TUSKA 2025

The festival opened at 2pm on Friday. Waiting for the doors to open, the queues formed longer and longer. This, and the wind with a feel of rain, were foreshadowing of what was about to come… But first, let’s have a look at what was new this year. For the most part, the festival map is very similar to the previous years. While the stages are in the places they used to be, other areas were slightly changed. The Sauna is now at the former VIP area, and the VIP’s moved inside the area’s landmark, the Gasometer. Other than that, there is now a Burger King next to the Nordic Energy Stage. Also the skate park was closed off this year. It looked like some construction work was going on.

After getting familiar with the layout, it was time to choose which queue you like to join. Especially and almost exclusively on the first day, the waiting times were very long. Most notable were the masses of people that tried to get a spot in front of Tiivistämö’s Kvlt Stage. This is not a new issue though. For years, the small room that holds the newcomer stage was always packed to the brim. Maybe some expansion would be necessary, because every time I found myself in there, I was given great performances by lesser known bands.

The biggest crowd magnet on the first day was probably Electric Callboy. The German Party Metal band had an amazing show, with a lot of effects, fire and confetti. And probably the only band that had multiple outfit changes.

In contrast to that, In Flames had a very different vibe and felt a little bit like Dad Rock/Metal… They also performed mostly older songs, starting from as old as the “Colony” album. Nonetheless, their music was enjoyed by a large crowd.

Other highlights were Dragonforce and Tarja, both playing the Nordic Energy Stage. For the Power Metal Band, the Stage was almost too small. They had two huge dragons and oversized arcade machines on stage. Great performance and show overall. For Tarja on the other hand, the stage size was perfect. A good mix of a big part of her discography was presented, and since Marko Hietala was at TUSKA as well, he shared the stage with her for a few songs, including “Wish I Had an Angel” from the times at Nightwish. A lot of fire, great emotions and many goosebumps!  And on top of the great show, it was Tarjas first gig as a solo artist at TUSKA!

Saturday started a little bit earlier with Arion and Jarkko Martikainen starting at 13:30. And this was the day I had time to sit into the Forüm to listen to some talks. Like last year, there are some live interviews with various artists, who play at the festival. Charlotte Wessels gave us some insights into how her music gets influenced by the community and the way she builds up her fanbase. But before this talk, we could see Charlotte Wessels live on stage. And she was so happy, constantly smiling and it was just a pleasure to watch and listen to her solo project.

Later that day, Insomnium took over the Nordic Energy stage. And once again, they showed a decently large crowd, why they are at the top of the Finnish Melodic Death Metal scene. Although, their sound suits better the setting of a dark forest than in the scrorching late afternoon sun. 

An unexpected highlight was Orbit Culture, at least for me. Last time I saw them at the Festival, it was a little bit underwhelming. This time we got fire effects and a great show in general. 

At 8 it was time to get ready for the Slaughter to Prevail gig. In the media area was the discussion, if they should be photographed or not. There was, when I learned about the controversy that surrounds the band. Lead vocalist Alex Terrible made negative press by stating anti-LGBTQ+ comments and waving the russian flag at a concert. A small group of people were protesting in the back of the crowd with Ukraine flags and middle fingers towards the stage. The show itself was free from any scandals.

Right after, I was excited to see The Halo Effect live for the first time. It is always fun to see Mikael Stanne, in all of his 100 bands. (Ok, it is only 4, but it seems like more…). In case you missed Cemetery Skyline earlier today, or just wanted to see the charismatic Swede once again, there was your chance. All in all a solid show, a lot of green light and a crazy crowd was what I expected and what got delivered.

As the evening concluded, the last show on the main stage was presented by the German Power Metal band Powerwolf. They transformed the stage to a fantasy world and fans of the genre got a lot of fantastic melodies and riffs.

After the lights shut at the Karhu Main Stage, and the masses moved towards the exit, it seemed to be very early. But only if you rely on your visuals and take the hints from the fading daylight. At least my body was done for today.

After a good night of sleep, the day kicked off with Cyan Kicks and the Kids day. The first of which is a Finnish Rock band, who managed to wake up the audience in a split second. Frontwoman Susanna Alexandra had a hard time standing still and the energetic sound matched the stage performance perfectly. 

On this day, Sunday, there were some kids amongst the crowd. The last day is the kids‘ day by tradition, where parents can bring their offspring to breathe some TUSKA air. It seemed there weren’t as many children around as in previous years, that might be due to the fact that there was no kids magnet playing like Heavysaurus, which performed at previous editions. 

And another difference was noticeable: the big screens at the side of the stages were gone for the last day, as well as half of the background fabric of the smaller outdoor stage. Because there was heavy rain and storms during the night, the organizers took some safety precautions. The winds persisted, while the rain stopped around noon. But the screens stayed down. One reason to get closer to the stage then, especially when you’re short sighted. 

In terms of bands, Sunday offered a good mix of different genres and something for everyone.
Korpiklaani was perfectly placed on the Nordic Energy stage and they had a lot of fun, and so did the audience. Apocalyptica on the other hand felt a little lost on the big main stage. I think this band works way better on a smaller stage at a later time. They exclusively played Metallica covers from their new Album “Apocalyptica plays Metallica Pt. 2”. As Eicca Toppinen explained, it took them almost 30 years to make the second album, without any explanation why. 

Battle Beast fans did hopefully arrive early enough, because they changed the slot with Nothing More, due to logistical issues. Therefore the Finnish Power beast played at 6 instead of 8:15. But also before that, Noora Louhimo and Joona Björkroth sat on the interview couch and talked with Kiki from the Bleeding Metal Podcast in the Forüm about encouraging future generations. They talked about the costumes and how they help to get into a stage persona.

Between the bands I had the chance to go through the market in the TUSKA Expo to do some window shopping. It was nice to see all the little stands with their unique crafts. In comparison to other big festivals, this seemed to be way more honest handicraft from small creators than mass produced garbage from China. There was also a corpse paint stand, which explained why there were so many amazing corpse paints to be seen at this year’s festival.

My personal highlights followed shortly after each other. First Polaris. Great show, huge energy and one of the few occasions, in which you could see crowd surfers. Funny enough, there is a sign pointing at the audience, that it is forbidden to stage dive. But since stage diving is jumping from stage into the crowd, should this sign not point in the other direction towards the artist instead? And therefore, crowd surfing is ok? However, it was nice to see people enjoying themselves.

Shortly after, Lorna Shore took over the Main stage. And also the majority of the audience. The red light was on, even before the first note was played.  To give more context: there was, for the first time this year, a red and green light at the entrance of the pit area in front of the stage. Green means, there is still some place there, red means it is full and you have to watch it from the back.

I had some concerns about the pyro effects because of the strong winds. It seemed they had to dial down the amount a bit, but there was still a decent amount of fire columns shooting up to a height of approximately 10 meters. The majority of the 12 tracks the Band played were from the “Pain Remains” record, including the great trilogy with the same name as the last songs. In the middle we got the only new song, Oblivion, that was released this year. And oh boy, that one works as great live as recorded. For the most part, we got Lorna Shore at its finest. In “Cursed to die”, frontman Will Ramos got some vocal support from friend and photographer Nick Chance. Other than that, fans got an amazingly energized show that ended the 2025 TUSKA on high emotions.