XL5 returns to the summer festivals as a six-piece, when all the members who influenced the band are on the same stage for the first time.
The boy band XL5, which went wild in the 1990s, is making a comeback.
A couple of years ago, the band’s frontman Mika “Mica” Ikonen emphatically stated in an interview with Iltalehti: “I will never return.”
Now the whole band is giving an interview to Iltalehte about next summer’s festival return and releasing a new version of their giant hit already on Friday A beautiful beast.
In 2026, it will be 30 years since the band was founded. The return gigs will feature all the members who influenced XL5 for the first time, so the band will be seen on stage as a six-piece.
Next year it will be 30 years since the founding of the XL5 band. Anniina Nikander
What made them turn their strict line?
It was especially affected Miika “Elo” Elorantawho says that for the past 30 years, he has been the opposite party of the band when it comes to return inquiries.
– I was called that Helsinki City Festival might be interested, that what if you came to call. For 30 years, I’ve always thought I couldn’t do it, but now I thought, well, this would be really fun. Then we started thinking and developing, Eloranta sums up.
– I called these guys through. They were a little surprised that what that Kiiski on the opposite shore is playing must be real, he says.
– We have probably been asked every year for probably 15 years. Everyone knows that I send you a text almost every year, that hey, there was a survey again, how to answer this? Miika says that no way. It’s great that this turned out this way, Ikonen enthuses.
– Even at that stage, our firm intention was to never make a comeback, but now Miika’s conversion turned the entire group around, Ikonen continues from his previous statement.
Boy band hysteria
Preparations for the return have been underway for about a year and a half. The first challenge has been coordinating schedules. In the past, guys in their twenties toured around Finland with gigs, today each member has their own jobs, families and different life situations.
When planning future gigs, the band members have returned to nostalgic memories from years ago. Sometimes the tour time was so intense that I had to refresh my memory with pictures and videos.
Before their comeback gigs, XL5 has reviewed some nostalgic footage. They describe the videos as tender. “Pretty chicks,” they say as if in unison. Photo from 1996. JARNO JUTI
– It is vividly remembered that we sat there day and night in the Chevy Van, he begins Petteri “Pete” Tolonen.
– It all happened so terribly explosively fast then. Maybe that’s why it has sunk into oblivion a bit, when it couldn’t internalize it all. We sat in the car, we were on stage and in interviews, he continues Perttu “Jami” Jaakkola.
The boy band once caused outright hysteria and they were labeled as sex symbols or the object of “young women’s naps”. The organizers had enough work at the concert venues when the band members were transported from the backstage to the stage.
Fans were also on duty in front of the studio from morning to night and fan letters were received.
– I lived in the same house myself, so those people were kind of on my skin all the time. It was really great at first, but then it started to be a bit exciting, says Ikonen.
– I’m grateful that I’ve been able to experience something like that, because that’s very rare in Finland, he continues.
Toni “Tontsa” Uotila describes how in the band’s early stages they tried to put them in a certain boy band mold. Take That and East 17 were popular around the world at the same time.
– We are not Take That, maybe more like The Prodigy. We are all our own personalities and we brought a lot of our own to the job. It was our version of a boy band, the Finnish version.
Jarkko “Jake” Jokivalli, Petteri “Pete” Tolonen, Perttu “Jami” Jaakkola, Miika “Elo” Eloranta, Mika “Mica” Ikonen and Toni “Tontsa” Uotila are returning to the stage. Anniina Nikander
In the wide group of rockers, boy bands making pop were not the “hottest”.
– It was a shock even in the home circle. The guys were like, where are you going? You are completely different and in such a way, Jarkko “Jake” Jokivalli throw.
– It was somehow a shock to people that we were such a “made product”. They tried to stamp it on us all the time, that we weren’t real, Jaakkola continues, referring to assembling the band.
One alignment
Memories flash throughout the interview: when did you go off stage, when was that album released, or when did you come up with it and what were the antics on stage. Jami’s leather vests and huge top coats are brought back to mind.
The group assures that even if it’s been longer since they’ve seen each other, the story will always continue from where it left off.
– Nothing has changed here, other than getting older. When you listen to the group and this level of stuff, it’s just as high-quality as 30 years ago, the band states together.
However, one change is certain for some.
– These days, the shirt remains on, Jokivalli is the first to line up and the band hums along.
– Let’s go with this modern style and contemporary people, but with a twinkle in the corner of the eye, Jaakkola continues.
According to the band, maybe some lyrics and some dance moves need to be re-examined before the shows. There is no need to do things that the boy band members who started 30 years ago no longer feel like their own. JARI TERTTI
Ikonen doubts himself, and does not dare to line up quite as emphatically.
– I’m not sure, let’s see how I’m doing in the summer.
The band hopes that during the festival summer, some people will find them to see them.
– It’s exciting what the reception is. We don’t know that at all. But it would be cool if the fans I’ve come across over the years and who say they know all the songs by heart, it would be sweet to see that group rushing in the front row, Tolonen reflects.
After the summer
Ikonen adds later that one of the reasons for returning was also the feeling that something was left unfinished.
He says that by the time of the third album, the rotation experienced by the band was too much and he needed a break. He chose to spend time with his family. The band assures that there was no drama involved in the decision to quit, but the group naturally split into their own further projects.
Mika Ikonen says that he needed a break after an intense couple of years. Since then, the band has performed with different lineups from time to time, but as a whole they have not been seen on concert stages since 1998. Anniina Nikander
– Now we want to do this. Let’s write the book as if finished or the last chapter in it. This festival summer 2026 and then we’ll close the lids, the band says, complementing each other.
– Then we won’t see each other for ten years… until Elo calls again, Jokivalli pauses.
When the band tries to make sure that the decision has now been made, that the return will last for one festival summer, the people of Völkää suddenly become the people of Savonia.
– Maybe… or maybe not, they start carving.