LIVE REPORT: Smalltime Players
Sellosali, Espoo; October 19th, 2024
Round II: Let’s Go!
One of the best shows I’ve seen this year so far was that of Smalltime Players. Having seen well over a thousand shows in my day, most of them metal, gives me a deep appreciation for other bands in other genres. I grew up with country and grass-roots music, but I have next to no experience with that sort of genre in Finland. As such, the discovery of Smalltime Players—made up of Mika Kuokkanen, Edu Kettunen, Johanna Iivanainen, and Mikko Iivanainen—was a breath of fresh air in my oversaturated metal brain. After having seen the show at Rekolan Kino on October 16th, I enjoyed myself so much that I had to go back a second time on October 19th, 2024, at Sellosali in Espoo.
Naturally, I had hoped that the second show would include the full set, but it seems that unfortunately they were once again unable to find someone to sell snacks, so they were only able to do the partial set again. This isn’t the end of the world, because the partial set is only missing approximately four songs when compared to the full set, but still… it would have been nice to hear everything they had on offer. Alas! I can’t win them all. However, they did change the set a little bit from the Vantaa show, so that was really nice.
Images by Joanna Orchide (IG @joannaorchidephoto)
Interestingly, once again I was visiting a totally new venue on this occasion. I’ve had a few opportunities to sell merch at Sellosali in the past, but those gigs have gone to different Enslain girls for various reasons. Unlike many of the other -sali venues in Espoo (Louhisali, Kannusali, etc.), this one is more of a music hall, located at the Sello mall, and boasts a fantastic light setup and really nice acoustics, thus making it another great venue for shows like this.
Much like the previous Wednesday, this show started with the band coming on stage and Edu greeting everyone, explaining that the first half of the show would be their own material and the latter half would have material from their solo careers. They began, once again, with “A Matter of Time” and proceeded to play through every song on the album… except “Free Fallen Man”! Curses, yet again! This time they did play “Skylarks in the Breeze” though, which almost makes up for not hearing my favorite song either time.
A big part of the charm of these shows was the banter between songs. When greeting everyone at the beginning, Edu was saying that once the last shows were over (this was the last or second-last show from the tour), he’d be spending the next week just watching TV. “A Matter of Time” stood out again for having Mikko on banjo—banjos are so great when they’re done well and of course they were done wonderfully on this occasion. Johanna again explained that “Didn’t Mean to Make You Cry” was a song of a big sister memory. I don’t have any sisters, but somehow this song still really hits hard—you can really feel her apology when she’s singing. “Decent Shades of Grey” makes me wish that I understood Finnish a bit better, because the story behind that track seemed really interesting both times, but I could only piece out a little bit of it.
Other highlights from the first half included the vocal harmonies in “Dreams” and the three-guitar harmonies on “Easy if You Try.” Mika’s time on the piano during “In the Middle of Nowhere” was also really lovely. Towards the end of the first half, we had a chuckle over Mika telling Mikko that he was wearing a nice Stetson—I’m not sure how I would define Mikko’s trademark hat… it’s got too wide and flat of a brim to be a fedora but is certainly not a Stetson (cowboy hats have curved brims).
The second half of the show had changed up a fair bit from the first time, as they hadn’t played “Oi naiseni” during the last show. I believe that song was originally done by Edu Kettunen, Esa Kaartamo, and Mikko Kuustonen, but don’t quote me on that. “Piilopaikka” is a really friggin’ cool song thanks to its foundation of really stylish guitar work. I was able to find it as a duet with Mika Kuokkanen and Jere Ijäs, so presumably it is one of the former’s songs originally. “Erilainen taivas” was explained both nights to be a song written when Edu’s son “left for the world,” and something in that story ended with someone buying a Tesla, so I’m once again sorry that I missed the meat of that tale.
I was really, really excited that they didn’t skip “Overall I’m Fine” this time, because that’s one of my favorite songs from Johanna’s solo material. Somehow, it really hits me right where I need it right now. This was followed by another one of her songs, “Tiny House,” which is just really sweet and after hearing it last time, I’ve played it a few times at home. I’m also glad that they played “Three Wishes” again because that song, done originally under one of Mika’s aliases, Kkane, was a highlight of the last show and remained one on this night as well due to that sweet sliding guitar from Mikko and Mika’s catch-as-hell piano work. It’s even better live, I can assure you.
I thought that I caught that “Itämainen rakkaus” was a song about juhannus [midsummer], but I couldn’t find more information on it because it seems that about twenty different Finnish artists have a song with that name. The closest I could find was another version done by Mika and Jere Ijäs, so perhaps it is one of their songs.
As they neared the end of the set, Johanna shouted out the band again and I was pleased that this time she didn’t leave herself out. They wrapped up the set with a few more of the same tracks as before, “Autioilla rannoilla” and “Kiitän sua,” before leaving the stage. They came back for one more song though—this song was so much fun last time that I would have come back to see them again just to hear this one—called “Perseenlämmitin” or “ass warmer.” This song is so silly and fun that I spent the morning after the last show listening to a live version from 13 years ago of Edu and Johanna singing it on repeat. The live version is infinitely bouncier and more fun than the studio version, which makes seeing it live all the more worthwhile. With that, they left the stage to big cheers from the audience, leaving us fully sated.
Images by Joanna Orchide (IG @joannaorchidephoto)
So, once again, we had an absolute blast at the show! This sort of music carries a lot of stories, and not just those usual “my wife left me, my house burned down, and my dog ran away” songs that country music is known for, even if there were a few love songs in there nevertheless. Rather, it’s those grass-roots songs about the various aspects of life that make it so endearing and warm to. Each of these artists has their own history and background in music, yet they come together so seamlessly that it feels so natural. Who knows when they’ll all be playing together again, but at least I can assure you that I’ll be seeing Johanna and Mikko in Tampere during their winter tour in December, so keep your eyes peeled for the next live report and don’t miss out on their upcoming shows! I can attest that they’re wonderful.
Setlist
A Matter of Time
Didn’t Mean to Make You Cry
Back for More
Dreams
Decent Shades of Grey
Easy if You Try
Queen of Green Island
In the Middle of Nowhere
Philadelphia Jones
Skylarks in the Breeze
Oi naiseni (Mikko Kuustonen song)
Piilopaikka (Mika Kuokkanen song)
Erilainen Taivas (Edu Kettunen song)
Overall I’m Fine (Johanna Iivanainen song)
Tiny House (Johanna Iivanainen song)
Three Wishes (Mika Kuokkanen song)
Itämainen rakkaus (Mika Kuokkanen song)
Autioilla rannoilla (Edu Kettunen song)
Kiitän sinua (Johann Iivanainen song)
Perseenlämmitin (Edu Kettunen song)
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