Sitting here, came home from London earlier today and now I’m just in some sort of musiccoma just listening to Mötley Crüe and nothing but Mötley Crüe… The concert was overepic, and I’ll write more when I get.. less… tired.
WHEN I SAY MOTLEY YOU SAY CRUE – MOTLEY / CRUE MOTLEY / CRUE
Favourite song out of the “Jay Smith” album. Seriously, It’s fine by Madonna, but when it’s done the rock way and with JAY singing considering his history and all… makes it ten or no, thousand times better. Fuck.
Okay, so it’s like 01.37am. At this point I’ve actually managed to pack all the clohtes I need, so now it ain’t much left. Thats the good thing with travelling with short time in between – since you never unpack (or I only unpack clothes to be washed), half of everything you need is already there, such as electricity, medicine and bathroom stuff. Thats is awesome.
And also, like this, in the middle of the night, I figured out what the heck to wear. Meshtop, Leotop and spandex. And you see, this is why Germany and Eurovision is awesome. The leotop, which is one of my highest beloved one, was bought in a Tally Weill store in Köln when we were at Eurovision. Why it makes ESC so great is because, if it would have been a normal concert, I would never have cared to stay to shop, but since ESC is a three day event spread over six days, you kinda have to stay in the country/city. And what the hell do you do. Well.. normally sightseeing maybe, but not if you are me, haha. Then you go shopping. And I find this beauty. And I care for it so much I keep it in the bag it came in, and thats why I tend to forget about it.
So yes. England it was… that will be weird. First time I go there, might be interesting. I’ll have my computer there and maybe I’ll give some updates juuhuu. But now, Madonna and packing. And Lussebulle eating. Hoho!!
NP: Like a Prayer – Madonna
// Sara
Ever since I got the “Dreamin In A Casket” record a few days ago I’ve had this song on repeat. I like it more and more!
So. It’s like sunday night. I haven’t unpacked from Lichtenfels, so I haven’t packed for London. I have no clue what to wear, and it is at times like this I wish I had a proper pair of pants, cause, I don’t. I wonder where my zebraspandexes are. They are probably broken. What the hell to wear.
I was considering slaughtering a boring black shirt, but will I manage in time, and still make it look ok? Should have done laundry, now I have to make it early tomorrow and hope to god it will dry in time. I’m shuffling through my bandshirts, I find shit to wear. Maybe Deadache shirt, to what? I have no clue. PVC outfit again? With what?
This ain’t holding up. What the hell. And sad part is, all I can think about is New Years eve and plans for next year. And oh, I have to text my ridingteacher. Or I should have done two days ago. And I should have mailed my boss like a week ago. This is what we call FUCK MY LIFE.
But in the end, how hard can it fucking be. Longsleeved Pretty Boy Floyd shirt (it’s the fucking winter, lol.) to skirt and stockings. Naaah. Maybe not. What the hell. I will have to figure something out.
In the meantime, I must say I’m sooo looking forward to next years festivals. We have 2 planned (Bang Your Head & Sweden Rock) and one still pending (Skogsröjet) and I came to think about this when looking at all my festival wristbands. I love them, first one is from Peace&Love 2007. I love them, and actually, whenever talking about a show and not remembering what year or date it was, I just look at my wristbands. Cause yeah sure, this band says “Rockweekend 2010” but that wristband also reminds me of EVERY show 2010. It’s a complicated communication system in my brain, haha, but fuck, it’s awesome.
But sometimes, they annoy the hell outta me, especially Sonisphere 2010 and Skogsröjet 2011. They have this massive black things. What the hell is up with that, so messed up it ain’t even funny. So sometimes I just wanna fucking rip them off. But that’s a no can do, because I love them more than I hate them.
Peace & Love 2007, 2008, 2009 | Sweden Rock 2008, 2010 | Rockweekend 2010 | Sonisphere 2010 | Skogsröjet 2011 | Christmas Metal Fetival 2011
Okay… now that was confusing and messed up. Bed next.
NP: Silence For The Peacefully – Hardcore Superstar
// Sara
I’m watching the Monster Ball Tour on DVD right now (One of the best tours I’ve ever seen, I swear to god…) and I’m looking at the audience, only to find a little little click in the front middle is you know, freaking out, or how to put it.
Lady Gaga screams JUMP FOR ME NEW YORK, yet it’s still only that click… What is that? Why aren’t the rest of the audience jumping and shit? I can give the seats a break – sometimes the rules says you can’t stand up and such, so that you sit, thats fine. But you others, what the heck?
And then I think about the concerts I go to oftently myself. Most of the time people are grooving pretty good, but something I noticed… it’s almost only the boys! Did you ever think of that? I have a few few girl friends who do freak it out (apart from my Lordigirls that is), but they are like… 2…. or 3…. Why doesn’t girls do it? Do anyone have the answer to that? Please let me know…
Me and my (lordi)girls always do it. So hard, that we barely even remember the show itself. We are sober as fuck, but because we are grooving it and freaking it and working it, we barely remember shit. From Lichtenfels, and Helsinki (Stala&SO), the only parts I TRULY remember were the songs I watched upside down, because I haven’t figured out how to jump while hanging upside down. Or headbang, but I still work my arms. Always. In Lichtenfels guys were even intimidated by the way me and my girls works it, and thats not right you know.
Girls ,what the fuck. Stop care about your fucking hair and nails, and work it! Its soooo much more fun at the gigs, as well as it is sooo much more fun for the band. And for the rest of us.
Now I’m gonna sit back with my DVD again, stretch my slayerneck and get it ready for Jedward, Sister, Hardcore Superstar, Crashdiet, Hollywood Burnouts and HammerFall that is awaiting us in the beginning of next year. We have seats on Crüe you see, so I dont think there will bemuch slayernecking there…
// Sara
So yes… that was that… That was 2007. Let’s head on.
The year 2008 was an empty year for my HammerFalling, it was also the year Joacim Cans were in Clash of the Choirs, maybe you remember? Either way, he won the whole shit, and I saw his choir live on Sweden Rock, else, thats everything…
2009, on the other hand, it happened a little more. To begin with, they released their album “No Sacrifice, No Victory” – the album that today is my favourite album. It’s just a notch ahead of “Threshold”, and it’s personally the two albums I myself like the best in context, if you know what I mean? From the previous releases I only have a few faves on each album, but like the overall context so to speak, but when it comes to “No Sacrifice” and “Threshold” we ain’t talking about small picks, I enjoy EACH and EVERY song to the fullest, and also alone. Having “No Sacrifice” a bit ahead. My absolute favourites on the albums though are “Any Means Necessary”, “Bring The Hammer Down” and the cover song “My Sharona”. It was a nice surprise to see HammerFall sing… that… kind of lyrics, if you know what I mean.
But yes, on the releaseday it was the first time I ever “met” HammerFall. They had a signingsession the same day AC/DC played in Stockholm on their Black Ice tour, lucky shot there really! So since we were there anyway, we took the oppurtunity to go there (my mum and I) to get some signatures.
Yes.. well… yes! After this I went to the AC/DC show, one of the most marvellous shows I have ever seen!
It would come to show, in March, that 2009 seems to have hold the best tours. It was on March 28th we destined for Gothenburg and Any Tour Necessary. Support this time? Bullet and Sabaton. And the audience did not leave after Sabaton, haha! Sorry, just had to.
But yes. The show. It was… marvellous. Magical. It was holograms and waterfalls and various epic lightshows, almost one of each show. This has become to be, of what I’ve seen, my favourite show I’ve seen of them. Sorry for not having proper pictures to show you, they just vanished somehow… but here are some stripes taken from my review.
Well… yes. After this we saw them at Sweden Rock.. where I had an incident with Fredrik and Joacim hahaha…. and then later on I saw them on Kulturkalaset in Gothenburg. It’s not so much to say about this you know, since its just… Yes. The two latter ones were “classic” festivalshows you know, so it ain’t much to say. And I don’t even have picture to show, what the hell is up with that… Oh well.
In 2010 I was so much “away” from them I didn’t even notice at first they were confirmed for Sonisphere, but Iwas fucking glad they were! It was also this awkward moment when you the first day go and see Crashdiet and then the day after go see HammerFall… Hahaha. But it was well good, but yes. Festivalset, and It ain’t much to comment about them you know. And they were playing pretty early on the day, when it hadn’t started to rain so much just yet.
And then we find ourselves in 2011. “Infected” were released… which is a good album, but in my personal opinion doesn’t reach the rockets of “No Sacrifice” or “Threshold”. But it ain’t bad, not at all. I can’t say yet which is my favourite song, because I didn’t get the album on the releaseday, you see, so I haven’t gotten into it so much just yet.
I had planned to see the Outbreak tour in Gothenburg at first, but plans got changed when I randomly, on my own blog haha, saw that HammerFall had been confirmed for Christmas Metal Meeting, where we were already headed to see Lordi. It was one of these moments you just go ahead and do a victorydance. The day came, and I wacthed the show with my bestest friends. The setlist were pretty much “festival” I must say, but I can’t be entirely sure yet, since I haven’t seen a proper Outbreak show just yet. Lightshow was cool, but not like Any Tour Necessary.
But it is planned, in March next year actually, and that was decided today. So in a few months, I’ll be able to tell you for sure if I like the Outbreak tour better than Any Tour Necessary, and maybe I could do a bit more.. discussion out of it then.
But until then, remember to GET HEAVY and STAY HEAVY!
Oh wait. That was Lordi… but what the fuck.
// Sara
…WE WILL PREVAIL!
HAMMERFALL – LET US HAIL!
There’s a lot of HammerFall going on here – partially because I recently saw them, and you know, when you’ve seen a band live, for some odd reason you just WON’T listen to anything but that so yeah. But the main reason is actually because my dearest Paula (finally!) got her eyes open for HammerFall! Was about time. And She’s been nagging my head off these days with various HammerFall videos and questions, so much, that I even started to write HammerFall instead of… any band. So, as being done with Xmas talking, I figured I’d start some kind of series where I talk about bands and what I like and shit, when I have no better to write about. You up for it? Ok, good. Game set go, we being with HammerFall.
So yes… First time I ever heard of HammerFall personally was in Grynets Show back in ’04 when the “Hearts On Fire” video was brandnew. I remember I found it like, SO COOL, but I didn’t give it as much attention (If it helps, I didn’t give ‘Clamour for Glamour’ with The Ark much attention either, lol.). I wasn’t so much into music at this point you see. But yes, the years went by and all of a sudden, the year was 2007 and from being ignorant to music (not entirely true, but I’ll take that some other time) and I had gained LOADS of favourite bands such as Wig Wam, Lordi, KISS, Vinnie Vincent Invasion, Crashdiet and The Poodles.
It was also on a The Poodles concert I saw HammerFall live the very first time. It was January 20th, 2007, Arenan, Fryshuset in Stockholm. Headliner was HammerFall, support The Poodles and Krokus. We were in first going there for The Poodles, but I figured I’d stay and watch HammerFall – because if I don’t, I swear to God I will start like them and regret it. So I stayed.
If you are a diehard Templar, you are probably familiar this was the Threshold of Europe tour. It was also the last tour Magnus Rosén played with them, meaning I had by true luck managed to get to see them with him. Of course, I, and I bet no one else really, knew this at this point. I also remember – it was Oscar Dronjaks (the one in HammerFall I’d end up liking a little, little extra) had his birthday and Joacim brought a cake on stage. Which he punched in Oscars face. Of course, what else?
This concert really opened my eyes for HammerFall, and after this show I was hooked. Mum had made some recordings during the show and I kept listen to them all the time. I recall I REALLY liked one of them, but I just couldn’t figure out which song it was. We had gotten the “Threshold” album, but it wasn’t on it. And I could figure out the lyrics either, so I had that little clip on what, 20 seconds that I played over and over and over again, until I one day visited our vintage CD shop Knastret and found this real fancy HammerFall VHS (The Templar Renegade Crusades) that my dad bought me… and as I watched the VHS… the song appeared. The song I had been listening to on the clip. I wasn’t slow with checking out what song it was – “A Legend Reborn”. Checking up, on the “Renegade” album, awesome, awesome.
“Renegade”, did then, obviously turn out to be my next HammerFall album. Liked it alot, but I don’t wanna say just yet that I love, I’ll get back to it later. Then the time passed we got more and more albums before it was time for the next show.
My second HammerFall show, was the show at the Peace&Love Festival 2007. As a matter of fact – HammerFall did here win a battle over my favouriteband Lordi. Lordi were playing in Kiruna the same day, but somehow, HammerFall + Crashdiet + HammerFall (+ Sabaton) kinda won… somehow. Glad it did anyway! At this point.. a few things had changed
1. This was now “Threshold Of Festivals” tour – a little bit different setlist, which I noticed because First – they played Renegade differently!
This kinda… buggs me. Look, I don’t know how they played “Renegade” over the years – I just know that on Wacken 2001 and January Stockholm 2007, they played in an awesome way. You know what I mean – when they slow down the second verse? I’ll link it again either way. I find it kickass. And, I remember I was about to record “Renegade” just because of this, and then they changed it.. I was like ok, what the fuck. And I haven’t heard the song that kickass way ever since, and as you could read in Xmas Metal Meeting, I still wish and pray for it.
Second, and probably bigger thing than this, is the departure with Magnus Rosén and the reunion with Fredrik Larsson! I wasn’t a part of the fans back in Fredriks days, but I ‘m still glad they chose him or, that he decided to come back!
Well yes. The setlist is what I today would call kinda mediocre – typical “festival setlist” you know – the big names and a few new ones and maybe one or two outstanding (apart from current album that is). They had also removed ” A Legend Reborn”, and as well did this turn out to be the last time, back in January, I would hear it. Goddamn. I always loose my favourite songs.
Yes…you know, there aren’t much to say in between – my third HammerFall gig was in Stockholm, at Gröna Lund together with Dream Evil. The setlist was more or less IDENTICAL to Peace&Love – maybe one or two different, but apart from that.. yes.
2007 was also, as many of you may know, the ten year anniversary since “Glory To The Brave” for HammerFall, and to celebrate that they released a Best of album called “Steel Meets Steel – Ten years of Glory” containing four songs of every album, two new songs and a few live songs. For the releaseparty, Joacim Cans set up the festival “Monsters Of Mora”, where they played together with Tryckvåg, Sator and Sabaton. Originally – The Poodles were supposed to play instead of Tryckvåg, but they got a german tour with Gotthard instead (can’t blame them for chosing that! I actually went to that tour too, in Berlin, but thats another story…)
Yes well… the album.. is fine. Except one thing. There is one song missing. “A Legend Reborn”. I mean… seriously. How can it… Okay, I guess I shouldn’t put a too… WHAT THE HELL ON EARTH!!!!! Seriously… eh… Yes. Well… okay then. Well, I guess that if I could put four songs on… I WOULD CHOSE “A LEGEND REBORN”… I would maybe have gone for the same songs as them… But still. Well, at least “Never Ever”, “At The End Of The Rainbow” and “Fury Of The Wild” were. Or else, you would all have seen the fury of Sara….. yes. Regarding the new songs. LOVE THEM. Both of them (“Last Man Standing” & “Restless Soul“).
And then the gig. Well, the setlist was not a surprise really – LOTS of good old stuff and “Last Man Standing” which ain’t THAT weird considering what album it was a release for. What I did remember and love was that they snow in “Glory To The Brave”… Sad part with this gig is, that half of the audience left after Sabaton… This may be the town Joacim was born in… but this is Sabatons territory. BIG TIME. But nevertheless – I did enjoy the show.
Well, 2007 was a year filled with happenings for my HammerFall history, so I’ve decided to keep going with it tomorrow with the other years.
So… once again…
TO BE CONTINUED
// Sara
So yes. What had they seen?
It was a statue. A statue… well. Literally – it was two humans and one pig. The humans were hugging each other, and one of the humans had his hand up… the back… of the pig.
And… well… yes. I mean, what is that? What do you make out of that? And do you honestly blame the girls for laughing their asses off (HAHAHAHA). Adn actually, as the madness went on, two guys came out of the bar, two guys named Markus and Lorenz. They joined us on the square with madenss – and I knew these guys would be fun, because Markus were wearing a christmastree in the neck of his coat. Only epic people do that. So we had a bit fun with them, and then we OF COURSE, had to ask them, WHAT THE HELL is that.
And thing is, they weren’t from Lichtenfels, so they had no idea! They, on the other hand, started asking all the citizens that passed us what it was, and NO ONE knew! I think we kinda ruined Lichtenfels. And oh.. HAHA.
Look, I’m afraid of robots and non natural moving things right. So we saw this Santa standing in the window and we all just like, you know, like a scared horse, first hitting off but then cooling down. So what I mean with scared horse is a scared horse with a rider or someone holding it. Anyway… A little later, we sorta had the same situation, just ten times worse. All I saw at first, was Cecilie turning around then kind of jump up in the air and then down on the ground, rolling into a little ball. We all were like WTF so Michelle was the next one to check, and all of a sudden, she jumps up and then down into a little ball on top of Cecilie. I looked up, and saw there was an old lady standing in the window and smoking. Lorenz and Markus started talking a little to her, until her insane husband came, I think they asked her about the statue, and she got her husband.
And he was mad. He and Markus started to argue. Lorenz told us that they were arguing about that youths nowadays never work and is all party. But how the hell, how do he think we got to Lichtenfels in first place? Insane stuff. Either way, he left, and then came back, and then left again but he kept an eye on us. Thats mad stuff. We hung out a bit more with them before we had to head back to the hotel because Michelle needed…. nevermind : D. We head back for “Pirates Of The Caribbean” and just chilling.
After watching, or maybe actually during the movie we figured we would take a powernap to be energetic as the norwegians came home, and well, it didn’t work out that much, so we eventually went to bed. Thing is though – due to my insane travelling in Finland, my rythm is kinda fucked up and I’ve learned how to get as much energy as possible out of sleeping as little hours as possible. So I was awake when Martine came home and listened to her stories and kept her company as she packed and showed me her stuff. We woke up the others so they got to say good bye to the norwegians… and I could go back to sleep.
For like ten minutes before Martine woke me up because she forgot her beer. TYPICAL. But once she got it… SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. For two hours. Damn it. Then we got up, started packing, having one last epic lunch, one last look on the view… before we left our VERY and HIGHLY beloved Markt 17.
So as we head for the trainstation, we took a last look at the city. And of course, OF COURSE we found a horsestore. What the fuck, why didn’t we find it the last time? Oh well. As we hit the station.. the next dilemma came around. We didn’t find our train… however… we did find a train to the same destination, so we got on, and then the conductor told us we were on the right train, so no worries. And of course, like always with me, we were sitting on the trainfloor. WHAT ELSE! On the train we also took ourselves the freedom to make our own lyrics to the Norwegian Pocahontas dub too… HAHAHA.
“Dette er favorittmobilen her i Djermaniiii, der ute finns det mange hundre trén! Og om jeg sitter forsiktig her på tåggulvet, vil ikke denne dören denne veggen her få vondt!
Nei Dominique ikke skyt Cecilie hun er söt! Og lyden som hun lager de er kule… og hon har pins som vi kan stjele ta den her!
Hvis ni Brenner Lichtenfels så gråter jeg! Och Michelle vil cutte seg med smörkniv… og Paula er en Kake TENK PÅ DET!!!”
The lyrics originates from a little guy pointing handguns at us when we hung out with Markus and Lorenz, the pins part about Cecilies bag full of pins, Michelle tried to cut herself with a plasticknife, Paula ate cookies, and when downtown the firealarm of Lichtenfels went off.
Back in Würzburg, change of trains, ending up on the wrong train, conductor not caring because we didn’t speak german.. and then we were back at Frankfurt Airport. Where we had to part with Paula. It was the saddest moment… but it had to be done. Because me and Michelle had to figure out how the fuck to get to Hahn airport, and after a few asking AND ALOT walking we… BY A FUCKING BREATHE and Michelles brilliant brain, we found the bus. And it was so scary, the busdriver we bought the tickets off, reminded us of a certain dictator, and also, the other busdriver who drove the bus we rode, he was SO ANGRY and yelled at someone the ENTIRE trip! Or well, I guess so, because he yelled when I fell asleep and were still yelling when I woke up!
And then we were there.. at Hahn… We fixed the remaining food before checking in and going to the gate.. and before boarding, we bought these TINY toothbrushes for one euro… as one last thing… and then… boarding. We had dinner on the plane and all of a sudden we landed.. We were home. In Sweden. It was over.
This trip… was the best trip I have ever done. And I really mean it. I’ve never had so much fun that I had this trip, and topping that with seeing two of your absolute favouritebands… It doesn’t get better. I proudly encourage EVERYONE to this with your bestest friends. And for me? I can’t wait to get back to Djermani, Lichtenfels and Christmas Metal Meeting. See you next year, bitches! And for Lichtenfels, I’m coming to get you in March!
// Sara
So yes… The concert day was overepic but now it was time for us to have a day off. Or well, for us SWEDES to have a day off! The norwegians went up pretty early and headed over to Stadthalle for what I call the “death metal day”. Not saying all the bands playing were death metal – just that they were a bit heavier metal than I personally like, and half of the logos were at the start impossible to identify so, yes. They head over and we went back to sleep for a few hours…
Then we got up, got on our way to some grocerystores to pick up breakfast… or general stuff to eat. We went to Lidl at first were we picked up GOD know what! After that we head over to another store which I can’t remember the name of, E-Mart maybe! Or something similar, where we got the rest of the shit, but also stuff as plates, knives, forks, tape… you name it! Then we head home again to have breakfast or whatever, and just relaxing you know. We also got two kindereggs each… and this would have a big impact on Michelle.
Well you know how kindereggs work. Its a chocolate egg, and inside there is a yellow container with a toy? Yes. So, Paula got this. And then she got this little paperball, a similar one to that I have at home, you blow it up and its a catface or dragonface and so on. Michelle looked very suspisciously at it already before Paula gave it to me to blow it up, and once she saw it… I’ve never seen Michelle so scared/disgusted before in my life. She REALLY hated it! Hahahaha, lovely!
Well… yes! Haha. After this, we actually headed for Stadthalle, because Paula and Michelle wanted shirts from the festival that Martine were supposed to fix, so we figured we would go there and talk to her instead of calling, considering the hall was like, ten minutes away. So we met up with our lovley girl and she fixed the shirts after a few buts and ifs, and after that… we first picked up some beer for Martine and then we started wandering around in Lichtenfels, doing some sort of sightseeing I guess you could call it!
We also started to look for a restaurant, and it took a while before we found anything promising. Or actually, at first we found a pizzaplace right across the street from the hotel, but we figured we would find something a LITTLE fancier for our last day in Lichtenfels. So we kept walking, actually, we walked towards a clocktower and would you know… we found a restaurant! Actually, the only thing we REALLY saw was a sign that said STEAK, and we figured, it can’t be bad and we checked the menu and we chose it. It’s not like we were gonna find much more anyway.
So we went inside right.. and it was like the hotel situation again. We didn’t know what to do, so we went to the bar and actually found the waitress and she directed us to a table and gave us the menue. Here is the thing. She didn’t speak english that well.And we don’t speak german that well. What do you do in a situation like this? Google Translate.
Yes, for real! We did use Google Translate to get by in the restaurant. Me and Michelle went both for a mushroomschnitzel kind of thing, and Paula went for a steak. While waiting, we made up plans about what we will do in the future when we meet Lordi, and goddamn did we have a good laugh? Oh yes. I’ve never laughed this hard really… And then.. the salad came.
You see, to mine and Michelles dishes, they served a small salad to it. One thing just. This salad was HUGE. Or well, if this was a salad in a Swedish restaurant, this would be a XL salad. It was that big! But here, it was considered a SMALL salad! We were like… Oh my god.
And then, she brought us the maincourse. I swear to god… these 11 euros we spent on this restaurant… I mean… These dishes were considered small. If this would’ve been Sweden, these dishes would be XL or maybe even XXL! We were extremly ambushed and weren’t even sure if we would be able to finish! But we started eating you know… and oh my god… it was so delicious! At least I thought so!
By the time we sat and ate, Cecilie called us. Apparently she had left the concertarena a bit earlier and looked for us, so we directed her to the restaurant, and offered her our salads… not sure if she ate but anyway! We finished.. or.. something, and paid the tab and on the way out we saw a Christmas Metal Festival poster… so shiny… We couldn’t help outselves. Fast as a fucking wind they tore it down and we ran off as far as we could. We found a statue that Paula started raping for some reason. And after that, we started some sightseeing! But first we went into this… handyshop kind of thing. It was kinda great – Michelle found loads of cheap make up, I found a brush and a pair of earrings… and we found a sign.
I mean.. Ok, only those who understand Swedish finds it fun probably, but still. We kinda had a good laugh over this!
Well, after this little minishopping, we continued the tour and after a while Michelle started chasing Paula and after the chase, they started raping each other or something? Eventually we did get on with it and found a marketsqure with a lot of small pigs to ride. As I was trying to take a photo of them riding, they all burst out laughing.
The question is. Why?
TO BE CONTINUED
// Sara
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
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
Sara Hammerzmith 