The 40th anniversary Ilosaarirock started with a fury, when the rockstar of Finnish rockstars, a living legend, Mr. Michael Monroe himself, took to the Main Stage to kick off the birthday celebrations.
Michael isn’t likely to stop rocking anytime soon, despite his old mates having “retired”. The rascal has just toned down his stage performance a notch, compared to the facade climbs of yesteryears. But Monroe is sure to entertain his crowd every time. With unfallible charisma he gave the crowd a short but nevertheless rock-hard performance, of course flavoured with a little saxophone for good measure.
Mr. Rockstar rallied his crowd, in Finnish and in English, and even remembered to take pleasure in the small things in life: “Isn’t it wonderful that the sun is shining and it’s not raining?”
Text: Kaisa Kauppinen
Photo: Jarno Parkkinen
Translation: Jaakko Suvanto
