When Karri Miettinen, aka Paleface, marched on to the Rento Stage with just his guitar as the last performer of the night, the view over the undulating ocean of people must have been quite extraordinary. The gig, which began acoustically and not without problems, kept gathering pace and by the time Miettinen hit Helsinki – Shangri-La, the crowd was completely wooed and there was no turning back. The performer led his flock of dancing followers, the largest audience Rento Stage saw all day, with a firm attitude and the help of an amazing band. Tuomo Prättälä¸who manned the keyboards, was so into it he just had to pull off groovy solos with his synthesizer from time to time.
Paleface wants to change the world. Even though the versions of the songs heard on gigs are more laid-back and reggae-ish than the album versions, the content is still serious and political. “Fuck that shit!” Miettinen exclaims and says a word or two on the True Finns. They weren’t the only ones getting a flogging: other politicians, corruption, the situation in the third world and the former ever-president of Finland, Kekkonen, also get their share. Most of the tracks heard are from Paleface’s new album and the audience knows the words. The show also featured guests and Rento Stage got to enjoy a humppafied Talonomistaja when Leijonamieli joined Miettinen on stage.
“Awesome vibe!”, comes a comment from some dude in the audience. I won’t disagree. Paleface keeps the audience interested and pulls out one of his old hits from the time his working language was English. Awesome.
Syntyny rellestää, heard among the last of the night, received a poignant extra kick when combined with Sielun Veljet’s Säkenöivä voima, and so Miettinen laid some extra expectations on Saturday’s main act.
Text: Veera Konsti
Photo: Tomi Palsa
Translation: Jyrki Laitinen
