LIVE REPORT: Alone - An Evening with Kai Hahto
Apollo, Helsinki; February 3rd, 2024
Every once in a while, you come across an event that makes you think, “huh, I wonder what that’s all about?” Now, I’ve never been much interested in drums, but if you tell me that a well-renowned drummer is putting on a solo show, you’ve immediately piqued my curiosity. During my road trip to Kitee to see Altamullan Road back in January, I met some Nightwish fans who were in town for the event, who were talking about their next trip to Finland in February to see Alone - An Evening with Kai Hahto. I’m not really interested in seeing the same old song and dance anymore—I’m old and bored of it—but I love seeing stripped-down shows that focus on solo artists and never have I ever seen a solo show from a drummer before. As such, I was actually very genuinely interested in this show, just because I had no idea whatsoever to expect. A big shout-out to All Things Live for having me!
Now, if you don’t know Kai Hahto by name, he’s probably best known for being the current drummer of Nightwish and Wintersun, though he’s actually been around for 30-odd years longer than he’s been with those guys. His tenure includes time with other bands like Swallow the Sun, Rotten Sound, Joe Lynn Turner, Paul Di’anno, Auri, and many more. I won’t list them all here because that would honestly be a long list, but if you want to see where else he’s been drumming, pop by the Metal Archives and you’ll get a good idea, but not even the full picture, as that only lists the metal bands and he’s been with other groups in other genres as well. I heard that he had been with wedding and even funeral bands over the years, so to say that his history is eclectic is a vast understatement.
The event took place at Apollo Live Club in Helsinki; truly, I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen a show there, which is a bit of a shame because it’s a surprisingly good venue, space- and sound-wise. With a capacity of around 1000 people, I hope to see it in use a bit more, because it’s got more space than Nosturi had and better sound quality than most other places. Perhaps it’s expensive to rent?
The timetable for the show was a full 4 hours, but part of that was a meet ‘n’ greet VIP show (which cost a staggering 99€… damn, compared to the 30€ price of the show itself). These hardcore fans got to show up around 19.00 and heard a 20-year history of drumming and were able to take pictures with the man himself. By the time this was over and the doors opened at 20.00, the atmosphere was pretty electric with anticipation. I bumped into surprisingly many familiar faces and met a couple of new people—all ages and walks of life, though there were certainly a lot of drummers, friends, family, students, Nightwish fans, and so on—and everyone was as excited about the mystery of the show before us. I’m not sure if the show had sold out, but if it hadn’t, it was damned near close. There was also a pretty decked-out merch table, to my surprise.
At 20.59, the crowd was getting rowdy with anticipation and started to clap, and when Kai made his appearance, the cheers of “Hahto! Hahto"!” were uproarious. The first track was immediately recognizable as the ambient music from the beginning of “Music” by Nightwish. Truly, we don’t take enough time to appreciate drummers at live shows. They are almost always in the back, we rarely get good photos unless the photographer is both dedicated and skilled… drummers do often get a bit of the short end of the stick, despite being the powerhouses that keep the rhythm going and Kai Hahto is truly among Finland’s best. To get to see pure drumming skill, front and center, was an amazing change of pace from your usual full-band shows.
“Music” was followed immediately by “Broken Mirror” by Trees of Eternity and Swallow the Sun’s “Labyrinth of London (Horror pt. IV),” after which a Radio Rock host showed up to ask some questions. Personally, this was the worst part of the show because this interviewer didn’t really add or teach us anything. She asked him if he was sweaty (obviously), asked him to spoil the show for the viewers (he didn’t), and then made a big deal out of how none of the foreigners in the crowd were gonna get Tauski, and to totally Google him (it’s not really very funny, he’s just an iskelmä artist, so maybe they think it’s super hilarious that Kai’s played in a lot of genres?). It felt pretty lame for her to tell all the non-locals that she wasn’t going to explain the joke, only for there not really to be a joke. The only thing that was interesting was the reasoning for picking the first few songs, because he shouted out Aleah Starbridge, a South-African singer/songwriter from Sweden (known from Trees of Eternity and collaborations with Swallow the Sun and Amorphis) who tragically passed away from cancer in 2016. It was also heartwarming to hear that the 1-month Tauski tour had been important to him, because that was when he met his wife. Really, this segment could have been done without the interviewer, as I’d have rather listened to what Kai thought was interesting enough to share.
That said, the Tauski song was really entertaining and afterwards, he went on to play Nightwish’s “Pan” and a truly blast-beating monstrosity from Darkwoods My Betrothed. This was then followed by maybe my favorite Auri song, “Pearl Diving,” which was such a delight to hear, since Auri have yet to ever go on tour. This was also an insane way to pace things (in a fun way) because he went from lovely Nightwish to insane black metal, back to more very pretty music—great juxtaposition and it certainly kept us awake!
At this point, some special guests—bassist/vocalist Markku Keho and guitarist/vocalist Max Bäckman—appeared from an old rock/blues band he played with from 1997-2019 called Max on the Rocks. This was where the second, smaller drum kit that was set on a raiser behind his bigger kit came into play, as the three rockers took the upper stage. These were the only songs of the night that had some live vocals to them, starting with “What’s the Matter, Mama” and “Mexico,” and finished with a 3-song medley that ended in The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues.” After this, he had one more special guest treat for us in his son, Joonatan Hahto, who has surely got a great drum teacher in his father, as he took the bigger kit and the two of them played Nightwish’s “Nemo” together. Of note, it was cool that they used one of the versions that features Floor Jansen on vocals.
After this, he wrapped the set up with a real treat, especially considering that Wintersun (or rather, Jukkis Koskinen) recently announced that “Time II” is finished at long last. His last song of the night was “Time” from “Time I,” though of course the crowd raucously called him back for another song, which was Wintersun’s “Winter” from “The Forest Seasons.”
Overall, while I don’t know a whole lot about drumming in general, this live show was a real pleasure to watch and something completely new and different from the same old song and dance I’ve been watching for the last 15+ years in Finland and beyond. If you’re drummer or lover of drums, if you’re looking for something a little different, or if you just want to hear a diverse selection of music with a focus on drums, I highly recommend checking out this show in the future. Since Nightwish is taking a break from touring for 3 years, this gives him the opportunity to take this show on the road, so don’t miss out if you see it in your town!
Tracklist
1. Music (Nightwish song)
2. Broken Mirror (Trees of Eternity song)
3. Labyrinth of London (Horror pt. IV) (Swallow the Sun song)
~interview break & birthday song~
4. Niin minä sinulle kuulun (Tauski song)
5. Pan (Nightwish song)
6. Black Fog and Poison Wind (Darkwoods My Betrothed song)
7. Pearl Diving (Auri song)
8. What’s the Matter Mama (with Max on the Rocks)
9. Mexico (with Max on the Rocks)
10. Yeah-No / It Ain’t What You Do / Roadhouse Blues (with Max on the Rocks)
11. Nemo (Nightwish song, ft. Joonatan Hahto)
12. Time (Wintersun song)
~encore~
13. Winter (Wintersun song)
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