As part of their Octopussy 2019 Tour, STAM1NA arranged a proper pre-Christmas party on Saturday December 14th, 2019, in The Circus, Helsinki, with HUMAVOID as the warm-up act of the evening. After playing some gigs in Central Europe, the band came back for their final club gigs before taking a break from touring. Check out the full gallery here.
This August, STAM1NA revealed their Octopussy 2019 Tour, which covered cities both in Finland and Central Europe. Outside the homeland borders, the band toured with Insomnium and The Black Dahlia Murder, but back home they were the undisputed headliner.
STAM1NA arrived to Helsinki during the hottest pre-Christmas party season and performed at a sold out The Circus with HUMAVOID. This would be a rare event since the next time the capital will see STAM1NA on stage will be September 5th, 2020, as they celebrate the 10th anniversary of “Viimeinen Atlantis” in the Helsinki Ice Hall. After the Octopussy 2019 tour the band has announced they’ll be back in clubs in 2021. So, be sure to get a ticket for September unless you want to wait over a year before seeing them live!
We faced an impressive sight on arriving to The Circus just before the doors were opened. The queue went all the way to Amos Rex, and the most enthusiastic fans were already taking off their jackets in hopes of dumping them quickly to the cloak room and securing a spot from the front row. I decided to take a more calm approach and spend some time checking out the merchandise before heading further into the venue.
The opener for the night was HUMAVOID, a progressive metal band from Finland. After learning about the band’s genre, I gave a quiet sigh as progressive music is in no way my cup of tea, even after giving it a chance several times. But I decided to give it my very best attempt none the less!
HUMAVOID are publishing their next album in 2020, and vocalist-keytarist Suvimarja Halmetoja stated at the beginning of their set that the songs heard this night would mainly be from the upcoming album. As the band started playing, the front row was occupied by fans of STAM1NA, but other people were arriving too after getting their drink from the bar.
HUMAVOID definitely showed great energy and attitude on stage despite having a slight problem getting proper reactions out of the crowd. This was probably due to the fact that, since their set was focused on newer material, people were more focused on listening to what the music was like rather than jamming to familiar songs. Even though the music didn’t really get me going, the bass sounds were really impressive in the sense that I could literally feel them in my body.
After HUMAVOID finished their set, The Circus was packed and getting ready for STAM1NA. The band begun their gig a tad late, but that didn’t bother the audience. Finally, the James Bond -influenced intro track started playing and the crowd greeted STAM1NA loudly and eagerly.
From the start, STAM1NA didn’t give any slack to the audience. The set started with “Lääke,” followed by “Uudet kymmenen käskyä.” It was clear that the crowd knew the lyrics and were not shy to show it. Soon the traditional moshpit was on at full speed and the human waves reached the very back of the club.
“Taival” (2018) was well-represented in the set. STAM1NA performed my personal favorite, “Gaian lapsi,” (without a guest singer this time), “Sudet tulevat,” and during the encore, “Metsästäjät” in its entirety, as well as “Enkelinmurskain.” The band decided to skip songs from “Viimeinen Atlantis” entirely, supposedly because of next years 10th anniversary gig. Otherwise the set included a wide selection of the band’s material. One surprise was “Pyhä yksinkertaisuus,” which I don’t recall having heard very often in the past. The song was originally released in 2005 on the “Kadonneet kolme sanaa” single and later as part of the “Vanhaa paskaa” compliation album.
STAM1NA usually has something special up on their sleeve, whether it’s a guest performer, stage costumes, or something totally random, like wetsuits and pool toys. This time that something special happened during the encore, when Antti “Hyrde” Hyyrynen pulled his phone and started reading his pre-prepared speech.
In his speech, he recollected an interview he had given years ago, where he had expressed his somewhat negative view about Finnish rap music. Due to this, one music journalist had written a counterword, and in this referred to him as “hillbilly from Lemi” [tynnyrissä kasvanut lemiläinen]. Well, it was easy for the audience of the sold-out The Circus to agree that despite being “hillbillies from Lemi” (or maybe because of it), the band is still doing quite well.
So, thank you Lemi and its hillbillies for giving us one of the greatest acts in Finnish metal!
Setlist
[intro] Octopussy
1. Lääke
2. Uudet kymmenen käskyä
3. Sudet tulevat
4. Vapaa maa
5. Pyhä yksinkertaisuus
6. Aivohalvaus
7. Gaian lapsi
8. Meidänkaltaisillemme
9. Vartijaton
10. Masiina
11. Viisi laukausta päähän
12. Elämänlanka
13. Kannoin sinut läpi hiljaisen huoneen
14. Metsästäjä: I Metsästäjä (Encore)
15. Metsästäjä: II Ero (Encore)
16. Metsästäjä: III Ylösalainen (Encore)
17. Enkelinmurskain (Encore)
18. Paha arkkitehti (Encore)
Written by Essi N.
Musicalypse, 2019
OV: 1310
Photos by Miia Collander
