The Finnish band share a recording of their live set at their hometown Pori’s Jungle Jane
Circle formed in 1991 in Pori, a city on the west coast of Finland. Since then the group's line-up has changed several times, with Jussi Lehtisalo the only remaining founding member. This performance took place a year after the release of their first album Meronia at Pori's well-known venue Jungle Jane. The band have specially edited the footage for The Wire.
Reminiscing about the event, Circle’s Jussi says, “Jungle Jane was among the most popular venues in the centre of Pori in the 90s. The artists performing there represented a wide range of marginal and mainstream music. Alternative music fans were all gathered under the same roof in that old wooden building. For example, Mika Rättö and I saw one of the first gigs of the extremely popular Nightwish in Jungle Jane in February 1998. Circle played there several times a year, and this video recording captures what many consider Circle’s classic line-up (1993–96), which recorded the albums Meronia (1994) and Zopalki (1996). This line-up (Jussi Lehtisalo, Teemu Elo, Juha Ahtiainen, Petri Hagner, Maukka Päivistö and Juha-Pekka Hietaniemi) parted ways at the end of 1996, and at the same time we lost approximately half of our Finnish fan base. I’m the only one left from this line-up. The concert recording represents the group’s later, more serene period, when our erratic and frenzied phase had already taken a back seat, and an important era had come to an end. I look back on those times with respect and warmth. We all still keep in touch with each other.”
Read Tristan Bath's Circle cover feature in The Wire 402. Subscribers can access the article via the online archive.
