tambourine, sometimes he plays the acoustic guitar (like on the song "King Of The Road"), then it continues with the electric guitar and songs like "9 To 5", "Rock'n'Roll Cliché" and "Big Brother's Eyes"...
Also the other band members convinced. Especially guitar player Simo was outstanding and one concert attendee pointed out why, by the exclamation "Andy McCoy!". In fact, Simo looked like a younger version of the former Hanoi Rocks guitarist that night but while the originals are getting a bit long in the tooth, Caroline are just at the beginning of their career - and ready to rock the next decades. Thank God, there is new blood that will keep Rock'n'Roll alive!
Since already two decades, Hybrid Children make sure that also Punk Rock won't die. You can't go wrong by visiting one of their concerts and so this was another night where the guys around frontman Jasse Salonen delivered a wild Punk'n'Roll show at its best, amongst others with songs like "Dancing On Roses" and "Worldwide Checkmate" from their current album "Fight As One". We hope that Hybrid Children will release a new album soon and thus play more gigs... It must be said that the "Gloria" was not that well-attended anyway, at least on this first day of the "Munarock" festival, but after the glam kids went home already after the Caroline gig, the club emptied out quickly after Hybrid Children had played. And the actual headliner Damian Cullen Band hadn't entered the stage yet...
Well, Mister Cullen and his band mates are likeable dudes, without question, but from the musical point of view the performed songs like "Shangrila America" didn't appeal to me at all. Even the funny facial expressions and poses of the frontman couldn't make up this fact and so the cover versions of Hanoi Rocks ("Taxi Driver") and The Ramones ("Poison Heart") are the only songs which stick in your mind. It was quite obvious that especially Mister Cullen felt comfortable in the spotlight but before the band will play in front of big masses, some big songs have to be written first. But after that, the Damian Cullen Band might be successful very soon 'cause when it comes to promotion, no-one can fool the guy from London...
Conclusion: A new discovery (Caroline), a reunion with familiar faces (Hybrid Children) and a headliner who couldn't keep the bigger part of the audience in the "Gloria" (Damian Cullen Band). We would have liked to visit the "Munarock" festival the next day as well, especially to see Caroline again and also Santa Cruz, but there was already another concert in the schedule of Trash&Riot and so today was the day to raid the pot with the chocolate Easter eggs...
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