Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Sometimes absence also makes kick-ass music.
This was shown to be true by Stella, who took to the Main Stage after a two-year tour break, their fourth album and a name change for one of the band members. Dressed in a striped tunic and straw hat, lead singer Marja Tahvanainen and her band charmed the crowd, showing that hearts had grown fonder, on both sides of the stage.
As if feeling out for the audience reaction, the band started their gig calmly, with a few songs from their new album, Jokin on muuttumassa, released this May. Among the new material performed were Tästä syksy vasta alkaa and Vaaran päällä, the last of which the crowd, enjoying the setting sun, already sang along to. Some previous material was the touching Hipaisun päässä, from their penultimate album.
After the cautious start, guitarist-keyboard player Janne Sivonen dared to address the massive crowd.
“How’s the festival going for you?” was the question from the right side of the stage. “Isn’t this the most anticipated weekend of the summer?”
With this, the band’s popularity or place among the festival goers was ascertained. The crowd’s joyous cheers of reply was soon turned into loud sing-along, as the band plucked the audience’s heart strings with the song Suden silmät, which is set in Joensuu and also partly in Ilosaarirock. After that, Stella showed no mercy to the crowd’s vocal chords or applaude muscles; Aamun kuiskaus and Lumottu echoed far in the calm summer evening, and the long awaited Piste had the band playing with the enchanted audience, each singing verses in turn. Their newest single and theme song for the Roskisprinssi movie, Kutsumattomat vieraat jääkää kotiin was already memorized by the crowd, and there was no sign of the dreaded second-day fatigue. The band, originally from Joensuu, calmed the audience a bit with their second to last song, Korkokengät
The last song, an acoustic version of Häävalssi didn’t completely quiet down the faithful choir of festival goers, but had it holding hands and embracing loved ones. This touching, dreamlike ending song even had the stage hands and heavy metal folk waiting in the wings to take pause and quietly listen to Tahvanainen’s excellent voice. The lyrics could be taken as a sign of thanks to the grateful audience for their patient wait – we still have time.
Text: Sari Asikainen
Photos: Aino Pohjavirta and Jarno Parkkinen
Translation: Jaakko Suvanto
