The Turku Band Festival in – you guessed – Turku, was set to take place in January 2022, but much like other events scheduled for earlier this year, was moved to March. It took place at six different locations around Turku and every event was free. On Wednesday the 16th, Utopia was the only venue with some gigs, mostly featuring easygoing music with a bit of rock ‘n’ roll.
Among the handful of hiccups for the event included the cancellation of WORKS & DAYS, who were meant to be the first act up, but were forced to cancel due to medical reasons. As well, the stage lights on the second stage were problematic, at least for us photographers.
The unusually-named AIRI’S is a rock group formed in 2019. Their set was full of energy, with a very notable performance from their incredible guitarist. MONOCOTS had some technical difficulties on the second floor, and thus started about 15 minutes late. Their sound was a jazzy style of rock, easily suitable for the laid-back audience members, or perhaps those who had enjoyed a doobie beforehand.
FOXPILOT (formerly known as FOGPILOT) have been playing rock covers since 2003. Unfortunately, the frontman was Swedish-speaking, so we weren’t able to follow what they were talking about between songs on the second floor stage. Alongside their selection of covers, they also have three original east-listening rock tracks that can be found on Spotify. JEP JEP‘s set was a bit of an odd experience, much in the same vein as when watching WÖYH!. It was interesting to see their use of saxophone. The final band of the Wednesday day was DADA SAMARA. This was pretty far away from the usual music we listen to, so suffice to say, it was a hard band to find an opinion on. Perhaps they are better suited to university students who are into odd types of rock. At least their show wasn’t paint by numbers!
Ultimately, the first day of Turku Band Festival was an interesting one!
Airi’s
Monocots
Foxpilot
Jep Jep
Dada Samara
