Lahti’s Torvi marks 60 years and backs new bands

Torvi, a music venue in Lahti, turns 60 in 2026 and continues to give emerging bands a chance to perform, Yle reports. It is one of Finland’s oldest live music clubs still in operation.

The venue opened as a restaurant in 1966. In the early 1970s, it began to focus on live music, including performances by small and new bands. Helsinki’s Tavastia club opened in 1970, four years after Torvi.

Regular customer Tiitu Saastamoinen first walked through Torvi’s doors in the early 1980s. She says she found a welcoming atmosphere unlike anything else in Lahti, and over the years made many friends there. She also met her husband at a side table in the billiards room.

Saastamoinen still visits more than 40 years later. She says the venue’s spirit has stayed much the same, describing it as informal, unpretentious and rough around the edges.

Jaakko Teittinen, one of Torvi’s four owners, says giving new bands the chance to play their first gigs and gain experience is central to the venue. He says Lahti has a great many bands, not all of which become widely known.

Teittinen and three other local men took over Torvi in 2013 after years as customers and performers there. They wanted to keep the venue going for future generations. Teittinen says running it has not been a financial windfall, but that they took it on out of love for the work and attachment to their hometown.

Before Torvi opened, the premises had been used as a horse stable and a bakery. Over the decades, the restaurant’s polished 1960s look gave way to the venue’s current basement atmosphere, while live performances continued.