FESTIVAL REPORT: Tuska Festival 2024
Another year, another Tuska Festival, right? You simply can’t escape it. I happen to be one of those people who often claims that, “I’m not going next year,” until either the lineup comes out or my friends harass me enough that I cave in. Tuska Festival 2024 was one of the former, as I found the overall band schedule to be eclectic and interesting, if pretty unconventional for a metal festival. There are a lot of artists I hadn’t seen but was interested in seeing, while there were a few rare favorites as well. With an assistant by my side this time as well, in the form of my some-the-times boss, Lady Enslain, we decided to join forces to see what Tuska had to serve us in 2024.
Friday, June 28th, 2024
This year, we had the foresight to get our wristbands in advance, so as to ignore the ludicrously long line that has been known to weave in and out of two full mall buildings on festival day. I can’t deny that this was, without a doubt, a wise decision. I hate malls on a good day and having to lurk around Redi in a queue isn’t my idea of fun (especially since the press/VIP queue is always very short and quick). I can’t say how bad the queues were this year, but better safe than sorry.
We had hoped to catch Lord of the Lost’s set, but it turned out that getting to a festival on time (especially when you come from out of town and are picking up two people) is difficult, so we did only manage to catch the last few songs of their set. I do kind of see what the hype is about with that band—they were great performers and they seems to have an interest in staying relevant with the world. For example, they did a cover of Käärijä’s “Cha Cha Cha” as a tribute to being in Eurovision at the same time, complete with vibrant green lights on stage. It was a nice touch!
Lord of the Lost
As the first to get a selfie with the dinosaur last year, I had to get another one this year… seems one of Tuska’s photographers also caught this moment, heh
My goal for this year, since the lineup was so unusual, was to browse and try things out, rather than to check out full sets (I am getting awfully old for these big festivals, you know), so I then wandered over to see Annisokay, for the curiosity of it. I wondered if the third stage was a bit bigger this year than last, though it might have just seemed that way because it was early and the sound was carrying so far. The band seemed like the usual sort of metalcore band with emo swoosh hair, unusual vocals, and a lot of energy. Apparently it was their first-ever show in Finland, so it was a treat to get to be there for it for a bit, even if metalcore isn’t my favorite genre.
Annisokay
We then did a bit of a loop around the festival area, because Lady Enslain hasn’t been to the festival in a few years and didn’t know the current way that Suvilahti’s laid out. Kattilahalli has a big market hall and the Tuska Festival merch’s second shop. There was a tattoo and piercing stall, the familiar suspension stage (not in use when I was there), a Tiivoli (circus) space, and a lot of booths featuring some blacksmiths and Ilmatar Couture selling beautiful handcrafts, but then some other shops selling varying new-age consumerist pagan trinkets of varying degrees of authenticity. The vendors were scene-appropriate if nothing else, especially alongside booths that specialized in tarot decks or steampunk accessories. We then wandered through the food court—they had cute little cabins set up this year that allowed the folks who were lucky enough to get a place in them to keep out of the sun while eating. It was a blazing day, after all (around 30°C).
Alestorm is always a hoot, if you’re into that sort of thing. We heard a few familiar songs, like “Keelhauled” right up front, though we were mostly browsing the festival area at this point and seeing what there was to see this year during their set. I also caught “Hangover” and, amusingly, “Shit Boat (no fans).” I was also surprised to see that their giant inflatable rubber ducky seems to have bred and multiplied, as there were more of them since last I saw them.
Alestorm
I had to skip both Bloodred Hourglass and Infected Rain because I was participating in the Bleeding Metal Podcast’s panel in the Tuska Forum (Solmusali) with Laura Vähähyyppä from RadioRock, talking about music media. Laura’s an absolute old hat in the scene and I’ve known of her for ages, but we’ve never really crossed paths in a way that’s introduced us before, so it was fun to get a chance to work with her. She’s got a great personality for radio and she’s so confident and in her element in a situation like this, and her advice was genuinely very good. It was a really interesting conversation though and I was happy to be a part of it. If you’re interested, look up the Bleeding Metal Podcast and you should be able to listen to the audio sometime in the future. I also have an article about interacting with music medias and bloggers, if you happen to want some more tips.
I bumped into a few more friends afterwards, who had come by to check out the panel; honestly, it’s an honor if anyone takes the time to come see you at Tuska since it’s so big and there’s so much to do, so thanks to anyone whose morbid curiosity led them to watch me talk for a while. Next up, since I was included as an artist because I was participating in the Forum panel, I was able to go see what the VIP section was like for the first time in years (media have been removed from VIP for some time now, though we have a press room these days instead), probably for the first time since it’s been moved to its current location. Up front, the biggest flaw is that there’s no view of the stage from VIP, which is often what the whole point of the VIP section is. However, in rather true Finnish fashion, the VIP section of Tuska is almost like a quiet forest retreat away from the blazing cement heat of the rest of the festival grounds, as it’s set in the shadiest, most secluded part of Suvilahti. It had a lot of nature/mushroom decorations and their own version of Ruokamaailma [food world], from whence VIP guests could freely eat (artists, however, could not). Apart from the lack of stage view, I thought it was a pretty nice little section of the festival area, though I, like the Finns, am prone to liking my quiet once in a while.
Kerry King was playing his solo set on the main stage (which, naturally, included Slayer’s “Raining Blood”) when we went by Levant to eat afterwards. I’ve been waiting for that restaurant to be at Tuska for ages now, since they have really good food truck -friendly wraps and was delighted to see my old friend working there, whom I rarely see now that I don’t live in town and eat at Levant regularly. This was my first time trying their chicken (since their location that I frequent is vegetarian) and though I admit that the festival truck wasn’t as good as the restaurant itself, this is actually understandable, as you have to keep things simple and efficient at a festival of this size, which means not having so many different sauces and add-ons available. It was still probably one of the most filling meals you could get though!
Levant
Krypta
I wasn’t able to catch Krypta, unfortunately, but Lady Enslain was able to get inside and said they put on a good show. After finding another friend, we decided to go check out Suburban Tribe, who are having a resurgence after having called it quits… gosh, it must be over a decade ago now. I recall seeing them once back in maybe 2011-12. One fun note about that band is that one of Tuska’s organizers, Jouni Markkanen, had been singing in that band for a brief window of time, so part of this reunion involved having him on stage for two songs as well. It was fun to see another old metal scene guy up there in a totally different role from where we usually see him, though I see why he chose to go into production as opposed to music. After a couple of songs we left, but as we passed by again, we got a little nostalgia kick from “Oil and Water,” as Ville Tuomi, the singer they’re more well-known for, was taking care of the rest of their set. Also… I straight-up didn’t know that Euge Valovirta had been in Suburban Tribe, so I guess I also learned a little metal history.
Suburban Tribe
We swung by Elvenking too, but the mood for nerdy power metal was not right (though I do think at least one of those guys should guest on my geek podcast someday). Dimmu Borgir was the next big thing for people and I promised a friend that I’d stream a bit of the show for her on Instagram since she couldn’t make it. I’m on a nostalgia kick right now, so I know it’s generic AF to love “Progenies of the Great Apocalypse,” but c’mon, that song is so good and when you were a teenaged Canadian who didn’t know anything about black metal and you heard the orchestrations in that song… you just had to love it. It was impossible not to. So I do get a kick out of seeing that song any time I catch them at a festival.
Elvenking
Many people went to check out Zeal & Ardor next, who seemed to be very popular amongst the festival-goers (this was frequently cited as one of the best sets of the weekend), though I decided I needed to sit my arse down for a while, so I went to visit some friends who were in the front row for Pendulum and half-listened to Ghøstkid in the meantime. This headliner was, as word around the festival made clear, extremely controversial for not being a metal band (you know, unless Devin Townsend and a few others remixing your songs counts, which arguably it doesn’t). There are always controversial bands at Tuska and even last year, apparently people were griping about how Ghost isn’t metal enough to be at Tuska, but as far as I know, the festival makers really don’t give a fuck about the complaints and there certainly were enough people at the set to seem like it didn’t matter. I watched a few songs, including the one song that I know, “Crush,” and for what it’s worth, I did enjoy the opportunity to see something new that I’ve never seen before. I know it’s an unpopular opinion in the metal scene, but I, for one, have seen it all, so I’d rather see a band like Pendulum than the same old metal dudes I’ve seen at Tuska every other year.
Pendulum
I did feel that my old bones couldn’t stand anymore after a while, so I headed out and I had a strange feeling, finding my way out of the pit, that I was wandering through a maze of festival culture. There was everyone doing everything… the big fans who wanted to party were all in the area up front right in front of the stage, but once you left that area, there was a ring of the fans who wanted to drink (you can’t bring beverages to the inner circle, it seems, because people were throwing water bottles around last year and injuring people—way to ruin it for everyone, you assholes [insert eye roll here]). But it took me, truly, all the way to the buildings to get some space and I passed by every type of festival-goer: people having one-man parties, small group parties, dancers, people casually chatting, people sitting… it felt like navigating a maze where I could find everything. And while being up in the thick of a dense crowd is absolutely not my jam anymore, it was fun to be there for a while, just to get a little wisp of the old nostalgia of being part of the entity that is an enthusiastic crowd.
Tuska Festival 2024, Friday (Pendulum)
After bumping into a few more friends, we then wrapped up the first night and headed home. I was way too exhausted to take care of any of the business I had to take care of when I got home (as in, watering the garden), and I was furthermore too exhausted to do it when I woke up at 6.00, so I was glad that the promised morning rain took care of business for me.
Tuska Friday 2024 (Pendulum)
Saturday, June 29th, 2024
Tuska Saturday is generally the big bad day where you show up as early as you can and stay all night, so I admit that I wanted to see Vola and couldn’t get myself to town in time for it. A large number of my friends, however, said that they played one of the best sets of the festival and some of the videos that I’ve seen have reinforced that they put on a really tight show. I should really listen to their albums one of these days to get a feel for them, because I rarely hear such blanket glowing reviews of a band.
I was, however, well in time to discover that parking at Redi was a thing (I don’t recall that being the case last year) and got to the Kvlt Stage to see SulfuriS, who have the absolutely wonderful Vincent Lilium as their front, so naturally I couldn’t miss it. I enjoyed their set immensely, but what was even better was that all of the whispers in the audience were really enthusiastic. I hope lots of people go check out their album release show in August, since I sadly won’t be around to go myself.
SulfuriS
Vincent Lilium, SulfuriS
We did leave around halfway through that set though, because a fresh, new band like SulfuriS is bound to have many more shows in the future, while the old guys from Tarot play fairly rarely, so we did have to leave to watch a few songs from that classic Marko Hietala act. Marko is, as per usual, in top form and sounding awesome and I appreciate that these guys only do shows once in a while, so they always look like they’re having fun when they have them. Marko, as a Finnish friend put it, “rambles on telling stories like that weird uncle you have,” but in a way that he gets away with because he’s so charismatic and talented. I didn’t recognize a lot of the songs because they played all my favorites during SulfuriS’ set, but I did enjoy as much of it as I was able to catch.
Tarot
After Tarot wrapped up, we went to see Kaunis Kuolematon, who were sharing their wonderfully moody music in the tent stage, though I parted ways with Lady Enslain (they’re one of her bands, so she wasn’t going to miss it) as I wanted to go watch a bit of Sonata Arctica, considering their last Tuska set was one of their best-ever shows. There was enough time to catch some classics, like “Tallulah” (which had all the Finns holding one another and slow dancing and softly weepy, as per usual) and the classic “Fullmoon,” which had everyone screaming “run away, run away, run away.” Admittedly, as much as it is good to shout out the importance of buy tickets and going to concerts, I do think Tony Kakko could stand to change up his speeches, as he’s been rocking this same theme for like 5 years now and it’s getting a little stale. Surely there’s another cause he also cares about?
We were curious about the Ruokamaailma [food world] food on Friday, so our dinner stop brought us there on Saturday to try the halloumi burger, vegan burger, and fries. This was all food that was basic-good, but too expensive for what you get. Tuska’s own burgers have always been varied and I hate to say that they maybe peaked back in around 2016-2018 somewhere, because they had really high quality burgers that were still only about 8€ (you know, back when festivals were still affordable) that actually had nice buns. Buns are where quality usually first drops and they were my main complaint with these burgers. They were far from the worst bun you can get by any means, but bread that white is still clearly cheap and makes it a bit hard to justify the price tag. My recommendation would, in hindsight, have been to take the beef burger because they had thick, juicy patties, while my halloumi burger—though nice tasting—was too small for the bun.
There was a gap in bands of interest then, so we did have a short nostalgia run with Stam1na just because… they’re one of the Tuska regulars, so you have to see at least a couple of their songs. I noticed that there were no bells and whistles this year (they’ve often dressed up in Hawaiian shirts, or prison outfits, or corpse paint… let’s say they’ve had varied themes over the years), but they did still have a guest vocalist with them, so they were still keeping it lively and unusual. It’s such a shame that their thrashy style doesn’t really suit me because I do think they’re one of Finland’s genuinely most interesting bands to see on stage. Worth stopping by for a few songs at very least, certainly.
Since the COVID break, I don’t think I’ve actually gone outside of the festival area for a drink with friends, so heading out to get a beer (or Crowmoor cider, in my case) from the store to sit outside and drink with some friends was another nostalgic endeavor, and folks began to trickle back inside for bands like Amorphis. We decided to watch their set from Peloton bar (who weirdly were not advertising the fact that they stock the Kaunis Kuolematon beer, despite that band playing at the festival) from a distance, since we’ve all seen them countless times. They had a pretty solid collection of their songs, and hearing Amorphis play “The Smoke” at Tuska is something you’d find on a Tuska nostalgia-bingo card. I do think it was a bad call to include “Amongst Stars” at a festival without a guest singer. I get that it’s a huge hit, but unless you’ve actually got Anneke van Gierbergen (or another vocalist) visiting to do a guest slot again, just pick a different song, there are plenty of other amazing tracks in their back catalog.
Amorphis
Peloton Bar: serving Kaunis Kuolematon beer
Riverside and Turmion Kätilöt offered people a chance to chill or dance respectively, depending on where your energy levels were at at 21.25. In my case, it was leaning more towards Riverside—I had planned to go watch TK for a bit but after seeing how clogged the paths to the second open air stage were for Sonata Arctica’s set, I decided that I probably didn’t actually want to walk the long way around to see them, but I had some friends in the front row who said that it was, as per usual, one hell of a party. Riverside, on the other hand, were putting on a spectacular performance and I heard some new songs that I clearly need to look up. I was never the guy who covered the prog bands, so I have only been a casual Riverside fan, but I have still been a casual fan since about 2008, so it’s clearly time that I update my prog cred and check out their latest releases, because whatever they had going was awesome.
Of course, the final band of the night was Bring Me the Horizon, who are known for putting on a pretty vibrant stage show and this night was no different. First of all, I was having a chuckle, wondering how many of the metal snobs would be deeply offended that a metalcore band was on stage in full Mercyful Fate -styled corpse paint. My take was that it was cute that they dressed up as a “real” metal band for the occasion (remember kids, “real” metal is in the eye of the beholder), but I’m quite sure my friend was deeply offended at a perceived cultural appropriation, so it’s really a matter of perspective (I say with a hearty chuckle, for I do not take metal as seriously as many others). These guys had the fully decked-out festival experience going on, with Oli Sykes in a strange white outfit and everyone else looking like a normal metalcore band. They played a pretty vast selection of songs, with a few familiar bangers in there like “MANTRA,” “Sempiternal,” and “Drown,” with a 3-song encore to boot, consisting of “Doomed,” “LosT,” and of course their arguably biggest hit, “Throne.” At some point in the set, they even had a fan come up on stage to sing/growl, though I didn’t catch how or why that had happened. Complete with fire and flames, even some of the hardcore doomy metal guys were amped up and saying that this was one hell of a performance, so their music may be a matter of taste, but it’s undeniable that they put on a brilliant show. I would’ve liked to be up in the crowd a lot closer, but the collection of blisters I was forming prevented me from getting there early enough for it to be worthwhile.
Bring Me the Horizon
We did go to an afterparty, but after 1.00 came to realize that both of our cars were trapped in a lot in Redi that we couldn’t get out of, despite no one saying there were any time restrictions, so as Lady Enslain was sorting things out, I trotted downstairs and caught the tailcoats of whatever magic she worked to get us to our cars. So alas, my night was cut short and I headed home, which was probably for the best anyways because it was late, though I was sorry to leave the party more or less just as it was getting started.
Tuska Saturday 2024 (Bring Me the Horizon)
Sunday, June 30th, 2024
When Sunday rolled around, I had to wrap up my toes to keep my blisters from getting worse before making sure I was ready to rock in time for Shereign’s set. I missed them last time because the Tiivistämö Kvlt stage was too full, so I was making sure I didn’t make that same mistake twice. Due to the necessity to pick up my partner from the train in the evening, I had to leave the festival early on Sunday, so I wanted to make the most of my morning.
It was to my fortune that I had forgotten that Shereign were starting at 14.30 and not 14.15, so I was there plenty early to get to enjoy the show. I’ve only ever seen them a smattering of times, so I was happy to get another chance to hear songs like “Six Feet Deep,” “Remedy,” and my personal favorite, “Strong” after quite a long break. Sara Strömmer is a truly awesome performer in all senses of the word, from the look to the vibe to the voice. It was also fun to see Jope Salminen on drums, since I’ve known him for a long time because of his other band, Everfrost. This was my first time seeing him with Shereign, however, and it seems he’s fitting in nicely.
Shereign
Sara Strömmer, Shereign
We then went by Beyond the Black. Of this band, I can only say that they are very competent at what they do and if you like symphonic power metal (particularly with a female vocalist), then you’ll love Jennifer Haben and you’ll probably love this band. I, however, am exceedingly finicky about that particular genre, being of the opinion that no new band has done it better than the originals (bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, and the like), so I will say that it wasn’t for me, but they were doing a great job of what they’re doing, and my friends who like that sort of music were really enjoying this set. We then stuck our heads back in to the Kvlt stage to see what Satra was all about and found it even less to my taste, so we moved on.
It’s worth mentioning that Tuska Sunday is also family-friendly for a few hours, so Lady Enslain brought her son along for the duration. It’s a bit of a terrifying thing to have a toddler at a festival that big, but the size also seemed to curb some of his more insane instincts, so losing him due to blinking was not as much of a critical risk as we might have expected. Furthermore, the toddler ice cream circle pit that I saw a video of was probably among the cutest things I’ve ever seen. It is a shame that they don’t have Hevisaurus play every Sunday every year for this, but there are only so many things you can do for children at a festival. Personally, I was impressed that an entire train managed to sneak by without me noticing it.
Warmen were, of course, a don’t-miss festival band, because their new album was really solid and Children of Bodom covers are a big part of Tuska nostalgia. If I was missing out on some guitar solos at the festival in general, Warmen certainly helped make up for it. Plus I bumped into some more friends there, so that’s always fun. While enjoying the absolutely top-notch burger from Treffi Pub’s food cart, we sat down for a bit between the secondary open air stage and the tent stage and caught a little bit of both Eivør and Stratovarius. “Hunting High and Low,” “Black Diamond,” and “Eagleheart” are all also included in my imaginary Tuska Festival nostalgia-bingo card, while Eivør was something new to test out. While her vocalizations were really wonderful and interesting, I did feel like the music behind it could have been dressed up a little bit. It was a bit slow, even stonery in the way it was repetitive… moody ambience is probably what she’s going for, but she would’ve felt much better in an intimate club than a big outdoor festival (even if the tent stage was the right location for her set). Very good, but not really my thing.
Treffi food truck
I scampered away from both of those early, however, in order to get a good spot for Luna Kills, and was still fairly late to get there per the size of the crowd. I haven’t seen these guys in way too long, because their most recent shows have always coincided with other shows that I’ve been attending or working at, so there was no way I was going to miss seeing them at Tuska. They put on as energetic and forceful of a show as I expected, including some great tracks like “Honey Trap” and “we were born to die.” They played surprisingly few songs from their last album, sadly, but made up for it by debuting a ton of new material, like “Waves,” “Leech,” and “Hallucinate.” I’m really looking forward to hearing their next album, it’s one of the ones that I’ll surely break my music journalism hiatus for!
Luna Kills
Lotta Ruutiainen, Luna Kills
I had only enough time to hear a little bit of the night’s headliner for me, Opeth, because (as mentioned) I had to go pick up my partner from the train, so I sadly only heard a short bit of Opeth, but my friends told me it was brilliant and that Mikael Åkerfelt was putting a lot more love into the older material than is strictly normal these days. “Heir Apparent” and “Deliverance” were both on the set, and everything I heard about their performance was across-the-board excellent, including the usual audience banter.
I remember seeing Parkway Drive at The Circus back in 2014, being one of the only medias present, and I admit that I can’t figure out why this year was so strange with regard to the headliners being either not metal at all, or flat-out metalcore (a clear way to cheese off the metal purists, for sure), but it worked to my advantage that I’d both seen them already and wasn’t interested in them, so that I was happy with my night ending with Opeth.
Regarding the overall festival area this year, it felt more streamlined, while having some missed opportunities. For example, the entire space across from Kattilahalli wasn’t in use at all this year, to my utter surprise, as it could have at very least been used for more seating. I wondered if perhaps that would be a nice location for merch, since it’s wide, allows for long lines without interfering with the stage areas, and then they could have more staff working a wider booth to keep those crazy-long lines going. If it’s not clear, the merch queues are a bit of a problem, especially on the first day, and it seems like they need twice as many salespeople working just because of the amount of merch. They could have four separate stalls in a row over by Kattilahall if they were so inclined (one for each day and one for the festival merch)… it seems they didn’t really do anything about the lines from the last few years in 2024, which is a shame.
The food area benefited from the little cabins, if you were lucky enough to get to sit in one, and despite that space outside Kattilahalli not being put to use, I didn’t feel like the festival was lacking in any food options, as they still had loaded fries, pizza, burgers, Asian food, vegan options, and more. The indoor areas, unsurprisingly, suffered from a complete lack of air, making them stifling in a different way than the blazing sun outdoors (at least outside there was airflow and wind). The skate park was completely sealed off this year, which leads me to wonder who drank too much and fell down from where, since we can’t hang out there anymore.
There are so many bars and vendors that it would be pointless to mention them all, but suffice to say that there are plenty of options, though things are getting more and more expensive, while the quality isn’t rising to match the prices, unfortunately, mainly with regard to the festival food. The Forum with the Bleeding Metal Podcast is fun and the Kvlt stage has a nice selection of more underground acts, though I might consider swapping Kattilahalli and Tiivistämö because the former is so much larger, even if it didn’t generally have the best sound quality in the past.
Trying to see bands in Tiivistämö during Tuska be like… (ft. Satra)
Final Thoughts
Now, as a conclusion, I did have an interesting insight into the overall mood and vibe of Tuska Festival this year. Tuska is, I think, the metaphor for the modern metal scene in Finland, which you can take as a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. On the positive side of things, it goes to show that metal can be big and successful in the same way as pop and rock and other more mainstream music genres. Metal can be a big deal and profitable, and we want our bands and their teams to be successful, right?
The flipside of that, however, is that metal purists tend to be of the opinion that metal was never meant to be mainstream; in fact, that was sort of the point of the genre to begin with, so there’s a feeling that Tuska has “sold out” and them making metal mainstream is a betrayal of the heart of what metal is. No need to despair, of course, as you still have festivals like Nummirock and Dark River Festival and John Smith that hold true to the old-school ways and they’re beautiful for it, because losing that scene would be a tragedy. But if you are looking for the traditional metal-for-metalheads vibe, you’re just not going to get it at Tuska Festival anymore. It has outgrown its own underground metal origins.
Tuska is the festival that has been grown with care and love by a lot of the metal scene founders. However, with growth always comes a loss of some of the “holy authenticity.” The underground has always been a special thing for a reason. This whole situation reflects the metal scene perfectly. Even when I moved to Finland 15 years ago, the metal scene still was quite underground. Metal was popular then, but it wasn’t oversaturated and it wasn’t mainstream. That happened slowly over the past decade or so, making the metal scene (in Finland, at least) a place that’s full of talent, but there’s just too much of it for anyone to really get a big name (especially since labels like Warner and Century Media are just looking for the next big cash-cows and don’t care about the genre), and it is the artists who tend to be a little more mainstream-friendly (Battle Beast is a good example) who are the only ones capable of getting huge these days. It’s funny, in that sense, to see the same people who gripe about their favorite bands not being recognized for their talent also being the people who are mad at Tuska for being successful, growing, and changing.
As Tuska’s website says, you’ll see some big names, as well as some underground acts; this was as true this year as it has always been: on the big-name side, you had Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Zeal & Ardor, and the collection of local big names (Amorphis, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Stam1na, etc.), alongside great local acts that will hopefully be on bigger stages eventually, like SulfuriS, Krypta, Shereign, and Luna Kills.
Tuska is a reflection of how the scene is both booming and also losing the core of what it’s all about, all in one. Change is, of course, inevitable, but there’s still a reason that cranky old people are always grumbling about how things were better when you were younger. I do miss the days when there were half as many people at the festival and I just casually drifted around from friend-to-friend without having to hunt for people (or seats) for half the day. But at the same time, I certainly can’t fault the Tuska organizers for doing a good job and making it bigger and more profitable. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t take things like this particularly seriously, so my old metal heart isn’t barking at the moon the way many others were, yet nevertheless, as someone who thrives at smaller festivals like Dark River or Saarihelvetti, which cap at around 3000 attendees, I feel that same pang of… perhaps Tuska isn’t for me anymore. Yet… I also feel like, after having gone every year since 2011, it’s been an interesting journey watching it change and evolve over time and it’s hard to break a good attendance streak.
So, will I be returning in 2025? Let’s be honest, only time (and a necessary hiatus from music journalism in the meantime) will tell. One way or the other, I feel like I still had fun and even if the festival isn’t quite what I wish it was anymore, there’s still a lurking nostalgia to Tuska Festival that you can find if you keep an eye and ear open for it. Thanks to everyone who came out and/or met up! Perhaps we’ll meet again in 2025!
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