Finland has its share of melodic and symphonic metal bands. Somehow, besides the typical Finnish melancholy, they seem to have a knack for epic and catchy melodies. A quite legendary one on that front is of course Sonata Arctica from the cold north of Finland. This year already marks a quarter of a century long career and luckily enough, we got to enjoy their 25th anniversary with an energetic show at Tavastia in Helsinki!

To accommodate as many fans as possible, the guys of Sonata Arctica (***1/2) were playing 2 shows that night. We attended to the earlier show of the evening, starting already at 18:00. And while the later show was completely sold out, at this time there were clearly not as many people out and about yet to go to a concert. They clearly didn’t let that influence the show, cause Tony Kakko and his buddies played with an enthusiasm as if they were playing in front of a huge crowd. It always shows the professionalism of a band when they are able to always bring the same kind of energy and quality to the table, no matter if they’re on a smaller stage in front of only a half-filled room or on the biggest festival stages in front of thousands of fans.

Since this was one of the 25th anniversary shows they have been planning for Finland for quite a while, the setlist was an absolutely great selection from their back catalogue. They quite literally had selected at least 1 track from as good as every full-length album they’ve released over the quarter of a century of existence. Some of their most amazing tracks and longtime favorites like ‘Tallulah’, ‘The Cage’, ‘Kingdom for a Heart’, ‘Fullmoon’, ‘Sing in Silence’ and much more all came by and the fans there were singing along at full volume. Even if you’re not the biggest fan of Sonata Arctica, there’s no denying that this was a great concert from a world class band that still speaks to thousands of people. May there be many more years to come for these guys!

Setlist:
The Wolves Die Young
The Last Amazing Grays
Caleb
Kingdom for a Heart
Sing in Silence
I Have a Right
Fullmoon
Storm the Armada
Tallulah
Paid in Full
The Cage
Don’t Say a Word

For more pictures, go check out the photo report here.