Here we go again! After a great anniversary edition last year, where Tuska Open Air was celebrating its 20th birthday, we’re back at the holy grounds of Suvilahti for another serving of great heavy music. Having looked forward to get to enjoy one of the nicest “family” metal and rock events of Finland, we geared up and went very excited towards great bands, wonderful atmosphere and lovely people… The following is what took place…

The line-up of this year didn’t seem as strong as the past years for me personally, but it still had a few names to really look forward to! Body Count as one of the headliners definitely on number one for me. But a festival isn’t only about the bands necessarily, the overall experience counts for a lot as well. And that’s something Tuska usually bets on highly.

The planning of the grounds didn’t change too much compared to last year’s shifting around of areas, but there were definitely some nice new additions again. The food court stayed in the same corner with the sauna area quite close-by. There were a few really nice new food trucks, especially our good old friend “Quickies” was a welcome sight with their scrumptious ribs, pulled pork mac & cheese and other incredibly good dishes. The official merch booth got a new spot and a proper tent this time, which is maybe a good plan with the traditional rain moment during Tuska weekends (yes, we had one this year again…)

A few nice additions to the area are mostly found in the biggest +18 area of the festival (or in other words: the alcohol area). The grassy corner at the back of the festival area has been opened again with a gin bar and craftbeer bar (though personally I was disappointed with the “special” beers they offered… Stella? Really? There is definitely much cooler stuff to be found). They also followed the growing trend of people vaping by planting a container with some vape gear and matching girls to sell you the stuff. And at the entrance of the Black Dining there was a nice whisky and cocktail bar with a bunch of screens showing some of the World Cup games (yes, even at a festival this nice you couldn’t escape it! But at least it was nicely hidden in a corner). The small extras here and there were quite subtle, but definitely nice touches. It was especially fun to see tough-looking metalheads with flowers braided in their long hairs and beards from the flower stand ran by Lumo there!

Again, we really enjoyed ourselves and never felt as if we weren’t comfortable enough at the festival. So in as good as optimal conditions we got to enjoy the bands taking over the stages during the next 3 days. To check out which bands and shows we saw and were impressed by (or not at all), continue to the next page starting with day 1…

For more pics, go to our photo coverage here.