Kuusamo rock band Zero Nine plans 50th anniversary show
Sunday 8th November 2026 on 17:31 in
Finland
Kuusamo heavy rock band Zero Nine plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a concert in 2028, Yle reports. The band, formed in 1978, is still performing 48 years later.
Zero Nine reached the height of its popularity in the 1980s and has released nine albums. It has toured Finland, the Nordic countries and Central Europe, and shared stages with international acts including AC/DC. In 1986, the band performed at the Monsters of Rock event in Stockholm with Ozzy Osbourne and Scorpions.
The band released its first single, Down the Line, in 1980. The song won the popular television programme Levyraati that year. Although Zero Nine explored opportunities in the UK and the United States, it never broke through internationally. The musicians say they have achieved more than they originally hoped for.
After its last album in 2009, the band released new music in September 2026: the single Dreaming, with Shake Off the Hound on the B-side. A 500-page book about the band, written by Kuusamo-born author and journalist Tero Karjalainen, was also published that month.
Karjalainen said the idea for the book came after he met guitarist Timo Käsmä at a local restaurant and heard stories about the band. He spent a year and a half working on the book, which traces the group’s rise from Kuusamo to larger stages and a record deal in Helsinki.
The band’s pace slowed in the 1990s, but it never broke up and has returned to live stages in recent years. Founding bassist Elmo Harju left the line-up in 2002, though he has occasionally performed with the group since. Harju said Zero Nine was breathing better than ever, adding: “A man can leave Zero Nine, but Zero Nine does not leave the man.”
All the band members are now between 60 and 70 years old. Drummer Mikko “Dexta” Korpela and guitarist Timo Käsmä said the anniversary show would go ahead “if the men can stay on their feet”.
Zero Nine’s tours also took it to Eastern Bloc countries in the 1980s. During a 1988 concert in Moscow, organist Matti Murtola was seriously injured after falling into the orchestra pit while trying to jump over it.