FESTIVAL REPORT: Helsinki Psych Fest

Playhouse Bar, Vallila, 3.5.2024

The spring of 2024 coincided with the revival of Helsinki Psych Fest, which had gone on temporary hiatus in 2023, replaced by the Love Potion Psych Fest. Usually occurring closer to the fall, this revival took place rather from May 3rd-5th at the Head Agency’s current club venue where Love Potion Club takes place, Playhouse Bar in Vallila. Although this was quite bad timing for me, I did try to be there as often as I could, because I always have such an amazing time at these events!

Now, I mentioned that the timing for this festival was bad on a personal note, for a multitude of reasons. First, this painfully late spring has been extremely hard on us neurodivergents and I’ve been having a bit more trouble wrangling my mood than normal. Secondly, all of the drivers around seem to currently be batshit insane, which makes going out extremely stressful for me (literally, on Sunday I got cut off by a maniac going a minimum of 20 kph over the limit on a very busy street). Thirdly, I wasn’t feeling great on the 3rd, got called in to help with merch on the 4th, and had too many errands to run on the 5th. So, it wasn’t the best space for me to be covering a festival. However… I did the best I could with the few spoons I had. 

Ultimately, I was only able to attend the festival for one day properly, and even then, not as fully as I would have hoped. Having to fetch my partner from work and get my absolutely miserable mood under control meant that I sadly missed out on Pink Chameleon, who were a totally new band for me, and Satori Sun, whom I’ve at least caught before at the Love Potion Club on March 7th, so I knew they were going to be good. We did make it in time for The High Tydes though, who had a kind of The Monkees -era psych rock sound, though with a bit more of the rock in their psych. They looked closer to my age than the extremely young Satori Sun boys, rockin’ a tambourine and generally good vibes. I’ll certainly have to check them out on the usual streaming services one of these days, but they put on a vibrant performance and were giving away pins, one of which is now on my wall of mementos. 

The High Tydes

It’s worth mentioning that I heard the organizers had encountered some last-minute setbacks, yet it was really beautifully pulled together—I wouldn’t have known to see it. There were flowers decorating the space and Playhouse Bar has such wonderfully colorful lights that it suits the nature of the event quite naturally. The festival has such wonderful atmosphere that I often have to look around, just to enjoy people in their retro/vintage outfits from the ‘60s and ‘70s, from gorgeous classic hippy dresses to amazing paisley shirts and bell-bottoms… the works! I was also very delighted to meet some of the Tuliryhmä Roihu dancers, who apparently recognized me because I wrote nice things about their performances at Kosmos Festival last year and Helsinki Psych Fest the year before—they gave me a sticker, which I’m saving for somewhere special. Another easy highlight was the oriental dancers, Jasmin and Azahar, who did the most marvelous slow belly-dance with swords balanced on their heads. I really should consider taking some classes one of these days—I find what they do to be so lovely and I suspect it would be good for my physical condition. 

Jasmin & Azahar oriental dancers

The closest thing to a bummer was just the lack of space for anyone to dance in the small Playhouse Bar, since the music is so suited for it. The Roihu dancers had their indoor gear, meaning LED hula-hoops and an indoor version of the swinging lamps, which made for good entertainment as Pihka Is My Name set up for their set. I could watch those guys all night, given the chance. 

Speaking of Pihka Is My Name, they were the odd ones out on this occasion, having replaced an act that had to drop out (I forget who, sorry)—the Love Potion Psych Fest in 2023 had a much broader interpretation of “psych,” wherein they might not have been quite so different in sound; however, this year seemed a bit more rock-band-oriented, but I was very pleased to see that they had pulled in a nice little crowd of people who were very enthusiastically cheering and dancing. The set was fantastic, including “+-,” which is one of my all-time favorite songs from them, and it’s no secret that I live for their enthusiasm and the way they dance when they perform. Of course, they were the main pull for me for this event, as you surely know how much I love them, but it’s always nice to see other people enjoying them as much as I do. I’d love to see them out at Kosmos Festival someday, where their electronic sound would certainly fit in well. 

Pihka Is My Name

The last act of the first night was a local called Us, who had a very straightforward rock music sound, not unlike you get from The Mosfets, but with a very punk-rock attitude, particularly in the way every song was very intensely dialed up to 11, to an degree that edge near thrashy. We particularly enjoyed their harmonica player, who was essentially the hype guy and backing singer to optimize his time. They played at peak energy until 1.00 in the morning, making for a bombastic end to the night. 

Us

Now, as I mentioned, I wasn’t able to show up on Saturday at all because I had to cover merch for a show downtown, but I did pop by on Sunday while I was out running errands to see what the kirppis [flea market] was all about. It seemed to be just getting underway as I came by, with mostly music and artwork on display, which was nice. Some of the bands had merch available, like Astral Bazaar, who are one of those bands that I’ve been cursed to miss repeatedly (and I really enjoyed their last album). I also got a bit confused about when the shows were happening, and it turned out that I didn’t get to see any of the artists, because I was still taking care of business when the shows took place. For some reason, I didn’t realize that Sunday was a more daytime-oriented day and I thought the shows were still taking place in the evening. So, fool that I am, I missed out. I do recall that the DJ, Mother Joonas, had performed at Love Potion Psych Fest, so at least I wasn’t missing completely new acts. 

On the whole, I’m very sorry that I wasn’t in a better place to spend more time at this event, but I hope those who did attend had as much fun as we did during our short stint there on Friday! Here’s hoping that next time the festival takes place, I’m in a better place to be there the whole time. At least, I’ll certainly be there as much as I can, because it’s still one of my favorite events of the year!

Lasse Turunen photobomb—I was trying to see if I could get my pants to look cool in the colorful lights, but I guess we were shooting from the wrong side