Mid-week gig!?! Gulp. Turns out if you turn up fashionably late to a gig and there is no support band you don’t miss anything. Extraordinary… What is also extraordinary is I have never been to a gig at Night and Day Café until tonight. It is a sold-out show so it’s rather packed, but it is good to see a live act in such close quarters.

It is mostly a sea of middle-aged men amidst the glitter balls and red string lights (and I am already regretting getting my Covid-19 and flu jabs this afternoon). I don’t know if I am hot because of the vaccines or the fact it’s busy. The atmosphere is one of chilled anticipation and I’m looking forward to the show, even though I can only name one song by the band.

The Von Hertzen Brothers hail from Finland and were formed in 2000, not surprisingly by three brothers. They are Kie, Mikko and Jonne, who are joined by drummer Sami Kuoppamäki (who has performed with Apocalyptica and Stratovarius) and keyboardist Robert Engstrand (formerly of Turisas). According to their website “they have never been an easy band to categorise by genre.” Yet Wikipedia finds them to be “a mix of classic rock and progressive elements, folk, punk and contemporary rock”. To be honest I care not for genres and just know what I like and what sounds good. The band, who have 8 studio albums on their repertoire, are about to indulge us with an impressive 16-track playlist so I watch and wait... 

They start the show with two songs from their latest album, “Red Alert in the Blue Forest”, a double LP which was released last year. We get ‘Day of Reckoning’ swiftly followed by ‘Blue Forest’ and it’s all very Pink Floyd, with a touch of Abba, to my uninitiated ears. Truth be told I don’t really like Pink Floyd (and you can hate me for that if you want), but I am liking this and so are the crowd. According to their website the latest album, recorded during 2021, explores “whether we can still find wonder, inspiration, beauty and harmony amid destruction, anxiety, imbalance, and withdrawal?” and this is what tonight is mainly about. Their sound brings something completely unique, but all the while it is thought-provoking and often deeply moving.

Mikko addresses the crowd after the first songs and mentions the new album but then says it is time for something more familiar and they wow us with a brilliant performance of ‘Flowers and Rust’. I expected this to come during the encore but love seeing the audience singing along. This song won the anthem of the year prize at the Progressive Rock Awards in 2013 and if you are unfamiliar with the band this is a perfect place to start.

“Born with a curse
Turning diamonds to dust
Diamonds to dust
An innocent world to withered flowers and rust”.

Throughout the night we witness a soulful performance where they all put 1000% into their craft. We move back from our position near the front as we realise there are many die-hard fans here and we are blocking their view. Mikki tells us the last time they played Manchester was at Rebellion in 2017. I am here tonight because the last time my friend saw them was supporting Volbeat at Manchester Academy 2 (a gig I really wish I had been to) and she said we had to check them out while they are in this amazing little venue. 

They storm through the setlist and talk about the new album, the football (groan), thank their crew, tell us no one is allowed to leave without visiting the merch stall at the back, but despite the laughs the music is laden with meaning and that becomes very apparent with the song ‘Freedom Fighter’ from the 2008 album “Love Remains the Same”. Mikko dedicates this to the people of Ukraine and says how important the conflict is to them living in close proximity to Russia. We get a varied playlist with songs from all their albums, including all seven minutes of the heart-wrenching 2022 single ‘All of a Sudden You’re Gone’. We are treated to an eclectic array of sounds, including at one-point bongos. I was actually going to call this review bongos and beanies because throughout the set Kie never takes his hat off, which given how hot it is noticeable, especially because at the other side of the stage Mikko is dripping with sweat! 

As they night races on they go back to their second album “Approach” from 2006 and play the song that got them their first access to airtime on mainstream Finnish radio and became one of their first hits ‘Let Thy Will Be Done’

“If I surrender will you remember me?
As I surrender will your love enter me?”

They take a pause and come back with two more songs for the encore with a passionate speech about their final song and latest single ‘Peace Patrol’. They emphasise the fact that what the world needs now, more than anything is peace. I totally agree and the audience give a riotous round of applause. The band depart promising they will return, and I highly recommend that next time they are in the UK you try to see them. The latest album is available now and you can see art inspired by the album on their website here.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!

Von Hertzen Brothers