LIVE REPORT: Rabbit Cult & Machinae Supremacy
Tavastia, Helsinki, April 9th, 2026, & Olympia-kortteli, Tampere, April 16th, 2026
So, unless you’ve been sleeping under a bridge for the last little while, you have perhaps heard that Machinae Supremacy released a new self-titled album as of March 6th, 2026. As such, their nigh annual tour through Finland took place a month later in April, with the fantastic up-and-coming Rabbit Cult as warm-up act. The album release tour began at Tavastia in Helsinki on April 9th and ended in Kuopio on April 18th, so I decided to hit up a couple of shows, namely Helsinki and Tampere.
Samsung Galaxy S20
So, first up, I really adore Rabbit Cult. I got hard into feminism in 2025 and Rabbit Cult were the perfect band to accompany my newfound rage towards inequality. Plus, Salla Hätinen and Marianne Heikkinen are extremely badass: the former plays kantele, sings, and growls like a wee demon, while the latter can pretty much play anything you put in her hands and kick ass at it. They’re crazy inspiring and the music is a lot of fun.
I wish I could say that I’ve seen them more than I have. I once sold merch at what may have been the last show they played when they were still under the name Saruru, and they had a couple songs that I really loved that I had hoped to hear, but unfortunately, the merch booth was upstairs and the show was in the basement, so I didn’t actually see them at the time. Since then, the only time I’ve caught them was during Marianne’s thesis show… and to be honest, I’m not even sure how I knew about that. As such, it was a no-brainer to go early enough to catch them too.
The Helsinki show was brilliant and I was delighted to see some people who were clearly their fans. In particular, there was one fellow in a bunny kigurumi who was carrying a pink rifle, that made me grin like an idiot. That’s dedication—I have a bear kigurumi and I wore it to Helsinki Psych Fest once and that was… a very warm decision. Tavastia was cooking on the 9th, so I hope he survived.
As for the performance, what can I say? They kicked ass, even if they looked a wee bit tense heading toward the stage before the gig started. One of my favorite things in the world is to watch Kalle Niskanen from Merta looking like the most normal non-metal dude on earth, only to belt out growls like a savage beast, so when Salla does the same, looking all sweet and feminine and petite, it brings a massive flush of ecstasy into my brain. Gosh women are great!
“Pink Rifle” was definitely a highlight (especially with that fellow waving his painted plastic gun around), “Bunny Anthem” is a total banger, and of course, “Cute AF” is just killer all around. It was also really cool to hear a bunch of tracks that aren’t released yet. The title “My Nipples Are Dangerous” is oh so evocative, and I appreciate the political commentary alone in the name of “Make Global Warming Great Again.” Truly, I hope for nothing but the best for these two.
The Tampere show a week later was even better, having warmed up for a few shows at that point, and the crowd was equally enthusiastic. According to the chit-chat on the Machinae Supremacy Discord, I think they found themselves a few new fans, and they were a great choice of an opener for MaSu, who are known for having a bit of trouble finding sensible pairings. I can’t wait to see them performing again, and hopefully there will be an album coming out sooner rather than later!
Setlist
Row Zero
Bunny Anthem
Pink Rifle
Make Global Warming Great Again
Burst
Scandal
Insist
My Nipples Are Dangerous
Rabbit of Doom
Cute AF
READ MORE: Off the Record with Rabbit Cult (interview)
Then, after a fantastic appetizer, came the sublime main course. I’ve seen Machinae Supremacy my fair share of times by now, dating back to 2013, and I can say with enthusiasm that I’ve never seen these guys put on a bad show, so I knew I was in for a good time. It’s worth mentioning though, that the setlist has been relatively static without many significant changes beyond the inclusion of new singles since the release of their last album in 2016. So, since the new album is a certified banger, I was extra particularly excited for this tour. And they did not disappoint.
In fact, the only issue with this tour was simply that the new album is so damned good that I didn’t want to hear any of the old material—which I’ve already heard multiple times—I just wanted them to play the new album from start to finish. However, they don’t make their setlists for my personal enjoyment (that would be weird) and there were a lot of people who traveled for this show, which was incredible. I met or heard about people from Canada (hey, that’s where I’m from!), Australia, Scotland, other parts of Europe… it was wild!
They kicked things off with one of my top tracks from the new release, “Always Fight Evil,” which shines in all aspects but also gains bonus points for the shared vocals with Jonas Rörling, and made for an awesome start. Then came one of the earlier singles, “FATE of ALL,” followed by the live killer, “Laser Speed Force.” I was surprised (pleasantly) that they kept the Essenger/Scandroid cover of “Empire of Steel” in the set, but was also surprised that the older single, “WARRIORS pt.1 (Final Stage)” was left out, though I wasn’t sad about it because they played it at their last show in February 2025, so I’ve at least heard it once from the stage.
“Pendulum” is one of my all-time favorite songs and one of the best empowerment/friendship anthems ever written, so I was naturally delighted to hear it (though also bummed out that even though Ingeborg Ekeland was in town, she wasn’t singing this time—that’s because she was only in Finland for half the tour, so she was just here for fun). It was also awesome that they decided to include “Beast Engine” in the set for the first time, which is a dank and kickass track that worked very well live. Truly, when you have a band with such a fantastic discography as this, it must be tough to pick a setlist.
The bouncy Britney Spears cover of “Gimme More” is always a classic and they can’t leave out the Finnish favorite, “Indiscriminate Murder Is Counterproductive,” which is always guaranteed to make people go pretty crazy. “Reanimator” was also a big hit, as the sole track from their older material, and it sounded awesome. And have I mentioned that the energy on stage was fantastic both times?
A newer single, “Definition (Change the Ending)” was another one that worked great live, while “Wounds” was a genuinely delightful surprise—as I mentioned in my review, there’s a lot of wanky fiddly guitar(?) sounds in there, so I didn’t expect it in the set; however, I think those parts were done by the backing tracks because it looked like neither Jonas nor Tomi Luoma had their butts clenched in concentration during the song. “Rise of a Digital Nation” is a big crowd favorite, and they closed out the set with “Sidescroller,” which didn’t hit me so hard on the album (probably because it comes right after “Pendulum”), but has really grown on me since the album came out, so I was, in fact, quite tickled to hear it, too.
If I was sad about any of the new songs being left out, it would be “Psimerion,” because the energy in that track is just so good and so powerful, but what can you do in a limited time slot? The encore was fantastic, with “WEAPON of CHOICE,” “All of My Angels,” and “Dark City”—the band promised that they were going to stop ending shows with “Through the Looking Glass” for a while at their last show, needing a break from it. From me, personally, I would have swapped “Dark City” for “WEAPON of CHOICE,” since I think the latter has better closer energy—it is the final track on the album, after all, and really leaves you wanting more, but I think it’s rather uncommon for bands to end on a new song, so perhaps that’s why.
Either way, both of these shows were absolutely amazing, the proof being that my usual standing stamina is about 45 minutes before back pain overtakes me, yet I didn’t feel any pain at all on either night. That only happens when a band is good enough to keep me moving, and having been to over 1200 live sets in my day, not much impresses me anymore, let alone gets me moving.
So if you like these guys, you should definitely come out to their shows sometime. The next opportunity will be in Stockholm in May, so be sure to check it out if you have the means! As for me, I’m wondering if I should join the merch crew for a festival later this year just to see them again.
Setlist:
Always Fight Evil
FATE of ALL
Laser Speed Force
Empire of Steel (Essenger cover)
Pendulum
Beast Engine
Gimme More (Britney Spears cover)
Indiscriminate Murder Is Counterproductive
Reanimator
Definition (Change the Ending)
Wounds
Rise of a Digital Nation
Sidescroller
Encore
WEAPON of CHOICE
All of My Angels
Dark City
READ MORE:
Live Reports: Nosturi, Helsinki (2015); Nosturi, Helsinki (2017); Gong, Turku (2018); On the Rocks, Helsinki (2020); Sammiosali, Lahti (2022); On the Rocks, Helsinki (2023); Dark River Festival (2023); Ääniwall, Helsinki (2025)
Reviews: Machinae Supremacy (2026)
Interviews: Off the Record (2015), On the Record (2016), Off the Record (2022)
Travel Blog: The MaSu Roadtrip (2018)
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