"What's it with you and Yö, is it some kind of a perversion", asked a friend of mine after I had written a second gig review about the band within a year or so. He wasn't completely serious, but that question says something about Yö's status among Finnish rockers. They are far too successful and have a way too wide an audience to be credible as a rock band for some. Sure enough, they aren't dangerous or glamourous and some of their songs are pretty close to traditional Finnish "schlager"... But I like them, and if that ruins my "street cred" then so be it. The band hasn't ever been as good as it is these days, totally professional and very entertaining in a live setting. It's amazing that a band can put together a set of 30 songs with nothing but hit singles and live favourites, and still leave a handful of those for the next time!
 
A casual foreign visitor to Yö's gig might have gotten the wrong idea about Finnish gigs. Since it was the pre-christmas party season, I believe that a few companies had decided to held their parties at Caribia, the spa hotel where the gig took place. Because of that, there were a lot of ladies who looked like they had spent a couple of hours at hairdresser's earlier, and had just squeezed into their party dresses. Even the gentlemen had chosen the better shirt for this occasion. Overall, the average age of the audience was probably closer to 50. Yö does attract people of all ages, but I guess the crowd of this gig was a bit mature even for them. Despite that (or maybe because of it) the crowd was very much into it, singing along to the radio hits, dancing and bouncing like crazy.
  
The gig was divided into two sets, with an interval between them. Both sets were paced quite well, with the slightly less well-known songs between the bigger hits, so the intensity of the sets remained on a high level. The band's only original member, vocalist Olli Lindholm was the master of ceremony, holding the audience in the palm of his hand when he was on stage. He took a few breathers during both sets, allowing the band's bass player Juki Lewis to sing a few songs, and even the background vocalists Suvi and Miina got a song of their own to sing.
  
Back in 1985, Yö went through a major crisis, when Jussi Hakulinen left the band. He was the band's keyboard player and second vocalist, and responsible for writing all of the band's songs. The band soldiered on and stayed alive. The wounds have since been healed, and for the last few years, Jussi has again written a lot of songs for the band. On this "Loisto" tour, he has guest starred on the shows, singing a few old classics and his latest solo single. He did this in Turku too, much to the delight of the crowd. Especially "Joutsenlaulu", arguably one the band's two biggest songs ever was very welcomed, as it's not played on normal Yö gigs.
 
Both sets were full of big choruses, even bigger power ballads and lyrics that most of us could somehow relate to. The light show was quite stunning, and the sound was great... so I really have a hard time to be critical about anything! Okay, "Laulu Rakkaudelle" is a song I still can't really stand, but I was obviously in minority, as the crowd went nuts when it was played. All in all, the two and a half hours went flying by. Now that this is the third Yö gig I've seen during the last couple of years and each one of them has been very good, I guess I can draw a conclusion that the band doesn't disappoint these days. That's something to applaud.
  
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Kun olin kirjoittanut vuoden sisään jo toisen YÖ-keikka-arvion, eräs ystäväni kysyi että "mikä ihmeen Yö-perversio sulla oikein on?" Hän ei ollut välttämättä ihan vakavissaan, mutta tuo kysymys kuvaa hyvin Yön asemaa suomalaisessa rock-kentässä. Bändi on aivan liian suosittu ja heillä on aivan liian laaja kuulijakunta ollakseen uskottava rokkiryhmä tietyille tahoille. Totta on, että bändi ei uhku vaaraa tai glamouria, ja osa heidän biiseistään on varsin lähellä perinteistä suomi-iskelmää... Mutta minulle heidän musiikkinsa kelpaa, ja jos se pilaa katu-uskottavuuteni niin sittenhän pilaa. Yö ei ole ollut koskaan niin hyvä ja ammattimainen kuin tänä päivänä, ja heidän keikkansa ovat erittäin viihdyttäviä tapahtumia. On varsin kunnioitettava saavutus, että bändi pystyy kasaamaan kolmenkymmenen biisin setin pelkkiä hittejä ja keikka-suosikkeja ja silti jättämään tusinan verran moisia varastoon seuraavaa kertaa varten!    Satunnainen ulkomainen vierailija Yön Caribian keikalla olisi saanut hieman väärän kuvan suomalaisista keikoista. Veto osui parhaaseen pikkujoulusesonkiin, ja ilmeisesti monet firmat olivat valinneet Caribian juhliensa pitopaikaksi. Tästä johtuen paikalla oli paljon suoraan kampaajalta saapuneen näköistä naisväkeä juhlamekoissan, ja useimmat miespuolisetkin olivat laittaneet sen paremman paidan päälle. Keski-ikä oli varmaan jossain viidenkympin tienoilla. Yön keikoilla käy väkeä kaikista ikäryhmistä, mutta eiköhän ikäjakauma tällä keikalla ollut hieman erikoinen myös heille. Täst huolimatta (tai siitä juuri johtuen) yleisö oli täysillä mukana, hoilaten tuttuja hittejä ja tärisyttäen hallin lattiaa.  
Keikka oli jaettu kahteen väliajalla erotettuun settiin. Kumpikin setti oli hyvin suunniteltu, megahittien ja vähän tuntemattompien biisien vuorotellessa sopivaan tahtiin. Keikan intensiteetti ei laskenut missään vaiheessa. Yön ainoa alkuperäisjäsen Olli Lindholm toimi seremoniamestarina pitäen yleisöä tiukasti otteessan. Hänen käydessä pariin otteeseen huilaamassa bändin basisti Juki Lewis sai vuoron laulaa muutamia biisejä, ja saivatpa taustalaulajatytöt Suvi ja Miinakin yhteisbiisin esitettäväkseen. 
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