This show was probably one of my most awaited shows in the past few years. St Aurora are one of my favourite Spotify discoveries. Their song They All Remember popped up in a Spotify mixtape of my girlfriend in September 2021 and since then, I lost my heart to this band. Players of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty might be familiar with their song Going To Heaven – which is an absolute banger. I was super excited when I found out that they play a support show in Helsinki during the time I would be there for a seminar, which gave me the opportunity to see them live for the very first time. Here’s how it went.
The venue
Attending a concert at Tavastia was basically a dream come true as well. As a passionate lover of Finnish rock and metal music, Finland per se and everything connected to it, the reputation of this club is not unknown to me. And excuse me, but the very iconic heartagram on the ceiling is something special.
I can’t say much about the venue though. It seemed kinda small to me (I was surprised by that to be honest), there’s a balcony with a very low fencing (at least it looked low from the bottom, we were in the front row) and that’s about it. I didn’t take much in. Although the show was K18, our IDs were not checked, but a friend advised me to bring it just in case because from his experience, anyone who looks younger than 30 will normally be IDd.
I can’t say anything about drinks or drink prices because we didn’t buy anything (but there was free water available), neither did we use the coat room and I didn’t go to the toilet. I think that venue is accessible for wheel chairs (everything is on ground level, I didn’t notice steps or any other tricky ground conditions and the doors seemed wide enough), but I didn’t spot any, so I don’t know where they might be placed in the venue.
St Aurora
First of all: their set was way too short. 30 minutes were not the slightest bit enough for my very first live performance of that band. Other than that, their stage presence was amazing. Nile’s stage outfit and both his stage presence are slightly overdramatic, which makes it perfect. The rest of the band are just adorable little whirlwinds with tons of energy. I’d guess they were especially hyper because that was their first show at Tavastia (and I repeat: this venue does have quite a reputation), so they were extra excited, but from a Finnish friend I know that their shows are always mayhem. We were on Petja and Eemi’s side of the stage and a) Petja is the smiliest person I’ve ever seen (okay, maybe he has to compete with Leevi of One Morning Left) and b) Eemi radiates so much rock star energy that I they’re still such a small act.
Honestly, their stage performance would not make you think that this band was founded only in 2020 and released their first song in 2021. In a weird sense, seeing this band felt a little like coming home because damn, they reminded me so much of my first phase of Finnish rock music with bands like Negative, Private Line or Lovex (funfact: Private Line announced a comeback for this year and they’ll play a show on a cruise ship together with St Aurora, it’s like my life makes a full circle, but I can’t attend it.) Especially their performance of Going To Heaven still lives rent-free in my head. And I had a great time looking at Petja’s fingers while playing the guitar. I don’t know, recently my eyes feel very drawn to the hands of guitarists (only to be fascinated because heck, I never managed to acquire even basic guitar skills 😂).
Besides Going To Heaven we got to hear their latest singles Disgrace of a Man, Locked Inside and Hold The Line as well as some unpublished songs, out of which one was a ballad that I absolutely can’t wait for them to release. It sounded amazing live and I guess I have a soft spot for ballads anyway. So … yeah, performance 10/10.
The only downside for me personally was that I didn’t understand the slightest bit of their shenanigans, because my level of Finnish is somewhere around A1 to beginning A2, i.e. barely existent. That was a bit sad because there was a lot of talking.
After the show, we left the front row and went to the merch to get a shirt and a hoodie (I’ve been waiting to buy this hoodie since it was first shown on their Instagram – and I didn’t regret it, I love it) plus a patch. For a moment I considered getting a poster because we didn’t have anything with us for them to sign, but neither did we have an idea how to get the poster back home to Germany unharmed. Sad, sad.
We also had a little chat with most of the band members and they’re absolutely sweet people! I was even gifted a drum stick by Vallu, which happened so much out of the blue that I almost started crying 😂
Unfortunately, I felt a little off after the show. First of all, it was all a bit too much to take in (for some weird reason I didn’t feel comfortable being at a concert in Finland, surrounded by their Finnish fans; also: first time Tavastia, first time St Aurora), so I was pretty much overwhelmed and overstimulated. And on top of that, I had taken an ibuprofen before the show because of a beginning headache and paid for it with a stomach ache.
The Night Flight Orchestra
Which, in consequence, meant that we didn’t even attempt to see The Night Flight Orchestra. Outside of the concert room there are screens though, so we could still hear the show and watch what was happening on stage and to be fair, the impression I had had when checking them out before the show was confirmed: Absolutely not my kind of music. Their music is more or less classic rock that strongly feels like a journey back in time to the 70s or 80s. So was their stage performance. In line with their name, they were dressed like the staff of a plane, including two female flight attendants and my already overwhelmed brain absolutely couldn’t process what I was seeing on screen. If I remember correctly, I started giggling several times because it was whimsical as fuck what was happening there.
If I might make a suggestion: The Night Flight Orchestra should join Melodifestivalen because their performance gave me very strong Eurovision Song Contest vibes. I’m convinced they would get far.
Anyway, we left early, before the ending of the show, because we had a guided tour at Seurasaari scheduled for the next morning and I personally do not think I would go see them again. Definitely not my taste. The line-up was one of those where you ask yourself who decided that these two bands match. I wouldn’t know how to categorise St Aurora’s music, but there’s definitely not much they have in common with The Night Flight Orchestra.
Instead, I’d rather go see St Aurora again. And again. And again. I hope they’ll manage to play a few shows in Germany at some point because I don’t really see me travelling to Finland anytime soon again (why so expensive…). I already loved them a million times before this show, but now I’d recommend them even more to anyone.