There weren't very many people yet at Samppalinna terrace, waiting for the opening of Uuden Musiikin Festivaali, an electronic music festival. Not that they were missing anything, as the artists were still doing soundchecks, even though the first group should have started already. J and A watched as an older man approached with another man. "Are these seats free?" he asked, and since they were, A told they are, and the men sat down. The older man looked like he could have been living on street but instead of excrement, he smelled like after shave.
"Is it ok to smoke?" he asked pointing to his pipe, and since it was, A told it is, and he fired up the pipe. The man looked like an old, drunken sailor.
As the scent of pipe tobacco spread, the man and A entered a discussion about topics such as growing organic tobacco at home or which artists to see at the festival. Despite his looks, the man seemed to know the scene.
The man pointed out a skinny young man at the crowd. "The main organizer", he told and left to change a couple of words with the organizer. The artists walking by greeted the older man, as did some gorgeus women entering the terrace. J and A watched in awe. Whoever this man is, he must be worth knowing, A stated.
The Mysterions had the honor of opening the festival, about an hour late, but definitely worth the wait. A great start, J thought, looking forward to the rest of the festival.
Next up, M.A. Numminen, after his opening speech, performed together with DJ Sane. Quite amazing for a 66 years old guy, A and J thought, to perform on a modern, electronic music festival, with a DJ who could be his son, as Numminen said, but is not, because Numminen "has not united with his mother". J had always had difficulties in categorizing Numminen's music, it was just out of the normal scale. This performance was no exception, and J could not decide whether he really liked it, or only in camp sense, or whether it was just like emperor's new clothes.
J had known that there are unproportionally lot of beautiful women in Turku, but it still vastly surprised him to see so many of them. Like the ones sitting in front of them, one with a cute short hair and petite looks, and her friend, just as cute, with long, fascinating greyish-white hair, like an anime character, which J told her in a beer line. "I am not such" she quipped.
J and A skipped a few artists to get something to eat, and while they got back from their slow-food experience, the evening was already getting cold. J had not been foresighted enough to take a sweater with him when he left the hotel room. Grassy smoke smell in the air somewhere nearby, J was shivering while they listened to more artists, who, for some reason, J didn't fancy as much as the earlier ones. He could only think about getting back to hotel, between warm bedsheets.