Yö has reached a crossroads in its career, where it has to decide whether to continue as an active band or as an occasional nostalgia show.
Rock / Iskelmä
Night’s 40th anniversary concert at Tampere’s Nokia Arena on March 24.
Night is an exceptional music institution. The band from Pori, Tampere, founded in 1981, is especially so now that, at the age of 42, they finally got to celebrate their forties. First, the celebratory concert moved to the singer Olli Lindholm’s passing away and the following year due to the pandemic.
It is exceptional that there is not a single original member in the band that is over 40 years old. Still, the band lives and breathes, judging by the celebratory concert, still quite energetically.
The current situation of the night seems to be an exception even on a global scale. Let’s see: Metallica, U2, AC/DC, Rolling Stones. It would be impossible to imagine any of these bands touring without a single original member.
In Finland, Eppu Normaali is positioned as a reference, which is unthinkable without the Syrjä brothers. Likewise without Popeda Pate Mustajärvilet it be that such a freak may still be seen.
In the case of Yö, the exceptionality of the arrangement is increased by the fact that Lindholm, who died in 2019, was the same as Yö for many of the band’s fans. At least after the musical architect of the band’s early years, who passed away last year Jussi Hakulinen had stopped regularly touring with Yö.
Lindholm’s after, the longest continuously playing member in the band in recent years has been a keyboard player Mikko Kangasjärvi.
In addition to Kangasjärvi, all the other members who have been part of the band over the last few years played in Yö’s party line-up: drummer Ari Toikkaguitarists Jussi Turpeinen and Jari Latomaa and a bassist Timo Mynttinen.
For some hard-to-define reason, the exceptional situation does not feel completely unnatural for Yö. It probably says that Yö as an institution is more than its individual members.
This institution consists of a bunch of songs and is a kind of collective soulscape of its fans: music, words and emotions that are not tied to any single person.
That’s how it looked and felt at the Nokia Arena.
Of course it was close to seeing even one of the original members at the 40th anniversary concert. Contrary to previous announcements, the guitarist Jani Viitanen however, did not take the stage.
Instead, a couple of songs were guested by guitarists who were among the key players of Yö’s 2000s “second coming” Daffy Sharp and with him in 2016, the bassist fired from Yök Jukka “Jay” Lewis. The latter had left the bass at home and came to interpret as a soloist Deadline– and A one-night variety show songs.
The latter was one of the few numbers of the evening that revealed the band’s roots in new wave rock. The deep historical dimension of Yö was also dived at the moment when Jukka “Frogley” Mänty-Sorvali came to interpret the hit of his band Skädäm, which worked in the 1980s Queen of the streets.
Yö after Lindholm and Hakulinen is now at a crossroads, where it will soon have to make a choice: will the band be put on hold or will the gigs continue? In the case of a band that has released more than 20 albums, fresh material is not a prerequisite for touring, but regular activity requires a permanent soloist.
Immediately in the first song of the concert Dirty Legends it became clear the main soloist of the evening Summer of Steel Neck sovereignty as the interpreter of the songs of the night. Steelneck took over the space once and for sure like a matador in a bullring.
If Yö decides to continue as an active – or even occasional – gig machine, Teräsniska, mentored by Lindholm, would be a natural choice as a singer. The night is close to Teräsniska’s heart, so he might also be Olli Lindholm’s choice for the job.
Next appeared on the stage Pauli Hanhiniemiwho interpreted the songs he wrote for Yölle with his checkered shirt open in his own lush style Night to receive mixed I can’t get you out of my memories. Hanhiniemi’s flamboyant style created an entertaining contrast to the dark tone of the first-mentioned heavy-tempo hit.
The night in the world, big emotions often mean big musical roars. The songs are shot hard and high and the soloist – whoever this is – doesn’t spare his vocal chords.
In a way, Yö has been doing his own empirical research on pomp throughout his career. Where are the boundaries of pomposity? When does pomposity break?
This limit was desperately sought at the Nokia Arena as well. The massive musical melancholic carpet that was beating with hard rounds was anchored around drummer Toika Tanaka and his bombproof comp. If Teräsniska was the evening’s master of ceremonies, Toikka was its conductor.
The big roar was dynamized by the stronger than average melodicity of some songs, which played a kind of cat and mouse game with the roar as to who would get on top of the neck.
A song for love is a charming deviation in Yö’s production. lla’s second main soloist JP Leppäluoton the song she sang offered a fresh oasis in the middle of all the artillery. Known for several different metal bands and musical roles, Leppäluoto is like made for big arenas. He shared the soloist responsibilities almost equally with Teräsniska.
First the aforementioned’s style drawn from heavy rock and the latter’s more sarcastic approach naturally met in compositions with no visible pathos of Yö.
The concert, saturated with great emotions, was brought to its emotional finish already in the last song of the first half. One of the big hits of Finnish light music of the night and the entire 1980s Swan song Jussi Hakulinen’s daughter arrived to perform Ellinoora Hakulinen.
The young woman was still on the shy side as a performer, but with her interpretation she nailed the classic composed and written by her father cleanly and to the letter.
These were heard:
1. Intro Galax / Dirty Legends
2. Another life
3. Night to receive
4. I can’t get you out of my memories
5. A small person in a big world
6. We trusted you so much
7. You can’t live on love
8. A song for love
9. Queen of the streets
10. A one-night variety show
11. A song for the two of us
12. A broken angel
13. Swan song
14. Skyscrapers
15. Satellites
16. To the last sunset
17. She danced with angels
18. Deadline
19. Fragile
20. Take me anywhere
21. on thin ice
22. The way to my heart
23. What if I love
24. Son of man
25. Tia-Maria
26. Thanks and respect
27. Limelight
28. Love is as white as snow
29. Where the winds take you
Correction 25.3. at 16:37: Contrary to what was first written in the review, the concert was organized on March 24, not March 25.
Correction 25.3. at 5 p.m.: Contrary to what was first written in the review, the concert was not sold out.
Correction 25.3. at 17: Contrary to what was first written in the review, Mikko Kangasjärvi is Yö’s longest continuously playing member after Olli Lindholm, not Ari Toikka.
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