Under perfect summer weather, we went for our very first time to Allas Sea Pool for a concert. Obviously sold-out, tonight the expectations for many children of the ’90s were extremely high, since the GARBAGE had not been seen in Finland for over two decades. Needless to say, the audience was mostly middle-aged, but it was also good to see the occasional youngster. Despite the place being really packed, there were only big queues for the bar and the more “proper” toilets before the start of the show; other than that, everything went very smoothly. The show began with a few minutes’ delay, and it was quite weird to stand on sand while waiting for the band to show up. Suddenly, the screen lit up with the squid image from the cover of the latest “Let All That We Imagine Be The Light,” and the Laura Palmer theme song from Twin Peaks worked as an intro. Two new songs opened the show, but it was really with the old hits – as expected – that the audience got going: “I Think I’m Paranoid” and “Stupid Girl” led the way into the heart of the gig, as the sun slowly began to move out of the way of the stage, so that the lights began to actually have a purpose.
Despite the undeniable aging of the band, Shirley Manson was as charismatic as ever, and actually has been embracing the process, getting quite emotional and self-reflecting even in her speeches. Mentioning the passing of her father as recently as late 2025, and interviews in which they had asked her when they were planning to retire as a band… It’s easy to see they have reached a different level of maturity, clearly reflected also in their latest album. The crowd answered enthusiastically to the show, although in that typically composed Finnish manner, save for a few hardcore fans who seemed to know all the lyrics of nearly all the songs by heart. Eventually, the gig came to a close with a double encore featuring “Special” and, of course, “Only Happy When It Rains” (which it wasn’t, by the way).
All-in-all, the venue seemed very suitable for this event, and in fact, two days later, there will be THE CARDIGANS here, in a ’90s revival of sorts. Everything seemed to be arranged pretty smoothly and orderly, and combined with the early summer weather, made for a very pleasant Monday evening. It was also interesting to see a big crowd of hockey fans at the market square still celebrating Finland’s gold in the Hockey World Championship, a thing that the vocalist herself mentioned early in the concert, one day after the fact.
So GARBAGE finally showed up after so many years, and it did it without a splashy celebration but still with style and in a good mood, for the happiness of all us 40-somethings and such who wanted to relive their youth days through these songs of our teenage years!
GARBAGE
