🇱🇹 Editorial: A review of Katarsis’ post-Eurovision sold-out tour

The band Katarsis, which represented Lithuania at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, performed in Kaunas on Saturday evening. The Eurovision finalists performed at the sold out post-Eurovision tour and I was lucky to get a last minute ticket to attend it in Kaunas and chat with the band before the sound check.

The concert at Kaunas Centre of Culture was announced a few weeks before Eurovision, and the performance in the Grand final generated even more interest in the event. Not long before the tour began in Vilnius, the band suggested checking the trusted ticket resale websites as the main ticket sale was long over, the last tickets sold out fast. The 3rd and final gig in Palanga was sold out as well but the venue has just announced a few more tickets.

A chat with Katarsis

Let’s go back in time for a moment and recall a few things that positively surprised you during your ESC journey.

Lukas: I think, the friends we made along the way. That’s the main one. Just the experience, I think. All and all, it was a good experience. There was nothing that we hated.

Alanas: Yeah, yeah.

Lukas: At the same time, it felt strange, because we were not used to that [kind of music competition]. Now we are back to our normal. Yeah, Eurovision was crazy, but we enjoyed it, the things like what it is called, a blue carpet? Turquoise carpet, yes! Emilia, do you have something to add?

Emilija: no (laughs).

You seem very chill and almost not stressed out whatever chaos happens around you. Did you find your selves in situations when some of your gear malfunctioned or you broke/lost something? How did you deal with things that went not according to plan?

Lukas: Some things always go not according to our plan. It is a normal part of the job when you plan many things at the same time. For example, the concert, it is not one thing to organise in one swoop. There are 20 and more things inside of one.

Every song needs something different. You can fail something in the song and there is nothing you can do to change that. It is normal to experience some hiccups. Yesterday we had both technical problems and directing issues. We directed the concert as we wanted it to go, but it didn’t happen as we planned. But it was good anyway.

So you just skip the stress and go with the flow?

Lukas: Yes, we stress at the time but we are trying to enjoy our performance anyway.

You asked your fans on Insta where they would want to see you in terms of a European tour. Did you check out the answers? Is the tour in the making?

Lukas: Yes, it is in the making. I think most of it is planned already, but there are a couple of venues we still need to book. I don’t think it will be as big as we planned initially, but it is gonna be quite big. It is coming later in the year, most likely in autumn.

Are there countries in the tour you have never been to and you are going there?

Everyone: Yes!

And the last one. Are you hoping/would you agree to attend any future Eurovision events/pre-parties as special guests or even hosts?

Lukas: It depends on the deal. If someone asks us to go to, I don’t know, Spain for a major event, we would decide depending on the cost of it and of course we would definitely go. But in Lithuania, we still will have to pass the flag to the next contestant and announce the scores in 2026 ESC finals. So there will be that. I think pre parties would be cool too, we would like to be back there.

Alanas: Yes, Amsterdam! The pre parties were very fun we enjoyed them. If we were invited to Amsterdam we would go for sure.

Lukas: Now that we are not contestants anymore, we would enjoy the pre parties even more.

Alanas: I would be happy to go and stay for a bit longer because, you know, at the pre parties, we used to come for 1 day and then leave for Lithuania the next day. However, we were doing so many things at pre parties that it felt like we were there for 3 whole days.

Lukas: Yes, the time passed so fast during the pre parties season, the ESC as well. I miss it, it was a great experience for us.

How the gig went down

The line of fans wrapped around the venue building a couple of hours before doors. Some had driven in from other Lithuanian cities following the band on tour; others had come from Ukraine, Poland, the UK, the Netherlands and the crowd also welcomed an Argentinian fan — proof of the band’s international success.

The venue courtyard was packed with fans. As the band mentioned during our chat, this was going to be a much smaller concert than the first show of the tour in Vilnius and they expected it to go easy and smooth.

Emotions ran high during the opening song of the setlist “Dega” and its peak at the “Bleeeee” scream. The band has prepared all of their certified bangers for the evening including “Pamiršau žiūrėt į paukščius”, “Vasarą galvoj minoras” and, of course, “Tavo akys” which shined on Eurovision final stage a month ago.

The audience bathed the band in a very loud applause after each song and watched their every move in a complete silence for a couple of moments right after. Everyone’s breath was taken away by the energy of the band, the public was nothing short of mesmerised. Although Katarsis brought somewhat melancholic vibes to the Eurovision stage, the atmosphere was not blue at all the concert, but quite the opposite.

The lead singer, Lukas Radzevičius, talked to the audience and speculated that many of the fans were shivering in anticipation to hear one of the hottest hits “Vasarą galvoj minoras”, but at the same, he pointed out that audience films videos instead of being present in the moment and having fun here and now. Then he asked everyone to turn the cameras off and dance a little.

Other than the old and very much beloved “Vasarą”, the audience vibed to the new yet to be released song called “Kas man be jūros” which can be translated as “What is there for me without the sea?”. My kind of the party if you ask me as a girl from Odesa.

Further on Alanas Brasas surprised the audience by performing the next song on keyboards.

As the concert went on, the time came for the next well-known song “Balta meilė” originally performed by Lemon Joy (who also played their first gigs under this name in Kaunas). Lukas gave a speech on that and explained that when they covered it during ESC season, he had to read some lyrics off of the sheet of paper during the music video recording, so not to forget any of the lyrics he asked the audience to sing along loud and the crowd didn’t disappoint.

The setlist would not be complete without “Tavo akys” which came as encore and started with a special intro (chant of “tavo”) and the the performance of the lights painting their paths from the stage to the ceiling and meeting on the stage again. The smoke machines and strobe lights intensified the intro and faded away as the band was back on stage again. The magical song that brought us together in Kaunas sounds impressive live and the band looks just as impressive at their headline show.

What did you think about Katarsis’ Eurovision performance? Are you excited to see what the band has in store in the future? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!

News Source: That Eurovision Site

Photo Credit: Tetiana Viznytsia / That Eurovision Site