Energy and happy moods – a swinging farewell to Stella

On their farewell gig on Saturday, Stella pampered their audience for one last time and put forth an awesome show with atmosphere to share. The band gave it their all and was in finer shape than ever before.

Stella’s final performance at Ilosaarirock might have been a somber occasion. But luckily it wasn’t. The band started right off with exceptional energy and in happy moods.  Best of all, that mood never faded, but stayed strong from song to song. Guitarist and songwriter Janne Sivonen proved true his claim made in the interview earlier, that the band received a boost of energy from their decision to quit.

Every member of the band seemed to be enjoying themselves.
— I don’t know what it is, but this feels more wonderful than ever before, said singer Marja Tahvanainen.

The excellent mood carried over to the crowd: nearly everybody was cheering, singing along and dancing with a smile on their face through the whole gig. Before doing Aamun kuiskaus and Piste, Marja challenged the crowd to a sing-along to surpass the one from last night’s J. Karjalainen gig.
— This is our Ilosaarirock! This is our last show!
Although I didn’t see the J. Karjalainen show yesterday, judging from the volume I’d hazard a guess that the band succeeded.

In addition to the energy and positive atmosphere, the gig was a smashing success music-wise: the band played very well and Marja Tahvanainen’s vocals sounded beautiful and refreshingly different and unique. I’ve seen Stella live many times, but this was by far the best show they’ve ever performed.

My favorites from the show were Kutsumattomat vieraat jääkää kotiin, Aamun kuiskaus, Piste and Häävalssi. Since this was probably the last time I’ll see the band, it was fantastic to hear these songs, songs that I have played over and over again, for one last time live. Especially their encore song,  Häävalssi, was unforgettable. The background acoustic guitar sounded great and made a touching song even more so.

For their “official swan song”, Stella played Hipaisun päässä:
Those were the times
If in this bed I stay
and these are my final words,
don’t pine away.

Perhaps we won’t—hopefully we won’t—pine away, but we will surely miss Stella and the large void it leaves in the Finnish music scene.

All in all, the gig was a splendid end to a career spanning 11 years. When it was all over, I was left with a feeling of gratitude for having been a part  of it — the mood, the crowd, the music.

Text: Elina Saarela
Photo: Maria Sandell
Translation: Jaakko Suvanto