Some concerts begin with a slow rise, a room gradually finding its rhythm and allowing the atmosphere to settle into place. This was not one of those nights. Long before JOKER OUT even stepped onto the stage at Tavastia on May 24th, 2026, the excitement was impossible to miss. Before the doors had even opened, the queue stretched almost around the entire building, people gathering with a kind of patience that did not feel like waiting at all, but anticipation already turning into its own event. With Finnish group PILVET PILVET opening the evening, the room had already begun filling with energy early on, giving people a chance to settle into the atmosphere before the main event arrived.
By the time JOKER OUT finally appeared, the hall was full and already alive. They were met with an immediate wall of clapping, cheering, and excitement. It felt less like the start of a show and more like welcoming back familiar friends.
From the first moments of “Supersonic,” the energy was already moving in both directions. Nothing felt reserved. Nothing felt distant. JOKER OUT stepped into a room that had arrived ready to give everything back, and throughout the night, that exchange never really stopped. The connection between stage and audience felt almost effortless, as if the evening had found its own pace before the first note had even been played.
As the set unfolded through songs like “Bele sanje,” “Muzika za decu,” and “Ona,” language never seemed to matter. Songs performed in Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian carried the same response as the English tracks. If anything, they seemed to bring people closer. At one point, Bojan remarked how impressive it was that Finnish fans knew the lyrics so well despite the languages being so different, delivering the compliment with visible surprise and appreciation. Looking around the room, it was difficult to argue with him. People sang without hesitation, without needing translation, finding familiarity somewhere beyond the words themselves.
There was also a looseness to the evening that made everything feel natural rather than rehearsed. Before “Tokio,” the band shared a story about dedicating the song to Japanese girls they had met at their hotel the day before. Small moments like that carried through the night, conversations and stories appearing between songs and making the space feel smaller, more personal.
Then came “Dopamin,” and for a moment the room felt louder than the stage itself. The chorus hardly belonged to JOKER OUT anymore. It belonged to everyone packed inside Tavastia. Voices rose from every direction, merging together into something larger than any individual person singing it. Looking around, there were very few standing still, and even fewer standing silently.
Some of the warmest moments came through the simplest interactions. Jure was spending his last evening as a twenty-nine-year-old before turning thirty the following day, and Tavastia answered by singing “Happy Birthday” in Finnish. It felt spontaneous and sincere, one of those small moments that probably could not be recreated exactly the same way again. The band then encouraged the crowd to scream as loudly as possible as a birthday present with the song “Sunny Side of London”; naturally, the crowd accepted the task without hesitation.
As the set moved toward its final stretch, “Carpe Diem” carried a sense of familiarity, almost feeling like shared landmarks everyone had been moving toward together. Yet even near the end, JOKER OUT still seemed eager to keep giving something new. Introducing “Odsevi sonca,” they mentioned the song had only been written on Tuesday, offering something fresh and unfinished in the best possible sense, a moment that felt shared rather than presented.
The final part of the evening slowly shifted in feeling. Between songs came mentions of the band’s upcoming 10th anniversary, invitations toward what comes next, and reminders that the story was still moving forward. By then, the concert had begun to feel like more than a single night standing on its own. “Novi val” closed everything in the most fitting way possible.
Performed acoustically, the song changed the atmosphere entirely. The noise that had filled the room all evening softened into something quieter and closer. At one point, the microphone passed into the audience, and suddenly the final song no longer belonged only to the people standing under the lights. It belonged to everyone.
What stood out most throughout the night was how little separation existed between stage and crowd. JOKER OUT brought the songs, but Tavastia carried them forward together. For a few hours, the distance disappeared entirely, leaving behind something that felt shared by everyone in the room.
Long after the final notes faded and people slowly stepped back out into the Helsinki night, that feeling remained. Not simply excitement, not only the memory of favourite songs or loud moments, but the feeling of having been part of something collective, something that existed for one evening and then quietly followed everyone home.
Written by Peter Jerman
Setlist
- Supersonic
- Bele sanje
- Muzika za decu
- Ona
- Tokio
- Stephanie
- Dopamin
- Demoni
- Katrina
- A sem ti povedal
- Plastika
- Mesto duhov
- Vse kar vem
- Ne bi smel
- Sunny Side of London
- Carpe Diem
- Odsevi sonca (new song)
- Bluza
- Šta bih ja
- Umazane misli
- Novi val
