Yes, I know. We've written quite a few reviews of Brother Firetribe's gigs, and here's another one again. What can I say in our defence? Maybe that they're one of the premier AOR bands, and that we're able to catch them here every now and then! Yes, I know, we are lucky!

The band released a new EP a couple of weeks ago, and embarked on a tour of Finland to celebrate it. Their set at Teatro got an energetic start with the title track of the EP, "Number One". It's a pulsating, hook-laden track in the best BFT fashion, think "Heart Full Of Fire" album. The EP showcase continued with the other new song from it, "How Long Until Tomorrow" ("Sunbound" album vibe) and two previously released tracks "Just Another Night" and "Are You Ready". All very good songs.

Although in my books they're still a new band, Brother Firetribe has been around for more than 20 years. I guess that says more about me than them, but anyway... I have a feeling that they aren't going to become a nostalgia act any time soon. Most of their setlist was from the new EP and their latest full-length album "Feel The Burn", with only a handful of "golden oldies". I have no complaints, the level of their recent material is up there with the early stuff. The crowd didn't seem to mind either, "Battleground", "Rock This City", "Bring On The Rain" and "Night Drive" got a great reception and people sang along gloriously!

The "old" material wasn't completely forgotten obviously. We got to hear "Taste Of A Champion", "Heart Full Of Fire", "For Better Or For Worse" and one song I'd call a surprise inclusion, "Out Of My Head". Vocalist Pekka Heino introduced it as "a filler from "Heart Full Of Fire" album, but we love it". I've always liked that song too, I've never considered a filler in any way and I was happy to hear it. As encores, we got "Indelible Heroes" (now this one's a filler in my opinion, but I know I am in the minority) and the sing-along anthem "I Am Rock". The set was a bit on the short side but full of great songs. As I was walking out of the venue, I overhead people talking about how "I'm On Fire" should have been in the setlist. Indeed, it's on my "essential BFT songs" list, along with quite a few other songs I would have been very happy to hear. But I'm also happy with what I got to hear. I've seen the band supporting big acts such as Journey and Scorpions, I've seen them at festivals, I've seen them on their own tours, and while some gigs have been better than others, I've yet to see a lousy gig from them.

The support act was a modern rock band called Volfram. They were a solid group, capable players and the vocalist JC Halttunen was excellent. The bass player put on a bit of a show too, full points for that. I'm actually listening to the two songs they've released so far as I write this, and they sound pretty good, especially "Scars" reminds me of Daughtry and the likes. It was a highlight of their set as well. Check them out if contemporary rock sounds are your cup of tea.

The venue wasn't sold out, but not too empty either. Maybe the Eurovision Song Contest on TV made someone choose the couch instead of this concert. That wasn't really necessary, as I made it home in time to see more ESC entries than I really wanted to, and Finland didn't win even though we kind of had two artists representing us this year. Here's an idea - Tribe to the ESC! Go for it, show 'em how it's done! You certainly can write catchy hooks! Not that the quality of hooks has been that important at ESC lately...

Review & photos by Kimmo Toivonen

Full photo gallery: RockUnited.Com @ Facebook

(c) 2025 RockUnited.Com