It’s been since 2017 that Royal Republic last visited their neighboring country. Much too long for this highly engaging and entertaining rock band from Sweden. Much to our delight, they included a small sidestep of 2 shows in Finland on their tour promoting their latest release ‘Club Majestic’ throughout Europe. An evening of dancing on the tunes of some catchy and party-worthy rock songs, something we couldn’t say no to!

The Empire Strikes (***1/2)

As warm-up for the night, the local rock ‘n’ rollers of The Empire Strikes were booked. For those who have paid attention to the Finnish/Helsinki rock scene, you might have noticed that these guys are always ready to rock out with you. It was the first time since long that I got to see them not closing the night, so there was less time for them to show us what they got. Instead they served us with the most high energy side of theirs with just here and there a spot of more calm and emotional tracks. As always, their energy was up there and I’m sure that some of the Royal Republic crowd that didn’t know them yet, were turned into new fans.

Setlist:

• Rainmaker
• Blinded by the Light
• Black ‘n White TV
• Theme from Roky
• King of the Jungle
• The End
• All Hope is Gone
• Sonic Hurricane
• Rid of You

Royal Republic (****1/2)

Hooray for the glorious return of Royal Republic! That Finland was hungry for these crazy rockers, was pretty clear since Tavastia was completely sold out. Last year they released their latest album ‘Club Majestic‘ and the whole evening was most definitely a damn majestic (rock) club! Kicking off with ‘Fireman & Dancer’ and ‘Can’t Fight the Disco’, 2 of the most danceable high energy tracks from that album, they immediately got the whole crowd going.

Laced throughout the set, they of course played some of their biggest hits and fan favorites like ‘Make Love Not War (If You Have to Make War – Make Sure to Make Time to Make Love in Between)‘, ‘Under Wear‘, ‘Full Steam Spacemachine‘ and of course ‘Tommy-Gun‘ and at every song the crowd went wilder and wilder. They danced, they jumped, they screamed,… their energy seemed to have no limit.

And the same could be said of Royal Republic itself. The band was dancing and joking around, interacting with each other and the crowd constantly and especially charming frontman Adam was all over the place. Making a crew member catching his guitar when he threw it at him, going nuts on the drums with drummer Per, teasing the crowd that he’d only throw a drum stick when they showed him enough love,… Bassist Jonas had a great solo moment on the keytar as well at one point playing bits from for instance Van Halen‘s ‘Jump’.

When the moment came for the band to end their regular set and go into the encore songs, Adam had a little speech about that traditional moment at a gig and told us that they were not going to do it like that but just keep on playing. So next they played the highly popular tracks ‘When I See You Dance With Another’ and ‘Baby’ with in between some excerpts from Metallica‘s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ and Iron Maiden‘s ‘Fear of the Dark’, much to the delight of the crowd.

Once they finally concluded their set, they didn’t just disappear backstage, but greeted and thanked their fans while dancing around to the tunes of Bob Dylan‘s ‘The Man in Me’. Quite the amazing rock night, we can’t wait to see this friendly bunch back in the neighborhood!

Setlist:

• You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate song)
• Fireman & Dancer
• Can’t Fight the Disco
• Make Love Not War (If You Have to Make War – Make Sure to Make Time to Make Love in Between)
• Under Cover
• Getting Along
• Underwear
• Full Steam Spacemachine
• Like a Lover
• Keytar solo
• Stop Movin’
• Boomerang
• People Say That I’m Over the Top
• Walk!
• Tommy-Gun
• Anna-Leigh

Encore:

• When I See You Dance With Another
• Flower Power Madness
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (Metallica cover)
• Fear of the Dark (Iron Maiden cover)
• Baby
• The Man in Me (Bob Dylan song)

For more pictures, go here.