Concert Review | Ville Valo made Tavastia's "Himpulat" whine

Culture|Concert review

Ville Valo has made the right decision in his solo career. The set list of the world tour that started in Tavastia at the weekend was half “Himpuloita” and half Valo’s new solo album Neon Noir, writes critic Arttu Seppänen.

Rock

VV at the Tavastia club on 15 January 2023.

Him was Finland’s Oasis. The bands that rose to popularity in the 1990s each knew how to gather the masses on their own continent and use their music to describe a culture that existed, but which was easier to keep quiet about in everyday life.

On Oasis, it was working-class frustration that erupted as cheeky dreams played in a major key as part of the upswing. When Liam Gallagher sang and pretended to be a rock’n’roll star on Oasis’ debut album, of course he was talking to the listener: you are the star of your own life, the master of it too.

In Him, Finns’ love for the melancholic and dark beat, which had long served as a pillar of everyday life, throbbed. When it was bad, there was always a guaranteed song where it was even worse.

When you combined this with the Finns’ preference for heavy rock, the natural recipe for success was straight out of a masterful witch’s cauldron.

Him could sing believably”I drank me in death“. As it played, the teenagers rolled over in their blankets as they listened to the most dramatic moment of their lives, which felt as true as it did a lie. Few would have actually said on the other side of the wall at the kitchen table”this life ain’t worth living“.

At gigs, private wealth grew to the delight of the masses. There hasn’t been an Oasis or Him for years. After bands like this, there are two possibilities for a solo career: a complete separation from the old or the other way. About the Oasis brothers Noel initially tried to keep Oasis songs to a minimum during his solo career concerts. After a short tryout with the band Beady Eye, Liam has always sung Oasis at least half of the songs at gigs.

It would be crazy to throw away such a legacy. Ville Valo has made the right decision in his solo career. The set list of the world tour that started in Tavastia at the weekend was half “Himpuloita” and half Valo’s new solo album Neon Noir.

Him broke up in 2017, after which Valo took a breather by making a record and a tour with Agents. On Sunday at Tavastia, it looked and sounded like Valo was ready to get back to his life’s work. In practice, Tavastia, whose hall ceiling is decorated with the Heartagram symbol designed by Valo, was the only option for the start of the world tour. Valo played three sold-out nights at the legendary club over the weekend.

At the gig, Valo alternately performed songs from the new Neon Noir album and Himi’s production. Guitarist Mikko Virta on the left. Picture: Juha Metso

Neon Noir album the flickering darkness is guaranteed Light: a pop texture driven by melodies and contrast. Tavastia’s new songs play naturally between Him classics – or the other way around. The set was put together so that every other song was new and every other old.

Run Away From the Sun could very well be a Him classic from 1999. The falsetto hook in its chorus is like straight out of Take That’s biggest hit Patience or from the slightly more recent Kings of Leon hit Pyro.

From the songs of the new album The Foreverlost and Echolocate Your Love stood out the most at the gig. Dressed in a trademark hat and all black, Valo performed enthusiastically and energetically. During the Him days, I saw gigs that could rather be described as absent and indifferent.

Him classics still sound great. After the band’s disbandment, the emo and gothic rock of the early 2000s with its idiosyncrasies has experienced a new kind of rise in value, which can be seen in current pop, both in rap and Billie Eilish’s in music too. The trend has raised the points of Himi’s catalog also in the eyes of generation z.

Light has put together a new band in the background: Mikko Virta (guitar), Risto Rikala (drums), Sampo Sundström (guitar) and Juho Vehmanen (bass). The band was an emphatically routine and professional backing band.

Perceptible chemistry had not yet developed between them and the soloist. The work showed a natural tension for the initial tour.

The absence of a keyboard player in the new band attracted attention. Backing tracks have long been a staple of rock gigs, but it was a little disappointing to hear the band play while the central keyboard melodies blared from the tape.

However, the gig was cheerful and definitely on the plus side. Valo is one of Finland’s few genuine rock stars and his aura has not diminished. The tight-lipped Valo himself summed up the past weekend at the end of the gig, that “this could have gone to shit, but it went incredibly well”.