Concerts | Sara Hammerzmith

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Steel Panther @ AB, Brussels, Belgium 2/4 – 15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags steel panther on April 2, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

So! The day is here! Finally. FINALLY would I see The Lounge Kittens again. Seriously, you don’t understand. When we were to see Steel Panther in Oslo, both me and Michelle were in a real bad mood, missing the monsters and me being anxious about Katy Perry, and now we had to go through ANOTHER show – and we had been on the road for a week, this was the third country for me this week and… We were in a bad mood.

Then we came in and saw nothing but a piano on stage. What the heck? Some bitches came and was well, bitchy, so yeah the mood was LOW. Oh right, all the catcalls too! But then. Then these three amazing ladies from Southampton got on stage and BLEW OUR HEADS OFF. They got us in a good mood, and in all honesty, we weren’t even sure if we were gonna stay for Steel Panther. That’s how good they were!

I went to McDonalds for breakfast/lunch/dinner and then made it right in time to AC for the doors to be opened. The first thing I did when we got inside was to dash for the merchstand to pick up The Lounge Kittens EP and a shirt, thank you very much! After that we went into the arena and took spots on second row on Satchel’s side, and before we knew it, The Lounge Kittens started their set.

They were just as good and energetic as I remember them, and they performed more or less the same set as they did in Oslo. However, the crowd was a lot less welcoming and warming as the Oslo one. Shame on you people! I always thought the norwegian crowds were the worst, but I guess not!

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They thanked for the night and left the stage, and the eager wait for Steel Panther began.

Of course, this is when my heart decides to have a seizure. Or what you wanna call it.

I’m not sure how many of you knows this – but I’m born with a heartcondition. Basically and shortly, I’m born with holes in my heart and despite two surgeries, it’s not entirely fixed. This has forced my heart to occasionally have “drops”. The heartrythm goes very very fast, and then completely stops. This makes me completely numb, and sometimes it passes me out (because my heart stops you know?) so for that sake, I had to take a little easy during the show. This happens from time to time, but I think this might be the first time it happens BEFORE a show. Usually after.

Anyway, before we knew it, the intro to “Pussywhipped” started coming out of the speakers and they opened the show. Gladly, the crowd DID awake a bit for this – but I guess there’s always gonna be a problem with this for Steel Panther, for obvious reasons. I’m not gonna go in here and start generalizing and bashing certain people, but I think the average metalhead knows what I mean.

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They continued on with “Party Like Tomorrow Is The End of The World”, which offered quite the sing a long. Maybe not so energetic (I shouldn’t complain, because I didn’t do anything either but…) but hell yeah! Not Oslo style just yet though. Some new, or well, not new since Oslo, but new since last tour middle talk before they started “Fat Girl”.

“Tomorrow Night” and “The Shocker” followed suit and it was time for Lexxi’s little time in the spotlight. With his new, improved, brand new, hairsolo. The leaf-blowers were brought out and Lexxi’s hair flewed high and long. Haha, seriously, I’ve already told you about this so I’m running out of words.

“17 Girls” was up, and they brought a lot of chicks. What I again, find very hilarious with this is how people behave. Like, we were standing in like, second row, and we have girls plowing to the front only so they could get on stage. What is this obsession of getting on stage, and how come I never felt the need to do so? I must admit I always smile a little when a girl tries her hardest and is denied access. Jesus Christ. Come on time next time, and maybe you’ll be there!

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This was followed by “Gloryhole” and “If I Was the King” before Satchel showed off his skills before a fairly cheering audience. “Ten Strikes You’re Out” wrapped up this first “part” of the show, and out came Stix little piano. “Kanye” was the first in this little acoustic set, followed by segments of “Weenie Ride”, “Stripper Girl”, “Why Can’t You Trust Me” and just as in Oslo, The Lounge Kittens were brought onstage to perform “Girl From Oklahoma” together with the band.

After this, they did something a little bit unexpected. They pulled out a Van Halen cover, more precise “Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love”. Nice surprise! Didn’t see that one coming, you know? “Asian Hooker” and “Eyes of a Panther” came up before they wrapped the whole set up with “Death To All But Metal”.

You know the drill as well as I do – they left, they came back, and started off the encores with “Community Property”. And while the crowd did a good job… it’s still not Oslo standard. Oslo is still in the top for me, tightly followed by London 2012. Maybe one day.

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The Lounge Kittens were brought out on stage one more time, this time a bit in the back, and they ended the whole show with the best song they got – “Party All Day”. Love it.

With that said, they left the stage. Something that has struck me a lot with Steel Panther is their setlists. I’ve always, from the start, felt that their setlist are off. Like a lot. Not particularly bad, more… unexpected. Like, where is “Burden of being Wonderful”? or “If You Really Really Love Me”? They are gone man! And the latter one I never heard live. At least not that I can remember.

On our way out, I stopped by to say hi to The Lounge Kittens that had come out to the merchstand. And I’m glad I did so! Sweetest ladies ever. I told them I was a lot more interested in seeing them rather than Steel Panther, and they said they were soo telling Satchel that. Of course they should. He should watch his back. Got the CD signed, and headed home to the hotel.

// Sara

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Lordi @ The Engine Room, Southampton, United Kingdom 29/3 – 15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized on March 29, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

So! The day had finally arrived, as I’ve said so many times before, for us to once again begin the scarctic circle gathering, but this time in the UK! We got up fairly early in order to have some real english breakfast (yum!) and later got ready for the show. This time, finally, Michelle and I were able to use our airline hostesses costumes! Not a day too late. We packed down one of the cakes from yesterdays celebration, packed all the necessities and then headed for Subway to pick up some food and then went to queue.

It was so convenient – the arena was located no less than about 20 minutes from our hotel, however, it was very hard to find. We got to the destination where we were supposed to be, and we saw their tourbus so it had to be there right? We saw a poster next to it that indicated it COULD be there, but we weren’t sure. As Paula went away, a guy who worked there came out and told us it WAS indeed The Engine Room, so we were all set!

However, we finally see Paula coming back from wherever she was, and just as she approached, OX comes out of the venue unmasked. Here’s the deal: Paula doesn’t wanna see the band unmasked. So we nodded at him a little… and then… I yelled to Paula “CLOSE YOUR EYES!” and she stopped. The thing is, she stopped behind a big wall, so OX looked back at us completely confused and I was like DAMN… Didn’t mean it like that haha!

Well, what can you say about queueing in Southampton. Rainy. Windy. REALLY WINDY. So windy the birds couldn’t even fly properly. But you know, we solve it the way we do best. Like acting like fools. Building invisible houses, having burpcontests (the other two) and other normal things. Love these two girls.

For once, we actually queued fairly long, and when slicing up the cake we managed to make a new friend! Nathan is his name, around the same age as us, real fun dude! The queueing went on and on, and the bandmembers passed and disappeared as the day went on. Paula and I left to go to the bathroom, and end up on the fourth floor of IKEA, which gave us a marvellous view!

When we got back, I noticed Michelle, Nathan and someone else was talking to Mr Lordi, so I obviously did the only normal thing anyone would do: I grabbed my phone and called Curt. Gladly, despite it being like 3 am, he picked up, and by that, we made him have a little phonechat with Mr Lordi. He kinda died. I think. A bit.

We got to know the person Michelle had befriended, William was his name! A real sweet guy from Germany, about the same age as our younger ones in the Swedish Crew, real sweet dude! At this point, the members were coming in and out of the arena on a rolling band, so I just put a blindfold over Paula’s eyes instead of telling her to close them. This, caused Amen to come up to me and asked my why I was having that infront of her eyes, and I simply told him that it’s because she doesn’t wanna see them unmasked.

And then he proceeded to hug her, and the best part? She didn’t even know it was him. And then he whispered in her ear that he thought it was cute and left the scene, and that’s when she realized who hugged her, and she literally broke down crying. He returned a little later to hug her again because she was crying.

Eventually, it got closer and closer to the opening hour and before we knew it, the doors were opened and we went inside.

This venue, is REALLY tiny. A little bigger than Sala But, but still. We took our spots and then headed for the bathroom. Went back, had a small chat with DP’s merchguy (I might add, we’ve been interacting with DP and their merchguy all day) and then took our spots again to wait for Dirty Passion.

Pretty much right on time, they entered the stage and started off the show. They delivered a very energetic set, as always, but one thing changed this day! They decided to dedicate their song, “Addicted” to Paula because of her birthday! Fucking love it!

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They left the stage after a flawless gig and the wait for Hollywood Groupies started. I the mean time, we started prepping a little bit for our prank for Lordi, I’ll tell you all about it later.

Before we knew it, Hollywood Groupies walked on stage.

Just as before, the gig was as energetic and party-wise as previously, I can’t stress enough what an amazing frontwoman Foxy is, love seeing them. But yes, great show, awesome and all, and after it they left the stage to wait for Lordi.

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So, after Groupies, it was time to properly prepare. We tied up our hair, put on our sunglasses, got in position… and then the show started. The flightattendant came out, did her thing, and the band walked out on stage one by one and they started off with “Nailed by the Hammer of Frankenstein”. And we stood completely still. Like statues.

I must admit, it was HARD. Like, I broke my pokerface almost immediately, and I had to look away from them to not start laughing. Hahaha. God, it was hard! They continued on with “This is Heavy Metal” and we removed our jackets. Halfway through the song, we removed our glasses, looked at each other and nodded. I’m not sure how much of all of this Lordi actually saw, but we got some weird looks from Amen, haha.

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For the third song, we got in position and right as the guitars started in “Hard Rock Hallelujah”, we pulled out our hairdo’s and started going crazy like normal. I’m still not sure if anyone actually noticed, but we had a LOT of fun with it.

“Deadache” was the next song on the list before it was time for Hella’s little solo. It was just as brutal as always, and “Hell Sent in The Clowns” followed. Awesome.

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“Blood Red Sandman” was ripped off, as well as Mana’s amazing solo followed by “Give Your Life For Rock n Roll” and “Don’t Let My Mother Know”. Just fucking brilliant, you know? OX Solo, again without the soundeffects, gave us some nice basstunes followed by “How To Slice A Whore”. I fucking love this song.

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“It Snows In Hell” approached and of course, we turned around and hung upside down. What we didn’t see coming, was Mr Lordi spitting all over us. Thanks dude! Right in my eye! It was followed by “The Riff” and later “Sincerely With Love”. No matter how many times they ask us to flip them the finger, I will always show you a heart.

Amen’s beautiful little solo came up, which was followed by “Not The Nicest Guy”. Amen went to the middle of the stage, did his thing, but instead of just devil’s horns, he also formed a heart with his hands. Love him. “Devil is a Loser” was the last song for the night before the band left the stage.

Of course, as usual, only to come back. “Scare Force One”, “Who’s Your Daddy” and “Would You Love A Monsterman” was the final songs of the night before the band said good night for good.

The show was good, just as the others, and I’m more than pleased!

After waiting for a little while (since the band was heading out to the dressing room through the crowd) we hit the merchstands. I first of all bought a Hollywood Groupies tee, and also had a picture taken with the band. I mean, after all these years, can you believe it?

We went on to Dirty Passion’s merchstand where I ALSO got a shirt, and a nice chat with the Merchinator. Moved onto Lordis, got myself the Tour Beast tourbook. Seriously, I should just make up my mind and buy everything on there.

We went out of the arena and began the wait for a certain person in a band for some questions, and as the members appeared one after one, we had Paula’s shirt signed. With her blindfolded. I literally had to pack her up to every member and especially OX had quite the laugh about it, haha.

We stood for a while and talked to the guys in Dirty Passion before they left to get food, and eventually Amen came out and he teased Paula a little bit for not seeing him, and Nasty joined us. Later joined by Mr Lordi, where we confessed that he had spit on us on purpose. Oh, did I mention Amen love the thing we do in “It Snows In Hell”? Success!

The night went on and on, and eventually we all departed ways and we passed out on the hotel room, more than satisfied with the evening.

// Sara

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Katy Perry @ Globen, Stockholm, Sweden 22/3 – 15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags globen, katy perry, prism, prismatic, prismatic world tour on March 22, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

We went up fairly early, but somehow I managed to fall back to sleep and much to my despair I noticed the time was ten to seven and I practically DASHED out of bed, changed, packed and headed out of the hotel. It was supposed to take about 30 mins to walk to the central, and the bus was leaving in 20. Somehow, we managed to make the bus with just a few minutes to spare and our hearts up our throats.

With that said, we started our journey towards Karlstad and Stockholm. Michelle was hoping off in Karlstad in order to head over to Manchester, and I was continuing onto Stockholm. Why?

Because Katy Perry, that’s why.

Katy Perry… where do I begin. She’s basically the love of my life. I don’t even know how to explain it, or how to put it into words… But it’s something with her music that reaches in to your very core, puts it’s arms around it and hugs it tightly. Relatable songs, as if she’s watching from above, but not only that, she also got the easy get going cheerful songs to get your mood up. I don’t know, she’s my saviour, that’s really all I can say. I had waited six years for her to come to Sweden, and this was the day.

Said and done. We arrived a bit a head of time to our destination and I immediatley hit the hotel to drop off my shit, give Michelle a call and get ready for the show. I headed over to Globen fairly late actually, but it was all good. Hit the merchstand for a tour shirt, tourprogramme and a button pack. It hit me that I have more buttons with artists as Lady Gaga and Katy rather than metal bands. LOVE IT.

Went down to the standing area, picked up a drink and popcorn, took a decent place and started to wait for the opening act, Charli XCX.

I’m more of a major in Metal, so I didn’t initially recognize her name, but once she started playing some of her songs I realized I knew most of them. This happens only with pop songs, but I must say I was happily surprised to realize it was actually someone I somewhat knew of (I need to get better att checking out supportacts)

I’m not sure how long she played, I didn’t clock it, but it was an extremely energetic set, I was impressed! And I was also impressed on how into it the audience was, it was quite the difference from yesterdays shenanigans… With all that, she left the stage and the final waiting began.

This was gonna be it. The moment. The moment I had been waiting for for so long. I’ve been a fan or hers since 2009 , and I’ve never seen her before. I got the tickets in June last year, do you understand how long time it is?

After waiting for a good half an hour or so (with a rush to the bathroom just-in-case) the lights went out and the show was on.

Basically, how it started was Katy elevating out of this triangle from the middle of the stage, and she did so to the pure tones of “Roar”‘s intro. Out she steps, the lady of the night in a dress made out of reflective silver pieces with LED lightning following the lines. Fucking love it.

The show is massive, alright, you can tell already here. Props all over, a lightning show that sends EVERYTHING ELSE YOU HAVE EVER SEEN TO SHAME and all these backup dancers… Ahh. It’s pretty much everything I ever thought Katy to be.

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“Part of Me” was next song on the list and I couldn’t do anything but to stare (and dance and sing) at the lady. The amazement that is her. “Wide Awake” was fired off before it was time for one of the best moments of the show.

“This Moment”.

First of all, this song is a personal favorite of mine, but aside that… THE LIGHTSHOW people. You HAD to be there to see it, it was almost like crystals who shot out of the lights, and it was sparkles all over the arena, you could spin around and just see it all over. This only lasted for the first chorus, but the rest of the song had other stunning lights. The song faded over to “Love Me” before she left the stage.

And returned with a gigantic horse.

A dark horse.

Clad in Cleopatra inspired clothes sitting up on her horse she performed “Dark Horse” to us in a MASSIVE way. Like, I was never too hyped about the song on the album, but DAMN. This song is amazing live. Damn.

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“E.T” and “Legendary Lovers” was next on the list, and damn, these songs are so amazing. Sometimes I really forget how fucking amazing she is. And this is probably because she is way better live than she is on CD. Which is much appreciated. And the massive show… dancers in the roof, the light.. ahhh.

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“I Kissed A Girl” was fired off before she left the stage and had us watching Kittywood before returning with an ensemble of cats for a toned down, almost showkind of version of “Hot N Cold”. Imagine real old lounge music sung by some fancy lady. That’s pretty much what this was. LOVED IT, despite it being so unexpected. And what happened after this? THE RAT MAN.

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This is literally my favorite shot from the whole concert. Basically, the ratman appeared running around causing trouble, but thanks to the cats, we could get rid of him.

Next, was “International Smile”. AND THANK YOU FOR THAT ONE. This one is my favorite song off “Prism”, since it sometimes feels a bit like us, traveling around for all these bands and everything, and I must admit I was so happy see so many of my own favorites ending up. Maybe my bad old luck with setlists are finally over? The song eventually faded out in “Vouge”.

After this, it all got a bit toned down. She changed into this beautiful butterfly kind of dress, almost like the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella. She brought up a fan on stage to take a selfie with her, and then she took the mic and began with “By the Grace of God”. She proceeded to pick up a guitar and perform an acoustic version of “The One That Got Away”.

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Something I noticed, is how emotional Katy seemed. She looked like she was crying, or about to, in many of her songs. And I can see why, some of her songs are really emotional, but it was just… yeah. I haven’t seen such vulnerability to stage in a very long time, it makes me glad. That we can share the moment like that.

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“Unconditionally” was dedicated to her crew and brought the whole crowd into a singalong that sends Steel Panther to shame. After it was done, she left us for a little while only to return with “Walking on Air” with her being attached to a wire in the roof while walking on the air. Love it.

“It Takes Two” was next on the list before it was time for the big audience favorite – “This is How We Do” / “Last Friday Night” where she sent out BIG champagne bottles, shoes, lipsticks, you name it! Ah, she’s like a child. I love it. I mean this in a very, VERY good way.

“Teenage Dream” was next on the list before she left to change and came back to fire off “California Gurls”. Love it. They brought out the letters “HOLLYWOOD” and played with the lightning again. LOVE IT.

She left for a good while, and then returned for the first encore, which was “Birthday”. She brought up a fan that had her birthday on stage and put her on a throne and dedicated the song to her. She then proceeded to get into a swing and fly all around the arena, and how do you possibly match this up if not by throwing out a million balloons and confetti? That’s right.

She left again, and this time the screen on the stage advised us that it was time for Prisma Vision.

What is prisma vision? Well, pretty much all the guests had been given certain glasses, like 3D glasses sort of, if you like, and now was the time to put them on for the very last song of the night, which was “Firework”.

And damn. DAMN. DAMN. The effects made with these glasses! It was insane. What before was just some screen savers turned out to be actual fireworks, the pyrotechnics got intenser and rainbows all over the place. What an ending! How could anyway ever actually top this? No one can. NO ONE.

With that, she thanked for the night and walked off stage. And by that, Prismatic World Tour was over.

Katy Perry. You’ll never actually read this yourself, but THANK YOU. Thank you so much, for this show, for your music, for your existence. You are one of the reasons I’m still alive and I owe my life to you. This show was one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life, and I’m so thankful I got to be a part of this. Thank you, from the deepest corners of my heart.

I could not have had a better ending for this tour-week. With this show, that week was over. I left Globen with the biggest smile on my lips.

This is what I call perfection.

// Sara

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Steel Panther @ Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway 21/3 – 15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags steel panther on March 21, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

So… we woke up around 9 in the morning and we were both like “WAIT. WHAT TIME IS IT” and realized we had slept ALL FUCKING NIGHT SINCE 21 LAST NIGHT. Jesus Christ, were we wiped out or not? So what did we do… well, we stayed in bed pretty much all day. We did some lazy efforts to pack, but it didn’t work out too well.

Around 16 or so we finally started dragging ourselves out of bed and getting ready for the show. Halfheartedly, and also by making a bigger and bigger mess. How big of a mess can two girls makes? Apparently a lot.

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Love my frillskirt. Seriously, it’s the best. Anyway, we headed down to the venue, and by walking only for about 300-400 metres, we managed to be catcalled like three times. I mean, yeah, I figured it’d happen, but that was just RIDICULOUS.

We thought we’d get lost looking for the venue, gladly, we weren’t! We found it sooner than we ever thought we would, and that makes me beyond happy.

So, we entered the venue (and got ripped on our ticket, like seriously Norway, what is your obsession with ripping tickets?!) and then we first hit the merchstand… And didn’t find anything, so we went inside the venue instead. And this is something very interesting. This same thing happened last time I saw Steel Panther as well, also at Sentrum Scene, and that is the fact that no matter if you come before the doors open, right when the doors open, or as in this case, like half an hour after the doors open, you WILL end up pretty close to stage. Not front row (damn you early entrance) but second row is just as good, at least for Steel Panther.

The warm up for this show, or tour perhaps, is the trio The Lounge Kittens. I wasn’t aware of them from before, but basically, what it is, is a group of three stunning ladies that makes their own takes on some of the more famous metal tunes, but in a lounge/show kind of music. The Lounge Kittens, get it?

I loved it. I FUCKING LOVED IT. I’m not sure anymore which was the better act this night – The Kittens or the Panthers, but seriously, I LOVED THIS. The concept, the songs EVERYTHING about it. And I might have a little crush on the keyboard player. She’s amazing.

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After they were done with their WAY too short set, they left the stage and the wait for Steel Panther began. And you know… I understand that it’s fun to be front row. Even I love it. But if you come late, then you come late. There’s no point to bitch about it, there’s no point to fight about it.

And I don’t understand what it is about Steel Panther that makes girls tell the guys up in the front that they’d do “anything” to get their spots in the front row.

Sure, this may not be SP exclusive, but I have only seen this happen at Steel Panther. Like, girls are literally so fucking desperate to be front row, and I don’t even understand WHY. Jesus fucking Christ, it’s… WEIRD.

Anyway, before we knew it, the lights went out and they opened the show first slowly, and then strongly with “Pussywhipped”.

The arena… didn’t really explode. I had hoped it would, but it didn’t, at least not as far as I could see. Which is very sad. Bands deserve that you give this to them, and it especially sucks if you’re front row and just stand there like a hypnotized I don’t know. And of course, the girl I spoke of above, is one of these. God.

Depsite this, they continued on with “Party Like Tomorrow Is The End Of The World” and the ever so loved “Fat Girl”. I’m always gonna have highly cherised memories with that song, because of Copenhagen 2012 (it’s really been three years, it’s hard to believe) but aside that, it’s just an amazing song on top of that. Gladly, the crowd awoke a bit.

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After “Fat Girl” it was time for the ever so appriciated “Tomorrow Night” followed by “The Shocker”. And what happens now?

Well, Lexxi’s hairsolo.

Previously, Lexxi’s hairsolo has contained of him posing in the middle of the stage with Michael and Satchel standing on the side blowing his hair upwards. But this time around, they elevated it a bit and brought out LEAFBLOWERS! I promise you , this made the hair solo even better, the hair was really FLOWING. Ahh the lucious hair. (Yes I know, you do not need to tell me people)

After hairsolo it was time to bring some girls on stage, and this is where the jokes is on the girl I’ve spoken about. Directly when they started taking girls on stage, she jumped over the fence, but the guards told her to get back because they will come and pick her up. So she jumped back and waited. And waited. And they never came. JOKES ON YOU, KARMA’S A BITCH AND EVERYTHING. And no, I wasn’t on stage, because I don’t want to be on stage. Trust me, Michael has tried a couple of times, but I’ve declined every time. Could be fun and games, but what, am I supposed to give up my spot for that? HELL NO.

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But, sine they were bringing up chick, I guess we all know what it was time for. Yup, that’s right. “17 Girls”. The only thing that is a bit shame is that the girls they pick up on stage, most of them (not all) just stand there. Like, COME ON! Do something! The band however, was as good as always.

The big hit “Gloryhole” was next on the list, and NOW, NOW the audience starts to react. Like, seriously? Only this? And “Glory hole”? Really? Am I the only one in this world who actually DOES NOT care so much for this song? Anyway, I’m glad they awoke, finally.

“If I was The King” was next on the list before it was time for Satchel to show off some of his skills, which he excelled at. He’s amazing, really. Eller ja. They all are. The rest of the band returned and they continued on with “Ten Strikes You’re Out” before calming down the set a bit. First off, “Kanye” and then…

They brought out a piano which Stix sat down by and started ripping off some songs. It all was kinda in one go – almost like a medley. The songs played were “Weenie Ride”, “Stripper Girl”, “Why Can’t You Trust Me” and last but not least, “Girl From Oklahoma”. For the last mentioned, they brought out the kittens on stage to sing with them! Thanks for that!

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They got rid of the piano and got back into the energetic set with “Asian Hookers” to the audience cheers, followed by one of my personal favorites, “Eyes of the Panther”. They wrapped up the whole set with “Death to all but Metal” before they left the stage.

At this point, the girl who had been bothering us (and the guys we befriended) all night pushed us and was like “CHEER FOR THEM”. Jesus Christ lady, LEAVE US ALONE. WE ARE CHEERING. Seriously, why are people in the Nordic so fucking bothersome at concerts? Why do they feel the need to PUSH, to bother, to be so mean? I miss southern Europe (southern of Sweden). You people were amazing. And people ask me why I travel away so far for concerts…

Anyway. They did return, and they started off with “Community Property”. Just as last time I was here, it was just as magical as then. The whole crowd basically singing the song for Steel Panther, the Oslo feeling as I refer to it as. This one never fails me.

The last song for the night was my all time favorite, “Party All Day”, and despite the disappointment of lack of commitment from the audience, I loved every second of it. The band thanked for the night and left the stage for good.

We headed out of the arena and went to McDonalds for late night snack with our newfound friends before it was time for us to go split ways and get back to the hotelroom to try to pack. TRY. I can’t really pack unless it’s last minute, so I failed. Got to bed too late, but shit happens.

Thank you Steel Panther, and most of all, The Lounge Kittens for an amazing show! Can’t wait to see you soon again.

// Sara

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Lordi @ Sala But, Madrid, Spain 19/3 -15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags dirty passion, hollywood groupies, lordi, metal on March 19, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

Alrighty righty! The day was here, the big massive, explosive day. LORDI at Sala But in Madrid!

First of all, we had planned to wake up REAL early to start preparing for tonights show, but knowing us, this did of course not happen.. The thing is, we planned to hit up my dear friend Marina for lunch around noon, so we were in quite a hurry. One hour late, and a few subways later we were finally at Marina’s place for some italian food and lots of laughing and talking.

The clock got closer and closer to opening hours, and since we planned to queue a little bit outside the doors before they opened we eventually headed over to the arena. Much to our surprise, considering it being a Thursday, there were already a lot of people there. Or a lot and a lot… Might be an exaggeration, but quite a few. But you know, what to do? We sat down as usual and started the long wait, which involved nothing but teasing each other, poking each other and staring at people. And hiding under flags. It was raining, so what do you do? Hide under your flag.

Right on time at 19 they finally let us in in the arena, and since had to clear the guestlist before entering, all the spots in the frontrow were taken, much to our dismay. But fear not! We found an awesome place to put our stuff and to “live”, in a corner of the bar on a level, so we could see REALLY well.

The first thing we did actually was to attatch the flag to our bracelets, so we didn’t need to hold it the whole time, as well as finding somewhere nice to hang it. Our dear friend Marina arrived at the venue as well, and obviously found us very easily.

The first thing we did actually, before all of this was to hit up the merch. Not sure if I told you all, but I’m a fan of both Dirty Passion and Hollywood Groupies since before, so sure as hell were I to spend a lot of money on this particular show. The first thing I went to was Dirty Passion’s corner and of course, asked if the merchdude spoke Swedish, which he did so we ended up talking a bit about the tour and all. Lordi’s merchlady joined in as well, and after a bit of talking I left the place with three DP records and two Lordi shirts and then it was Michelle’s turn. But this time I came along, and we got complimented on our flag and hair, LOVE IT.

A little while later it was finally time for Dirty Passion to hit the stage! I’ve been following these guys for some time now, so do you guys understand how freaking happy I was to hear they were touring with Lordi?! It blows my mind.

The boys delivered a really good show. Energetic and on top, and the audience was.. maybe not so much with them, which sucked, but how many can it have been there, a 100? Not sure if it’s even that much! A fun thing that happened though was when the bassplayer, Nasty, was to introduce a song and first pointed out our flag. Top moment!

Eventually, they left the stage the wait started for Hollywood Groupies! While waiting, two guys approached us after the show and asked if they could have a picture with us and the flag. Of course they could! During DP the merchlady had taken a picture of us as well, we were getting mighty popular, haha.

And before we knew it, Hollywood Groupies entered the stage.

Just as with Dirty Passion, this is a band that I have followed for some time. A very long time. My hopes to ever see them was fairly low, but then they announced their tour with Lordi and I couldn’t even believe it when I saw it. TWO great supportbands? When does that even happen?! Now, apparently.

And JESUS CHRIST were they good! Energetic, onward and thanks to the very charismatic singer, they got the crowd with them for this one. I was so happy to see them again, and I don’t even know what more to add. AMAZING.

After this, the looong wait for Lordi began. I might as well say it right here. We had planned to wear a certain type of clothes, and we had A LOT of shit planned, but since we couldn’t do the frontrow, we decided to dismiss the mission, and took off the complete outfit, and scaled down to something simple. The anticipation was high and then, before we knew it… Estimated Time of Arrival began.

The band entered the stage and ripped the show open with “Nailed by The Hammer of Frankenstein” and the arena basically exploded, and so did we. Damn, I’ve missed my monsters so much I can’t even believe it. The continued on with “This is Heavy Metal” and then the ever so loved “Hard Rock Halleujah”. Our swedish flag flied high with pride, so to say.

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After this, it was time for my personal favorite – as you all know – “Deadache”. “Deadache” has been my all time favorite song ever since it came out. So seeing it being back on this tour is just pure amazement. I love it.

After this little encounter, it was time for Hella’s little moment. The babycarriage wheeled out and the baby eventually hit the mother. Last time we saw this, we were standing so far on Amen’s side we didn’t really see the moment too well, but standing very far on OX’s side allowed us to see the whole thing. LOVED IT. How many times can one say that?

“Hell Sent in the Clowns” was the next song on the list, with the cute little clowns roaming the stage… no okay. I’m scared of clowns, but these ones are just hilarious. “Blood Red Sandman” was next on the list before it was time for Mana to show off his skills as a reverend.

As you might remember, Mana’s solo contains of him controlling a demon, before he riffs off an amazing drumsolo, first just drumming around and later adding the glow-in-the-dark drumsticks. Fucking epic. I know what Michelle wanna do with those drumsticks. After this, the band came back and continued on their set with “Give Your Life For Rock n Roll” and “Don’t Let My Mother Know”. Seriously, the last one mentioned is one of my FAVORITE Lordi songs ever, and seeing them playing this song lives just… it melts me, you know? Ah god. This tour setlist is so fucking good, it blows my mind.

After “Don’t Let” it was time for OX to have his little moment, this time without his sound effects. I blame the venue for this, the stage was REALLY small! I kid you not. The band barely fit.

“How To Slice A Whore”, which is AMAZING live was the next song on the list and it was as awesome as ever, what can you even say? “It Snows in Hell”… well, as you guys knows, we always hang upside down for this song, and this time, since we weren’t in the front row, we had to work it out some other way.

So what we did was, there was some tables (since this was like a disco) and we brought to the front and sat on them and leaned over upside down. See people, there are solutions for everything!

“The Riff” was the next to be executed followed by “Sincerely With Love”. And here’s the deal people. I know Lordi asks us to flip them the finger, but I can’t. I cannot, and I will not do that. Instead, we shape a heart with our hands and says “Love you assholes”. Peace and love is the key and blah blah, and I cannot show the people I love the finger. Sorry.

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Normally, it would be time for “Man Skin Boots” by now, but for some mysterious reason, this was cut. Instead, they went directly to Amen’s little moment with him being this mighty pharao, and I love it. THIS is the way Amen should have always done it! Right after the continued on with “Not The Nicest Guy” before wrapping up the whole thing with “Devil is A Loser” Yup, that’s right party people. No “Sir, Mr Presideath Sir!”. To my BIG surprise, this song is perfect live. But I guess you can’t have everything.

They left the stage, only to shortly return to the sweet tones that is “SCG7: Arm Your Doors” and kicked it off with “Scare Force One”. Have I told you enough how much I love this song? Not? Well, I’ll just say it again. I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH. GOD. It’s perfect. Fuck. My night was basically made.

“Who’s Your Daddy” and “Would You Love A Monsterman” finished off this amazing gig and the monsters thanked for tonight and left the stage.

And now, the hurry began. Since we had managed to spread our shit all over the place, we had to collect our shit real quick and hurry for the backstage entrance. We weren’t sure where to go and what to do, but after talking to some crew-members, we found our spot. And before we knew it, the monsters arrived and we were the fist ones to enter.

And this is probably the weirdest meet&greet I have like, ever done. So basically what happened was that we were thrown in, took a picture and then got thrown out. Gladly, we managed to give Hella our little gift, which was basically a pack of chocolate saying Congratulations and a card with greetings.

After this, we headed over to the merchstand in order to pick up some Hollywood Groupies merchandise and also to have a little chat with Dirty Passion. We kinda had the Amaranthe situation all over, because as I stood waiting for HG to sign, I turned to Nasty and this is basically how it went:

Me: Hej!
Nasty: Hello!
Me: Är det bra? (Everything good?)
Nasty: Ja det…. Hallå de pratar Svenska! (Yeah it’s… Oh my god, they are swedish!)

So basically, we ended up talking with them quite a bit and even taking a few photos as they signed our flag and our CD’s before we were pushed out of the arena. Basically, this was a very, very, very good night.

After we got out we headed over to McDonalds for a late night snack and one last “dinner” with Marina before we parted ways at the subway. It hurt quite a bit to know you aren’t gonna see her in a while, but what can you do? I’ll miss her heaps!

With that said, we got on the midnight train going anywhe… to Anton Martin and went to bed far too late….

This day was one of the best days in my life. So was this trip to Spain. But, with all that being said, tomorrow lead for new adventures – getting back to Norway and Steel Panther

// Sara

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Amaranthe @ Biebob, Vosselaar, Belgium 15/3-15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags amaranthe, engel, santa cruz on March 15, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

Alrighty folks! Here it goes. The start of my big tour week. Or well, big and big… It’s the biggest so far! Maybe not the most concerts, but it sure as hell is the most COUNTRIES in one week.

And first stop? Belgium, Vosselaar, Amaranthe. Started out early by going by car to Karlskoga to take the bus to Örebro to take the train to Stockholm to take the bus to Bromma and then, finally, board the plane to Brussels. Once in Brussels, an acquaintance picked me up at the airport AND we got in the car to travel to Vosselaar.

It has come to my attention that I MIGHT be spending a lot more time actually TRAVELING than seeing the shows. Haha.

Oftenly when I go out of the country a lot of people tell me ”Oh my god, you have to tell me everything about the country!” and the thing is, most of the countries, at least ”up here” look pretty much the same. And so did Belgium.

Until we got closer to Vosselaar, and I noticed people in Belgium have donkeys in their backyards.

Like. What? DONKEYS? And we are not talking countryside here, we are talking like in a populated area! Fucking insane! And then we passed a very exotic house, it had palm trees and statues of bulls and EVERYTHING. It’s literally all over the place!

Eventually, we reached Vosselaar and got out of the car, and for the first time since like 7am, I could actually STRETCH OUT. And get some ”fresh” air. How fresh it now can be in the middle of a city with a high way.

Anyway, we walked over to Biebob (the arena, that is) and found two friends of his – Cyril and Laura. Cyril I was aware about from before, since he, as well as the driver, was present at the Amaranthe/DAD/Sabaton show here in Karlstad.

So yeah. Then began the ”queueing”, so we stood there and talked a bit and watched Amaranthe run in and out of the bus, and also how many people just kept coming. Cyril and Laura + two more (I think) was the first ones to the crimescene, so you could say, we arrived just in time before it started to get crowded!

But. Then, the clock striked 18.30, and it was time for me to leave? Where you may ask?

TO THE MEET&GREET WITH AMARANTHE.

I did not tell you this on the blog in advance, mostly because I don’t want to jinx things, but the truth is, two weeks prior to the show I got the email from the fan club telling me I had won a meet&greet with the band here in Vosselaar! Yay me! In the end we were four people who went to the greet and we were taken inside the arena where we traded in our tickets and waited for the band.

While waiting I got to finally meet the boss of ye olde fan club, Mr Danny Jacobs who’s ever so lovely! Handed me a poster, nice dude. Chatted a little tiny bit with the Maffe, the merchguy before the band arrived.

The first person to approach me was Morten, if I’m not mistaken, my mind is a little bit all over the place while writing this. Later followed by Johan, Jake and Henrik and last but not least Elize.

You know, it’s always fun when you’re in another country and meeting a Swedish band, because they ALWAYS get so confused when you talk Swedish to them. I love this. And not in a mean way, it’s just fun. You know. With that said, after getting a few signatures on my Massive Addictive CD Elize and I got a bit caught up in discussing Melodifestivalen (ESC pre-selections you know) discussing app-failures, song qualifications and what not!

I must say, it is BEYOND FUN to find someone, in the metal community who are ALSO as much a fan or well, at least like the event as much as you do yourself.

After this, we went over to take the (what seems to be) mandatory group picture with all the meet&greet people, and the picture ROCKS people. After that, we kept talking a little bit, but this time about Boda Borg, since apparently we’re both getting hysteric when we are there. After a while the band had to leave, but before they did so, she made sure to introduce me to Tim, and I’m glad she did! He’s an AWESOME dude, I’m glad I got to meet him!

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(Pic belongs to Amaranthe Official Fanclub)

They ”finally” let the other people in and Cyril & the gang was able to join me and Tim up at the front. We talked about fandoms and photography and bands and what not up until Santa Cruz started playing.

It has been about five years since I last saw Santa Cruz live, but that time as one of the openers for Stala&SO. at On The Rocks in Helsinki, Finland. It was good seeing them live again, and I loved the energy they had on stage. The crowd was maybe not THAT energetic, and even myself are guilty of charge for this, but they did a real good job never the less!

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The lights went off again and the talking continued. Seriously, have I ever been this chatty before? I don’t think so. It must be something in the air here in Belgium. Maybe I’m getting high on Belgian air too – we already established Norwegian air isn’t good for me, HAHA. Before we knew it, Engel entered the stage.

So, I saw Engel as the support act for Amaranthe back in Västerås earlier this year, and I liked them A LOT, so I was actually rather excited for the show! Again, I’m gonna have myself be guilty of charge for not maybe being the best front rower ever, but DAMN they put on a good show! And I’m personally REALLY glad they played ”Question Your Place”, which is my favorite song off ”Blood of the Saints”.

The crowd was A LOT better this time around, but I can kinda see why. Santa Cruz is a bit of an odd support act for Amaranthe, in all honesty. No offense at all, just… it’s a clash in the musicstyle, if you like!

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Engel went off stage and the waiting for Amaranthe began. Now I was getting REALLY excited but also a little nervous. You know, pre show nervousness? He he he.

Before we knew it, the intro started and the band entered the stage with Morten in the lead and kicked it off with ”Digital World”. Something was up with Henrik’s mic, didn’t seem to be turned on or whatever the issue were, but you know what – shit happens, and they still kept on delivering as if nothing happened. And this, my friends, is what marks good entertainers. The show must go on, you know?

They followed up strongly (And with a functioning mic) with ”Hunger”, of course, which is quite a set off for the audience! And I was very delighted to see how the crowd reacted to the whole thing – I was worried they were just gonna stand there, but gladly – NOT! ”Invinceble” and ”Razorblade” was next on the list, and the energy was basically out the roof!

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I have lost words on how to describe this show, or any show in general, but I guess it’s because what is there to say? There are really no better feeling when you are being with your friends, at your favorite bands show dancing and jumping and singing and what not to your favorite songs. ”1.000.000 Lightyears” and ”Serendipity” was being ripped off before it was time for a new song – ”Over and Done”.

Seriously, this is so horrible, but I’m NEVER Going to forget when Jake forgot the lyrics in Västerås, so both this time AND in Helsinki I couldn’t help but to wonder ”will he fix it?” Jesus christ, I’m awful, BUT – of course he nailed it. What else? This song is so incredibly beautifully arranged – a lot thanks to the amazing vocals of Elize and Jake and it’s PERFECT live, or well, BETTER live than on the CD. It’s amazing.

The latest single, ”Trinity” was next before it was time for my personal favorite song – ”MASSIVE ADDICTIVE”. Seriously, the song is massive and addictive and the BEAT PEOPLE. It’s so heavy, without being brutal, you know? Whoever it is that are ACTUALLY responsible for the arrangements in this band – GOOD ON YOU. This is not just good songwriting, this is about having a good eye, or ear, for how to push music and sound beyond the limits and hearing what would get good here and there. And this band excelles at it. The crowd? Headbanging. So hard. You can not not headbang to this one.

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”True” was the next song on the list before it was time for ”Afterlife”. Another personal favorite of mine followed suit, ”Electroheart”. It kinda comes close to heart, with my heart-condition and everything.

I’m just gonna stop here to say something. So, the deal with this place is that there is no fence. We literally stood right by the stage, I even had my stuff ON the stage in lack of better place to put them. And it’s always a bit awkward when this happens – you get so up and close to the band, and if they are not too careful (read: Engel) they might end up hitting you with their micwire. Of course, it’s nice and all to be close to the band, but when you feel like you are looking up Elize’s skirt only because you’re trying to look at her, it gets awkward, HAHA.

The band left the stage to give Morten his 15 seconds of fame in the shape of a drumsolo, which was as cool as always! The band came back out and started off with ”Leave Everything Behind”. Cheesus, that’s a good song.

Elize took the stage for a moment and told us about a couple, a bit in the back, who had fallen in love (or met perhaps) thanks to Amaranthe, and that they on this day also celebrated their fifth month together. It almost brings me to tears to think about all the ways music connects people to each other. Like, hadn’t it been for Lordi I wouldn’t have known some of the BEST people in my life. You do realize at this point how much of an impact music has on your life. She dedicated the following song to them, yes, ”Amaranthine”.

”Call Out My Name” was the last song for the evening, and the band went of stage. No, not really. Johan came out back on stage to give us his little… comedy routine? I’m not sure how to call it, but I do know that whenever it happens I always end up laughing, hahaha.

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The rest of the band eventually joined him and they started off the encores with ”Automatic”, which was followed by ”Dynamite”. They wrapped up the encores with ”Drop Dead Cynical” and of course, ”The Nexus” before they said thanks and good bye for the night and left the stage, this time for good.

Like I said earlier in this very blog, what is there really to say you know? Being at a show like this with some of your best friends ever, it cannot be anything else but good. I know I’m supposed to look at it critically and point out everything they do, but it’s really hard to do so when you end up lost in the music. And all the stage interactions I had with Elize just makes SO SO glad. Like I said, it’s better for every time. She’s really the sweetest person. I can’t even remember how many of the songs it were, but it was A LOT of them. Henrik too, of course. It’s almost as if it’s mandatory by now, HAHA. Because yes, it was during ”Dynamite” again. Hihi.

Once the show was over we chatted a little bit more with Cyril and Laura before it was time for them to leave and for me to hit the merch to score some Amaranthe stuff. Went over the merchguy and told him both me and the band survived, and the joke was on the table, or how to put it. Haha. Anyway, I got myself a tourshirt and then we chased the Engel guys. Mostly because I wanted their CD, but also because the driver wanted a picture with them. And after MANY if’s and but’s, we got there.

And it didn’t end there. We ended up spending quite some time chatting with them and even having a beer with them, discussing traveling for bands, touring, music business and everything in between. It’s nice you know. These kind of things. Beyond amazing. Eventually everyone had to leave, and before we left I made sure to say good bye to the merchguy (he’s the best really) and when we got into the tiny car and left the place.

The drive back ”home” to Brussels was quite a long one, probably because we were both very tired and we had a… not so good GPS, which told us to to drive where we could not drive. What on earth is up with that.

Well, what else is there to say. We checked in at the hotel and then basically crashed into bed immediately. It was a long day for sure.

BUT. It was a good day. A REAL good day, and I’m glad I did this. Everything happens for a reason, and this day was beyond needed. Thanks to Amaranthe, Engel, Amaranthe Fan Club and just everyone for this AMAZING day. Thank you.

// Sara

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Slipknot @ Jäähalli, Helsinki, Finland 15/2 – 15

Posted in Concerts, Finland, Music, Uncategorized with tags helsinki, jäähalli, metal, slipknot on February 16, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

Everything has a beginning, but everything also has an end. And this was the final date on what we refer to as the “SlipKnot” week, even though it was a bit all over the place. It was a bittersweet taste in my mouth when I woke up that morning, and the reality hit me even harder when Argo left to go home to Estonia.

But, fear not! As I was sitting in my dismay, in my beautiful room at Omena Yrjönkatu, which was very messy because it’s me, the lovely Jasmin hit me up for dinner before I headed over to Jäähalli. Said and done.

I had been thinking a LOT about what to wear. And with that said, I mean I had no clue at all in what so ever. I thought maybe a Lordi shirt and some pants, but then I figured I’d just go with a stripped down version of what I was wearing in Stockholm. Said and done.

So, Jasmin and I met up outside the hotel and headed down to McDonalds for a sweet dinner. And it was sweet already. Lots of talking, catching up, laughter and gasps and just pure epicness. Eventually of course, I had to leave as Jasmin guided me to the trams that would take me to Jäähalli.

Because of the awesome company, I was actually getting pretty late to the venue! Not my kind of style huh? Shows you how much good company can do! But just as I got into the bathrooms, the LONG intro of King 810 started so you could say I made it just in time! Ran downstairs and didn’t miss a second of King 810.

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Well, there isn’t a lot more to say about King 810 that hasn’t already been said. I assume it was the same setlist, and the band was on top, just as in Stockholm. Still miss that little cameo of the crew member of course but you can’t get everything!

So, after they left the stage it was time for the fairly short wait for SlipKnot. I had checked on the events page – SlipKnot would start at 20.20 (odd time anyone?) and precisely 20.24 did “XIX” start echoing from the speakers. And as it did so, I felt some people pushing from the side. I was like “Oh come on, not back here?” and then I realized what was going on.

They were preparing for a moshpit.

And I was basically the star of the show.

So I basically, in true “Wait and Bleed” mannor yelled out a “GOOD BYE!” and ran the opposite direction. Some time in the future, you WILL see me in a moshpit to “Surfacing”, but not today. Not here, not now.

With that said, the curtain raise up and they hit it off with “Scarcastrophe”. Within the first few sounds of the guitar, the arena pretty much exploded. Had this been a 2-floor building, the floor would have broken. They continued on with “The Heretic Anthem” just as in Stockholm, tightly followed my “My Plague”. Damn. You could cut the tension with a knife you know? You could sense that this was something special.

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Which it kinda was, you know. It was the tour finale of the Prepare for Hell tour in Europe. But on the same time – there isn’t a whole lot to say. The band was on top – just as they were back in Stockholm, perhaps a little more on the edge. They followed suit with “The Devil in I” and “Psychosocial” and later on “The Negative One” – and I tell you.

Being in the arena, regardless of arena really, when these three songs are being blasted… Well, they call the tour prepare for hell, right? Because it is. But it’s a good hell. The kind of hell one would commonly refer to as heaven. At least if you’re a hyper, jumping, headbanging metalhead that is. And I am all of this. So hell, nah, more heaven.

But it was right here it happened. When it was supposed to have been “Three Nil” we instead heard the lyrics telling us “I wanna slit your throat and fuck the wound…”

And in all honesty, at first I didn’t even realize what happened. I sang along to all the lyrics, jumped at the right spots, and headbanged and what not. But I never realized what happened. Neither did I when “Eyeless” was exchanged for “Opium of the People”.

I didn’t realize what was happening until they started playing “Dead Memories” were there was supposed to be “Vermillion”. And at first I froze.

And then my eyes grew big. So big they almost popped out of my head. Grabbed my camera quick, need to record this shit for Michelle. Halfway in the verse I realize NO I SHOULD FUCKING CALL HER. Started digging for my phone, managed to call her. My bill is going to be sky high, but it’s worth it if you let your best friend hear her favorite song live.

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Afterwards they continued on as “normal” – meaning “Dead Memories” was followed by “Before I Forget” and “Duality” before the next surprise of the night came – Where there was expected, from my side, to be “Wait and Bleed” we instead got “The Blister Exists”. Hello mindfuck. And after this… hihihi. My favorite moment was here.

Sure. I’ve only seen this band two times now. But already after the gig in Stockholm did “Spit it Out” become my favorite moment of the entire show you. And I guess you all know what I’m talking about. Yep. That’s right. According to Corey, the Helsinki crowd was the fastest in all of Europe to get the fuck down on the fucking ground. Doesn’t even surprise me. AND GOD DAMN THIS MOMENT PEOPLE. If you ever have the chance to experience a SlipKnot show, do so from the middle of the crowd. Might seem a little… speaking against myself, but seriously, there’s nothing like being in there, sitting down with all these people around you, and all of you, ON THE SAME TIME just jumps the fuck up. Oh my fucking god man, as Corey’d say.

This piece of action was of course followed by their, I suppose new, jumpfest “Custer”. Seriously, if the arena wasn’t already blown up, this was the moment when it happened.

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After “Custer”, they left the stage, leaving us all chanting wanting more, and of course, like the good band they are, they returned. Starting off with “742617000027” and then driving RIGHT into “(sic)” just made your inner organs kind of explode. I’ve used that word a lot in this entry, I do realize, but how else am I to explain an explosive show?

“(sic)” was followed by “People=Shit” before they wrapped the whole thing up with the moshers little favorite “Surfacing”. Like I said in the beginning, ONE DAY I will be in the mosh, but it’s gonna take some time. Like, I need to get Iron Man’s costume first. And a few pillows. And a sumi-wrestlers outfit. But until then, have fun people.

After “Surfacing” they thanked for the night and left the stage and soon we were all ushered out of the arena by Geoff, their right hand, if you like.

It was with a fairly heavy heart I left Jäähalli. It was a bittersweet taste in your mouth, when this one week you’ve looked forward to for SO LONG is just over. Just like that. Gone. Away. No more.

As the loser I am, I didn’t find the tram-station so I end up walking all the way back to the hotel. Which was pretty sweet, it only took about half an hour and it was kinda nice to walk home and calm down a little bit from the extreme amount of endorphins that had just been released inside the ice hall.

Seriously though, from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you SlipKnot, for these two shows. They were amazing, and I can’t even wait for Graspop to come now. NOW. NOW.

// Sara

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SlipKnot @ Hovet, Stockholm, Sweden 11/2 -15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized on February 11, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

THE DAY IS HERE! Or was here. The day we’ve been waiting for since October. It’s finally here. SLIPKNOT!

As you guys know, I arrived in Estocolmo already the day before so today we basically… first I went up very late. And then we did some quick shopping – finally got my hands on THE DRESS. Woho! And then, back to the hotel to get ready, or put some trash on my face as I usually adress it, and then hit the arena.

We arrived at the arena around 15, 3pm. Unlike Germany, there were already QUITE THE LINE outside Hovet! Ok, maybe not that many, like 20? Still quite a lot. We went and picked up some food at subway (BREAKFAST AT LAST) and then began the long, long wait. Or technically, it wasn’t THAT long, it just felt that long, because just as in Frankfurt ITS FUCKING DEAD COLD. LIKE SERIOUSLY. Never again concerts in the winter. NEVER. Mark my effin words.

Anyway, there isn’t a lot to say about the queueing process. We had already on beforehand given up our hopes on front row since SlipKnot has this BEAUTIFUL THINGS called “Early Entrance”. My feelings about tickets like that, I’ll save for another entry. I promise you. Anyway. A little after 18 they finally let us in the arena, and as suspected, 2nd row. Not too bad, I guess.

And that’s where the long wait for the opener began. Ok, I’m lying. We really only waited about 45 minutes or so before King 810 entered the stage.

I hadn’t listened to the band anything beforehand, and I must admit that this band was NOT my cup of tea at all. They did a good job opening though, and it was nice celebrating your crewmembers birthday with you. Although, I’m still curious as to what was up the with sound. Too much bass.

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They played for cirka half an hour before leaving the stage to SlipKnot’s crew to start prepping. The curtain fell down sealing up everything, and farily early to my surprise) they started rolling “XIX”. Ahh. The sing along people. I still wish they had actually done this live though.

At the end of “XIX” the curtain was lifted and the band set off with “Scarcastrophe”. And ok.

So, in Germany, we had been pretty lucky. We had been able to come and go as we pleased, visiting bathrooms and saying hello to bands and things like that. Well. That wasn’t the case here. I was praying and hoping somewhere that MAYBE the audience wouldn’t press so much. But of course they did. As soon as “Scarcastrophe” began, the pushing began.

And the thing is, it’s not that I can’t take the pressure. I can. But it’s not fun you know? When you are being squeezed past your bodys actual shape where you can’t jump, you can’t headbang, you can’t even take up your arm. It’s not fun.

So already in”The Heretic Anthem” did we surrender and walk further back in the arena. Well, that’s those 3 hours to waste… Anyway.

The band was on top, the energy was on top, the audience obviously were on top as they continued with “My Plague”.

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After that one’s been shred to pieces, Corey asks us how many of us has .5, and that it was time to play a song from that album.

To step inside, the devil in him.

And the arena BASICALLY EXPLODED. And the fire! The pyrotechnics on this tour are fucking stunning, I’m telling you. They have a purpose. A lot of the times, when bands has pyros, they are just there for the sake of pyros. Not to fill any function. These ones actually worked well with the music. Thanks!

“Psychosocial” was next song on the list and again, the arena basically exploded. Are you surprised? I’m not. “The Negative One” was next on the list, and we basically lost it. Corey asked us all to lose it, and we did. God damn, it’s always nice with a good neck-work out!

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“Three Nil” was next on the list, massive! And talking about massive, there’s something I wanna talk a little bit about. The stage.

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I mean, sure, I have seen pictures of the stage on Tumblr prior to the show, and I saw the livestream at KnotFest… But JESUS FUCKING CHRIST IT’S MASSIVE! JUST FUCKING MASSIVE! THIS is what I call a show without a doubt.

With that said, “Eyeless” was the next song on the list and again…. Ahh. This is by far one of my favorite SlipKnot songs, so I was very satisfied. But nowhere near how satisfied I’d end up being in just a few seconds.

Because after Eyeless, they opened with some very sweet tones. Sweet tones that we could all recognize as one certain song.

“Vermillion”.

I’m not lying when I’m saying my eyes almost popped out of my head (eyeless anyone?) and my jaw was hitting the floor. And I had to cover my mouth and NOT start to cry because of the sudden surprise. “Vermillion” is probably my NUMBER ONE SlipKnot song, but as far as I was concerned, this wasn’t a big live favorite, so to actually have it thrown in your face when you weren’t expecting it was just… No. I don’t even know what to say. Still now, many many HOURS after the gig, I’m still giggling and fangiriling over this little surprise.

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After “Vermillion” being done they fiercly continued with “Before I Forget” which seemed to the audience favorite of the day. EVERYONE lost it. “Duality” and “Wait and Bleed” was ripped off with some MASSIVE sing alongs before THE moment came.

“Spit it Out”.

I must admit, after seeing a lot of live shows of SlipKnot on Youtube, I was really WAITING for this part. You know what part I mean.

Jump the fuck up.

I was a LITTLE anxious – I’m not that strong in my legs, so I was concerned that I wouldn’t manage to get up properly and eventually be stomped to death (what a great way to go though) but once we all sat down, literally ALL, and Corey starts singing, and building up and finally releasing and we are ALL jumping up on the same time… first of all. It was EXTREMELY liberating.

But it was also not as bad as I thought it would be! I was reallllly worried, but it was basically nothing! I’m glad. I can’t wait to do it all over again on Sunday.

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They wrapped the whole show up with their new little baby “Custer”. Ahh. I LOVE this song people, I LOVE IT.

They left the stage, and a little while later “742617000027” started, and you all know what that means. “(SIC)”! “(SIC)!”

God, I love this song. I’ve said that twice in a row now, but damn. So. Fucking. Epic. Live. I can’t even begin! And if it wasn’t massive enough, next song to be executed was “People = Shit”. And seriously.. The singalong people. To hear the ENTIRE Hovet go “PEOPLE EQUALS SHIT” is just… I can’t even describe it! Goosebumps!

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We noticed how the audience separated after “People = Shit”. A big hole in the middle, with people on the sides…. oh. It’s a wall of death. I’ve never actually seen a Wall of Death in real life before, so when “Surfacing” started on stage, I’m not sure which one I was more excited for – the song or the pit. I wasn’t in it myself, because I’d probably end up dead if I tried, but it was pretty cool to witness one for the first time ever!

And “Surfacing”? Epic as hell. A worthy ending for the whole show! After this, the band thanked for the evening, threw out their picks and sticks and eventually left the stage.

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Michelle and I pretty much DASHED out of the arena and picked up a bottle of water. SO FUCKING DEHYDRATED. I have never emptied a bottle of water quicker before, but this means you REALLY had fun. I hit the merchstand quickly to pick up a tourshirt before we left Hovet for good and headed home to our destinations.

Thanks SlipKnot, for an EPIC night we will never forget, and I cannot wait to do it all over again on Sunday.

Cut cut cut me up and fuck fuck fuck me up.

// Sara

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Lordi @ Batschkapp, Frankfurt, Germany 5/2 -15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Thiz Izz Djermani, Uncategorized with tags Amen, lordi, OX, Scare Force One on February 6, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

Alright folkens! HammerFall and Serious Black and all was epic, but after sleeping waaay to short, it was time for us to prepare for Tour Force One! We started the day off real lazily, sleeping in as much as we could and took a quick shopping trip before getting ready for tonights show.

Paula and Michelle decided to crash my outfit picture this time, and it’s good enough. Not a whole lot has changed but the shirt and the necklaces, hahaha.

So, first we stopped by at the station to pick up some crepes before heading for the subway, or UBAHN that would take us to Batschkapp. We arrived a little later than we had for HammerFall, and at first we ended up completely off, but after some help we found the right destination. And then began the waiting.

We arrived around 17, and…. seriously. IT WAS FREEZING. Like ok, what did I expect, it’s winter time and everything, BUT JESUS CHRIST? I almost froze to death? I even ended up bothering a friend so much because I was close to freezing to death. God. A few more fans came and after a while we started a little penguin farm. About half an hour before doors, they opened the gates and we RAN.

And like, I couldn’t feel my legs. I know I was moving, but I didn’t feel my legs. I was practically flying. Must have looked like it, considering that my Swedish Lordi flag was flying in the air on the same time. After half an hour or so they opened the door and we ran for our lives inside the arena. We managed to score spots on Amen’s side, which I never really complain about!

We started off to take turns at the merchtable and the bathroom, and I end up buying one of the new Scare Force One shirts. I had some starting plans for the shirt that I have now ditched, so I’m not sitting with an oversized shirt. But I think I know what I want to do with it. Gladly.

After waiting for a little while, SinHerseY entered the stage. I hadn’t checked out any of the support bands for this part of the tour, since I wasn’t really planning to catch any of the gigs, but I must say I really liked this one!

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Uh yeah. My camera doesn’t work with me. I’m sorry about all the sloppy pictures, but I really don’t know what to do about it for now! Right after Sinheresy got off stage we hit the merchstand to pick up one of their albums. Had to wait a little for the band, or, the singer to come down and we had a short chat with her and got the CD signed before dashing back to the front row.

Or well… dashing and dashing… Just as on HammerFall, it wasn’t ANY pressure! All people stood pretty casually a little here and there, so no troubles getting in and out. We even took an extra bathroom break, just because we could, you know.

While waiting for Palace we decided to do an upgraded version of The Mumblers and recorded our first song, which is “Nailed by the Hammer of Frankenstein”. If this recording ever will surface, I do not know, but we had fun. Until Michelle put her cold hands on Paulas neck. Uuughhhh.

So, without further notice, I might just say that Palace started playing. It’s kinda fun, Daniel told me when we were waiting for them that he recognized them from somewhere but didn’t know where, and I felt the same. I am certain I haven’t seen this band before, yet I too recognized them from somewhere.

This was also a band I was fairly unfamiliar with, and I was maybe not AS impressed as I was with Sinheresy, but it was a good show nonetheless!

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So, interesting thing number two. Daniel was the only one seemingly to go hardcore for Palace, so naturally, the singer/guitarist came and gave him a pick, and then gave him a second one which Daniel passed onto me. He then leaned in and told me that the vocalist had said “give this one to your girlfriend”.

Uh. What? Hahahahaha. Love it! (Before hate: This is nothing against Daniel, he’s amazing as hell. It’s just fun considering I had known him for less than 24 hours) Oh. Well, okay sure why not. Still curios as to how he thought we were a couple, as far as I’m concerned he hadn’t even seen us talking to each other… Oh well!

——- SPOILER ALERT. SPOILERS FROM LORDIS SHOW WILL FOLLOW——–

So. With Palace leaving the stage, the anticipation in the room rose. Like, real high. Even for me. Now, soon, soon, soon! And sure enough, a little after 22 “God of Thunder” started echoing in the speakers. And ALL Lordi fans knows what this means.

Next thing we know, a flight attendant comes out and “Estimated Time of Arrival” starts playing as she demonstrates the safety routines. Or perhaps the killing routines. I really didn’t know how to interpret it.

She leaves the stage, the band enters and fires everything off with “Nailed By the Hammer of Frankenstein”. This song really cuts it as an opener! The band was on fire, we were on fire, crowd…. not so much to my surprise! A little better than HammerFall, but far from approved.

They continued on with “This is Heavy Metal”, WITH THE RETURN OF THE METAL DUDE, and “Hard Rock Hallelujah” before it was time for one of the highlights of the whole show.

“Deadache“.

So, as most of you people may or may not know, “Deadache” is my number one Lordi song of all times. I cannot tell you how much I love this song, or why I love this song, but if you go through my archive, I have written about this particular song many, many times stating how much I love it.

And they haven’t played this song since the “Deadache” tour. And I never really thought it would make a return. Like ever. Because it felt like I was the only one who actually wanted it back. But when I saw that tour teasing video… I just lost it. Just as much as I lost it when they played the song live. It was BEYOND amazing. Although my eyes hurt a bit when Mr L pointed the flashlights RIGHT INTO your eyes…

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After “Deadache” it was time for Hella to have her little moment, and not only did she play her beautiful little song, but she also had some effects. There was a baby trolly (?) rolling out and a clueless woman strolling about, checking on the little baby that OF COURSE was haunted and started to pull her into the wagon. I remember I actually hesitated to look, because I figured there’d pop up SOMETHING yet I didn’t know what, when or how. But there it was.

“Hell Sent in The Clowns” was next, with those amazingly cute clowns who just ruin about everything. “Blood Red Sandman” made it’s entrance before it was time for Mana to have his little moment.

Alright, so what happened is that this lady comes in with a skull lying on a table with a cloth of some kind. Mana put the piece of fabric over the skull, and then the skull starts acting very haunted and flying around, aalllmost out of control. After getting the skull back into it’s place, he fired off a VERY impressing drumsolo. Yes, for me, it was.

After the drumsolo it was time for “Give Your Life For Rock n Roll” before the big surprise of the night would happen.

Ok, so it wasn’t that much of a surprise for me, since I had read the setlist beforehand, but still.

“Don’t Let My Mother Know”.

A single B-side. WHO HAD EVER THOUGHT WE WOULD HEAR THIS LIVE? I SURE AS HELL DIDN’T. Was epic, BEYOND FUCKING EPIC. Jesus Christ, I could kill someone! Or no, on the contrary, this is what STOPPED ME from killing someone. The epicness, my god.

And it doesn’t stop there. After “Don’t Let My Mother Know”, it was time for OX’s little moment, and he sure as hell got a raise! He used to do Kalma’s old thing, but now he has his own. So what they did is that they brought out this trolley with a guy inside it, called “OX’s Special Soundbox” or something like that, who was tied up. They gave OX a lug wrench, and while he was playing the bass, he stopped every once in a while to beat the dude up. Moans. Moans. And then, after beating him quite a good, he digged into him. Opened him up and dragged out his insides.

The dude kept pulling out his insides as OX kept giving us some fierce basstones.

“How To Slice A Whore” was next on the list, and this one had been upgraded quite the bit too! On the releasegig, he had done the same thing as he had in “Dr Sin”, but this time he actually CHOPPED and SLICED The corpse on the table instead, and of course ate it’s insides. I’m never going to be okay with seeing that. Like. Ever.

Our paradesong was next on the list, “It Snows in Hell”. As usual we turned around and hung upside down. But there was a catch. For this tour, they have started to have white foam dropping from the roof. It was…. “amazing” getting your throat filled with that. But you know – it’s worth it. Considering that Amen seemed to thrive off it. Us hanging upside down, that is.

“The Riff” was next on the list, followed closely by “Sincerely with Love”. You all know my *love* feelings about the latter one, but I can forgive it. Like come one, “Deadache” makes up for everything.

The next surprise, or perhaps, AWESOMENESS that was on the list is “Man Skin Boots”. I fucking love the song, obviously, it’s from Deadache. And this song is like… PERFECT live. And yeah. Sometimes I relate to it a bit. You have been warned.

AFTER Man Skin, it was time for Amen to have his little moment. What started out pretty small, as him standing on the side playing “Amen’s Lament To Ra II” soon escalated to the great Pharaos curse as he stepped up on a Pharao grave and had (fake)fire burning next to him as he kept showing us what a guitar god he can be. For the first time ever I really got that Pharao / ancient Egypt feeling from him. It was like being down in the thombs in The Sims 3, yet this was for real. RAD And EPIC as hell.

This tour is just so fucking amazing. I don’t even get it. I mean, I know “Scare Force One” is an amazing album, but I couldn’t imagine how amazing the tour would turn out. They really, UPGRADED themselves.

Right after Amen’s solo enters what I believe is one of Amen’s favorite songs, “Not The Nicest Guy”. The song was followed by “Sir, Mr Presideath Sir!” which… See.

I didn’t care much for the song on the album. It’s good, it’s decent, but perhaps not the best. HOWEVER – this song is like 200 times better live. And it serves a fucking purpose you know? “WE ALL KNOW WHAT WE’VE BEEN TOLD – OUR LEADERS HEART IS MADE OF GOLD”. It was MADE for live shows. I fucking love it.

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Amen came up front and did his normal routine. One devil horn, two devil horn, going up, going to the sides, going down, cross your arms…. “Devil is a Loser”. Seriously, this song gets me going like fucking crazy, yet I had to see a LITTLE more from the rest of the crowd. Seriously, what is the point? Come on people! Energy!

They left the stage, only to allow “SCG7” to start and to fire up the Scare Force One and would later return to fire of “Scare Force One”. The best song on the album with the same title. Jesus christ, this song gets me GOING you don’t even understand. Of course, I think you all can notice the similarities between this one and Deadache, and yes, that’s why I love it. I’m so glad they play this live. It’s AHHH. Can’t even describe the feeling to you!

“Who’s Your Daddy” was next. If I didn’t have a slayer neck already, this is when I got it, My god, why do you always get so pumped in this one? Who the hell knows!

“Would You Love A Monsterman?” was the very very last song of the whole night, and there is something special jumping with your friends and raising the Swedish Lordi flag high with pride. We love our monsters, and we’d go, and HAVE GONE the distance for them. Any time, any day. YES. We do love our monstermen and woman.

They said thanks and good bye and walked off the stage for good. Alright so, look. The band, they were on fire. They were fucking KILLING it. It’s a SHAME that the audience doesn’t pay the same respect. I mean… come on. Show a little appreciation!

And you know.. The concert was awesome. Being there with friends was awesome. But what was even more awesome was the crewmember, who, without hesitation, walked straight up to me and handed me Amen’s setlist. Like, I didn’t even have to ask or whatever, he just went straight up. It’s a bit deja-vuish from Wednesday, haha.

We hung around a little bit to catch our breathes, drink a little and pick up some last minute merchandise before going out in the cold Frankfurt night again and head home to the hotel. We picked up some night food on the way home and then just sat in the hotel room and talked about everything Lordi for hours.

Until Michelle fell asleep of course, because then we obviously put toiletpaper all over her face (what else would we do?) before drifting off to a very fulfilling sleep….

Thanks, Lordi. Thank you so much.

// Sara

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Seroius Black, Orden Ogan, HammerFall @ Stadthalle, Langen, Germany 4/2 2015

Posted in Concerts, Music, Thiz Izz Djermani, Uncategorized with tags Germany, HammerFall, orden ogan, serious black on February 5, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

Alright people! Yesterday was the D-Day, and it was fucking amazing I’m telling you! So, once we hit the hotel we started to get ourselves ready for the gig, mentally and physically. After an hour or so (we actually had to go pick up some candy at a store, hello!) we were ready to hit the road. We had planned to be by the venue by 16-17, so yeah, hurry hurry!

Since we didn’t manage to get on the train we planned, we had to take a later one and after running around a little bit in Langen we finally found Stadthalle. And you know, remember what I wrote about Amaranthe when we got to queue INSIDE with a private bar and everything? Like, sure, we didn’t have a private bar, BUT we did get to queue inside! And that was more than enough for us. The queueing system was a little fucked up, but yeah. It’s inside, what more can we ask for. We even spotted a REALLY cute guy, and that doesn’t even happen that often.

But aside that, it was fun as hell. Being with the girls on the road again just makes you SO FUCKING happy. Of course – most of the people around must have thought we were insane given that we were pretty rude to one another, but you know. This is how we roll, so if you ever see us at a gig and catch us almost starting to beat the crap out of each other, that’s good. If we sit in silent, that’s bad. VERY bad.

They opened the doors around seven, and after a few ifs and buts we managed to get to the front row and Paula and Michelle held my place as I dashed to the merchtable to pick up some Serious Black merchandise. Tank top as planned, as well as a patch! Bingo! Ran back to the crowd, which wasn’t even a crowd and eagerly waited for Serious Black.

At around eight sharp, Serious Black entered the stage and opened the show with “Temple of Sun”. To my surprise, we seemed to be the only fans upfront for this band. And what disappointed me SO MUCH is that everyone else, but us, stood completely still. You remember how said in my Amaranthe review that there really is a certain place in hell for people who aim for the front row and doesn’t do shit? Well, they are gonna get some new people down there!

The band however, was really energetic despite bad lame as fuck. They continued on with “Setting Fire to the Earth” before ripping off “High And Low”. Gladly, some people seem to awaken a LITTLE when “H&L” started, but I was still very surprised. I thought they had gained a LITTLE more popularity than this. Appears not.

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Well, I’m gonna have to admit that I was again defeated by my camera this time around, so not a whole lot of good photos sadly. The show went on with “Older and Wiser”, “Sealing My Fate” and wrapping it all up with “I Seek No Other Life”.

This was was REAL good. I really enjoyed it, despite it being very short, but then again, how long can you go with only one album? I was well pleased, and to top it off even better Mario flipped his pick at me! Woho!

Urban said on stage that the band would be by the merchstand so naturally, me and Michelle dashed! The first person we came across was Mario, and this is insane. He asked us what brought us here, all the way from Sweden, and I told him that I was really only at the HammerFall show because of them, and do you know what happened.

Do you fucking know what happened.

He got down on his knees.

And kissed my shoes.

LIKE. WHAT. That’s what I could have done with him. I didn’t even know what the hell to do, I was just standing there like oh my fucking god.

We worked our way around the band, and since Orden Ogan just started, we didn’t manage to Urban THIS while, so we dashed back to front row (how the hell was that even possible?) and rocked it out to Orden Ogan.

The only album I ever heard really and thoroughly with Orden Ogan is “Ravenhead”, so obviously I wasn’t very familiar with them aside the “Ravenhead” songs. BUT – they were REALLY good on stage, REALLY good live. I enjoyed it far more than I usually enjoy bands I’m not too much into.

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After Orden Ogan was done, we dashed back to the merchtable and caught up with Serious Black again, and this once around, we actually got to Urban thanks to Jan. I’m quite shy as you know and I don’t like interrupting other fans, but eventually we got there. At first he asked me, in Swedish, if we should exchange necklaces, but being half deaf as I am, apparently, I had to ask him three times what he said haha. But all was well – and we got to meet&greet him before running back with a LITTLE better time plan to HammerFall than we did for Orden.

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Like, this is something that intrigues me though. How the hell is it possible for us to continually running in and out between the shows, and still make it to the front row? The people didn’t cheer much more for Orden, I might add. I was so surprised, I thought “Well, this is gonna suck” but on the same time I felt like, have we gone this far, and managed to get to the front row, then we sure as hell are going to stand in the front row too.

Pretty much right on time they entered the stage and opened with “Hectors Hymn”. FINALLY – the audience awoke a little, not a lot, but a little. They followed the epic opening up with “Any Means Necessary”. I fucking love this song, do you even know? Like, “No Sacrifice, No Victory” is really my FAVORITE album with HammerFall, and particularly this song is SO FUCKING GOOD it ain’t even funny.

“Renegade” was next song to go, and I’m just. This is like the perfect setlist. Why are the bands treating me so good these days?

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“B.Y.H” was the next song to go, unfortuneatley, the amount of people ACTUALLY banging their heads was close to zero. Like, I expected SHIT TO GO DOWN in Germany, but it appears not?!

After “BYH” it was time for the song Paula had been waiting for all night – “Bloodbound”. Seriously, why are they so good to us? All this amazing songs, we don’t even deserve it! The band was going hard at it too, giving us a damn good time.

“Heeding the Call” was next, and finally we see some fists in the air and some singalong. Damn. Took you long enough.

Something that caught my eye on this particular gig was Stefan. Not that he was there, because that I knew. But how happy he was. Like, he seemed to be so FUCKING HAPPY to be back with the crew. I don’t mean to say he was unhappy before, I know nothing about it, but on the same time, it was just… so good to see you know?

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After “Heeding The Call” it was time for the big ole one – “Let The Hammer Fall”. And here’s the deal people. You know you’ve seen HammerFall live before if you can even talk with Jocke with all he says – “What do you say if I say Let The Hammer?”. I’m not sure how I should deal with that.

A new song was the next “Live Life Loud” before it was time for Stefan to get some spotlight. At first it started with Pontus doing his thing, and all of a sudden he let go of his guitar and it kept playing. Oscar made himself visible, so everyone was like “what?!”, ok, not really, most of us understood it was Stefan.

So he came out, and together with David, Oscar and Pontus on bassguitar they went over quite some HammerFall solos from many familiar songs. LOVED EVERY BIT OF IT.

Right after, the continued on with “Threshold”. “Threshold” hold a bit of a special place in my heart, as it was my first HammerFall album EVER, and my first HammerFall show ever was a the Threshold tour. So yeah, it was kinda mighty to hear it again.

“Last Man Standing” was next to be executed and they soon continued with “Glory To the Brave”. I fucking love it when they play this one live – it’s so mighty in a way, you know? Joacims voice doing all the work in the beginning and then it just.. it’s like “Amarathine”.

Another song off (r)Evolution was next – “We Won’t Back Down” before they wrapped the whole show up with “HammerFall” and left us wanting more.

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They soon returned, of course, and started off with “Templars of Steel”, “Bushido” and then wrapping the whole show up with “Hearts on Fire” (what else). And here’s where the next weird thing happens.

Throughout the show, Stefan has continuely played by me. He’s looked at me, and he’s interacted with me. Almost ALL the time. Afterwards, he locked eyes with me and threw the pick my direction, but someone else took it. So at first, he went onwards to the other side, BUT. He returned, and again locked eyes with me, POINTED at me, and I pointed at myself and was like “me?” and he nodded, and threw the pick at a closer distance and this enabled me to catch it.

Like. This is kinda surreal for me. This has NEVER happened to me before, that bandmembers have LITERALLY locked eyes with and been like “YOU are gonna have it”. Jesus fucking Christ.

After HammerFall was done, we headed back to the merchtable, first in order to pick up “Ravenhead” and have it signed by Orden Ogan and then to catch up a little more with Serious Black before we were removed from the area.

Seriously, I cannot remember a single time where I’ve interacted so much with bands as I did this time. And I’m kind of proud of myself, as I’m usually so bad at this because of my shyness. So yeah, I’m proud and happy. Together with Paulas friend (who is a doll, who kept our spots when we chased after Serious Black) we went back to the trainstation, back to Frankfurt and back to our hotels with one of the most epic experiences in our hearts.

Now we just prepare ourselves for Lordi. Second night – COME AT US.

// Sara

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