Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala is a Finnish heavy metal vocalist, bassist and songwriter. Internationally, he is best known as the former bassist, male vocalist and secondary composer to Tuomas Holopainen, of the symphonic metal band Nightwish. He is also the vocalist and bassist as well as composer and lyricist for the heavy metal band Tarot.
Tarot is a Finnish heavy metal band. They are most famous for being one of the earliest metal bands in Finland, and for the song "Wings of Darkness" from the 1986 album Spell of Iron. While having enjoyed a broad underground popularity in Finland, the band has never been notable elsewhere until gaining new success in recent years, with their singer and bassist Marko Hietala in the largely successful Nightwish for nearly two decades. With a more global audience, the band re-recorded Spell of Iron for its 25th anniversary.
Finnish rock refers to rock music made in Finland. The initial rock and roll boom of the 1950s was preceded by a long tradition of popular culture. Suomirock may refer to Finnish rock music in general or more narrowly rock music sung in the Finnish language.
Spinefarm Records is a Finnish record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. It is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.
Toni Kristian "Tony" Kakko is a Finnish musician, composer and vocalist. He is known as the vocalist, primary songwriter, and creative lead of the band Sonata Arctica since 1996.
Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, commonly shortened to Tuska, is a Finnish heavy metal festival taking place annually in Helsinki. The first Tuska took place in 1998 and the festival has since grown larger every year. The location of the festival has been in Kaisaniemi park in the middle of the city from 2001. However, since 2011, Tuska has taken place at the Suvilahti event field in the Kalasatama neighbourhood of the Sörnäinen district. The festival dates have always been in either June or July.
End of Innocence is the second official DVD release of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It features numerous clips of the band performing livetracks, including a recording of the band performing one of their first songs, "Beauty and the Beast", with bassist Marko Hietala performing the male vocal part.
Summer Breeze Open Air is an annual German heavy metal music festival. It was first held in 1997. The festival had been held in Abtsgmünd until 2006 when it was moved to its new location of Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria. The festival draws around 40,000 attendees annually.
Finnish Metal Expo was a heavy metal fair and festival held annually at Kaapelitehdas in Ruoholahti, Helsinki, Finland from 2005 to 2012. It was a part of the Helsinki Metal Meeting. Its original location was the Cablefactory in Helsinki, Finland.
Ankkarock was a Finnish rock and metal festival held annually in Korso, Vantaa, in the Greater Helsinki area. It literally translates into Duckrock. The first Ankkarock was held in 1987. The festival was free of charge until 1998.
Northern Kings is a Finnish symphonic metal cover supergroup, made up of four well known musicians: Jarkko Ahola from Teräsbetoni, ex-Dreamtale, Marko Hietala from Tarot, ex-Nightwish, Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto from Charon, Harmaja and ex-Poisonblack.
The Ilosaarirock Festival is an annual rock festival held on the second weekend of July in Joensuu, Eastern Finland. Founded in 1971, Ilosaarirock is the second oldest rock festival in Finland still active, and one of the oldest in Europe. In 2007 the event had 21,000 daily visitors. The festival sold out in advance every year from 1998 to 2011.
The Starlite Room is a 1925 brick building in Downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, one block south of Jasper Avenue, the city's main street. The building was originally built as a "citadel" for the Salvation Army. By 1965 it was converted into the first venue of the Citadel Theatre company, with the company taking its name from the name of the building. After the company moved to a new purpose-built theatre building on Churchill Square in 1978, the building was converted to a concert hall and bar. The concert venue inside was for many years named the Rev Cabaret. Under this name, it hosted a variety of concerts including early 1990s shows of then-unknown American bands Nirvana and Green Day. In 2003 the Rev closed, and was reopened as the Starlite Room in 2004, which operates as a members-only club. The lounge/bar downstairs is called "River City Revival House" which opened in 2018.
70000 Tons of Metal is an annual heavy metal music festival that takes place on board a cruise ship. The event is a five-day festival, including one shore day at a select Caribbean destination.
Qstock is a two-day music festival organised annually at the end of July in Kuusisaari, Oulu. In way, the event is a successor to Kuusrock Festival which took place in the same surroundings from the 1970s to early 1990s.
The Human. :II: Nature. World Tour was the eighth world tour by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, in support of their ninth studio album, Human. :II: Nature.
