Unleashing My Imagination at an Auri Concert

Sometimes you just need to close your eyes and let your mind make some magic...

On August 13th and 14th, 2025, I took a trip up to Kitee with my friends to see Auri’s live debut in celebration of the release of their third album, “III: Candles & Beginnings.” Having written up two shows already, I wanted to have a bit of a different experience when I went to the show at Tampere-talo on August 16th, 2025.

Some 8-or-so years ago, I used to take time once in a while to just listen to music with my eyes closed, letting my imagination run wild with visualizers and stories, but I feel like I haven’t done that in the better part of a decade. It’s been hard to invoke the vivid power of my imagination in the same ways as I once could, for many reasons I won’t bore you with now.

On this night, however, rather than watching the show, I turned inward, closed my eyes, let the sound envelope me, and opened the cage doors to let my imagination roam free and take me where it wanted to go.

Read the live report and travel blog from the Kitee shows here!
You can also check out my recent interview with the band here, or read Kathy Criswell’s emailer here!

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The show at Tampere-talo was bound to be a step up in atmosphere, as it hosts closer to 1800 seats when compared to Kiteesali’s 300-ish. My spot was next to the mixing booth in row 15, which meant the seats were divided into two rows of four, one of which overlapped. The woman sitting next to me seemed to be about my height and was struggling to see past the chair in front of her, so I offered to trade her my spot — I’d seen this concert twice already and from my closer up, and besides, I had plans for this show that didn’t involve my eyes…

As the lights dimmed, I cozied into my seat and closed my eyes. I mentioned in my proper live report that I was feeling torn between watching the show and closing my eyes and letting the sound surround me. Well, I watched the shows from close up on the 13th and 14th, so the Tampere show was my opportunity to shut my eyes, let the music wash over me, and opened the doors of my unhinged grieving fantasy-writer brain and let my imagination run rampant…

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