Headliners at Helsinki’s Tuska festival included veteran US band Megadeth, which has ties to Finland, as well as acts from Japan, Switzerland, Germany and the Nordics.
Finland has a reputation as a hotbed of heavy metal, with Helsinki’s Tuska festival the biggest annual gathering of fans. This past weekend Tuska (“Agony”) set an all-time attendance record, drawing some 66,000 people to the Suvilahti gasworks area over three days.
Festival organisers say the event was sold out on Friday and Saturday, with 23,000 metal fans on both days. On Sunday, the event attracted 20,000 festivalgoers.
This year’s biggest headliner was the American thrash band Megadeth, with leader Dave Mustaine quashing rumours that this is a farewell tour. The band has local ties, as the group has featured Finnish lead guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari since 2023.
Mäntysaari replaced Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro, who is married to a Finn and has played in former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen’s band. Megadeth started off in Los Angeles in 1983.
Another veteran band on the bill was Japan’s Loudness, which is two years older than Megadeth.
Other headliners included the US band Bad Omens, on their first visit to Helsinki, as well as Finnish heavy hitters such as Amorphis, Stam1na, Ensiferum and Tarot featuring Marco Hietala of Nightwish.
“This Tuska has been absolutely incredible by every measure. This weekend captures the current state of metal,” Festival director Eeka Mäkynen said in a statement on Sunday evening.
