11th July, 2019
And so to Tampere for my third visit to the annual Lumous Gothic Festival. Unfortunately this year I could attend only this Thursday night show, the first of this year’s four-day event, and therefore saw only three of the many bands performing but what I did see was worth the effort.
Before we get to the concert itself, it is worth setting the scene a little for those who have never been – this seems to be by far the biggest gathering of Finland’s Goths, and the crowd is a relaxed, easy-going and friendly one. There is the infamous Finnish reserve, of course, but particularly among festival folk everyone is very welcoming. The city also makes a perfect setting for Lumous, interesting in its own right and providing a number of related events such as the Dark Market at the Vapriikki museum (which I missed as well this year, but has in the past yielded some suitably spooky finds).
Tonight’s venue, Dogs Home, is basically just an almost-subterranean rock bar attached to the train station, almost next door to the much larger Klubi and Pakkahuone stages on which some of the weekend’s performers were to appear. What it lacks in glamour however, it makes up for in enthusiasm, and the atmosphere was just right – staff, artists and audience all seemed determined to have a good time and there was none of the attitude often encountered at certain Goth clubs in other countries.
The only foreigner on the bill tonight, Tyburn Blossom kicked things off close to 10PM. Alone on stage with just his guitar, some backing tracks and a lot of make-up, the mysterious Irishman veered between punk and glam in a debut appearance that was stylish, memorable and well-received considering that no-one present seemed to be familiar with his highly distinctive music.
He was followed shortly afterwards by up-and-coming local electro duo Aeronaut V, who instantly attracted a crowd to the front of the stage. This was a highly polished and slick debut performance from the new outfit, who never hit a wrong note throughout and have every reason to expect similarly fervent responses from future crowds.
The last group to play tonight was Ultranoir, fronted by another product of Tampere’s apparently vibrant music scene and one who clearly fancied himself as a sort of goth-ish Michael Monroe. He noted a previous show at Lumous eight years ago, so Ultranoir would seem to be the most venerable of tonight’s acts; he had all the moves, high-kicking, pouring a drink over his own head, throwing flowers from the stage and dancing with audience members but the songs didn’t remain long in my head afterwards.
Followed by some ’80s New Romantic and Gothic classics spun by D.J. and festival organiser Jyrki Witch, all in all this was a highly promising start to Lumous 2019, and credit to those behind it for supporting both emerging talent and more established names year after year.
THE ANTI-CLUB 