16.2.2019 Huuto! and Therapy? @ Virgin Oil co., Helsinki
When I was a kid, I somehow ended up borrowing “Troublegum” of Therapy? from the local library. The cover photo of that album just spoke to me. The album ended up being one of my personal rock favorites from the nineties. Therapy? was set to play at Virgin Oil co. at Helsinki on 16 February 2019. After all this time, I was really excited to finally be able to catch one of their shows.
Opening for Therapy? was the Finnish rock formation Huuto!. The quartet from Helsinki plays alternative rock. With heavy songs, and even a cover (in Finnish) of The Bangles’ classic “Walk Like An Egyptian”, the band managed to grasp the audience from the start. It seemed like a lot of people of the audience already knew the band, since they were dancing enthusiastically to their tracks, I wasn’t one of them. The band played a solid set, and managed to do so energetically on stage.
Therapy? is soon celebrating their 30th anniversary. Their 15th studio album “Cleave” came out in fall 2018, and ever since the Irish rockers have been touring in support of this album. It’s therefore no surprise that a lot of the songs were dedicated to the release of “Cleave”. No less than eight songs of the album were present in the impressive setlist.
The band starts the evening with “Wreck It Like Beckett” and “Expelled”, making an energetic kick-off of their show. The audience reacts swiftly on the music, and immediately gets into the party mood. The band, however, doesn’t only play songs of their latest studio effort, they also integrate a lot of old classics that the diehard fans surrounding me, were definitely happy to experience.
With a total of 27 songs, the band provided a great evening filled with all the songs that we love Therapy? for, classics such as the Joy Division cover “Isolation”, “Screamager”, “Nowhere” and an up-tempo version of “Diane” all filled the venue. The setlist sure was lengthy, but the evening flew by like nothing.
Setlist
- Wreck it Like Beckett
- Expelled
- Die Laughing
- Nausea
- Lonely, Cryin', Only
- Kakistocracy
- Turn
- Callow
- Isolation(Joy Division cover)
- Opal Mantra
- A Moment of Clarity
- Diane(Hüsker Dü cover)
- Trigger Inside
- I Stand Alone
- Screamager
- Teethgrinder
- Potato Junkie(with 'Ever Fallen in Love' by Buzzcocks snippet)
- Stop It You're Killing Me
Encore: - Unbeliever
- Church of Noise
- Bad Mother
- Crutch
- Stories
- Breaking the Law(Judas Priest cover)
- Nowhere
- Knives
- Success? Success Is Survival