#39 - 2025 Oct 10 – Espoon Kultturikeskus (Tapiolasali), Espoo Merch Lady gave me some side-eye as I walked past her setting up the table. I took some selfies from the mirrors here (I don’t own a big mirror, I have to fiddle with my outfit by standing on a bathroom stool across from the bathroom mirror). But watching him from the middle of the first row I realize I’ve pleated the thing backwards. I pointed this out to the lady next to me at intermission and she was like “what does Tero think of [your outfit]?” and I had to admit I don’t think he knows about it. He wouldn’t have noticed it on me yesterday. Anyway I’ll fold it correctly tomorrow and do pictures again. This was the extra show after tomorrow’s was sold out, so I didn’t spot the groupie thorns in my side (or they were just hiding really well again). OMG I figured out what verses in the one new song sounds like. It’s The Mummer’s Dance. It’s probably a coincidence but I can’t believe I managed to dredge that out from my head. Does this count as a spoiler? He’s doing it less often now but he’s still gesturing at me in Nuoriherra and it’s becoming a bit “will he or won’t he” every time they play it. His dancing gets a little wild in this: The brief speech is new, like he’s really leaning into the “political” angle (it’s not politics, it’s caring about other people). Since they’ve realized that you can sell more merch if you do tour shirts, they’ve done another tour shirt. My only complaints are that there’s no non-black option like last time, and that the photo is from the Nokia Arena show. I want him in the kilt!! Also they apparently had these hot pink hair scrunchies over the summer. They were handmade in Joensuu or something and they had only two left. They’re a bit silly at 20€ each but it’s so silly that I needed one. I guess I’ll wear it with my pink student overalls. P.S. It was revealed at the start of this interview that Teemu requested and wrote the wedding song for his own wedding. Which is … super anticlimactic? [Concert write-up archive and master calendar]

#38 - 2025 Oct 09 – Veikkaus Arena, Helsinki So! They had the privilege of being the first act to perform in the newly-reopened Helsinki Arena (formerly Hartwall Arena). It had been closed since Russia invaded Ukraine and it took a long time to sort out removing Russian oligarchs from the ownership and people were worrying that the place would fall apart from neglect in the meantime. I kind of hate this place. And I mean in addition to hating arena gigs in general because the security theatre stresses me out. Like many older arenas it was obviously built for sports first and events second: It has many doors but most are exit-only. All of them were locked when I got there. The only other time I’ve been here I was a performer and got to use a service entrance. It was a bit chilly and eventually people started going to the queuing area by the lower entrance and watching the security staff inside the doors futz around with stuff. Folks with premium tickets got to go into a little bar a little early, but when they said doors at 6:30 they really meant that you got into the building at 6:30. From the general admission queue I was first in though! Even managed to make it into the very lastest split second (rude) of their Instagram story, it was hard to get this screenshot lmao (I’ll show pictures of my kilt later. nobody said anything about it. maybe it’s too subtle. how is it subtle??? the matching color is not subtle??) They were giving out glasses of bubbly wine to celebrate the grand reopening and I downed mine pretty quickly. There’s a lot of different concession stands (all overpriced) which I didn’t partake because I needed to get the get the heck to the first row. You have to go down a random stairwell to get to floor level. Except for us first row weirdos I guess people wanted to explore the venue and didn’t come in until a lot closer to show time. But the time passed really quickly. Compare to Nokia Arena in Tampere (which is designed as an events arena) where you could hang in the bar in the lobby if you got there early enough, and door time meant getting into the actual performance area time, and where you enter the building at floor level and have to go up to get to the seating. In conclusion, Nokia Arena >> Veikkaus Arena Anyhoo. They’d sold out the entire fall concert hall tour before this performance was announced, so to be consistent with that atmosphere they used only maybe half of the arena so it was kind of cozy. It seemed like they didn’t sell all 5000 tickets or whatever it was. During this tour they are playing acoustic arrangements of songs from the upcoming album, and then a normal set of songs we already know and love. Consequently there is a recording ban during the first set, and although they reveal a few of the song titles my Finnish spelling is atrocious and I think they want those kept secret too, so I’ve elected to represent my impression of the themes of the unreleased songs in the form of emoji below. For this set, Jukka-Pekka (the acrobat) played the role of emcee, which I’ve seen him do once a looooong time ago. I think he’s done something with his hair?? I honestly wasn’t sure if he was still employed with them as a roadie because I’m certified bad with faces and haven’t recognized him recently. a very 🎬 instrumental intro (it’s the sort of minimalist thing I like) ❓❔❓❔ 🚫⏩ 🐎⭐ (didn’t really like this song) ✉️☮️ ↩️ (feat. 🎷- they’ve got a guy playing flute and sax!) 1️⃣🔚 (the melody of the verses in this song sound really similar to something I’ve heard before but can’t place) 🚮 Antaisin kai mitä vaan 💜📆📆 I think it’s going to be a good album. There is a sort of overarching theme about why are things/people so terrible and speaking up about it. Some people think that this is of course too political, but they can shove it. There were several digs at Russia during the banter (after all Putin is to blame for shutting down this place) (he trolled us saying ‘you can commemorate this date by buying our “go fuck yourself, Putin” shirt’ - there is no such thing :P) The half-hour intermission also went by really fast. Maybe because I was looking for emojis. The arrangements in the second set weren’t too different from what I heard earlier this year, besides adding some sax: Pöllöille kyytiä Nuoriherra Tummilla teillä Karheat talot Hetken ikuinen Ei voittajaa (note there’s a false ending so they can play the intro again) Kukaan ei koskaan Ei se rakkaudesta mitään tiedä Kohti sydänpeltoja Exodus (with full accompaniment like the album version) Kolme hyvää vinkkiä (similar false ending thing here) Arlandan portailla But hey!! I haven’t mentioned any groupies in this post. I didn’t see any of the usual faces down on the floor. I think they must have all gotten seats???? WHICH IS FINE BY ME since I didn’t have to deal with them but I think I’ll have to deal with them tomorrow/Saturday. (Edit: Regular Groupie was maybe actually quite close to me based on her pictures…) Too many people to get a clear picture of everybody (again) [Concert write-up archive and master calendar]