WORTH A LOOK?: ****
Rock quartet Cyan Kicks finished runners up in Finland’s Eurovision selection show UMK (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu) in 2022 and on Saturday (10 February 2024) return again with this song.
By Neil Durham
WHEN?: Saturday 25 February 2023
HOW DO I WATCH?: YLE
Finland’s Eurovision selection show UMK continues to be 1 of the season’s highlights and there’s a lot of quality here in the race to succeed internationally-renowned rock band The Rasmus who represented the country last year, finishing 21st.
Smith (Funny Girl, Savoy) returns to the stage for the 1st time since Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Palladium and this beloved Willy Russell one-woman comedy about a woman who finds love on holiday abroad is the perfect choice. Runs 17 February through 3 June at the Duke Of York’s. Tickets 1st preview review
By Aline Mahrud
WHEN?: 26 February 2022
HOW DO I WATCH? YLE
Finland performed far better than we expected in 2021 when rock group Blind Channel finished 6th and in 2022 they have a diverse 7-song final including The Rasmus who had a worldwide hit in 2003 with In The Shadows.
Spraggan won our gig of the year monsta in 2020 and we said then: ‘Her warmth and empathy really shine bright in the guitar-based, folk-influenced material that she writes and performs.’ Her 6th album Choices is released 26/2/21 and includes Sober, a song of the month for us in November. Tickets were on sale for an April tour which has now been cancelled because of Covid-19 but you can watch that gig of the year. Details
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
OUT: now
The selection competitions for 2021’s Eurovision Song Contest are starting all over Europe and this synth gem from Finland’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) is our pick of this week.
WHEN?: 3/3/18
We wouldn’t usually cover Finland’s Eurovision selection show, Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), but we’re doing so this year because it has chosen UK X Factor runner-up Saara Aalto to sing each of three songs.
