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.
