While music and travel industries are suffering from the lockdown and people around the globe have fewer opportunities to enjoy concerts and fulfil their wanderlust, Tuska Utopia offers a new way of experiencing both of these. The concept sees Finnish artists performing and audiences embarking on a journey to intriguing landscapes in the global home of heavy metal, from church ruins to disused gasometers.
Combining an entertaining travel show, one-of-a-kind metal concerts and state-of-the-art music video aesthetics, Tuska Utopia will receive its premiere this November. The concept is created and produced by the team behind Tuska Festival, the biggest metal festival in the Nordic region, and it takes audiences on a journey to some of the most exceptional landscapes in Finland. Each hour-long episode includes a concert, an interview with the artists and a tour of the location in the spirit of a travel show. Watch season 1 trailer here.
The first season comprises of three episodes. Industrial metal powerhouse Turmion Kätilöt will perform at the Suvilahti gasometer in Helsinki on 13 November, power metal band Battle Beast at a secret stone castle on 20 November, and cello metal sensations Apocalyptica at the church ruins in Pälkäne on 27 November. Tickets to all three episodes have already gone on sale.
Tuska Utopia is hosted by Samy Elbanna from the thrash metal band Lost Society and directed by Taku Kaskela, a household name behind many music videos and TV productions.
“The series takes the visuality of gigs to a whole new level. It was a real dream for a director like me to get the opportunity to create new utopian worlds through music and light design for soulscapes that are so familiar to us Finns,” Kaskela says.
“The power of Tuska Utopia stems from the curating between the artists and locations, which creates a story, a tension and a theme that connects all the concerts in the series. The name of the series itself acts as a kind of reading guide, as each episode reveals an actual existing place in the Finnish landscape, as well as a fantasy world created especially for the series,” adds Jenni Kääriäinen, Artistic Director of Tuska Utopia.
“This is not just a way to replace live concerts”
Tuska Utopia aims to offer unique experiences, as well as to create new opportunities between the fields of music and travel. While both industries are suffering from a worldwide lockdown, Tuska Utopia enables people to enjoy both activities in a new way.
“This is not just a way to replace live concerts now that so many events are on hold. We hope to succeed in creating a new crossover culture that I can easily see continuing along its own path also after the crisis is over,” says Eeka Mäkynen, Executive Producer of Tuska Utopia.
The artists featured in the programme all have well-established global fan bases, so the English-language series is expected to attract interest around the world.
“Finland has already been called the global home of heavy metal, with more metal bands per capita than anywhere else in the world, and this country definitely has a strange appeal. Tuska Utopia is a dive into the deep end of the Finnish metal soulscape, a place where your feet can no longer touch the bottom. Welcome along!” Mäkynen invites.
Tuska Utopia
Friday 13 November 2020 at 9pm UTC +2, Turmion kätilöt, Suvilahti gas holder, Helsinki (available for purchase until 15 Nov at 9 pm UTC +2)
Friday 20 November 2020 at 9pm UTC +2, Battle Beast, secret stone castle (available for purchase until 22 Nov at 9 pm UTC +2)
Friday 27 November 2020 at 9pm UTC +2, Apocalyptica, the ruins of the Church of St. Michael, Pälkäne (available for purchase until 29 Nov at 9 pm UTC +2)
The episodes are available worldwide on SemiLive’s platform. The price of each stream is €14.90, which includes viewing rights for 48 hours. Special Tuska Utopia merchandise is available on Tuska’s web shop. Ticket holders are entitled to a discount on Utopia Collection items with a promotion code provided with the ticket.
In cooperation with Helsingin Sanomat, Sinebrychoff, Genelec and Varusteleka. Powered by SemiLive.
