Klamydia’s gig at Vantaa’s Tulisuudelma: Total disaster, Vesku Jokinen admits his screw-up | Review & Guide

Right then, here we are. Sadly, the worst fear of many Finnish rock fans came true. Everyone in Vantaa was expecting an explosive tour opener, but in the end, Klamydia’s gig at Tulisuudelma in Vantaa was so bad you'd want your money back. And that’s not even an exaggeration.

Now that a couple of days have passed and we’ve all taken a breath, I can honestly say I haven’t seen a shambles like that in years. The gig was meant to be the kick-off for a new spring tour, but it turned into a straight-up plunge into the swamp. Vesku Jokinen himself admitted the next morning what everyone in the crowd already knew: the guy was in an absolutely shocking state. “I was fucking drunk and I was fucking terrible,” Jokinen wrote in his typically blunt fashion on social media, and there was nothing more to add.

Why this was a total fiasco: The straight-up review

Expectations were high, but during the first few songs, the atmosphere in front of the stage turned awkward. This is where we do the review of Klamydia’s gig at Tulisuudelma in Vantaa – and it’s cold, hard truth. According to witnesses, Vesku wasn’t just slurring; things went completely off the rails. Fingers were flipped, the audience was called “a bunch of arseholes”, and at one point Vesku just walked off stage, forcing his bandmates to go fetch him.

• Zero form: The singer himself admitted he’d been “drinking Koskenkorva like a dickhead” instead of “sipping wine like a civilised person”. It showed in every single note.
• The crowd sang for the band: It’s never a good sign when you have to do most of the shouting and singing yourself because the frontman can’t stay upright or forgets the lyrics.
• The band’s frustration: You could see the disappointment on the musicians’ faces. That’s a pro standing there while your own lead singer is on the verge of passing out.

How to recover from this? A guide for fans and the band

This was, as Vesku himself put it, “the world’s worst tour start”. But now let’s talk about what we learn from this and how to move forward – in other words, how to use the Klamydia gig at Tulisuudelma in Vantaa – read: how to handle this disaster and avoid it in future.

One thing’s for sure: head-butting a wall isn’t a sustainable strategy. Even though Vesku is a legend and mistakes happen, fans don’t easily forget if they’ve travelled 600 kilometres to see this show. Luckily, the next night at Köyliö’s Lallinen, they promised to be “a bit more sober”. That’s the only direction that makes sense.

My recommendation – this guide to Klamydia’s gig at Tulisuudelma in Vantaa – is clear: Vesku, time to eat some humble pie, shout a round for those who kept singing for you, and deliver a set so tight that your legendary status stays intact. Punk’s not dead, but staggering around drunk on stage is getting pretty bloody tired.

I’ve got to finish by saying that even though the night was a let-down for many, there’s a tragicomic undertone to it all. Vesku summed it up best himself: “I’ve done 3000 gigs well. So if there’s one stuff-up now, what the hell can you do about it?” Well, nothing really – but now it’s about forgetting the flop and focusing on why we all love Klamydia. The next gig at Lallinen has a tough act to follow, but hopefully they’ll pull off a 6–0 win there.