Scare Force One in Finland – Part 2 (THE SHOW)
So! Towards the Circus we headed, and we walked and walked and walked… for five minutes. Or less. I’m not even sure, what I DO know is that the Circus was ridiculously close to the hotel. I’ve had hotels that are close to arenas, but this took the price! We basically just walked down a street or two, and over a market square and there it was.
Much to our surprise, there was already a small line there. I know how horrible it sounds, but I didn’t really expect that. It wasn’t long, but it was there! The first thing that happens is that we were greeted by Michelle’s long time friend Kaarle and Mara. It was great meeting you guys!
But as we came to the queue, we noticed a few people were missing… Where the hell were Sophie and Argo?! They left like, half an hour before us, there was no chance in hell we’d arrived before them. We started getting real worried actually, if they had gotten lost or something, but gladly, they showed up! It turned out they had been on the other side of the venue for a while, phew! I’m glad they hadn’t gotten kidnapped or anything. Yes, we did really consider this a thing.
After them arriving the long wait sort of began. The queue started growing behind us, and all of a sudden I see a familiar face…. could it be? YES IT WAS! Anthalerero was in the house! Damn, it have been too long since I last saw her, possibly at Christmas Metal Meeting, which is three years ago. It’s hard to think about, because as soon as you meet them, it feels like there was never a time apart.
Now we really stared to feel like a crowd, and the opening hours were getting close. And once the clock turned 6… they didn’t open the door. And see, here’s the thing. You can stand outside the gig for so many hours, but GOD FORBID they open the doors a little late, because I swear to god, nothing is longer than those five minutes you have to wait extra.
But you know, eventually they DID open the door and we rushed in. Apparently you had to leave your jacket in the wardrobe, so we all kinda threw our jackets to Michelle for her to handle it and the rest of us rushed in to get spots, and we ALL got spots in the front row! ACE! We switched between holding the spots and going to look at the merchandise, and I must say I was a little disappointed with what they had in store. But oh well, no big deal!
While waiting for Korpiklaani, another familiar face appeared! Aneta, another person I hadn’t seen since Christmas Metal Meeting three years ago. It was so great seeing her again, and Antha also showed up again (we lost her during the opening of the door, haha). Seriously, I can’t put to words enough how happy I get to see my fellow monstermaniacs again.
Korpiklaani
So, Korpiklaani was said to start at 18.45 and they were pretty much on the clock! While I’ve heard of the band prior to this show, I have never actually listened to the band up until now. However, I was happily surprised! The band on stage was energetic and managed to get the crowd going pretty good. And for someone who is absolutely unfamiliar with this band, imagine my surprise when they started playing “Ievan Polka”. That’s a song even I know! Haha!
Anyway, I really liked what I heard! Another band to add to the list. After this, the excitement started to grow even bigger. It was finally time for Lordi.
Lordi
Pretty much right on time “Estimated Time of Arrival” started and to my surprise, two flight-attendants before the ever so familiar Mana walked on stage and greeting us. Following him came the little spider-doll Hella jumping out on stage like, well, yeah, a spider. Her new attire is just fucking perfect, what a character she has become! Amen and OX followed suit and then they started off with…
… “Nailed by the Hammer of Frankenstein“.
I’m not going to lie to you people – I was SO CONFUSED when this happened. I was so sure they were gonna do “Scare Force One” as an opener, that I literally for the first few seconds of the song just stood there trying to figure out what song they where playing, and once I did so, I was just there like “wait what?” and it wasn’t until half the song had passed or so that my brain has managed to process what was going on. Oh man, they sure got us there.
And if this wasn’t enough, they made “Hard Rock Hallelujah” the second song of the night, which was the next WHAT THE FUCK moment. Fine, I’m absolutely OK with it not being at the end, but I was WELL surprised to see it as the SECOND SONG of the night. Do you understand, I literally stood here like “what on earth is going on…”
And if this wasn’t enough, they had enough pyros fired off to make me have a heart attack. This my friends, even just two songs in, this is probably the most in-your-face I’ve seen Lordi in many, many years.
After this rather confusing intro, one my biggest Lordi dreams came true. Mr Lordi pointed out that it was Halloween night, and given so, they just had to play Alice Copper’s “He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)”. And literally, guys… I’ve always loved Lordi’s cover of this song, and to actually hear it live… This is literally one of my biggest dreams when it comes to Lordi. And the fact they had an actual Jason coming out and slicing someone up just made it better. I’ve missed theatrical Lordi.
Right after the fired of my oh so favorite (sarcasm) “Sincerely With Love” before walking off the stage and letting “SCG7” play in the speakers. When they came back, they fired of my REAL favorite song (at least of SF1) “Scare Force One”. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but in the first pre-chorus it got real screwed up. At first I thought the flight ladies sang the wrong pre-chorus, but I’m not starting to think it might have been a delay-issue, or something like that. Sounded screwed like hell, that’s for sure.
Whatever it was- it got fixed to the next pre-chorus, gladly. After the title-track, the ever so missed autopsy table was brought back on stage and it was time for us to learn how to slice a whore, haha. God people, this song live! However, I’m not sure what was most awesome – he slicing the corpse, or he almost setting his bandmates on fire with the chainsaw. Sorry for the humor, but the reactions of both Mana and OX – despite wearing masks, were just hilarious.
Mana is basically like “DUDE, STOP IT!”
“It Snows In Hell” was the next song on the list, and yes, we did indeed hang upside down! It’s become a new tradition. It just has to be done. After the little break it was time for Mr L to get out and get his hat for “Sir, Mr Presideath Sir!” And seriously though. I’ve so underestimated this song on the album, and it’s beyond amazing live. And it was so fun – there was this woman coming out with a baby, to you know, get a kiss from the presideath, but since it’s the presideath,and not the president… Yeah. He chewed the thing right up! Oh God, theatrical Lordi, I’m glad you are back!
“Blood Red Sandman” found it’s way to be done before it was time for another of my favorites off the new album – “Hell Sent in the Clowns”. See, even thought I was a clown at circus-school when I was little, clowns creep me out like hell. And we had already gotten a little sneak from Hella about there being actual clowns on stage… and there sure as hell were! “Clowns are coming…. clowns are coming…” and the little bastard came out on stage! They threw everything from blood to confetti on us, and being basically all over the place. When they first came out I was worried they’d start beating us, like grandma did during “Babez” era,b but gladly not.
After the clowns got sent back to hell Amen joined us up front for his ever so familiar devil’s horns, and “Devil is a Loser” was kicked in. The band left the stage, and returned a little while later firing off “Would You Love A Monsterman”. If you thought that was it, it wasn’t.
They made one last song – “God of Thunder”. I loved Lordi’s version of it, but I must admit I found it a little strange they’d wrap the whole show up with it, rather than “Would You” But you know – if that’s what they like, that’s what they like.
After “God of Thunder” they thanked for the time and walked off the stage. This was indeed a short list from the beginning,but the epicness behind the whole show made it feel even shorter since I for once in a very long time actually enjoyed every second of the show. The band seemed to be more into, more “hungry” than ever before despite the crowd being a little meh. I think they might have needed the time down with “To Beast” in order to come back this strong.
Thanks Lordi, for a pretty awesome gig! It was the best I’ve seen in a long time.
To be Continued
Sara Hammerzmith 
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