Music

Do you sing in the shower? How about in the restroom? Well, we Finns do, and maybe that’s why karaoke bars are extremely popular here.

One of the more exotic ones is the Karaoke Bar Restroom. It’s an old public lavatory turned into one of the most popular karaoke bars in town. A tiny place between Tehtaankatu and Sepänkatu with oversized and pompous paintings with large gold frames on the wall.

This a place where the suits rub elbows with the local janitors, where the Lady Gagas meet suave older Frank Sinatras. The place hosts lots of bachelor and hen parties and many a celebrity has a habit of visiting The Restroom, one of the best known of them being perhaps Kimi Räikkönen, the Finnish F1 champion with his chums.

Newcomers always get a warm welcome and the atmosphere is very relaxed and supportive. Everybody draws a lot of applause, no matter whether they sing like a nightingale or a crow. And that, my friends, I can tell you from my own experience!

There is only one shop in Helsinki where you can find design, fashion, art, music, books, vintage, gallery and bar under the same roof, that’s Helsinki10. They sell cd’s, bubble gum, expensive clothes from small designers and well-known fashion houses, vintage clothes, bags and shoes from all over the Europe and even weird painted china, like tea cups and pots!

Helsinki10 is a place where you go to wander and touch very odd clothes and accessories, but end up buying something: a key-chain or pair of odd boots. The staff is very helpful and friendly!

Last summer Helsinki10 started to sell Topshop clothes in the store as the only shop in Helsinki. It is a bit sad that they made their vintage section smaller (to make room for Topshop), but I am super-excited about all the new Topshop clothes and it is about the time to have it in Finland as well!

Mbar is a wonderful place in the summer and rather “famous” for its great terrace – which now is finally open again! The location is so central that it makes for a very convenient place to meet up with friends, have a nice chat and a glass of wine – or a Café Latte, depending on the time of day – and enjoy some laid-back atmosphere and music (and sun!).

This bar combines everything: they have a nice selection of snacks and drinks, they offer free WiFi (and some PC stations, those aren’t free to use though) and during the night, mbar becomes the place for social get-togethers, make sure to check their website for the programme if you’re interested in their DJs and live acts!

Helsinki is famous for being the “European Capital of Metal” and the city does this title justice. The concert schedules for all imaginable genres around rock music of your preferred heaviness are long and if you’re an enthusiast for live gigs, your wallet will suffer quite quickly.

The Backstage bar, or “Bäkkäri”, is one of Helsinki’s “leading” places where the city’s Rock’n'Rollers, metalheads and alternative people head to (if you’re more of a death/thrash metal kind of person, check out Club Prkl), not only after a concert. The bar is decorated with tour posters, vinyls and all kinds of miscellaneous souvenirs from well-known bands, I really enjoy the atmosphere there. Not too long ago they celebrated their 3rd anniversary!

The upper stairs live club “Green Room” (this part is only open on weekends) is a pretty cool venue for bands to play (mostly local) or release- and aftershow parties (including for example Apocalyptica or Nightwish!), you definitely should check their facebook or website to make sure you don’t miss out on a nice event. Also: if you’re a spotter for celebrities of the “scene” (or those that think they are), you might get lucky here! Even on weekdays the bar is popular for an afterwork drink with good company and music, on weekends things go wild upstairs in the club area.

Entrance in the bar downstairs is always free, the upstairs fee is € 6 including the wardrobe.

Prkl is one of the two go-to places for the metalheads in the city (Bäkkäri, check the Bäkkäri article would be the other one) and located very conveniently just a few minutes walk away from the railway station. Music ranges from Rock to all kinds of the Metal subgenres you could think of!

The upstairs bar offers a really nice selection of drinks and also quite some space to sit down and enjoy them while listening to some good music and chat with your friends. Here they play more of a “mainstream” rock and metal variety – downstairs the music is much more particular and you might discover something new. But whatever music wishes you have, you will get them fulfilled any time! Downstairs you also find a larger bar and a small stage which is often used for some nice gigs from local metal bands, mostly something between Thrash and Death or Black metal.

This bar is a “valeur sure” for for any metalhead to have some good times any Friday or Saturday, so drop by and enjoy some drinks and music! People here are usually very open for conversations, it’s really a great place to meet people. Maybe that’s just a natural result if a bar has Jägermeister as their housewine!

Upstairs is free entrance, downstairs you pay € 2.50 for the wardrobe, usually more when there’s an event.