Jaakko & Jay @Harju, Jyväskylä

I saw the awesome punk duo Jaakko & Jay for the first time last January when they were warming up for Frank Turner. They were so good live that I swore I'd go see them again, when ever I could. Really didn't think that the next time would come so soon, and at such an exotic place like on top of a hill. 

The most fond memories of that place are definitely student- related. The least nice ones are those when you thought you could stand physical activities under the hot sun, hungover. 

Too bad the audio isn't the best in the video- stayed too close to the speaker and the wind..! Despite it, the gig was mint.

Värttinä @Hannikais-sali, Jyväskylä

When I visited for the first time the beer advertising museum in the Dutch city, Breda, the owner came to ask where me and my friend came from. As soon as she got to know we were Finnish, you could see how her whole appearance just lit up.

"Do you know Värttinä?!", she asked.

You can probably imagine our positive huh? expressions on our faces, while telling that yes we do know the band and at the same thinking how the heck does she know them.

"A few years ago with a group from this museum we went to see them in Tilburg!", she continued with the most utterly excitement I've ever seen someone have. And to make our visit even more surreal, she put on the band's music for the rest of the night. Can't speak highly enough of that place's customer service.

Two years after that, I got the chance to experience Värttinä live myself. Now, I completely understand the museum owner- the gig was the second best I've ever been to, but by far it was the most exotic. It's something that I'm not used to seeing or listening to, I was simply intrigued for the whole 2 hours. Perfect acoustics, singing, playing, performance, grannies getting wild... It was both hilarious and emotional.

Though, the best part of the whole thing is that most of the time I didn't have a clue what they were singing. I wondered if it was only me, so I asked my friend if she knew. For my relief she shook her head. Ironically, a lot of the band's foreign fans have started to learn Finnish because of them.

I hope the next time I see Värttinä will be abroad. I want to be part of the crowd, which gets all crazy taking their shirts off and that stuff.

French Films @Lutakko, Jyväskylä

I've said it many times that French Films are for me the best Finnish band. They're also great live. I was stoked to go see them play at the legendary Lutakko venue, but... I think it was the most disappointing show I've ever been to. Hate to say it, but it's only my opinion. Well, not really. My friend who saw them for the first time, thought so too. "It can't get lamer than this", he said.

The last time the guys performed here was at a packed indie club. I remember them apologizing for the short set, since they only had their debut out. Completely understandable.

Their recent gig felt shorter, which is weird because they had just released their sophomore a day earlier. Also, there was no one selling the freshly out of the oven album at the place itself. Maybe it's because they were in such a hurry to hit the bars. Dunno.

Simply, I was missing some of their songs, the sound was a bit off and the atmosphere would have been better at a smaller venue (can't blame them for that though).

Anyways, still love you guys, hope it was a one night thing, if not then you should get your act together.

*oh dear*

Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls @ Lutakko, Jyväskylä

January 19th, 2013

I need to get this out of my system: typing 2013 with your keyboard is tricky!

Okey, let's continue.

Last night British folk punk musician Frank Turner and his partners in crime The Sleeping Souls ended their mini Finland tour. Their gig is marked down as one of the biggest nights in the legendary Lutakko music venue's history. Can't believe that a guy who has headlined a packed Wembley with the capacity of 12,500, was now performing in a place with 12,000 less. Though, it was shocking that it didn't sell out, but the audience made it sound like there was double of the amount of people. This only happens when there are passionate musicians on stage.

The evening started with Slack Bird, some people playing acoustic folk music, sometimes in Finnish, sometimes in English. Despite the quartet being only a month together, they managed to craft good tunes. Definitely would like to hear more duets.

I'm ashamed to admit that all these years I've thought that the second supporting act Jaakko & Jay were some sort of a hipster indie electro group. I'm so glad that they weren't. In their own words they play humppa punk, which in my mind translated directly into English would be hump punk. But let's just stick to the term folk punk. It was refreshing to go back to those teenage years when I listened to punk. They're one of those bands, which you need to see live. Otherwise, you won't be doing their music any justice.

It's probably the first time that I've seen such a huge following of devoted fans, who have been to every domestic gig a foreign artist has done. They knew the lyrics to each song Turner and TSS performed, singing like drunk Brits. The fans even brought a birthday doughnut to the key board player, who claimed that the traditional Finnish shot included with it was like death turned into a drink. It was all fun and exciting.

And Turner pronounced Finnish so well that I wonder what's the fuss about the language being so hard. Pff.

Samuli Putro @ Lutakko, Jyväskylä

October 20th, 2012

A musician who was named this year's significant Finnish songwriter performing at a music venue voted as the best by artists in 2010... Easier said, the legendary Samuli Putro at legendary Lutakko.

Although he can look overly serious on stage, the lyrical genius who is known of being direct and truthful in his songs has the witty sense of humor and politeness in his complete essence to warm everyone's heart.

Putro explained how the gig was the best of the tour so far and the venue being one of his favorite places to perform. He thought it was funny that he had his first show with his band Zen Cafe at Lutakko 15 years ago and clearly the front row fans were 15-year-olds. It was a good thing that I wasn't in the front.

French Films @Freetime, Jyväskylä

By far one of the best Finnish bands French Films hit my hometown Jyväskylä, when they performed in indie bar Freetime last Friday. Many have said they are great live and it's hard to disagree. Providing raw energy and tunes for the audience to easily jump and dance to, there's no doubt old fans got what they came for and that new ones were born. Someone even did a roll and split jumps on the stage after the gig and got carried away by the bouncer.

The only thing that made me feel really uncomfortable was seeing the guys wear their leather jackets, while sweating worse than in a sauna. Talk about an efficient work out.

The New Girl

Has anyone watched the US hit show New Girl starring the amazing Zooey Deschanel? Well, in Finland the title is translated into 'Three men and a girl', and that's how it is now. I mean me living with three guys.

It's great! We get along very well. What's even greater is the view from my room.

In front you have the central park/church, the lake, the bridge, which takes you to which I like to say 'the better side of the city' (that wasn't a joke, always going to be proud of coming from that area of town). Then also the mushroom-shaped water tower, which was almost in our old apartment's backyard. Even though the picture doesn't show you properly that this city is called the 'city of light', this video should;



It's really strange to be living somewhere else than the area I'm used to (excluding Holland & London), having everything close by. Best to enjoy it then!

With her staring at me.

Wiidakko JKL Shows

February 24th, 2012

Some years ago, Wiidakko used to be my favorite Finnish band, but I never got the chance to see them play live. Then the love kind of faded away. Or actually my love towards Finnish music, in general. Now when I'm back in this country, it's about time I go back to 'my roots'.

What a perfect way to start that journey was to enjoy Wiidakko's free gig at Pub Katse, which used to be our degree program's 'living room'. The last time the band was performing in Jyväskylä was at least over two years ago, if I remember correctly. Way too long ago. So no wonder that there were so many die hard fans, screaming and dancing like crazy. It was like all their needs were finally satisfied.

I was myself very shocked of the gig starting at midnight, when I got so used to them starting around 9pm abroad. Normally, I would have been sleeping already at that time. I think I'm getting old.

February 25th, 2012

As if one gig wasn't enough... They went on giving an in-store performance in one of the coolest clothing shops in town the next afternoon.

I preferred the acoustic gig, not only because of the better lighting and free shirts the band gave away in the end, but the relaxed atmosphere too. Making the songs more subtle gave them a whole new level, which was great.

One of the band's songs, which they've nick named 'Katkarapu' (=shrimp), is my all time favorite ever. Of all of the songs existing in this world, that's the one I can relate to the most. It's a song about travelling, going towards the unknown and every goodbye being too much.

I can admit that I listen to it everytime I'm about to hit the road, hop on a plane or just dream about doing so.



Ps. it feels so weird to write about gigs in my hometown!

A Surprise Visit

11-16.11.2011

England vs Spain football game and see some of the top players or baby shower?

I've never been to a baby shower, I wouldn't be home for Christmas, which meant I wouldn't see the big tummy of my sister-in-law at all and feel the baby kick. And I needed some fresh air, peace and quiet, so a visit to Finland it was. It had to be a surprise as well, since I wanted to see how it would work out with only my father knowing that I was going there.

It was a bit stressful since I would have either been ringing my mother's door bell after midnight or stayed the night at my friend's place in Tampere and get home the next morning. My friend had to go to work early so the latter didn't work out.

But let's get back to the start of the trip. Just getting to the airport here in London takes ages. First you have to take the underground to get to the right bus stop, which takes 40min or so and then the bus to the airport which takes about 90min if the traffic jam isn't awful. And it seems that RyanAir in London is the only one, which really follows the 100ml in your hand luggage rule. No one checked them in Eindhoven or Dublin. So you can imagine there were a lot of people including me, who had to wait for a longer time at the security check due to those +100ml bottles. Time was running out for the gate to be open. I got there on time to just remember that it's RyanAir; they're always late with boarding.

That's when I also remembered that hearing people talk Finnish at airports isn't the prettiest thing to listen to. You also know when Finnish people are on the same plane with you is when a woman orders 3 beers. I'm used to that, but imagine the steward thinking 'tea' first and going 'oh my God' after hearing it correct the third time.

My friend was at Tampere's airport to pick me up, for which I'm thankful for and also we haven't seen each other for almost 1½ years. We had less than an hour to catch up and pick up some food, before I got on the train to home sweet home.

I can't believe I went on for a year in The Netherlands without visiting home, and now not even 3 months had passed by in London, I was already leaving the city. Wonder what the reason could be for that...

Anyways walking from the train station to my mom's place was refreshing; once again the fresh air, the peace and quiet during the night. I was back in a city which sleeps. My home.

Coming up with the plan how to make my mom open the door was last minute and goes as follow; basically I just called  the home phone, and told her that a friend of mine had left a package outside her door that she needs to take it inside.

You can just imagine her reaction when she saw someone standing outside her door in the dark. Worst case scenario was someone being hospitalized. Either one of us.

On the next day Saturday it was time for surprise #2. My mom called my brother to ensure they were at home. They had a peephole on their door and I had to cover it and hope they'd still open the door. My brother's reaction was 'Hui, what are you doing here?' and my sister-in-law 'WHAT?!' when she thought she heard my voice.

That was the end of secrecy! And I think the surprise worked.

The plan for the evening was to go to a Thai party. All I remember was the spicy food and the everlasting beauty contest.

the buffet table was 4x bigger than this

beauty contest judge

On Sunday our church's nun had made lunch for us. That meant a lot of salad and pork for me! Salad because English people eat shit and pork, because of my Muslim landlord. Was too full to eat much later at the baby shower, also felt really tired but still enjoyed it.

my sister's comment on fb; 'jaleh... shouldn't you be in london??' 'oh my lil sister... full of surprises'

no vacation without thinking

 And I was glad that not many came to ask how everything was. Now I understand my sister, who never wants to meet with anyone when she comes to Finland. Explaining the same things over and over again..

Start of a new week meant also a visit to school. Talking with my teacher of next spring and the future in general made me less distressed. The fact that on our first year only 2 out of 50 passed the computer skills test and being told that's it's not compulsory to pass, then later on our last year told that it is, made me really angry and stressed. Just think that not getting the 1 study credit meant no graduation, but luckily there wouldn't be a chance for that. Also hearing that being uncertain of the future is completely normal, eased my feelings. The main tip was not to be hungovered during a day off, but.. Hahahah.

In the end when she told me that when you're in your thirties your highlight of the day can be a wildlife documentary on TV. That's when I started to get worried of the future again.

A German friend of mine, Sarah who was also in The Netherlands with me was doing her exchange in my school was the only friend I met with. Or actually the only person I told that I was in Finland. I didn't say goodbye to her when I left for London, and she's leaving soon to LA to be best friends with Christina Aguilera so I had to meet up. But of course when your at school it's inevitable to run into school mates.

After answering many questions we went to Coffee House (Dutch people like to think it as Coffee Shop), and Sarah complained of me buying ice cream during that cold weather. Which leads to the fact that if you need to complain about something, go to a German person. They're professionals in that field.

They feel you, they understand.

I had a good time catching up with her, and I'm glad she's fallen in love with Finland and Jyväskylä. I hope to see her in paparazzi pictures with Christina.

Being more relaxed now, I wanted to spend the last days doing nothing, but to listen to the latest album of Arcade Fire and watching the short movie 'The Suburbs' based on the album. The theme fitted those moments, since it's all about childhood and changes in life; my brother and sister-in-law were just packing their stuff to move to another city. Last chance to be at their student apartment. So at the same time I came at a bad time, as people were yelling at each other and feeling stressed. It was like I brought London with me. Hmph.



Another thing I was glad of was the chance to play the air guitar to the whole Nevermind album, if you read my Nevermind, you depress me article, you'd understand. You'd also realize the funny moment when I left their apartment for the last time, I got my birthday gift in advance;

Seven years late. But still love it, and now for the first time I officially have two copies of one album.

The most pleasant thing though was to feel the baby move a lot on my last day! We were thinking that he hates me, because he didn't move at all during the other days, even though I yelled 'HALOO' to him ;) But he warmed up at the last moment!

Glad I didn't go watch football.

Ps. this is my 97th blog post. 100 is up soon. Any ideas what I could write about? You could either leave a comment here or in In Jallu's Words Facebook page.