On the Rocks — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

One of the last surviving rock bars in Helsinki. Cozy, but drifting away from being a rock bar, unfortunately. Not past it's best before date yet, though....

Worth visiting if want to get drunk with rock/metal types of people doing the same around you. Upstairs bar is best suited for conversating with your own group, downstairs bar disables all conversation possibilities with high music volume, as usual in Finland. Downstairs smoking area is probably the best spot to actually meet new people and to be able to communicate with them in this place.

Downstairs dancefloor (when open, usually just weekends) provides a perfect opportunity to drunkenly dance to a weird (for dancing) selection of music while other folks keep busy drunkenly noticing and silently approving the overall drunkenness of the situation. It's OK to look like a clumsy lunatic on the dancefloor here. It's fun, and that's all what matters now.

Also, make note of the one odd really drunken guy who doesn't seem to belong, with his blue-collar style clothing and oddly hypnotic knee-bending dance moves (will usually dance when nobody else does). He's about 15-20 years older than everyone else around (stylistic non-rock anomality underlines this). But he's not just one guy, he's today's embodiment of this strange, seemingly random urban phenomenon of intoxicated-odd-guy-wandering-in-after-his-previous-bar-closed-but-he-wasn't-tired-yet. It's fascinating, really, look at him go! Whee, whoah, wow, knees bend now. Amazing, isn't he? Nearly majestic in a very, very funky way...

Buy him a beer,...

I want to do this review in two parts: the performance and the venue.

I went to listen to "Swing Swing Swing!" by the Antti Sarpila Swingtet, a four piece (keyboard, drums, double bass and clarinet). The band were fine with the clarinetist and the double bassist doing most of the heavy lifting. The MC was also very good, and I appreciated his efforts in revving up the room, although to be honest, the audience didn’t need much encouragement. This was clearly a gathering of the faithful, and the dance floor was crowded.

Now to the venue, and specifically the ticketing. The ticket cost for someone of my advanced years was advertised as 12€. Went to buy online, and was charged an extra 1.5€ “Tilausmaksu” or “Subscription fee”, whatever the hell that might be. And then to get the ticket, I needed to pay an additional €1 to request a pdf. What the actual…?! And finally when I arrived at the venue, I was asked for another €3.5 “admittance fee”. So, my 12€ ticket was actually €18. This is predatory pricing that is illegal in most countries with any shred of consumer protection, but clearly not the case here. (To add insult to injury, the EFTPOS machine at the venue was not working and so we waited 15 minutes for them to decide that it was okay to pay this in cash. What a mess).

If you are going to sell a ticket, sell it at the full price at the outset. All these add ons mean you won’t see me darkening your doorstep again. 2 out of 2.5 stars awarded for the band, 0 out of 2.5...

Saw the incredible Ankor and Conquer Divide here. Sold out so a great atmosphere. Lovely, beautifully presented bar in a great, clean central location. Very easy to get to. Clear view of the stage (although I am tall and stay at the back to avoid blocking shorter people). Stage could be higher to make it easier for everyone to see the whole band (couldn't see the drummer).

No bad points. Confusion for me on entry as I came from England and all the extra fees are always charged at the point of booking, including the €3.50 (service fee?) that appeared on my Internet booking. Not a big deal as I now get its a custom in Finland, but just make it clearer, at the point of booking, this will need to be paid on entry to the club, to the few who visit from outside the country (my online invoice was in Finnish). A tiny inconvenience to what is generally a great venue.

I would definitely see a...