Finland | Sara Hammerzmith

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SlipKnot @ Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland 18/1 -16

Posted in Concerts, Finland, Music, Uncategorized with tags concert, Finland, hartwall arena, helsinki, metal, prepare for hell, slipknot, the gray chapter on January 18, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

January 18th marked the first concert of the year, and it would be by no other band than SlipKnot. Ironically – Amaranthe was the first concert of the year last year, and it was only a by a breathe that Amaranthe didn’t become first gig this year. Hadn’t Amaranthe been first last year, SlipKnot would have been first. Isn’t it fun how faith works sometimes?

We woke up… way too late. Like, I don’t even fucking know what went wrong. We were supposed to go up around 12, seeing we came so late in with the flight that we got to bed really late and all of that. Despite this, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed and headed out. We had planned to make a quick visit to Music Hunter to look for some hard found Epica albums. Despite being a recordstore that is filled from floor to roof with CD’s, those two albums were nowhere to be found. What a shame.

We got back, picked up pizza at the pizzeria next to the hotel and started getting ready for the show. Called a taxi just to be sure to get there in time and all of that, and despite this, because of trafficjams, we didn’t get there and registered exactly two minutes before closing time. So, we got in, rushed to the cloakroom to leave our jackets and were then rushed to the room the meet&greet was going to happen.

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We stood in a little half circle around the hostess told us a bit about how this meet&greet would go down. We’d first take the picture with the band, since most, if not all, of them would attend, and afterwards we’d get our stuff signed. I thought to myself, sounds good, after all, this is how Lordi used to do it back in the days. So she asked us to form a line, and Michelle and I wound up first in line. Since I won’t really accept at all being first in line, haha, we moved ourselves backwards in the line. I’ve met many bands throughout the years, but I’ll always be a bit scared the first time around with a new band.

So, then, the band arrived, and to my surprise there were eight people joining us today. Corey, Clown, Alex, Jim, Sid, Jay, Chris and Mick. Our meet and greet had originally said only 3-4 would appear, so I guess this was an upgrade!

So the line moved on pretty quickly and before we knew it, it was our turn. Unlike the rest of the people we decided to go together, because why the hell not? And also, timesaving. Once we came up there about half the band cheered at the fact we were two, and Jim made some comments about two girls and one Corey. It was a fairly quick little session and then we got back in line for the signing.

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For the signing, they actually lined up, sort of like a table, like an actual signing session. Fast than you’d think we were already at the start, with Corey being first. Jim second. Clown third, and Sid fourth.

Sid was the only one of the members in SlipKnot I actually gathered up the courage to actually talk to. While Jim and I shared a laugh about something, Sid was the only one I dared to say something to. And do things to, all in all. I had barely looked at the other members, but with Sid I even leaned in and focused real hard in order to see through his sunglasses and meet his eyes. Sid is “my man” you see, he’s the one in SlipKnot if we say so. However, the only thing I actually said to him was that I liked his Mickey Mouse pants. He told me Mickey was cool. That was cool.

It was followed by Alex, Mick, Jay and Chris. See, I always had a bit of a problem with Jay, because of the impression I got of him from online, so imagine my surprise when he turned out to be extremely friendly. Alex was too, but that was no surprise really.

After all was said and done, the band left the scene and we were allowed to go and leave our signed stuff in the cloakroom. Oh, right! The ‘special tour gifts’ was a lighter and a poster. I must admit I thought it’d be something different, but you know. I won’t complain!

We were taken down undergrounds to some secret entrance to the venue, where we were let in before everyone else together with the people who had early entrance tickets. Despite the entry and everything being a bit delayed, I was surprised to see Suicidal Tendencies entering the stage exactly at 20 sharp.

So, I haven’t really listened a lot to Suicidal Tendencies prior to this gig, and I never had a very good impression of them, and well… It didn’t really change either. The band was absolutely fine and delivered very well on stage, but this really isn’t my kind of music. It’s something about that style that just doesn’t work for me. BUT, they did a good job warming up!

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After this, the wait for SlipKnot began. And it was held pretty short. Of course, not without making jokes about how early Korpiklaani would go on stage, but still. About a minute late, “Prepare For Hell” started, and the band came out and opened with “The Negative One”.

Well… That’s a first I guess. That surprised me, like, so much. I was very happy, that “The Negative One” was back since I thought it was a big mistake not including it at Graspop, but I had really thought “Sarchastrophe” would be the opener. They continued on with “Disasterpieces”… and sadly… the arena… Damn. At least on our side, it was fucking dead man. I don’t even get it. Why do you get front row if you are just going to.. stand there? Oh well. “Eyeless”, my personal favorite was next in line before something… almost magic happened.

They played “Skeptic”.

This marks one more song I always wanted to hear live from “The Grey Chapter” that finally happened. Fuck… that was magic. Corey Taylor spoke a bit about it being 15 years since “Iowa” was released, and then they continued the set with “I Am Hated”.

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The tour this time was very scaled down. On “Prepare for Hell” tour, they had this big goat head in the background, fire and pyrotechnics until no end. But not this time. A normal television screen, sort of, playing various videos and backdrops and some lightbulbs here and there. And that’s it.

Next on the list was “Killpop” and I was as happy as ever to hear this beautiful piece of music again, and it all went so atmospheric. Blue and purple lights, toned down… It was magical.

And then… a big moment for Michelle to say the least, when the tones to “Dead Memories” started. I shit you not, she got completely silent. It was truly her night, song wise.

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“Dead Memories” was followed by “Everything Ends” which was strongly followed by “Psychosocial” and “Wait And Bleed”. Despite these two songs, the crowd, at least on our side, was still dead as hell. “Duality” and “The Devil in I” continued the set, followed by “Before I Forget” and then… this special little thing happened.

“Metabolic”.

“Metabolic” FUCKING HAPPENED. Who would have fucking thought? Need I tell you all how insane we went? Oh god. What a rush it was! They wrapped up the set with “(sic)” before they left the stage.

An interesting little song started, it was like, a folksong about going to hell, and the members came back on stage. They blew off “Surfacing” and “Left Behind” before, what for me is the best moment of an entire SlipKnot show – “Spit it Out”.

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Seriously. There is something truly special about the whole “sit the fuck down” moment, and this would be the first time I did it in the front row. I must admit, it was fucking tight to sit down, but the guy behind me and I managed to sort it out so that he sat around me, almost having me in this lap and then he could have his arms around me on the fence as well. And you know… how it’s pumping. How it builds up. And then how you all JUMP THE FUCK UP!

I thought it’d fuck up our spots, but it didn’t!

With that being said, the band thanked for the night and left the stage.

It was a really good show, they had great energy and I enjoyed seeing them so much. But on the same time… there was something lacking. Like, “Custer” for instance. And “People=Shit”. But most importantly… it felt so… intimate. Being so close to them… and the show being so scaled down… it almost felt like seeing them in a small club environment. It was… pretty sweet in a way. A band you consider an arena band, a band you have usually seen in a distance, now seemed to intimate, and so close… so… reachable.

And that is what made it all so worth it. I love this band so much.

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Right after, we hit the merchstand to pick up a tourshirt, and then we hooked up with one of the people from the Meet&greet, and then got home.

This has, despite some mishaps, been one of the most amazing days in my life. I really needed this right now. Thank you SlipKnot, Live Nation and Michelle for this amazing day.

// 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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Scare Force One in Finland – Part 3

Posted in Finland, Scare Force One Release, Uncategorized on November 5, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

And with that,the gig was over. Before the gig, we had been told we could possibly go backstage, so directly after we had to head over to the meeting point, and of course it’s at this point we run into Maddy and Jasmin! I tell you though. Maddy is a girl I’ve known for a good 8, yes _8_ years and I hadn’t met her up til this point! My god! It was such a surreal feeling a way, this girl you’ve chatted with for so many years and all of a sudden she’s there! Right in front of you!

A brief little hello before we had to rush further, in order not to loose our friends. Gladly, we were all re-united with everyone at the meeting point and headed over to the backstage-area.

And seriously, it was a mess alright.

First of all, there were all these people with the VIP passes that apparently included a meet&greet or something with Lordi, and fair enough! But after a while it was time for us to get in as well, and first we got in and somehow Sophie managed to sneak in with us. They stopped Anthalerero in the door but with a little bit of arguing about her being the photographer we got her in to, and with her came Jasmin and her friend, and then the next thing happened where they stopped Maddy in the door and the next little argument started about that they can’t take in us all and leave Maddy behind, so gladly we got her in to. I think Laura and her guy managed to sneak in at this point to, as you can hear: TOTAL CHAOS!

Anyway, we were told to be quick getting our pictures taken, and I’d say we were! It wasn’t so much of a meet&greet, more of a “GET IN TAKE A PHOTO GET OUT” kind of thing, BUT, Mr OX and I did totally have a moment.

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First picture is Michelle and Kaarle, second pic is Mara and Me, and the photo of me and Mara is taken by Anthalerero.

I sadly do not have pictures of the other guys with Lordi, but you get the picture! After this we all stood in a little circle waiting for each other to get done when one of Kaarles friends came over and gave me one of Mana’s used drumsticks! Seriously, thank you J! That was just the cherry on top, seriously. When getting into the lobby we ran into Laura, who worked at the exhibition in Savonlinna this summer, if you remember? It was really nice seeing her again, and saying a more proper hello! After going out of the area we all kinda split up. Maddy & co headed over to Bäkkäri, Mara and Kaarle headed home and me, Michelle, Sophie and Anthalerero headed to the hotel to drop off some stuff and a quick clothing change before joining the rest of the people at Bäkkäri. But before so,we had one last groupshot.

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We ended up spending a little while at home talking about everything and nothing before “finally” heading over to Bäkkäri where we met up with Jasmin, Maddy and their friend. We had a good few hours talking and laughing, and at one point the wonderful Kaisa came over to say hi! This meeting was completely unexepcted, but this is also one of these Lordi fans I’ve had contact with for a few years and never actually met until now. It was really cool meeting you!

I promise. Maddy did survive. Anyways, after a few hours at the place we all got a little tired and me, Michelle, Antha and Sophie headed back to the hotel where we originally planned to go to bed… and well, Michelle did, but the rest of us sat up and talked and talked for hours and hours about everything and nothing. A lot of gasps, laughters and memories shared until we decided that it might be a good idea to get a few hours of sleep before getting up to showing Antha out of the hotel in the morning. I think we slept about two hours before we went up again. Ahh, the life on the road! We said good bye to Antha for this time, went back to bed for an hour or so before going up and packing everything and saying good bye to the most amazing hotel ever.

We met up with Sophie at Sokos McDonalds and headed towards the cutest little coffeshop for breakfast and good bye. And I swear to god, like I already wrote in the previous entry… I could have sat in that coffeshop for the whole day, forever. I didn’t for a split moment want it to end. It was just heartbreaking when we had to leave for the bus and say good bye to Sophie for the last time… I can’t tell you people enough how badly I did NOT want this all to end.

This was the best weekend I have had in a very, very long time, perhaps ever. Meeting up with peers that shares the same passion as you, and meeting up with them all on the same time, in the best city in the entire world, watching the best band in this world and just living inside this little bubble that is the Lordi fandom for a whole weekend… It’s just beyond amazing and it’s the best thing you could ever possibly do.

Thank you, sincerely, ALL of you who made this weekend the perfect that it was. I’ll thank you all one more time.
Thank you, Michelle, Sophie, Kaarle, Mara, Argo, Anthalerero, Maddy, Jasmin, Aneta, Laura, Kaisa and of course – Lordi.

// Sara

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Scare Force One in Finland – Part 2 (THE SHOW)

Posted in Concerts, Finland, Scare Force One Release, Uncategorized on November 4, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

So! Towards the Circus we headed, and we walked and walked and walked… for five minutes. Or less. I’m not even sure, what I DO know is that the Circus was ridiculously close to the hotel. I’ve had hotels that are close to arenas, but this took the price! We basically just walked down a street or two, and over a market square and there it was.

Much to our surprise, there was already a small line there. I know how horrible it sounds, but I didn’t really expect that. It wasn’t long, but it was there! The first thing that happens is that we were greeted by Michelle’s long time friend Kaarle and Mara. It was great meeting you guys!

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But as we came to the queue, we noticed a few people were missing… Where the hell were Sophie and Argo?! They left like, half an hour before us, there was no chance in hell we’d arrived before them. We started getting real worried actually, if they had gotten lost or something, but gladly, they showed up! It turned out they had been on the other side of the venue for a while, phew! I’m glad they hadn’t gotten kidnapped or anything. Yes, we did really consider this a thing.

After them arriving the long wait sort of began. The queue started growing behind us, and all of a sudden I see a familiar face…. could it be? YES IT WAS! Anthalerero was in the house! Damn, it have been too long since I last saw her, possibly at Christmas Metal Meeting, which is three years ago. It’s hard to think about, because as soon as you meet them, it feels like there was never a time apart.

Now we really stared to feel like a crowd, and the opening hours were getting close. And once the clock turned 6… they didn’t open the door. And see, here’s the thing. You can stand outside the gig for so many hours, but GOD FORBID they open the doors a little late, because I swear to god, nothing is longer than those five minutes you have to wait extra.

But you know, eventually they DID open the door and we rushed in. Apparently you had to leave your jacket in the wardrobe, so we all kinda threw our jackets to Michelle for her to handle it and the rest of us rushed in to get spots, and we ALL got spots in the front row! ACE! We switched between holding the spots and going to look at the merchandise, and I must say I was a little disappointed with what they had in store. But oh well, no big deal!

While waiting for Korpiklaani, another familiar face appeared! Aneta, another person I hadn’t seen since Christmas Metal Meeting three years ago. It was so great seeing her again, and Antha also showed up again (we lost her during the opening of the door, haha). Seriously, I can’t put to words enough how happy I get to see my fellow monstermaniacs again.

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So, Korpiklaani was said to start at 18.45 and they were pretty much on the clock! While I’ve heard of the band prior to this show, I have never actually listened to the band up until now. However, I was happily surprised! The band on stage was energetic and managed to get the crowd going pretty good. And for someone who is absolutely unfamiliar with this band, imagine my surprise when they started playing “Ievan Polka”. That’s a song even I know! Haha!

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Anyway, I really liked what I heard! Another band to add to the list. After this, the excitement started to grow even bigger. It was finally time for Lordi.

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Pretty much right on time “Estimated Time of Arrival” started and to my surprise, two flight-attendants before the ever so familiar Mana walked on stage and greeting us. Following him came the little spider-doll Hella jumping out on stage like, well, yeah, a spider. Her new attire is just fucking perfect, what a character she has become! Amen and OX followed suit and then they started off with…

… “Nailed by the Hammer of Frankenstein“.

I’m not going to lie to you people – I was SO CONFUSED when this happened. I was so sure they were gonna do “Scare Force One” as an opener, that I literally for the first few seconds of the song just stood there trying to figure out what song they where playing, and once I did so, I was just there like “wait what?” and it wasn’t until half the song had passed or so that my brain has managed to process what was going on. Oh man, they sure got us there.

And if this wasn’t enough, they made “Hard Rock Hallelujah” the second song of the night, which was the next WHAT THE FUCK moment. Fine, I’m absolutely OK with it not being at the end, but I was WELL surprised to see it as the SECOND SONG of the night. Do you understand, I literally stood here like “what on earth is going on…”

And if this wasn’t enough, they had enough pyros fired off to make me have a heart attack. This my friends, even just two songs in, this is probably the most in-your-face I’ve seen Lordi in many, many years.

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After this rather confusing intro, one my biggest Lordi dreams came true. Mr Lordi pointed out that it was Halloween night, and given so, they just had to play Alice Copper’s “He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)”. And literally, guys… I’ve always loved Lordi’s cover of this song, and to actually hear it live… This is literally one of my biggest dreams when it comes to Lordi. And the fact they had an actual Jason coming out and slicing someone up just made it better. I’ve missed theatrical Lordi.

Right after the fired of my oh so favorite (sarcasm) “Sincerely With Love” before walking off the stage and letting “SCG7” play in the speakers. When they came back, they fired of my REAL favorite song (at least of SF1) “Scare Force One”. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but in the first pre-chorus it got real screwed up. At first I thought the flight ladies sang the wrong pre-chorus, but I’m not starting to think it might have been a delay-issue, or something like that. Sounded screwed like hell, that’s for sure.

Whatever it was- it got fixed to the next pre-chorus, gladly. After the title-track, the ever so missed autopsy table was brought back on stage and it was time for us to learn how to slice a whore, haha. God people, this song live! However, I’m not sure what was most awesome – he slicing the corpse, or he almost setting his bandmates on fire with the chainsaw. Sorry for the humor, but the reactions of both Mana and OX – despite wearing masks, were just hilarious.

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Mana is basically like “DUDE, STOP IT!”

“It Snows In Hell” was the next song on the list, and yes, we did indeed hang upside down! It’s become a new tradition. It just has to be done. After the little break it was time for Mr L to get out and get his hat for “Sir, Mr Presideath Sir!” And seriously though. I’ve so underestimated this song on the album, and it’s beyond amazing live. And it was so fun – there was this woman coming out with a baby, to you know, get a kiss from the presideath, but since it’s the presideath,and not the president… Yeah. He chewed the thing right up! Oh God, theatrical Lordi, I’m glad you are back!

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“Blood Red Sandman” found it’s way to be done before it was time for another of my favorites off the new album – “Hell Sent in the Clowns”. See, even thought I was a clown at circus-school when I was little, clowns creep me out like hell. And we had already gotten a little sneak from Hella about there being actual clowns on stage… and there sure as hell were! “Clowns are coming…. clowns are coming…” and the little bastard came out on stage! They threw everything from blood to confetti on us, and being basically all over the place. When they first came out I was worried they’d start beating us, like grandma did during “Babez” era,b but gladly not.

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After the clowns got sent back to hell Amen joined us up front for his ever so familiar devil’s horns, and “Devil is a Loser” was kicked in. The band left the stage, and returned a little while later firing off “Would You Love A Monsterman”. If you thought that was it, it wasn’t.

They made one last song – “God of Thunder”. I loved Lordi’s version of it, but I must admit I found it a little strange they’d wrap the whole show up with it, rather than “Would You” But you know – if that’s what they like, that’s what they like.

After “God of Thunder” they thanked for the time and walked off the stage. This was indeed a short list from the beginning,but the epicness behind the whole show made it feel even shorter since I for once in a very long time actually enjoyed every second of the show. The band seemed to be more into, more “hungry” than ever before despite the crowd being a little meh. I think they might have needed the time down with “To Beast” in order to come back this strong.

Thanks Lordi, for a pretty awesome gig! It was the best I’ve seen in a long time.

To be Continued

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Scare Force One in Finland – Part 1

Posted in Finland, Scare Force One Release, Uncategorized on November 3, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

So, after a bit of debating with myself I came to the conclusion that I’ll divide this into three parts rather than making one LONG entry about it.

Well well! Where shall I start off. Because of school reasons I decided to leave fairly late from home, not until about 5.30 or so in the evening, arriving fairly late, as you might understand. I immediately set off for the hotel and started walking up the ever so familiar shopping street, and a few years later I finally arrived at the hotel. I set up my things and left to pick up some dinner and also heading out for some poster-hunting. Yes, I’m a sucker for gig-posters, and having seen a SlipKnot one on Drottninggatan I had to see if there was anymore than that one availible, which it wasn’t, but you know… I got my dinner so I’m happy.

So yeah. What can I say. Scare Force One on repeat, dinner and chatting with awesome people before going to bed to get ready for the real adventures. When laying down, I noticed that people had written small messages in the “roof” of the bed, and I figured I had to leave a little message as well.

The next day became a little more stressful. I know myself pretty well, and I also know I hate getting up in the morning even if I have to. Even though I packed and prepped everything already the night before, I still struggled a little coming up. I had planned so I could miss a bus or two without missing the flight, which was good. I got out in good time, and I even had time to stop and snitch Sid off the panel he was sitting at at Drottninggatan.

And this must have been my lucky day I’m telling you – when looking at the buscharts, it said it was going to leave at 8,which made me so confused, because when I checked the time-table online, it clearly said 7.40, 7.50, 8.00 and so on, and I had checked specifically for todays date, and I saw the bus before left 7.45, and I arrived 7.46.

Or at least it was supposed to have been. I went outside and got on the bus that was outside, and after a minute or so it left, like, 13 minutes before it was “supposed” to. Not sure at all what was up inside Cityterminalen, but I was more than happy that I and Sid got to the airport as soon as possible. Luggage drop off was quick, and I eventually went through security and all, with only abuot an hour or so until the plane was about to take off. Good. After all this time travelling, I’ve gotten sick of waiting too long.

I decided to pick up a coffee for breakfast before meeting up with Michelle who was already waiting by the gate! Gaaah, it was so cool to see her again, and to travel again you know? At first we started looking for some place to have some actual food, but soon decided against it and eat one in Finland instead. As we waited for the plane, a little kid came and played with Michelle’s jacket. Oh the lulz.

Since we didn’t check in nor book together, we didn’t get seats next to each other… but gladly, the plane wasn’t filled or anything so we ended up sitting together regardless! When we landed in Finland we were greeted with better weather than it was in Sweden, that could only be a good sign, right?

First stop after getting to Helsinki central was to pick up some concert tickets at a R-Kioski and then heading toward the hotel. I had originally booked the wrong hotel, but managed to cancel it and book the same hotel fellow monstermaniac Sophie stayed at. We headed over there, and much to our dismay, noticed we couldn’t check in until 4. I’ll tell you about this hotel.

So, this hotel is basically not staffed. You have a code to your room, which is also the code to the hotel and the elevator, so there is no actual receptionist or anything there. We were a little frustrated, I mean, we wanted to get to the gig goddamnit! So we called the service number, and she told us since our room was ready, she could activate the code immediately. THANK HEAVENS! We went upstairs, unpacked our things and got in touch with Argo and Sophie.

We told them to meet us in 20 minutes outside the hotel, so we went down to the lobby to wait for them. It was so exciting. I haven’t seen Argo since our trip to Italy in 2013, and Sophie, the last time I met her was in 2010!! It’s fucking insane! After waiting a while, we finally saw them coming and I literally went all ASJDLAJDLASJ on the inside for seeing these amazing people again! Wow. The feeling people, the feeling of seeing someone you haven’t seen for YEARS, and now they are there with you, in real life. It’s a surreal feeling.

We headed to the Rax Pizza buffet for Lunch and we just sat and ate good food and talked for a good hour or so, before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the show. It took a little longer time than I had expected, so we sent Sophie and Argo to head over before us – like, the arena was 5 minutes or so away from our hotel, so it wasn’t even a particularly long walk or anything. A little after they left, also we got on our way and headed for The Circus.

To be continued

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The party’s just begun and kids eat too much cake

Posted in Concerts, Finland, Uncategorized on November 2, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

I’m currently sitting on the bus home from Finland, dead tired after very little sleep and a little cold creeping its way on to me.

But, despite all this, this has been the best weekend in my life in quite some time. I’ve spent the weekend in my favorite city together with the most amazing people. At times like this I absolutely love the fandom so much. We were gathered from so many countries – France, Sweden. Norway, Austria, Estonia, Finland, Germany and Czech Republic (if I even remember all!) and we spent the night together watching the best band in the world showing off their new costumes and songs on the releasegig,

All day was filled with reunion meetings, laughter, freezing to death in the cold, anticipation and making new friends, and during the night we sat and talked and laughed for hours and hours and even more hours before we went to bed. In a very long time, I’ve actually for real felt I never wanted this to end. When sitting at the coffeshop this morning with Sophie I didn’t want it to end. But all good things come to an end I guess.

Thanks to all of you people who made this weekend beyond amazing – Michelle, Sophie, Argo, Anthalerero, Aneta, Mara, Kaarle, Madlen and Jasmin. And of course – the best band in the world, Lordi. Thanks for everything.

Lordifansss

(Stole the picture off Michelle’s instagram)

// Sara

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Photobomb

Posted in Finland, Uncategorized on July 6, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

At last I’ve sat myself down and gone through the pictures from the exhibition itself. I do believe each and everyone of you out there should really GO TO IT, and support the local art department, support Lordi, support Savonlinna and meet some fantastic people, so I won’t publish too many detailed pictures or anything here. But yes, a few things.

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The last pictures are with the AMAZING people working there. Love each and everyone of these people. Thank you so much for everything!

// Sara

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Expedition Savonlinna: Day 3 – And the rain will kill us all

Posted in Finland, Uncategorized on July 2, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

Last night, after going home when the exhibition had closed, we decided to take on last stroll around the central of the town, more specifically, the forest close to their casino across the bridge from the square we lived in. The whole town was almost built up like that – islands. There were bridges and small seas everywhere.

Anyway, this city is really breathtaking. The nature, the seas, the architecture. I mean, I know I’ve said it quite a lot, that it’s basically the same, Sweden and Finland, and in the core it is, but on this town I tell you… extraordinary. The rain was pouring down like crazy, hence my lovely Slipknot-y title, because the rain did perhaps not kill us, but it did kill our faboluos hair, haha.

I tried to take som pictures, but yeah, rainy rainy!

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After strolling around, we went home to the hotelroom and wrapped things up with Dark Floors. The night ended a lot later than we had expected it to, leaving us with a lot less sleep than we had expected. But yes, again, what did we expect. We’re on a journey and all, haha.

Anyway, when we woke up in the morning we immediatley went down for breakfast and then headed up to pack everything. I only bought two shirts, dry schampoo, a poster and some very tiny souvenirs, yet I struggled to pack my bag. What is that. WHY is this. Don’t know really, but precious Michelle offered to take on my toiletries, and eventually we could leave the amazing apartment and head towards the train station.

This is something we did with very, VERY heavy hearts. You know. This is my home. It feels like it. I’ve been drawn to Finland ever since I was little, and no matter what town I visit, or how many times I visit, my urge to get here gets stronger. I’ve paid so much attention to the finns when they speak during my stay, and I’ve picked up quite a bit in the language. Of course, it’s not easy breezy language, but you know.

After this, the whole… travelling madness began. First off, was the train from Savonlinna to Parkkila, and then in Parkkilla we had a 8 minutes train change. Gladly, Parkkila is a pretty small station, so getting between the trails aren’t hard at all.

However, on the train from Parkkila to Helsinki, panic start to wake up in me. I realized, that with the expected arrival, 16.48, it would leave us pretty exactly two hours until the plane would leave. And then we are only in the city central. Shit shit shit shit. We looked up the times of the air transfers, and noticed they departured every 20th minute, and one would go 16.50, and we hoped we would catch it.

Which we didn’t, of course. Why would it ever run smoothly for us? So well yeah, next one it was, 17.10, leaving us only 20 minutes to check in our luggage before they closed the bag-drop off. But as the smooth people we are, we managed it. Well what can I say… we got on the plane. Got off it. Collected our luggage.

Got some dinner, Got on another bus to the city terminal, and now I’m here.

On the last bus. My shoes are uncomfortable as hell, after wearing them for 16 hours. My whole body is sore and pressed together because I’ve been seated in small areas for so long. I’m tired as hell, I have a sore throat and I mix up Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish when I try to talk to someone. And on top of that, I forgot my seasickness pills, so I’m really ill as well.

But it’s worth it. This is the kind of thing you do for the bands you love, you know. This wasn’t even a concert, but I don’t regret a single second going there, supporting the band, supporting the local artschool and on the same time experience a bit of Lordi history. I’m completely blacked out financially right now, and I’m going back to work on Friday. And I hope I still got some voice. And that I’ve gotten rid of the finnish words by then.

But yeah. I’d do anything for Lordi, I would walk the distance for them. And that is something we’ve done in this trip. And just the fact that we’ve travelled 14 hours today, speaks a lot of it, don’t you think?

Thanks Lordi, thanks Savonlinna, thanks to the amazing hotel and most importantly, the amazing crew at the exhibition. We LOVE YOU.

// Sara

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Expedition Savonlinna: Day 2

Posted in Finland, Uncategorized on July 1, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

Alrighty alrighty. Day two in this gorgeous town started rather early with some heavy breakfast. Or perhaps, healthy breakfast. Yup. That’s right people. For once, I decided to go fairly healthy, and so did Michelle. Best breakfast EVER.

Tasty. TASTY FOOD I TELL YOU.

After breakfast, we decided to go for a smaller shopping spree. We mainly went out to get some dry schampoo (to make sure to look our best for the afternoon) but also because hey! We’re on vacation! The only thing I really did pick up though when we roamed the streets where a few souvenirs. Instead of getting a lot of decorations at stores, I plan to decorate my room and my future apartment with souvenirs from all the different towns I visit, mainly outside of Sweden of course. I also found this amazing little snake-necklace, and I love snakes on jewellery (and for real as well, but I don’t wanna own one myself) so I had to take it. Matched my snake earrings pretty well. Also found the cutest of stickers to use in montages for the future.

Anyways. After shopping, lunch at Subway and dry-schampooing, we headed for the very last time to the exhibition. We were greeted by the same amazing lady as we were yesterday, and then we got to enter the amazing thing again. Not sure how much I wrote about it yesterday, and it wasn’t TOO much stuff there – but it was basically this “Honey I’m home!” feeling when you got into the room with the Deadache and Babez line up.

Lordiii 090

Well.. what can I say. First of all we spent a few hours photographing EVERY DETAIL on the costumes. I have a friend who’s into cosplaying, figured I’d do him a favor and photograph as much details as I possibly could. After this we just hung out, sitting on the floor discussing details on the shoes and the costumes when a couple of the crew came and talked a little to us.

When we were checking out the art exhibition the sweet lady came and told us she was leaving for the day, and we didn’t want to let go, so we asked her if we could perhaps have a picture with her, and she agreed! She also called the whole crew to come and take picutres with us, and we are SO THRILLED to get this. Because this is the absolute best crew ever.

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I’m going to tell you why. These people… they kept us company all day. Talking Lordi with us. And later on talking about Finland, Sweden, Everything between heaven and earth really! It was SO NICE you know, to just sit and discuss Lordi up and down with people. People you’ve never talked to before about it.

But here’s the real deal. They asked us, “Hey, would you like to see the wings?”, you know, Mr Lordi’s wings? They weren’t a part of the exhibition (at least not at this point) so we said hell yeah! However, we expected it to be like, they would start some fancy thing on the set up or so, but what happened was the the guy actually WENT UPSTAIRS to the storage, and brought down the wings. Only to show us.

And it doesn’t stop there. Then he and the others started mending the thing (pretty broken) and fixing it up. So we could take pictures with it.

Do you guys hear this? They brought down the fucking wings for our sake. The mended the damn thing for our sake. I can’t even… I can’t even begin to describe this! THE BEST CREW I’M TELLING YOU!

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After this, we sat and discussed music and whatnot with the crew, all the way until the thing closed. One of the guys even gave us the broom and told us “No no, you’re not leaving yet! Cleaning time!” Sadly, he was only joking. Seriously, I could VOLUNTEER cleaning the place, no problem!

Of course we didn’t leave the place emptyhanded. I came out of the place with a Hella faceshirt (after a few ifs and buts) as well as a Get Heavy shirt. I’m bankrupt, but you know. If it’s anyone I’d go bankrupt for, it’s Lordi.

After this, we cooked ourselves some tacos sitting here and just admiring the whole thing, loving the whole thing, saying to ourselves…

we don’t wanna go home

// Sara

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Savonlinna Expedition: Day 1

Posted in Finland, Uncategorized on June 30, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

Alright people! So I guess the cat’s out of the box! We are in Finland, and we are attending Lordis exhibition! Let me tell you about our journey.

Our journey started last night, Sunday night, at a cold busstation in Stockholm. We started walking towards the hotel we had booked in panic in realizing we need some sleep before going to Finland. Once reaching the hotel, we realize there are NO staff there whatsoever. Gladly, we could call them, and they let us in and told us what roomnumber we had and everything sorted out.

It was kinda weird you know, being like in charge, and it got even weirder when we noticed we were literally the ONLY guests at the hotel! Spooky, but also fun. We also had this MAJOR thing in the middle of our room, that looked like something that would come straight out of the Robinson-quest at Boda Borg.

Fun story about the hotel: Michelle was about to go and get ready for bed in the master-bathroom, but all of a sudden I heard her scream. Apparently, we weren’t alone at the hotel. We had company.

Well. Perhaps not her brand new best friend if you know what I mean. Gladly, there were a bunch of kids toilets we could use instead.

Anyway. Another fun story: After we located the Alfons Åberg toilets, I had a bit of an incident. I was just about to wash off my face when I got stuck. I thought it was just my festival bracelets who caught the necklace and tried to shake it off. Look closer in the mirror. It appears I managed to stuck the chain of my necklace inside the safety-pin I had nailed to one of my festivalbracelets. HOW. HOW DO I EVEN MANAGE THIS?!

After this, we managed to get about what, three hours of sleep? Before it was time for us to head for the airporttransfer. Once there, we checked in everything, got inside and eventually got some breakfast. AND ALMOST MANAGED TO MISS OUR FLIGHT. HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE. When we reached the gate it was final call. HOW. HOW.

Well, gladly, we MADE the flight (I would never have forgiven myself else) and you know. I’ve missed flying SOOO much. It was so nice to be back in the air, and I was excited as HELL getting back to Helsinki for the first time in forever.

Once landed and transported into the central of Helsinki we picked up some quick lunch and headed for our train. Everything went so perfectly – we never had to wait too long for anything, but on the same time we never really had to stress too much. Of course, I was worried as hell while on the first train (we were to change in another town) but after reaching that destination, realizing the other train departed two metres away, all the fear disappeared.

And you know. Savonlinna… It’s so beautiful! I mean, I’ve been in awe ever since we arrived. We located the hotel fairly quickly. and noticed what a pretty apartment we’d manage to get! It’s amazing! BEYOND AMAZING! After settling down, charging phones and getting ready, we headed for our final destination. The Lordi Exhibition.

At first, we missed it. But then, after turning on our GPS, we managed to locate it. We both squealed inside when we saw the banner flying high, or wwell, not so high, but fairly high!

And then we entered… and I must say. We came across the SWEETEST STAFF EVER! Instantly when we had come in, we started chatting about Lordimemories, the costumes, the shows, the eras, EVERYTHING! It was so great to for once you know, outside a concert, meet someone you can really talk to about Lordi. And then you had the other guy, who was the one who came up with the idea of the whole exhibition…

So here’s the deal. We stood there and admired Kalma and Kita’s costumes from the Monsterican Dream era, and we told him that we didn’t really dare to go too close because we were unsure if any of the costumes would actually start moving. Then he looked really close and he was like “No, they are all right! Go check!” Hesitantly, we both leaned in to look Kalma in the eyes….

And then the crewmember grabbed both of us and screamed.

Like. If I haven’t been closer to a heartattack before, then I sure was now. WHAT THE HELL. I mean, now, five minutes later, it’s hilarious as hell, but at the moment I was like WRTLDSFJASLDJASLDJ!! I may add, we were the only ones at the exhibition at the time, and the crew. The entire crew laughed, and after a while we joined in as well.

Well, what can I say. I enjoyed the exhibition. It was nice seeing the costumes so up and close, and to notice all these details. I feel somewhat decieved in a way, when I noticed some certain aspects. I mean, I know they are fake, but I didn’t realize how simple some of them where! I’m beyond fascinated though. It gives me a lot of ideas for questions, and tomorrow I’ll make sure to bring along a notepad so I can scribble down all I come up with.

We are going back tomorrow to pick up some merch as well as paying the exhibition and the lovley staff a last visit before leaving.

Not that I want to leave but…

Well. I figured I’d put up more pictures tomorrow, or when I get home. Right now both me and Michelle are pretty dead after being awake for almost 24 hours(!!) and we just want to sit down and watch Dark Floors. As you can see, we are posing with the props from the movie on the pictures above! Lovely place.

Over and out!

// Sara

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