Ville Valo – Powerstation, 13 March 2024: Review

Last night at Auckland’s Powerstation, Ville Valo and his band turned up in style to entertain fans of the Love Metal genre.

Musical acts out of Finland that have made an impact on an international scale have been few and far between. Indie innovator Jimi Tenor, classical master Sibelius, rocker’s The Rasmus, Bomfunk MC’s (Freestyler) are some that spring to mind.

HIM (an acronym of His Infernal Majesty), surprisingly (based on their record sales), are the most successful Finnish act of all-time. Last night at Auckland’s Powerstation it was that group’s former frontman Ville Valo.

The land of a thousand lakes, Nokia, extreme winters, and reindeer. Finland boasts the most metal bands per capita in the world, believe it or not. The place where salmon are a dime a dozen, the isolation factor must surely be an encouraging environment for creatives (like Aotearoa and its remoteness from other countries), if you can survive the winter head-banging shenanigans and entrenched drinking culture.

Hailing from Finland’s capital Helsinki, Ville Valo is now out on his own, with HIM disbanding in 2017.

For Valo, it’s been a somewhat inauspicious start to his solo career, due to a huge chunk of that time spent in the covid era. But they say limitations lead to great art, so out of those covid restrictions Valo fashioned a solo album under the moniker of VV, entitled Neon Noir, released in early 2023. Hence his now being here and touring other parts of the great wide open.

An audience with a strong female presence began building in time for the nights support act, Wellington’s post-punk duo Breaches.

Citing the influences of Joy Division, Depeche Mode, New Order, The Cure, Bauhaus and Nick Cave, Breaches put together a set of half a dozen of their dark originals, dressed sharply in black and utilising a sequencer to bolster their sound.

Vocalist/bassist Hayden Ellis along with guitarist Matt McGuinness blended the intensity and emotion of post-punk with the melody and beat of dance music and lent close enough to Valo’s aesthetic to set the right tone for the evening.

While wearing their influences on their sleeves, it was evident Breaches incorporate their local surroundings and experiences into their music. Their set culminated with debut single Twist the Knife, which is released next month on Bandcamp and Spotify, along with a video. Do check them and that one out.

The crowd, now at a shade above 3/4 capacity, was primed and excited for Valo to make an entrance.

With his trademark signifier Heartagram backdropped and lit in rouge, Valo’s band of Finnish goth-rockers took the stage while instrumental Zener Solitaire played out on pre-record.

Enter Valo, wiry in stature and donning a black cheese-cutter with a stylish black suit jacket. Echolocate Your Love bristled along, ushering the tone of Valo’s solo sound. Not too distant from HIM, perhaps a few shades lighter towards melodic pop.

Big ballad The Funeral of Hearts meant that Valo was going to pull from HIM’s back catalogue. The dark crooner was to go there another eight times, while fluctuating the rest of his set with nearly the entire track-listing of Neon Noir (only missing out Vertigo Eyes).

The Foreverlost borrowed synth and tambourine samples, then the HIM anthem Join Me in Death went off and got fans singing along. The interplay with dark themes is something Valo specialises in. It’s fair to say he’s playing more so with the dark over the light.

The title track Neon Noir followed, emphasizing Valo’s contemporary sound.

Another HIM number, The Kiss of Dawn, juxtaposed chugging guitar verses with a 70’s pop sing-along chorus. It was clear all through that Valo resonated with the fairer sex.

Cherry-picked HIM tracks stood out. Wings Of A Butterfly exhibiting just why the group sold over ten million records. Heartful Of Ghosts exemplified Valo’s interplay with darkness, incorporating a transposed Bo Diddley drum rhythm with synth sweeps.

Speaking of Valo’s band, they confidently backed him up with an egoless application.

Neck and crop HIM rocker Buried Alive by Love got the restrained treatment, while Valo’s Run Away from The Sun brightened things up, rather ironically.

Valo at times sounds and feels close to the Yang to Amy Lee (Evanesence), exemplified with HIM’s Right Here in My Arms.

Appropriately rounding his set off with one more from Neon Noir, Saturnine Saturnalia, Valo once again revealed his penchant for taking ballads to darker and dreamy places.

Goth, melodic pop, and the rockier side of metal all embody his sound. Not airing any material from Ville Valo & The Agents (2019), in which he combined Americana and sung predominantly in Finnish, Valo thought smart to keep his show aligned with HIM’s sensibilities.

An anticipated encore included HIM biggies Killing Loneliness, and closer When Love and Death Embrace. A poignant end to the evening, and a study in Love Metal. Ville Valo, rakastamme sinua.

Mike Beck

Photography by Leonie Moreland

Ville Valo

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Breaches

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Setlists

Breaches

1. Dead Inside
2. Spin Me Around
3. Coming For Us
4. Valentine
5. Left Behind
6. Twist The Knife

Ville Valo

1. Zener Solitaire
2. Echolocate Your Love
3. The Funeral of Hearts
4. The Foreverlost
5. Join Me in Death
6. Neon Noir
7. The Kiss of Dawn
8. Salute The Sanguine
9. Wings Of a Butterfly
10. Heartful Of Ghosts
11. Gone With the Sin
12. Loveletting
13. Buried Alive by Love
14. Run Away from The Sun
15. Right Here in My Arms
16. Saturnine Saturnalia

(Encore)

1. In Trenodia
2. Killling Loneliness
3. Baby Lacrimarium
4. When Love & Death Embrace