TOUR REPORT: Marko Hietala - Roses from the Deep Tour (Finland)
February 7th-15th, 2025
Normally when I’m working merch, I pick one of the most interesting shows to write up and otherwise stick to my business. However, there were a few notably cool things that took place during Marko Hietala’s Roses from the Deep Tour in support of the likewise-named sophomore album, “Roses from the Deep,” so I’m trying something a little bit new this time and I’m writing about the tour as a whole, rather than just one show. How am I able to do that? Simply enough: this semi-retired music journalist has taken up the role of merch monkey once in a while, which means that if you bought shirts or CDs at a show in Finland this month, you probably got it from me!
The Finnish leg began at Finlandia-klubi in Lahti on February 7th, 2025, and ended in Teatro (Logomo) in Turku on February 15th.
Check out my interview with Marko from the Springtime of the Black Heart tour here!
Or check out my interview with Marko from the “Mustan sydämen rovio” pre-listening event here!
You can also check out this interview with Marko and Kai Hahto from his time with Nightwish!
The first and most noteworthy thing during this tour was the announcement of a special guest, Noora Louhimo of Battle Beast and the Noora Louhimo Experience. It was interesting to note that people were completely unsure of what this meant—was Noora’s solo band acting as the opener or was she a guest vocalist during Marko’s set? Personally, I hoped this meant that she’d be taking Tarja Turunen’s part in the song “Left on Mars,” but that wasn’t her only contribution… I’ll get to that in a moment though.
The first night of the tour was at Finlandia-klubi in Lahti, which I believe was fully sold out. The venue there isn’t the best when it comes to sound quality, but it could have certainly been a lot worse. I admittedly am not a big fan of the way that room is laid out, with the stage off to the side and a few big cement pillars, making the crowd squish heavily to one side of the venue while there’s an excess of space on the other side.
The performance kicked off with two of the singles, “Frankenstein’s Wife” and “Rebel of the North,” before they showed off their grungy new album track, “Proud Whore.” After this, we were treated to two more familiar songs, “Isäni ääni” from the first solo album and “Olet lehdeton puu,” a Hector cover that they played on the last tour, which Marko & co. also performed recently on the Vain Elämää TV show.
After this, we heard the almost too-catchy single, “Impatient Zero,” and a fresh new cover from Vain Elämää, Hanna Pakarinen’s “Mörkö mainio,” which I believe was one of his most popular songs from that season (personally, I think the western-influenced cover of “Puhelinlangat laulaa” by Katri Helena was grossly underrated, but that’s just me). Granted, it does really push him vocally, so perhaps it’s amongst the most fun songs to perform! I heard word going around that there might be a music video for this song coming out at some point.
One of the truly most bangin’ new tracks then followed in the set, “Dragon Must Die,” which absolutely lived up to its album sound. I thought it would be a killer live song and it was, definitely making it a highlight of the tour. They then flashed back to “Juoksen rautateitä” from the first album before continuing on with the sad “Two Soldiers” and possibly sadder “Roses from the Deep”—devastating. If you’re going to cry during the show, it’ll likely be somewhere around this point in the set.
Once the title track was behind them, Marko introduced his special guest for the night, Noora Louhimo of course. As was suspected, they played “Left on Mars,” but then Noora stuck around to impress everyone by singing in a Nightwish medley that began with a blend of “Nemo,” “The Islander,” and “Weak Fantasy,” and ended with “Wish I Had an Angel”—what a fantastic selection! And if fans weren’t already amped enough about that, we were then treated to a Tarot medley, featuring “Wings of Darkness,” “The Punishment,” “Sleepless,” “Painless,” and “I Walk Forever.” This setlist was truly a buffet of awesome tracks from throughout Marko’s career—a big fan’s dream!
The set concluded with “Stones” from the first album, but of course they returned to keep the show going a little longer, with the Black Sabbath cover of “War Pigs” that we remember from the last tour and “Truth Shall Set You Free,” which also had some vocal contributions from Noora. All-in-all, a spectacular setlist! I’m only sorry that “The Devil You Know” was missing from the new songs—it and “Tammikuu” were the only two new songs that weren’t heard. We’d have been very spoiled to get the full album though, with this excellent setlist… my only personal gripe is that I might have preferred something other than the nearly-10-minute-long “War Pigs,” which was also on the last tour, but what can you do? Sabbath fans love their “War Pigs.”
Marko, of course, spent some time chatting with the crowd and telling brief stories, but those weren’t the only stand-out moments from the tour. For example, it was drummer Anssi Nykänen’s 60th birthday on the 7th, so we obviously all sang “Paljon onnea vaan” [the Finnish “Happy Birthday”], and the show at Olympia-kortteli in Tampere on February 14th had a surprise appearance from J-P Leppäluoto, who sings the duet in “Two Soldiers” on the album—killer!
I was also surprised to learn that the show at Sawohouse Underground in Kuopio seemed to have an opening act called Violet Garden. Admittedly, I was so swamped by people buying merch that I had no chance to listen to them—truly, the hometown show had me working my buns off from doors open to showtime—but they sounded pretty decent in the few moments I was able to register that there was music. The hometown show was rockin’ though, also sold out, unsurprisingly. In fact, I’m not sure if any of the shows had space left by showtime.
I should also shout-out Sawohouse as maybe the best venue I’ve come across in Finland lately. The space and sound quality were really nice, there was a really good merch spot (if not in the most optimal location), the food was excellent, and the lodgings were clean and comfortable. I had even forgotten my earplugs that weekend, but found that I wasn’t missing them, despite the loud volume of the music. It was an absolute pleasure to be there.
If I was to compare this tour to the Springtime of the Black Heart Tour from 2023, there were two notable differences. The first is that we actually had a significant selection of merch to offer this time. On the last tour we had one shirt and the debut album, though I don’t think I ever had the album in both languages available at the same time. This time, however, we had two shirts, a hoodie, and table stuff (setlists, drum sticks, wrist bands, patches, etc.), as well as both CDs and LPs.
The other major difference was that the 2023 tour was what I’d call a “sleepy old folks” tour. I loved it because I came home every night and slept in my own bed thanks to the shows starting, on average, at about 19.00 (also with no opener). This time, however, we were actually spending the night in some of the cities, which meant that we weren’t always packing up AFAP and getting the fuck out as soon as humanly possible. So this time around, there was more socializing, more general shenanigans, and that sort of thing. Also? Shout-out to Bob Engstrand who was on keyboard duty this time, filling in for Vili Ollila. Since he originally hails from Sweden, it was much more comfortable to speak English this time around and not feel like you’re ruining everyone else’s day by existing. Plus he was just very friendly and welcoming, which is always a nice change of pace in a country where you aren’t super comfortable with the language.
Overall, I had a great time on the tour: the company was excellent, the music was fantastic, and I learned about some fun details about the small towns of Finland thanks to our sound tech acting as tour guide. I’m only sorry that working merch means I don’t usually watch too much of the show, but I’m equally grateful for the venues like Olympia-kortteli (which was too small for the number of people but otherwise I was at least facing the stage) or Finlandia-klubi (which doesn’t have the best sound but merch is still in the hall where the show is happening) where I could still see or hear most of the event. It’s true that a lot of live music doesn’t hit very hard for me these days, but if you’re offering up tight new tracks, with an unusual guest vocalist, along with some unique medleys… it goes without saying that these were shows worth checking out.
Be sure to catch the Living the Dream Together Tour with Tarja Turunen, which kicked off on the 23rd! They’ll be all around eastern Europe, so if you go to one or more of the shows, be sure to say hello to Lady Enslain who’s taken over merch duty for the shows outside Finland!
Setlist
Frankenstein’s Wife
Rebel of the North
Proud Whore
Isäni ääni
Olet lehdeton puu (Hector cover)
Impatient Zero
Mörkö mainio (Hanna Pakarinen cover)
The Dragon Must Die
Juoksen rautateitä
Two Soldiers
Roses from the Deep
Left on Mars (ft. Noora Louhimo)
Nightwish medley (Nemo/The Islander/Weak Fantasy)
Wish I Had an Angel (Nightwish song ft. Noora Louhimo)
Tarot medley (Wings of Darkness/The Punishment/Sleepless/Painless/I Walk Forever)
Stones
Encore
War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)
Truth Shall Set You Free (ft. Noora Louhimo)
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