The second Töminä, the “punk and noise event” of Ilosaarirock, gathered approximately 1200 partygoers to the Joensuu ice hockey rink. As already proven last year, the rink was not at all a bad venue for such an event.

The 82-hardcore of the new millennium played by Neuroottiset Pelimannit combines supreme virtuosity and honest crustiness. The innovative and progressive music was occasionally even so fast that the natural echo of the ice rink unfortunately muddled the sound. All in all, the group’s sounds offered an intriguing listening experience and Neuroottiset pelimannit conquered the rather big stage succesfully. The racket urged the large crowd to pogo around wildly.

What Lighthouse Project loses in originality, it gains in enthusiasm and performance - which seemed to be unrehearsed. “It is great that there are finally bands worth cover songs in Finland”, stated Samuli the singer when announcing a song originally by Wasted, and thus confirmed his status as the latest member of the Combat Rock family. A notable crowd of hard core punks clustered in the vicinity of the stage to observe the new bright acquaintance.

Hiskias Möttö & Mojakka is an odd ball. Think of the concept: a bunch of punk rockers playing the old tunes of Hiski Salomaa and folk music influenced versions of old punk classics. The group might just be the only one to have performed both at punk gigs and the Kaustinen folk music festival. But how did Töminä work for them? According to my own observation, the pit was filled with a freaky mix of people pogoing and doing Finnish folk dance. As an experience the gig was bewildering but also captivatingly hilarious.

Text: Juha Ekholm & Hanna Kauppinen
Translation: Hanna Laaksonen

15.07 2006 klo 17:51 - In English.