Concert review|Despite the unpolished and run-through atmosphere, the punchy comeback gig at the Töölö football stadium offered more than an hour of handsome “throwback” with the catalog of an underrated gem of Finnish pop.
Nylon Beat at the Töölö football stadium on Friday, June 14, 2024.
On Friday Nylon Beat, who made a sudden return to the stage after a six-year hiatus for one night, is an exceptional phenomenon in domestic pop.
Although Jonna Geagean and Erin Anttilan the duo attracted 15,000 listeners to the sold-out Helsinki City Festival at the Töölö football stadium, according to the organizer, Nylon Beat is still widely thought of as a joke, which can and can be liked mainly in an ironic or early-night karaoke-drunk sense.
Of course, real scientists also know otherwise. Even so, the band’s position in the domestic canon of light music has been marked by the same shameless joking as during the great years of the band’s active career at the turn of the millennium.
Erin Anttila on stage.
Jonna Geagea used to appear as a blonde from the 1990s and 2000s.
Nylon Beatin at the beginning of their career, the band was considered a cautionary example of the futility of disposable pop music.
The PMMP working in Seinäjoki had to face similar belittling when they returned two weeks later Tan lines in the wake for a long time after the band had released Harder hands -his masterpiece. A wide selection of Finnish music journalists chose the album as the best Finnish album of the millennium in Sound’s poll, with what is described as an afterthought.
The low-key attitude has never fundamentally changed or the bimbo stigma has been removed from Nylon Beat, although the last few years have raised the band’s status, especially among the younger generation.
In the retrograde of the twenties, the Nylon Beat duo has become a mythical and worshiped icon and a direct synonym for the cool that extends from the pop sound of the era to the visual style.
In recent years, it has been possible to repeatedly witness how those who were born together after active careers have sung full-throated and danced with happiness on the tables of Helsinki kapakos to the rhythm of Nylon Beat. The interesting and distinctive phenomenon has seemed like a gratifying proof of the strong enchanting power of the band’s songs.
Friday The Taka-Töölö festival’s concert of about an hour and a quarter stirred memories with a stronger song arsenal, although many essential cult songs were missed.
Apart from the potpourri that flattened the atmosphere a bit in the middle, the concert was a pure “throwback”, i.e. an enjoyable bloodletting and discovery trip through the band’s catalog.
When the concert started with the irresistible 1996 debut album With hub ring mixed Teflon lovellamany people probably made a conclusion about the chronological order of the evening, which turned out to be wrong.
The sound reproduction in the stadium had already seemed undersized earlier in the day. Also, the beginning of Nylon Beat’s concert was sadly wasted, at least in the side stands, due to sound reproduction or mixing problems.
Situation repaired the Don Huonot-style guitar rock blaster of the early 2000s heard as the third 12 monkeys – for the paragraph.
Sex takes and taxi brings literally blew up the audience in the stadium, while the opening number of the band’s career You are like candy to me elegantly brought to the surface the nostalgic head organ sounds.
One of the band’s biggest gems I fell in love with a loser danced wonderfully to the rhythm of the loose breakbeat. Opening to a full chorus Blameless stylishly strummed early 2000s hard rock.
Among the best of the evening were also those who echoed the big singing together give me. Millennium Eurovision candidate Hate and love in its cryptic strangeness already sounded like a cult hit, whose symphonic chorus was sheer Church from Koski.
The retrograde did not extend to telephone culture.
Nylon Beat’s last album 12 Monkeys came out in 2003.
Delicious is to notice how the value and appeal of the songs of the band have varied over the years.
If Nylon Beat’s popularity was preceded by and Risto Asikainen the largely midwifed debut album sounds like a national treasure with its ultra-elegant strumming sounds, the recordings of the 2000s still make me squirm for the most part. Their time will come.
You can make an exception Let’s sleep-song, which sounded more flat and sharper than the recording live: a broad rock rhythm combined with enjoyable synthetic slurs.
Often arranged as the band’s biggest hit Last sounded more like an interlude on Friday, while topped off with a denim-themed dance number A loan of a hundred reggae stomp Puri fantastic.
A delightfully confident eye for the game was also shown by the fact that the concert ended with a lesser-known feminist theme song Girls want. According to the band’s presenter, the song has been forgotten in the “dusty stacks of CDs”.
Like a more mature fan remembered during the concert, in Nylon Beat, the duo’s example of realizing their own mood without caring about others was attractive in a time that did not encourage distinctive self-expression.
When at the final climax the stage turned into an expression of emotions by dancers waving rainbow flags, a strong belief in the continuation of the concerts was awakened. There were too many good things on hand for the needs of one round of honor.
The ensemble, choreography and visual look were built with effort. It would feel special if the work was done only for Friday’s still somewhat imprecise but full-fledged concert in terms of song selection.
Nylon Beat ended their concert with the unexpected song “Girls Want”.
The audience at Nylon Beat’s concert.
Strongly the duo that performed could, if they wanted to, tour with a similar show for a few years as the headliner of the biggest festivals in Finland and hit the ice rinks to the tune of millions.
Töölö event organizer Kalle Keskinen raotti, that according to Ilta-Sanom, the one-time compensation of about 130,000 euros received by Nylon Beat “may have been in the right direction”.
It’s a different matter what hard touring would do to the band’s reputation. If strongly executed, a wider comeback could elevate the band to its rightful position among the masses. The danger could be the fading of the cult status.