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Italy diaries, part eight. LORDI SHOW

Posted in Concerts, Italy 2013, Uncategorized on April 30, 2013 by Sara Hammerzmith

So, after having a long nice sleep it was time for us to get up. And, with all the inconvenience that it brings, change hotels. Had to get out of the lovey dovey hotel and change… to another one. We had small difficulties getting to it – even though the old hotel had good connections to the city, it was Sunday and time tables on Sunday doesn’t always necessarily work to your benefit. After some troubles, and some trainchanges later, we were at Lancetti, met up with Argo and found the hotel.

When there, we realized that checking into the hotel wasn’t all that easy. We knew from before that it was no real reception desk, as this was more a “apartment-rental” thing, but what we DID NOT know was that the office was like, 20 minutes away with car. I know I sound superspoiled, but after the trip we had, I wasn’t all that happy about waiting around a lot. And once the manager arrived, we had to travel an additional 10 minutes away to the apartment we were having. Which was bad, because we chose this hotel based on how close it was to the venue… but okay. After checking in we took a few minutes to breathe and then get ready for the show before hitting the road to find Alcatraz.

On the way there we stopped at McDonalds to pick up some food. This time we weren’t gonna do it on empty stomachs – said and done. After this we started walking. And walking. And walking. About 20 minutes later we realize we walked the wrong away. As always. People shouldn’t take directions from me, I always lead them the wrong way. After some directions over phone from my mother (how does she even put up with this, I don’t get it) we FINALLY wound the venue, and the queuing began.

For this day, we had actually brought a pen and a paper, meaning it was time for us to write some real nasty fanfics. They are both disgusting, dirty and HILARIOUS. Especially with the shippings we used. Since we used some bandmembers of a band, I’m not gonna point out what shippings we used, since I know certain people might read my blog (isn’t country-statistics amazing?) but I can assure you they were hilarious. The italians must’ve thought we were crazy when we literally cried from laughing.

And on top of that, a bird pooped on Michelle. CAN IT GET BETTER?

We had planned to eat our second burger at 7 – it would be 30 minutes before they, as we thought, open the doors, which would give us plenty of time (with those small hamburgers you know) but then, ALL OF A SUDDEN… the line moves. And we’re like, what the hell is going on? Apparently they opened eariler than expected. So it was for us just to collect our items at the box office and then ran in and got some spots in front of Amen at second row. Always. I need to get swifter with things. The TM came to check on us too, what a lovely guy. After a little time of waiting, the first band entered.

Just as in Rome, the first band on stage was Colleteral Damage. They had a better response from the audience today, may have to do with the venue being slightly bigger than the one in Rome. The band seemed to be just a little ounce more energetic and they played well.

After they left the stage, it was time for Reverse Grip to enter stage, and by this time it had started to get crowded! The band played energetic and put on quite a show. Yes. I find it a little difficult to add anything to what I said about them in Rome, but you know. They were good. They put on a show. They experienced some technical difficulties in the beginning, but things like that happen. It’s nothing to hold a grudge over.

Since they opened rather early tonight, I was hoping they would to the entire setlist, since they began earlier. It was just to wait and see, I guess! Before we knew it, “God of Thunder” started and the arena broke out in a loud cheer and singing. Once stopped, “SCG6” started and once again the band entered the stage and started of the concert with “We’re Not Bad For The Kids (We’re Worse)”. They seemed to be even more on top today than they seemed in Rome, if not else, it was a bigger crowd to play for! They instantly followed up with “Bringing Back The Balls To Rock” (and you already know what I feel about this, so yeah, no questions asked, haha)

“The Riff” was the next song to be up, and you can really tell the band is more energetic tonight. They seem to put just a little extra into everything tonight, amazing.

mrlmilano

“Who’s Your Daddy?”, OX’s moment was next, followed by “Blood Red Sandman” until it was time for Hella to have her moment! I was so thrilled when I saw everyone else leaving stage and leaving her behind, and she started to play… and fucked it up… got shaken…. plays…. fucks it up… And the guy comes, takes her head off and repairs it. It was nicely done, there are, just as in OX’s moment, some details I’d work on, but I still enjoyed it A LOT. “Schizo Doll” followed suit and then the medley.

hellamilano

I was glad to see that they got to use some of their props more properly on this show. Like the Scarbie box or that… wicked thing that raised in “Something Wicked This Way Comes”. “It Snows In Hell” was next until it was time for Mana to have his little moment!

At first I didn’t realize what was going on until I noticed he was levitating. He was moving. Upwards. Very high, too. Accompanied by some where delightful music, the pastor parished and then gave us the drumsolo of our lives. I love him. Seriously. The trick wasn’t flawless, but good enough.

“Supermonstars” was next, making the crowd in Milan very happy (glad to see more people than me enjoying it!) and then “I’m the Best”. I should try not to write more poison about it, so I’ll just give you a pick of it.

mrl3milano

After “I’m the Best” no “Bring it On” happened, sadly, but I guess we shouldn’t grieve too much, since we got the superawesomemegafoxyhot Amen pulling off his guitarsolo again. M. That mummy…

amenmilano

“They Only Come Out At Night” was next, followed by “Devil is a Loser”. This means no “I Luv Ugly” (and no “Girls Go Chopping eariler, I haven’t forgotten about it!) and I can live with that. After the song they left, only to come back. “Hulking Dynamo”, “Hard Rock Hallelujah”, “Sincerely With Love” and at last, “Would You Love a Monsterman” was pulled off before they left the stage. However, we had left the crowd immediately after the last note, in order to take some quick sips of water before meeting up with the other Meet&Greeters.

Not sure if you know, but I won a backstagepass in a Twitter contest and I decided to use it in Milan, and so did Michelle. After a little waiting, the TM came to pick us up and walked us backstage. We set up this system – first everybody have their picture taken, and then we go back to get stuff signed. Argo, Michelle and I were the first people up, and I for some reason was the first person to walk up to the band. This is never good, because I’m always a nervous wreck.

Although. Mr L just greeted me in Swedish. I probably just looked confused. I really didn’t know where to go. They are five members, there are no middle point you know? But Hella told me to come to her and that I didn’t need to be afraid.

And then she strangles me.

No need to be afraid.

What a joke.

lordimilano

Wow, how small it turned out. Oh well.

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Michelle and the band

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Argo and the band

After this we left the “podium” and waited. We made sure to get completely ready for when the TM was to call us again, and once he did, we dashed up. Despite not being first to the band this time, I was still slightly confused in where to go first. So I started at Mana’s, and onwards. I had some photographs to be signed, and he sorted them out to come in the right order. That’s sweet. Just as before, I’m not gonna tell much about the meeting for many reasons, but I can tell you that among all that happened, Mr L praised us, OX teased me for my height and Mr L and OX had a heated discussion about my pics. And Amen bowed to me. Amazing. And they loved my pen. So much that they wanted to borrow it for the rest of the signing session. I just say: BE MY GUEST!

We left the podium quickly, as not to take up too much time with the band and sat down to wait for the pencil to be returned when Dru from the support band (Reverse Grip) caught up with us to discuss the tour, photography, alcohol and… I think that covers it. Interesting.

The pen was returned, we were forced out so we said good bye to all the bands and walked out in the chilly and rainy Milan night, with a big smile on our faces.

TO BE CONTINUED

// Sara

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Italy diaries, part six. LORDI SHOW.

Posted in Concerts, Italy 2013, Uncategorized on April 28, 2013 by Sara Hammerzmith

The arena was placed pretty close to the hotel – or well, about two kilometers away, but close enough for us to walk, and a rather easy way to walk too. Pretty much just straight ahead.

Sometimes, we must be the dumbest people on earth. So, we reached the final street we should walk down on, and we started to worry if we had gone the wrong way. We stand there, for quite a while, before we just look up, like, two meters up, and see this fantastic sign.

italy4 106

We really need to pay more attention.

It was a bit of a walk from that sign down to the actual queue. To spice it up a little we cheated death by walking on a small fence with cement road on one side and stinging nettle on the other side. After a little while, or well, it did feel like a long while, but I guess it wasn’t, we reached the queue. It was only about six people in the queue, which, in my opinion, is a bit low considering it was only an hour or two until they opened.

We figured we’d look for the box office immediately but after asking around a bit, we realized it was harder than we thought. A bunch of other people was going there too, but had no idea where it was. A guy finally explained to us after some time, but then we noticed it wasn’t even opened yet. So we walked up and down the walk next to the arena until we decided it would be better for both of us if we got something to eat. And luckily for us, we did not only find a pizza place, but a pizza place that sold slices! We were a bit worried we’d have to buy an entire pizza when we just wanted something little, but this solved everything perfectly, if you ask me.

So dinner’s done, then it was time to head back to the place. It was a pretty harmonic place to walk at.

italienlilla 692

Well, I don’t know what to say. We stood there, talked to a few fellas, people got crowded… After some time the doors opened, and gladly, so did the box office so we got in. Delayed, but we got in. The first thing we did was to hit up merchandise. Hella had posted some of the merchandise on her twitter, and I had spotted a pretty interesting “Candy For the Cannibal” shirt (CftC being one of my favorite tracks off AWCA), although it turned out to be a whole dress! Still liked it a lot, so I got it. I’m so happy. I don’t know why, but I’ve started to become more restrained with bandshirts. I don’t buy as many anymore, and I’ve gotten really picky with prints… Anyway.

After spending some money in the booth we went down to the stage. It was a pretty small stage, and despite us coming in late for various reasons, and hitting merch and bathrooms, we made it to second row. And Orion wasn’t a particularly big club. It was something like On The Rocks in Helsinki, or a little smaller Klubben in Stockholm. I wasn’t even sure if Lordi would fit on stage, and some of their props didn’t (such as Hella’s Scarbie box). Oh well, that happens.

After some waiting, the first warm-up band entered the stage. For this night, it was a band called Collateral Damage. I don’t have all that much to say about them, I didn’t particularly like the music style, but if we look away from that, the band played really well and they were very energetic, and connected well with the audience, despite it being not very big. They played about 30 minutes before they left to give the stage to the next support band, Reverse Grip.

This band, on the other hand, I really liked the music and therefore paid a little, tiny bit more attention. Just as the previous one, they played well and their charismatic singer truly put on a great show, great audience connection. I think this band could have quite a future.

But. Now, at last, Lordi was to start. Almost exactly on time, “God of Thunder” started. I still wonder what this is all about, to be honest. I can guess it’s Mr L’s favorite KISS track, but I never saw how it served as an opening track. Sabaton using “The Final Countdown” had a much better effect than this does, especially when Lordi got many fantastic openings (SCG4!! SCG4!!)

Either way. After “God of Thunder”, SCG6, Otus Butcher Clinic, started and first out on stage was Hella and Mana and despite the place being so small, the crowd cheered loudly. After them OX, Amen and finally, Mr L came and they started with “We’re not bad for the Kids (We’re Worse)”. Right after this, they continued on with “Bringing Back The Balls to Rock”.

This, I don’t understand. First of all, these two songs wear out each other a lot in the first place, being rather similar (just as “Candy for the Cannibal” and “The Chainsaw Buffet”) so one of them should, in my opinion of course, have been excluded immediately I knew this was coming as I had seen the setlist from before, but I still that maybe it works. But guess what, it doesn’t. Not entirely. And I don’t even understand why they put them after each other, it makes it even worse. But then again, who am I to complain.

“The Riff” followed these songs and… I don’t get it with the little devil coming out. What’s up with that. Ok, I get it, “So the devil’s out of touch blablablabla…” But I mean come on. A girl coming out in some mask, that Mr L high fives in the face and dashes? Of course, I do realize these things have to do with a budget and all, but where is the creativity we saw during “The Arockalypse” or “Deadache”? Perhaps I’m being too hard on them, but you know. They used to have all these theatrical things and now it’s… not so much anymore.

“Who’s Your Daddy?” was next, and then… “Blood Red Sandman”. Prior to this song, OX had his little moment, which they’ve changed from beating, to ripping Quasimodo’s arm to what he does today, where he has a guy who is to be executed. I think the routine is done very well, there are small things I miss (like blood on the knife) but these are details and only details.

“Schizo Doll” was up next, sadly without Hella’s routine, which surprised me, but oh well.What can one do about it! But Hella oh my god. What a fantastic lady! Or well, bandmember. I truly think she’s one of the best things that have happened to Lordi in a very long time. No matter what – if Mr L was just talking or they were playing, she was always SO in character. All of a sudden she’d just launch over the keyboard and stare the hell out of you out of nowhere or stand and shake and what not. Amazing. Just, amazing.

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“ZombieRawkMachine”/”This is Heavy Metal” medley, “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, “It Snows In Hell” was ripped off before it was time for the second newcomer, Mana, to have his little moment. He didn’t do his trick though, but he did pull of quite some drum solo! Really impressive. For me, that is. If not else, it was nice to see him in action!

manarom

“Supermonstars” was the next song on the setlist, to appear after Mana’s solo and… I’m so happy about it. I’ve always wanted to hear “Supermonstars” live, and since they didn’t play it during the Arockalypse tour, I thought it would never happen. But here we are, at Orion in Rome, Italy, hearing the marvelous song played live. Fantastic.

After this song, it was time for another new song, “I’m The Best”. I’m not exactly the happiest person about these kinds of songs, and even less when they play them live too (especially for a band like Lordi) but it was at least… sort of fun to watch Mr L being crowned to Miss Lordi. Or whatever it was. Interesting, to say the least!

Now, it was Amen’s time to shine. A guitar solo next to a big spinning wheel, also known as the “Wheel of Torture”. I wished the wheel would have had some sort of feature, but I still think it looked cool. And the solo was a pleasure to the ear. “They Only Come Out At Night” followed the solo. For this night, or, tour ratherly, Mr L had a new mask which covered his whole face. I wonder how he saw us.

After a quick change, they finished the set with “Devil is a Loser” and walked off stage.

But, as everyone knows, it’s never (unless it’s Mötley Crüe) as simple as this. After a little while they came out again, and ripped off tonight’s first encore, which is no less than Scarchives “Hulking Dynamo”. As one of the people in this world not owning the Scarchives, I had never heard this song, but… EARGASM. I have so much things to say about this song, but since this entry is already getting pretty long, I’ll save it for later.

Right after “Hulking…” they left Hella alone on the stage…. and for someone who’s been in this fandom for a while or has seen a lot of youtube videos, can guess pretty easily what this means. And yes, as on cue, she starts the piano intro to “Hard Rock Hallelujah” After this, it was time for “Sincerely With Love”.

I don’t approve of this. YES. IT IS JUST MY OPINION, BUT, I don’t really like the song in the first place. The riff is good, but the lyrics are just so… butthurt. And to give the “fuckers” even more attention this way… I’m not sure if it’s the way to go. Of course it’s up to them, but I was lightly amused by it.

After “Sincerely…” they finished off nicely and greatly with “Would You Love a Monsterman?”. I love that song. They executed it real well, and by that, the concert was over.

Well, what can I add. It was a good show, although, I wish they would’ve kept some songs, like “Girls Go Chopping” and “Bring it On”, but I understand if they had to cut short but… they could have taken away something else… like, I don’t know… I’m the Best? Oh well. Overall, the show was fine. I’m not gonna say it was great, but it was good. For once I’m out of words on what to say. I’m thankful I went, and I was very pleased when I left so, thank you so much, Lordi!

After the show we stuck around for a while to catch up with the TM and ask him regarding the Milan gig, since there were some uncertainty going on. This ended up with us meeting Mr L, which was, if you ask me, a very nice way to end the evening.

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I look like hell? Yes I do!

We didn’t talk or interact very much with him – it felt a little weird being there when you weren’t supposed to, and I knew there were other fans waiting outside the door, and it makes me a bit uneasy knowing I might be ruining it for others so… but he did teach us some Swedish! Oh the irony. And told us to eat. We hadn’t been eating a lot this day, as I told you, and he asked us to eat properly before Milan or else… Haha. I love him. After leaving the venue after a very interesting… fight? and a long walk home, we could finally just die on our beds. And shine. And be sad. Tomorrow was departure day for us, to leave for Milan!

To be continued

// Sara

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The Savage Playground

Posted in Concerts, Uncategorized on February 26, 2013 by Sara Hammerzmith

Hello, hello, hello.

Figured I’d pop in to tell you I’m alive. As you know, we popped in to see Crashdiet with their fellow supportacts (Toxic Rose, Sister, Gotham Saints) in Oslo this weekend, and it sure was fun. I’m still a little bummed we didn’t get to keep the ticket, but oh well. I’ll survive.

The show itself was just fine. Toxic Rose opened and did so very strong even though the audience was poor. I’m not kidding when I tell you it was only one line at the fence. After them it was time for Gotham Saints, which did just fine. I’m vaguely aware of Gotham since before, so I’m not sure if I’m one to say anything certain about them, and the same goes for Toxic Rose actually, but they both did just fine.

After them Sister was coming up. They did great. They were just as energetic as they always have been when I’ve seen them, and I really like the setlist they had for the night. Last, but not least, was Crashdiet. Their performance was fine (feels like I’ve said that a couple of times now, haha) but I must say I missed some songs like “So Alive”, “Down With The Dust” and “Native Nature”, but I guess this was somewhat to be expected. They played a good deal of the new material though.

And I loved the bellydance. I could not stop staring at her. Lovely lady, and lovely clothes.

Sadly, the light wasn’t all that good for my camera, so I don’t have many pictures. I hope you’ll do with this one!

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We had quite a fun night afterwards with dancing to “The Riff” and wandering about all over Oslo. I’ve never been happier when I stepped onto the bus that morning.

But. It’s getting late here now, it’s 3:32 in the morning. I need to sleep.

See yah!

// Sara

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You snuck your way right into my heart…

Posted in Concerts, Uncategorized on October 28, 2012 by Sara Hammerzmith

So I haven’t been blogging for a while, and it takes quite a lot to write it down. I’m still sort of stuck between two dimension, I haven’t quite gathered what actually happened the last days, especially since it feels like you live in two completely different dimensions, one where you are at home, riding, going to school, work, whatnot and then you go to the second dimension and everything you ever built up is just ruined by one simple look from them.

I put up barriers, to shield my emotions,
A wall that you could never break apart,
But like a ninja of love, rappelling down from above
You snuck your way right into my heart

Either way, what can you say. The gigs were great, they always are. Sure, some may be a bit weak depending on what songs are played and which aren’t, but you never walk out of an arena without smiling like an idiot, or at least have stomach ache after laughing like an idiot. And bruises, of course. Bruises on place you didn’t know exist.

After the incident in Denmark, we figured we’d wait them out this time too, or at least M to thank him for everything he’s ever done for us. So when he finally got out in Stockholm and we got to thank him for everything, it was kind of surreal, you didn’t understand what was going on. And I didn’t even realize until we were back on the hotel that shit, we just met Michael Fucking Starr. Again. Is this happening?

But then… no words for what happened in Gothenburg. We were lucky enough to actually acquire some new friends down there, and together with some of them we waited out the band after the show again. After a while they showed up, I mean, they kinda have to, so they can get to the bus. But what they DO NOT have to do is to interact with us fans.

But they do. M was first out, and he just left off his luggage and came over to us. And there he was. Talking to us. Signing stuff. Taking pictures. He even gave us pizza. I mean, what is that all about? “Anyone wants Pizza?” Oh my god. There are a lot more things going on after this, but I won’t take it up here, because it will only cause drama, and for now, I won’t deal with that shit. I’m still stuck in the in-between dimension. Of course, we met S, S and L too, and once again, some of that stuff I’m just not gonna bring up right now.

I, and my platypus, we know that this treatment, or how to put it, is nothing extraordinary. They most likely did it with fans the night before, and they have probably done it with tons of fans now the days after. Perhaps not what was going on between me and M, but I can’t see how it could be the first nor the last time either.

We know this ain’t anything special, but it’s special to us. Because, even if they did this to a million others, they also chose to do it with us. They could have walked away from us, but they chose not to. They chose to stay by us, and talk, and interact, and be with us. I loved before, but after now…

… they truly snuck their way right into my heart.

// Sara

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London part two – THE CONCERT

Posted in Concerts, London 2011, Uncategorized on December 25, 2011 by Sara Hammerzmith

So yes. The next day we got up, what is in my book, kinda early to get down and have some of the delicious hotelbreakfast. I love hotelbreakfast. It’s always so many options.

So we got down, and got seated and they offered us hot beverage… and then we hit the buffet like hungry pagans, hohoho! Actually, I didn’t have much… because… I always have problem eating abroad, because they don’t have the same as they have in Sweden, so you never know what it tastes like. At least the scrambled eggs and bacon tasted the same! And the other that I had too, of course, haha.

Since today was the concertday we figured we were gonna stay at the hotel or nearby the entire day, so we wouldn’t risk missing the concert, it would, you see, be just our luck to miss the whole shit if we left. We had planned to take a day in the spa, but since I didn’t bring any bathing clothes, we had to look for some. The hotelmanagers recommended us to try JD Sports (Jack Daniels sports?!) so we walked there. As we did so, we also passed the mighty Wembley Arena, hoho! That was rather epic. We walked for what felt like hours (and she said it was around the corner!) but we found it, and inside… we found no bathing clothes, so I end up buying male underwear instead, works just as good. And since we had a Lidl next to us, to went inside to pick up some candy and such, for, sort of, dinner, eveningfood, whatever!

Then we got back, and we got into the spa… and must have been the suckiest spa ever. We were hitting the jacuzzi, right, so we thought it was really a hottub, but it turns out it wasn’t! It was like, a small offspring to the bigger pool, and it wasn’t even hot! I think we stayed there for 15 minutes or something before we decided to go back to our hotelroom to make our own spa in the bathtub, and when doing so we could also listen to Sister and have some drinks. We also took the oppurtunity to see what happens if you pour a lotta Jack Daniels into the bath too. It actually… was pretty good I must say!

After this we started to make up ourselves and get ready for the show. Sofia was doing this all Nikki Sixx kind of epic outfit and I wore a lepard printed dress with simple tights. By the time we hit the arena it was dark outside, the lights had been lit on Wembley Arena and the queues were enourmous. It wasn’t a huge problem – for the first we are well used to queue, and for the second we had seats anyway so there was no need to be there earlier. And if we would have had standing we would probably have been there earlier… haha. But when we stood there queueing.. and talking lots of random things having fun about no one understanding us, the guard passed by and asked us if we were standing or seated, since apparently there are two entrances with the same name, and as we were seated, we could use another entrance and go into the arena immidiatley!

So we, of course did. On the way down random fans were highfiving us, and it may be the first time in real long that I haven’t had my bag searched for dangerous items. So we were inside. What is the first thing you do. For many, to hit the beers. But for us, hit the merchandise. One Steel Panther (Balls Out Tour) and one Def Leppard (Discoball Tour) shirts were the first one I got. I had told myself I wouldn’t have a Mötley one, since I already have so many and a pretty tight economy for this specific trip.

After getting our merch we got into some kind of queue again to get to enter the arena with the seats… and.. THIS IS SO DISTRUBING. As we stood there, we read the sign that was above us.

Do you see it? DO YOU SEE HOW THEY SPELLED MÖTLEY CRÜE?!?!?! That is… not okay. F.U. Either way, they did eventually let us in, and we got outselves a drink before getting inside, and to our great surprise, realize, we were sitting in front row on our section! That is so awesome, so we didn’t have to worry about getting tall people infront of us. We could have gotten maybe a few seats better, but apart from that, it was as good as possible!

And this… I love London, or maybe it’s Steel Panther I love. RIGHT ON THE MINUTE, they start. They opened with “SuperSonicSexMachine” and continued on with “Tomorrow Night”. Last time I saw these guys were at Sweden Rock 2010, and I must say I kinda missed them. Their music, their cheeky speeches, THEM in a whole! And also. They must be like, the perfect glammetal band out there, seriously. They are using every sort of cliche, which makes it perfect. They are perfection. And I must say, I was impressed by how well the audience seemed to know them, I got chills in “Community Property” when you could hear the audience so well.. Ohh. And the epicness in “Gold Digging Whore”… Uh. That one is just awesome live.
Set: Supersonicsexmachine / Tomorrow Night / Asian Hooker / Just Like Tiger Woods / Gold Digging Whore / Community Property / 17 Girls In A Row / Death To all But Metal

Then it was time for a pause. We just you know… talked. I mean, what else can you do? I tweeted a bit, and then I watched the clock and we were like “Ohh they will begin in a few minutes!” and just… talking. We asked ourselves also if they couldn’t begin soon when the whole arena just….

Exploded. BANG! And Mötley were already on stage. No one had noticed, the light hadn’t even been turned out!!! And with what must be the most epic opening ever, Mötley entered the stage to “Wildside” (kinda expected but who gives a damn). Followed up with “Saints Of Los Angeles”… “Live Wire…” You know. This stage… must have been something of the most epic that I’ve seen since the Carnival Of Sins DVD. The stage they have had on festivals and the gig back in ’07 were fine, but this was just massive. It was… so Mötley somehow. It was like it was taking right out of “The Dirt”, and you could almost feel the exhaustion you know? And the fact they still play “Same Ol’ Situation” always warms my heart, one of my big faves and pretty special since it’s the first Mötley song I ever heard.

“Primal Scream”, “Home Sweet Home” and “Looks That Kills” were the songs fired off before we were about to witness the coolest stuff we have… ever seen. The Drum Rollercoaster. Tommy were supposed to bring it in’07, but for some reason couldn’t, and after that I never heard anything about it. Until now. IT WAS THERE. So he played his solo and after a while he started spinning in that thing. I mean, COME ON. How is it possible, this is… I have no words for the epicness!

And even less when he stopped the wheel, and said he had an extra seat for a fan. So he pulled someone out of the audience, who got to take a spin. LUCKY FUCKING BASTARD. The band joined in and they played “Dr. Feelgood”.

The concert ran pretty smoothly after this before they ended the show with “Kickstart My Heart”. They always kinda wrap up a bit weird, but the epicness fixed that for this time. Thanks Mötley Crüe, for proving to me that you are one of the best out there, and that I shall remain a slave for you!
Set: Wildside / Saints Of Los Angeles / Live Wire / Shout At The Devil / Same Ol’ Situation / Primal Scream / Home Sweet Home / Looks That Kills / Dr. Feelgood / Motherfucker Of The Year / Girls, Girls, Girls / Smokin’ In The Boys Room / Kickstart My Heart

Sadly, I don’t have any pictures good enough to throw up from Mötley, so I guess you will have to do without. And right on time, after a while of pause, Def Leppard finally began! When I saw them at Sweden Rock back in the days, I wasn’t that much into them, so I was looking well forward to see them, after being a bit more into them! However, I didn’t take any notes on the setlist, so I can’t tell you what songs and in what order… but my god!

What a light show! It is probbably one of the most spectacular I have ever seen, and always when I listened to “Pour Some Sugar On Me” for myself in my ipod, I always had this little vision about how it would look like during “Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light GO!”… and.. it looked better. Than I could ever have imagined. This was… my god. I was kinda speechless.

And when they later wrapped up the whole shit with “Lets Get Rocked”.. I mean, I’m more into Leppard than I was on SRF ’08, but I wouldn’t say I’m hardcore, so for all I know, “Lets Get Rocked” may be a pretty big one in the “Leppard-world”, but since I always have bad luck on favourite songs, I was never expecting it. But there it was! Made my evening.

Neither do I have any particulary good pictures of Def Leppard to show, so yes, deal with it.

After this, and after consulting with my mother, I actually got another Mötley Crüe shirt. They had this pink shirt with epic print. Couldn’t go without. And in the line for the bathroom, a guy with a Swedish flag passed us and complimented Sofias outfit, and since we figured he was swedish, she said thanks to him in Swedish. OH MY GOD, his face haha! He stood for what, five minutes just figuring out what to answer to that. I know the feeling, haha. Happened to me in Finland a couple of times. That was one of the biggest epicness of the evening.

Afterwards, we left the Arena, not without difficulty and back to the hotel, headed for Malins room to hang out with them for a while and talk about the concert, and then pass out in our beds… Afte the most epic night in our lives.

TO BE CONTINUED

// Sara

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Christmas Metal Meeting 2011 part 6 HAMMERFALL SHOW

Posted in Christmas Metal Meeting 2011, Concerts, Thiz Izz Djermani, Uncategorized on December 5, 2011 by Sara Hammerzmith

Yes. Mr Lordi was coming up the stairs just as we were there and we were all… fangirling. Not like Justin Biebers fans, actually, we are pretty cool when we see our stars. Inside we are fucking raging, but outside we are calm as fuck. Although, it would be nothing if we actually WOULD freak out. Okay, before I get snyde, well there he was. He went up to Martine at first and then he stopped, haha, apparently saying “one second please…” It tired him more to walk up the stairs than it did being on stage!

He told Martine that Otus had already went to the hotel, so we were like ok fuck it, it will be his lost in the end, and then.

You know. Mr Lordi must be one of the greatest rockstars out there. The only thing he was going to do was to tell us that Otus left, but instead, or, he did tell us that, and then he had a mini meet n greet with everyone there. He took his picture with everyone, wrote autographs… he even gave Martine a facepaint! He also got Michelles drawing of him riding a unicorn, and he was… happy for it… but a bit suspicious. He is afraid of horses, you see. He eventually had to leave, but fuck were we happy? YES. Awesome. And at this point, when he had left. We all started fangirling. You know, being “omg omg omg” and loosing our breathe and everything.

Saxon had started to play during the m&g, so we stayed put on the balcony to watch them, when, out of nowhere… Exodus appears! They came over to us and cheered us and talked to us and shit. We hada little autograph/photosession too of course, but mainly just hanging out, with Gary mainly. He took the freedom to try on both Paulas and Martines hats. And you know. Even though he kissed me goodbye when he left, it doesn’t fucking make up for saying HammerFall sucks! GO TO HELL.

As Saxon led to its end, we decided to head down for HammerFall, and we surprised Alexander a bit, ambushed him from behind, haha! (No, not in the dirt way, kinky bastards!) and watched the last songs with him… and then it was soon time for HammerFall! We actually managed to get to second row, and that is well good, considering HammerFall was the headliner for the day! Eva and Michael joined us too, as well as Alex’s sisters and we had a great chat, as well as I explained my love for Mr Dronjak to them.. the show began!

They opened up with “Patient Zero” quite normally, considering it’s the opening track, and they followed it up with “Heeding The Call”. You know… Look. Any Tour Necessary… must have been one of the best tours, not only for HammerFall, but in general that I’ve ever seen. So yeah, I know its kinda hard to try to beat that one. But this was just ridiculous. They went from kickass waterfalls, fences, fire and outragous lightning shows with kickass costumes to neonsigns and.. no stageclothing. That IS kinda sad you know.

But on the other hand, Waterfalls or no waterfalls, I fucking loved it anyway. “Any Means Necessary” was the next song up, and I can’t tell you enough how much I fucking love that song. It was from Joacim Cans during Any Tour Necessary I first heard the expression “slayer-neck” so if it was ANY BAND on this festival that I was gonna get a slayer-neck to, it should be HammerFall! And goddamn, its like the Lordi show. I don’t recall that much from the show because me (and Paula for that matter) was too busy… you know, headbanging and such.

Fittingly enough, “Bang Your Head” was the next song on the setlist, followed by the classic “Blood Bound”. “Lets Get It On” later followed by the very so loved “Last Man Standing”, which was for me and Michelle to have our little moment as she loves it just as much as me. “Renegade” was next… and… yeah.

You know, when I saw HammerFall live for the very first time, and heard “Renegade” for the very first time, this being back in 2007 with good old Magnus Rosén on bass… I loved it. And then I got the Renegade Crusade VHS/CD and loved it. Then I got the record, and hated it. Do you guys remember how they used to play the song back in the days? When they slowed down the second verse? If not, Wacken 2001 is a good example. (While you’re at it, look at the bad ass show! Gotta love Oscar… ahh!)

And you know, back then, on the concert in January was the last time I ever heard “Renegade” that way. Then they started play it like they do on the records. It’s four years ago, but still, everytime I go to a Hammerfall show, I always wish, hope and pray that they will play it the good old way. And always being just as sad everytime they don’t. And Lichtenfels were no exception. But oh well, it’s just details! Overall it was well fine!

Joacim told us they had apparently been doing some research before the show, and found out that people were VERY keen to hear “Always Will Be”, and to be honest, I don’t say no! I’d prefer “Never Ever” of course, but “Always Will Be” is just as fucking great. And I’d pay anything to see Oscar play that piano again. It was a beautiful moment! “Rider Of The Storm” was next, followed by classics as “Steel Meets Steel”, “Legacy of Kings”, “Let The Hammer Fall” before wrapping the whole thing up with “The Dragon Lies Bleeding” which I’ve come to appriciate more and more over the years!

They went out, and everyone, of course, went “ONE MORE TIME”. So HammerFall came back. And what song, honestly, what is the only right song to sing when coming back like this and the crowd screaming One More Time? Well, obviously you play “One More Time”! It was also the last song of the set. As Oscar was by our side to throw out some extra plektras, we took ourselves the freedom that for ONE MORE (last) TIME yell “DET FINNS INGET SKROT – ALLT SKROT ÄR BARA GAMLA MOLEJOKSER OCH MOJÄNGER”… and hahaha, the awesome moment when Oscar breaks into this huge grin. Well, we made our point!

Also, I must say, Paula managed to catch a plektra of his earlier during the show that she gave to me, and during Saxon she had caught a Saxon one which she gave to Alex. This is why we call her our golden girl. Love her!

But you know… it’s like the Dschinghis Khan Family song. “The party is over.. empty bottles on the floor..”. Christmas Metal Meeting were over. We said goodbye to Alexander, and then to Eva (I kissed a girl and I liked it… oh yeah!) and Michael before heading back to the wardrobe, and on the way to the wardrobe we ran into Antha, Marcel and Renate again. And for one last time, for this time, Antha and I pulled off our fangirl screams, running towards each other and hugging each other. Only this time a random guy happened to come between, and I’ve never seen someone looking so… terrified before, HAHA! So yeah… one last chat with them, and then they had to leave and so did we…

We got our coats. Picked up the norwegians. Took a round around the shops. And then we left Stadthalle, singing that melody you always sing to bands from Gothenburg, and actually, some germans got it and sang along! Sad they didn’t do it during the show. We had a little chat with them outside Stadthalle before heading home for our afterparty.

I don’t know what the hell went wrong, but somehow the afterparty just snapped. And then it calmed down again, talking about impressions and everything that had happened. And before we knew it, the clock was 4am and the norweigans were supposed to go to the second day as well, so we went to bed.

This was, without exagguration, one of my absoulte best days in my life. I’ve never had this much fun during a show, I’ve never had this much fun at a festival or concert ever. The company… it was perfect! Everything were perfect.

I’ll write about our last few days in Lichtenfels tomorrow.

TO BE CONTINUED.

// Sara

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Christmas Metal Meeting 2011 part 5 – LORDI SHOW.

Posted in Christmas Metal Meeting 2011, Concerts, Thiz Izz Djermani, Uncategorized on December 4, 2011 by Sara Hammerzmith

Well yes… I must say, we got like, second row place for Sepultura, which I find kinda marvellous you know, usually you have to queue like AGES to get good spots, but I guess this is why I love metalpeople and clean metalfestivals. Front isn’t necessary. Or well, of course it is, but it’s not like you go cut yourself if you are in second row. And also, as the waiting began, we met up with the lovley germans, and this time Marcel and Eva had arrived too! For the first time I also got to meet her husband, and he is just as great as her! Oh I love the germans.

Okay, I know how racist this is gonna sound, so I hope you take this the right way. The first thing I actually noticed with the singer, was that he was black. And everyone else reacted on that too, and… Thats freaking cool! I think I can honestly say he’s the first one I’ve seen within heavier metal, and thats just freaking awesome! LOVE IT!.

It was also under Sepultura I came to the conclusion… that PVC is not the most optimal fabric choice for inside concerts. DAMN THE HEAT! I had to run out, literally take off my PVC top (I was wearing something underneath, you kinky bastards, what did you think?!) and chill down until I was so cold I was standing there freezing, then I put it on again, went inside, bought two bottles of water and moshed into my friends again. You kinda have to mosh when a concert is going, or just dance and say “Excuse me, excuse me” and sooner or later you shall pass through.

I actually came back at the end of Sepultura, and this ment… just minutes to Lordi!! As we were awaiting Lordi… for the first; both me, Paula, Michelle, Marion (Alex’s sister), Antha and Renate (I think) managed to get front row!! FUCK YES! We planned a little what we were gonna do, as you know, from Paris and now on we shall do weird stuff during Lordishows. We also cooperated with the germans, who suggested we were gonna clap our hands like Mr Lordi when he asked us, and I mean, we aren’t late to sign up for such!

Also, Cecilie and Martine catched up with us again, we had lost them after Exodus, and now we learnt why. Cecilie… came back with her hand bandaged. Apparently, she had gotten a drumstick frm the drummer in Exodus, and someone fought her for it, and managed to break her pinkyfinger. She’d been rushed to the hospital where they casted it, and then she managed to get back just in fucking time for Lordi! GREAT. Would’ve been a disaster else, don’t you think?

Yes… the lights went out. Michelle put her horse on the fence. And before we knew it… “God of Thunder” began. WTF. Cut the… no ok, Mr L’s gonna kill me. And then, after “God Of Thunder”… Scarctic Circle Gathering 5 began.

OH THE FEELING. Otus entered… Awa entered… Ox… Amen… “Babez For Breakfast” started. FUCK I MISSED THEM. The spirit oh… they followed it up “Dynamite Tonite”. Goddamnit Lordi! (Sorry, it’s me personally who dislikes the song just) before the big L said “Alrite, you wanna sing?” and you know… you know you are close to a band, when you know what song is about to come, even though you have never seen the song live before. I’ve never heard/seen “Nonstop Nite” live before, but it was so obvious somehow that he was talking about that one. When I look back on it now… it ain’t that obvious at all, could be anything, but… yes. It was. And I love it, its my favourite off the “Babez” album so I was well pleased!

I don’t really know when, but pretty early in the set, probably after or before “Nonstop Nite” Mr L informed us that they had managed to leave ALL KIND of theatrics at home in Finland… AHAHAHAHAHAHA. Way to go! I love them, seriously… HAHA. Surprisingly, “Devil Is a Loser” was up next, as the fourth song in the set! Now THAT was new! “Rock Police” followed and it was time for the first TheAwesomeThreesome shit to be done. You better lock the door…

Right after this, it was time for “It Snows In Hell”, where we had planned something new! During The Arks last show, Ellinor and her friend had been watching the show upside down, by turning around and bending over… backwards. And since we weren’t sure how well this would work out, we decided to try it out on a ballad. So, the song went on and we turned around.

And you know… FUCK HOW COMFORTABLE IT WAS! I was like oh my god, this is gonna be pain. And then when I laid there I was like… I don’t wanna move. I wanna lie here. This feels great. Comfortable! The guards looked at us a bit suspicsouly, but do I always say? Suspiscious guards shall be suspiscious! Poor Amen though.

Or maybe not. Actually, both Mr L and Amen spent alotta time on our side of the stage. But then again, our side, or, or gang of people, WERE the freakiest (yes this includes the germans of course) and then when the fans suddenly turns around… yeah you know. Suspiscious band. Shall remain suspiscious.

And no surprise, but “Who’s Your Daddy” was up afterwards, and I swear, we did try to make “Jingle Bells” happen, as the germans did on the last tour, but no : (. It didn’t work out, but fuck, it was fun to flirt around with Amen! Sad part is, he didn’t flirt back… HE ALWAYS FLIRTS BACK. Maybe he had a bad day. But it was a little WTF moment.

Hm. “Blood Red Sandman”… then “This Is Heavy Metal”. You always know when “This is Heavy Metal” comes on, since Mr L keep asking you about all these bands and if you like them or not. But then again, like Fairy of Darkness said in Paris, who the fuck dares to say they dislike KISS infront of the big L? (He is an extremly big KISS Fan, in case you didn’t know : ) ). But yes, “This Is Heavy Metal” means TAT time. And this was the first one we ever made, so it was kinda special you know! I think the band DO recognize this dance though, but still they were like WTF. And that what we want. The WTF reaction from the band.

After THIM (yes, I can’t be bothered to write the full name anymore…) SCG3 began.. and this is another moment when you know you are close to the band. We Norwedens just got togtehter in a small little group screaming the whole SCG3 together. I mean. We even know the intros. WTF. And just as we scream “THE AROCKALYPSE” (or actually, I did scream ‘The Acockalypse’, but still) and the insane drums on “Bringing Back The Balls To Rock” begins… you just know every second you know. You know exactly WHEN and WHERE everything is happening, even if it’s live because you’ve heard it live on clips and shit so many times.

And then… Robots. Demonic Robots. And Mr L yelling “BIOMECHANIC MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!”. Seriously, I hate it. Or, the song is good, I just get the creeps of it. I’m scared of robots, scared of disfunctional technology and haunted stuff. The intro of “Biomechanic Man” is a haunted disfunctional robot. Just awesome, don’t you think? I think the fear comes from when my Sim in The Sims 2 was killed by her robot. Yup, true story. But the song is actually kinda good. A little sicko little mean…

Awa plays the keyboard, stops, plays, stops. Guess what. Of course, “Hard Rock Hallelujah”. We tried to lie down again, since it is a calm intro you know… and then when the song actually started, we could remain. NO PRESSURE!! However, that is kinda lame (No, I know that Eva and Michael were protecting us, its the other audience that was lame) so we stood up straight and started to freak out again. Have you ever thought of that, that girls rarely do freak out, headbang, jump and such on concerts? Then we show up and tear the shit apart, and people are terrified.

After this, They start play a metalversion of “A Question Of Lust“… and on the second. ON THE VERY SECOND we all, together with Mr Lordi… “WOULD YOU LOVE A MONSTERMAN, COULD YOU UNDERSTAND BEAUTY OF THE BEAST? FIRE AT WILL” and headbang. I mean… that is almost ridiculous. That you know a band so well, that you almost know it better than the band itself. And in a breathe… it was over. Done, FINITO!

But you know something. I barely remember the show. I remember the songs and how they sounded… but not the actual show. I was rocking out TOO much to even notice. AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, is how it is supposed to be! They had difficulties with the sound apparently, but since you know the band so well, you know the guitars and how it sounds anyway, so you can just keep on rocking even if the guitar dies. I missed “My Heaven Is Your Hell” on the setlist, but you know, I got in Paris, and I didn’t even expect to EVER hear that song live, so I guess it’s ok. And I got “Nonstop Nite” so. But apart from all this, this is one of the most FUN concerts I’ve ever been to. HELL, I need to do this more often. Or wait.
Setlist: God Of Thunder/SCG5 – Babez For Breakfast – Dynamite Tonite – Nonstop Nite – Devil Is A Loser – Rock Police – It Snows In Hell – Who’s Your Daddy – Blood Red Sandman – This Is Heavy Metal – SCG3 – Bringing Back The Balls To Rock – Biomechanic Man – Hard Rock Hallelujah – Would You Love a Monsterman

After this we got a little dilemma. We figured we’d go up to the wardrobe again to see about Otus interview, but on the same time… we had front row. And it was only Saxon inbetween before HammerFall… would you really give it up? What we did was to begin with to sit down and just… POUR water into our bodies. You don’t really think about it much during the show, and then you are dehydrated afterwards. After a few buts and ifs, we did eventually get up to join the others upstairs (it was only me and Paula keeping places I think, or maybe Martine. I really don’t know anymore…) and as we walked over to the wardrobe…

We saw someone coming up the backstage stairs. Someone familiar.

Mr Lordi.

TO BE CONTINUED
// Sara

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Christmas Metal Meeting 2011 part 4

Posted in Christmas Metal Meeting 2011, Concerts, Thiz Izz Djermani, Uncategorized on December 3, 2011 by Sara Hammerzmith

THIS HAVE HAPPENED: The girls made it to Lichtenfels and the hotel, and are now heading for the arena!

So yeah. Finally here, Stadthalle, Lichtenfels. Seriously, we’ve been planning this trip since like, May or something. And now we were here. Outside the arena… and then we entered. I mean… why the hell not. And I was expeceting this huge ass securitycheck and I was so certain we would barely be let in considering we had alotta shoes with us and all you know. But actually, no security at all!

And then.. the confusion! We were like, okay, there have to be a wardrobe. But we didn’t find it immidiatley, and it was like okay. I mean, we saw signs, but our lack in language made us like OK WTF. And the thing was, we asked a salesman (yes, they had this small cute market, a miniature of Sweden Rocks) where the wardrobe were, and he said it was upstairs, but there was nothing upstairs, so we figured we’d try out different doors. And you know what.

We end up backstage. More precisely, outside Sepultura and Exodus dressingrooms. We were like… WTF. This only happens to us, right? Either way, a roadie came and we asked if he knew where the wardrobe were, and he said next door, so we went out again, and tried it. AND THERE, we found the wardrobe! Apparently they had this platform above the whole audience were you could stand or sit during the show, so we turned in our bags and all and then just stood on the balcony looking at all the people beneath us, like a boss. We located the Lordifans, as we saw Anthas vest and went down to say hi to them.

And I love meeting up with Antha. First we freeze. Then we scream. Like fangirls. Then we, if possible, run to each other and hug each other for a while. And of course we did it today too, what else? Fucking love them. Alexander was there too, so I got to introduce Martine, Paula, Michelle and Cecilie to them finally! We also found Anushka amongst the people, and we saw Argo and waved to him, as he were… in a situation. No really, he was just holding his spot, which was a bit away from where we were.

Heathen were currently playing as we got in, and right after them it was time for the first band I wanted to see, Lizzy Borden. And OK, thing is, we were supposed to interview Otus for a project, and Otus had told us we should look for Rikk and he’d give us passes. But did we find Rikk? And how the hell were we – it’s not like we had his phonenumber or anything. So we simply went up to the Sepultura dressingroom again, and asked them for Rikk.

They told us Lordi was in the other building, so we went there, and we met this real cranky guard. Ok – I’m not gonna be blueeyed, I KNOW alotta people do that trick just to get backstage, but we actually just asked him to ask someone to go look for Rikk. After a bit cursing, we actually got a hold of Rikks number, and on the same time, we learned, he wasn’t even present at the arena! HOW GREAT IS THAT.

Not at all. So we tried call him, and he didn’t pick up, actually, he might… By the way, do you guys even know who Rikk is? Maybe not, but Rikk is Lordis tourmanager. Tall guy. REAL tall guy. Yeah, well, he didn’t answer so we were like… Ok fuck that, Lizzy Borden is up!

So we went to Lizzy Borden and… I LOVE LIZZY BORDEN!! Seriously, I’ve seen them live three times now, and sure, I may not really know their songs like a hardcore fan, but FUCK how I love their music and their shows! This is one of the bands that I’ve started to enjoy as I saw, and see, them live. They changed the theatrics a bit since I saw them on Stockholm Rock Out, so instead of “cutting” his arms with “razors” he brought a fucking axe and “cut” his tounge! INSANE!

But just as we enjoyed Lizzy Borden… As I always do, I look on the crowds. And up on the balcony. And when I reached the balcony… I saw someone I recognized. Someone special. Someone we needed to talk to. So I grabbed Martine, asked Paula to stay and watch our spots.

So who was this guy? Actually… I’m not gonna tell you exactly who it was. The people who was there knows who it was, but it was someone from the Lordi camp, I can tell you that much. So Martine and I went up there and asked him about the Otus situation, and he told us he would check it up and asked us to stay close to the wardrobe area. With that solved, we just pretty much got back to our regular positions. Or almost, Martine, Michelle and Cecilie stayed upstairs as I ran down to Paula again and updating her on the situation, and rocking out to the last Lizzy Borden songs. And yeah well… As Lizzy Borden resigned from stage both me and Paula was supposed to go upstairs and join the rest of the girls, but we took a bigger way around passing the bathrooms, and as we did so, we ran into Anushka again! Whom had gotten a good share of Mr Bordens blood all over her face…. hahaha!

So yes… The sad part is, not much happened here from. Or haha, thats a freaking lie. ALOT happened. First of all, Destruction got on and for the first time in my life, as you know, I’m not the biggest fan of heavy heavy metal, so for the first time in my life, I got to see an actual and real mosh pit LIVE! During Destruction I believe! Well… Paula and Michelle went to grab something to eat, remaining us three only. What did we do? Well, we started our own minimoshpit. It was only me and Martine in it, but apparently a few guys tried to join, sadly, we gave up pretty quickly so they never managed to do so…

Michelle and Paula came back, Anvil got on stage, we enjoyed them… getting slightly pissed that we hadn’t heard anything from the Lordicamp just yet, but it was okay. Exodus was entering after Anvil and as they did so, Martine, Cecilie and Paula decided they wanted to go downstairs to watch them for real and I think even Martine engaged in the real moshpits, it’s possible she did during Destruction… no. It must have been during Exodus. Michelle and I, as the swedish pagans we are, remained at the spot, when I guy came and asked me if I wanted to have a beer with them.

This is something I don’t understand. I said that I’d love to, but that I was waiting for someone I couldn’t leave. So they asked me who I was waiting for, and I said I was waiting for Lordi. And then he gave me the weirdest look ever and then was like “Why are you waiting for Lordi?” with a voice so full of despise it almost pissed me off. I said it was for work, and then he asked me what my favourite band was, and naturally, I said it was Lordi, since you know, it is! And then he looked at me again and was like “Why?” Well… just because!
And the thing I don’t get here is – why do people judge others by the bands they listen to, or like “how can you like that band?” – WELL. Let me like the bands I want, and then you can like the bands you like. Okay? Good, glad we settled that one.

And actually, we got a nice visit from the always so lovley germans (Antha & Alex) too! Loved it! They had these amazing Finland hats, and I even got to try on Alexanders. It was too bit though…

I told Michelle as Exodus went on stage, having only Sepultura before and then Lordi, I was giving up waiting for Lordi. At this point we had been waiting about five hours, and we figured that we could always keep an eye up there, in case, but that we would go down. So as, when we thought, Exodus was gonna end we went down to the… you know, main area. As the concert was finnished we walked towards the herd, moshing ourselves, like the Swedish pagans we are, to the… almost front row. Catching up with Paula again, finding good spots to watch Sepultura from.

I have been told, afterwards, that my friends…. apparently…. yelled…. “HammerFall SUCKS!” after Exodus was done…. What… the…. hell. They… you know. Are supposed to be my best friends. And then they do this. I’m like, WHAT THE FUCK. FUUUUU.

TO BE CONTINUED
// Sara

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Helsinki 19-20/11 -11.

Posted in Concerts, Finland, Uncategorized on November 22, 2011 by Sara Hammerzmith

That’s an extremly… sophisticated title. Sorry about that, but I couldn’t figure out anything better! Anyways yes, as you probably knew, I spent my weekend in Finland, for the fourth and last time this year, unfortuneatley.

As usual, the trip began at midnight from where I live to Arlanda, and I mean you know the drill. Thing is I had to planned to sleep on the bus, I like went out of bed around 2pm, even went riding in the stable to make sure I was tired enough to sleep. But could I? Of course not. I had even put on The Ark on lowvolume to make sure I’d sleep well. But no, didn’t work and after a while I said fuck it. But a bit later, when I had HammerFalls “Chapter V” playing, on HIGHEST possible volume… Lets say the last song I heard was “Hammer Of Justice” and all of a sudden, I hear this creepy voice talking, and I’m like what the fuck. Looking down on my ipod. Turns out I had been sleeping throughout the entire album! (I began on Fury Of The Wild, in case any HammerFall diehards reads this, so technically not the entire album, but from H.O.J) So well, now I know that for next time I’m going somewhere, if I wanna sleep, I shall put on HammerFall and turn it up.

You know what I love? I love the neonsigns that is right before you get into the “arlanda-village”. The only thing I hear in my brain is “You know she likes the light on the neonbroadway signs…” I wish that I one day could capture it good on a picture. I guess I need a really good camera for that, cause mine failed to do that.

Anyways. For this weekends occasion, my plane didn’t leave at it’s usual 06.40 as it always is when I go to Helsinki, it left at 8 sharp. And I got there 04.30. What to do? Well. You go inside, look up the fanciest bathroom you can, lock yourself in and try to sleep. Which I failed, because I get so stressed out trying to sleep inside bathrooms. I’m so scared some staff is coming and unlocking or something like that. Sleeping in airports I can do, but not in the bathrooms. After that you have breakfast. On the bathroom floor. To keep the trip cheap I had brought breakfast from home so… yes. Glamorous, don’t you think?

Filthy glamorous, but that’s how we roll. Eventually, the time actually passed and I fell asleep on the plane, Seriously, I just realized how boring it is. I usually LOVE travelling because you can listen to music and daydream, but I always end up doing spasmic sit-dancing when I travel, and you can’t do that in planes because there are so much people. And also, you can’t dream away, because you need to keep your eye on the “fasten seatbelt” sign. So… yeah. Maybe I should continue sleeping. Either way.

I kinda liked being there late, not so much hours ’til hitting it! But as I awaited the germans (Antha, Alex, Eva), I just had a nice coffe and, yeah, I was of course still kinda sick, not sick as I couldn’t move, but as a sore throat… Yes, having coffe, getting ready and then… not meeting up with the germans. Because haha, I had left for their arrival hall, HOWEVER, they had went to Terminal 2 instead of going out at Terminal 1, so it was a FML moment. But we solved it easy – I got on the bus at T1, and they at T2. SAID AND DONE, reserved a fourseat thing and the moment we got to the busstation at Terminal 2, and I saw Eva and Eva saw me… HAHAHA, People must have thought we were retarded! Typical us.

Anyway.. Yes. We had a nice ride to downtown, and as we saw Argo awaiting us in the centre was also a moment of retardation. We were a bit worried on the bus if we’d find him, but as I said. “Wheter we find him or not – he will find us.” And well, he did! We grab fast…. no. SLOW LUNCH at McDonalds. Seriously, Antha and Alex had to wait… half an hour?! For their chicken nuggets. We said Antha maybe had to go slay the chicken herself. Or the black crowes. HAHA, internjokes.

As Eva went off to see a finnish friend, we others went shopping. Uhm… I think we went to like, Eurokauppa, Ninja, BR Leksaker, Cybershop and Morticia.. With various result! I found a couple of stuff in first three mentioned and Alex got some new badass pants at Morticia. After that, met up with the very best Jasmin and having dinner at McDonalds… again. Before we left for Bäkkäri.

We had a nice walk there. And at a roadcrossing, Argo just randomly started to talk to this guy there. I was like, what the fuck, is he asking for the way maybe? Then I recognized the person. Joni Master. You know, I was told he was coming, but I wasn’t really.. thinking much about it. But all of a sudden, he just… were there!!! I must say though, he is a real cool guy! I imagined he would different, considering what he is like online, but I honestly enjoyed hanging out with him! Hope that will happen again!

Yes, we hit Bäkkäri and we were the first people there. CAN YOU IMAGINE.. typical us though. It’s like queueing. Always get there early. But you know, we ain’t the shy ones. We ain’t the boring ones. So we just sat down, undressed (I mean… jackets.. what the hell?) ordered a few drinks.. and… “Would You Love A Monsterman” comes on…. Do I really need to tell you more? Well. The party started hahaha! I wonder what the manager thought. Ah hell, he must have seen worser things than this!

Green Room opened at 10pm right, and who were the first in? HAHA NOT US. Actually, a few persons beat us, but ok. We were ALMOST first in. And that place… was confusing. There where thousands (almost) different ways you could go and I was mainly like, Ok, sure, why not. We located the wardrobe, put away our stuff and located the stage. Front row! YAY! Or something like that, I hate this no fence thing so I.. step back a bit. Not for pressure, It just… you know… sitting in the lap of the band. And I’ve been sitting in Lemons and Cruzs laps enough so… Well, herefrom it was just insane. Dancing, partying and just awaiting the first band, Apezone!

They were good. Not exactly the kind of music I’m usually into, but I really liked their energy and, I mean, it didn’t suck! Great opening!

Next up was Honey Hellraiser, and the crowd (thank god) grew a little bigger for them!, Yeah, Apezone didn’t have that many in the audience sad to say : ( But at least they got it better, and yeah well.. It was great, as usual really. The audience seemed to have a lotta fun and love the kind of spirit “fresh” bands have you know? I’ve always (yes, it’s ok for me to say ALWAYS now when I see the third gig!) enjoyed HH the most on these concerts. Great, awesome. Just great.

And yeah well then.. Stala and SO.! They were good. To be honest, I have seen better… and they have taken away One Nite Stand! Highly disapprove. But oh god, did Eva and I have a good time? HAHA that is to say the least! I love going to concerts with crazy people, it gets so much more fun. But yes, Concert was fine, but could be better. I also wish Sampsa would you know, losen up a bit. Freak around a bit. Wouldn’t hurt him!

Bands off – Party on! It was just like in Helsinki last time, just a bit better range of music! Dancing, drinking, singing… I just love it. Eventually, and sadly, the germans and Jasmin had to leave, sadest moment of the day. I hate goodbyes. I really do. “Last Call For Alcohol” came on and for the second time ever we did a proper jenka to the song. The finnish people were looking SO suspiscious on us, but I promies you babes, we will make it happen.

Both me and Argo stayed at Harris place for the weekend, so it was basically just for us to head there for a small afterparty. Argo tried out the electric drums, haha, what a sight! But you know. There ain’t much more to say about it! For this occasion nor me or Argo had early ship/flights so we could stay a little longer. Had an awesome time, there is nothing better than discuss music with people who knows it.

You know, I kinda lost track of time. So I thought I was almost gonna be late for departure. But you know what happened? DELAYED. OF COURSE, OF COURSE! You know, I was already in kind of a rush you know for the busses home to Karlstad, and the plane kept getting delayed (its like Juha said; Universe doesn’t want me to leave Finland). But eventually we did take off, I got home, and made it to the bus and everything.

This was one of the best weekends, in my life, EVER. I hope this will happen soon again. Real soon. I miss all of you. Heavily.
“Hollywood whore, passed out on the floor, can’t take it no more, I’m sorry but the party is over”

// Sara

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Hardcore Superstar

Posted in Concerts, Uncategorized on November 13, 2011 by Sara Hammerzmith

Ahh, I missed this! It’s only a few weeks since my last concert, sure, but still, this is kinda where I belong you know. You get there, get in, visit the bathroom repack alotta shit to limit what you bring into the arena, and then just go inside and hit front row, and for this occasion, right infront of Jocke. Were there together with the very best Maria, later companied by Hanna and Nikke and one more friend I don’t remember the name of. Was a pretty fun night… Or… I’ll get back to that later. Keep in mind though dear readers, that actual reviews of the gigs are put up on hårdrock.com, so this isn’t really a full review more… look-at-our-night-kind-of-thing.

Ammotrack was the first band to hit the stage, and you, it’s that sad moment when it’s only… seven people in the audience. Must say though, together with a blackhaired guy, Maria and I were the ones getting it going, and they well noticed it! Pretty good band though, but I can’t say I fell for it, so to speak.

After Ammotrack it actually started to get some kind of audience when Avatar was entering… I need to widen my own views, I was going in for it as “I don’t like this band.” Like, big time. Sad part is, once a band facinates me, I’m hooked. No matter genre, and so was also the case with Avatar. At first I was like, wait what, this doesn’t fit with Hardcore Superstar at all, I mean, NOT AT ALL. And the singer was kind of insane, he marched on the spot and kept hitting a stick in the speaker, again, again, again… Scared me a bit, I was just waiting for him to swing it to the audience like Lordi’s granny does. But he never did, and despite the lack of song, he, and the band, facinated me, and now I’m hooked. Lovely stuff, and I think most of my friends never thought I’d like a band as them.

The light on Nöjes doesn’t cooperate with my camera really… oh well. Really, the pressure started to get really heavy now before Hardcore Superstar, and thats what I wanted to talk about.

I’ve been to many shows. I’ve been in front row on gigs with 20,000 people behind me, I’ve also stood behind those 20,000, been one of four in an audience and so on. And I know, when in front row, there are pressure from behind, I know that. I also know you can never leave a concert without bruises. But there are fucking limits on how much pressure there can be. Last night… was extremly extraordinary, and this is why I completly hate to go to concerts in Karlstad. It feels like it’s 100 fans there, and the rest is just people happening to end up there, and then ruining it for us. Because, I can honestly say, I only experience those kinds of things on Nöjesfabriken, it was the same when we saw Crashdiet there. We went from there extremly molested, and it wasn’t even funny yesterday. Today, I could barely get out of bed, because I have injuried both knees, both elbows and also my ribs, so I can’t stand steady on my knees, I can’t lift myself on the elbows, and I can’t bend.
These kinds of injuries, I ONLY get at Nöjesfabriken, and once on Sigurdsgatan. What the hell is wrong with people in this town? Take it easy, PLEASE.

Okay, moving on to Hardcore Superstar.

It was a fine gig. I mean… eh.. the setlist kind of disappointed me, or maybe, possibly, did I have way too much expectations on them, being the three weeks of madness and all, but I was still a bit disappointed. I really missed “We Don’t Need A Cure”… But as a liveband, they were great, as usual really. The only major thing that happened was when Jocke ran out during “Moonshine”, leaving the audience sing the whole song with the band alone. We later learned that Jocke had been out to throw up, haha nice one. But yes, in general, a good gig. I love how, at the end, Vic [Zino] kept throwing a bunch of picks to me, but I’m lousy at catching them and didn’t get a single one of the ones he threw. But thanks to Maria, who poked the guard, she managed to get me one. Haha, I love her!

Talking about ‘Moonshine’, or wait.. don’t talk about moonshine… No but seriously, there was this extremly annoying guy who were first all over me and I pushed him away, then he started to be all over Maria and I pushed him away, and even threatened him with my camera (I may love it, but I won’t hesitate to use it as a weapon). Even the guards asked him to back off. And then, when ‘Moonshine’ started, he poked me again and said “Oh? Is it really this one?”

I mean. The audience (and Jocke) sang “Don’t talk about MOONSHINE…”. Of course it ain’t ‘Moonshine’! This is obviously ‘Bag On Your Head’! If you can’t even recognize ‘Moonshine’ who is one of the more odd songs of HCSS, and actually have to ask someone, you shouldn’t be there. No, not at all. And you shouldn’t talk to me about it either.

But yes. Over all, I must say I had a really good evening. After the show we got ourselves something to drink, I mean, the dehydration you get during a concert is not to play with! We hit the merchstand too and I can now officially say I got my very first Hardcore Superstar shirt! And being so proud. We also took a way by the guys in Avatar, having Maria taking a real hot picture with the REAL hot singer! Hoho!

// Sara
Best tonite: Avatar! That awkward moment when the supportband is better than the headliner you know…
Worst: The nomadic audience. Give me a break. There ARE some limits.

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