On this day, September 19th ten years ago, 2006, I witnessed my very very first Lordi show. It was in Gothenburg, the arena was Lisebergshallen and my company was Lina, who actually to this date was also my very very first “internetfriend” ever, a girl I had met through Wig Wam the year prior.
We were at the venue early. Like, ten in the morning or something like that. I can’t even remember properly. And it was a show worth waiting for. Seeing my heroes for the very first time live (and also a mysteriously military clad band singing about going through the gates of hell on their way to heaven…) was beyond words to describe. This was the The Arockalypse tour, so unlike the more recent tours it was a big show – a lot of theatrics, pyrotechnics and a massive show. The setlist was perfect, the night was perfect, and it got even better by the facts that I’d managed to score backstagepasses for me and my friends.
Meeting Lordi for the first time wasn’t exactly the easiest thing for a shy little person like me, and Kita had to convince me to come forward to even dare to walk up to them. I owe him for that.
But that was ten years ago. And this is what this marks. Ten years of monsterloving. It’s been ten years as a Lordifan, and I honestly thought this day would never come. That I’d lose interest in them one day, but no. My love for this band grows bigger and bigger for every day. It hasn’t been easy, there’s been times where it’s hard to defend the band, but that is the point. You stand with the band through thick and thin, and never give up on them. And I have never.
Thanks to Lordi, I have met some of my absolute best friends.It goes all the way back to the groupconversations and family constellations and weddings we used to make in 2006 – Where I married Ghostrider, also known as Sergio, and he’s still one of my best friends today. I remember Lozzy16, Lauren, was the “chapel master” and Monster-girl, Suncica, KittyCat, Anna and Pride_of_Finland, Ville was our best men / bridesmaids. FallenOne, William was my father who walked to the alter, and BeautyOfTheBeast, whose name fails me, was the priest. This was all of course happening on MSN, but still.
Fast forward a few years to Kita’s departure where we met Thomas – in the midst of planning a new monster and the “penis monster” came to be, and I became “B. A. Nana” because of all the bananas I used to give to the funny people. And of course, how can we forget that one night – Me – Ida, Martine (GoodToBeBadGirl) Thomas (Thomas), Martin (martinmaniac), King, Jonathan (Monsta), Michal (NightmareWingsHell) and Jordan (Mooneyman) had a basic riot in the Misc babbling section that ended with “King, you just said you wanted to have some gaysex with me and Martin“. Most iconic line from that times of riots.
But it doesn’t end there. We have PoliceLineDoNotCross who was always a pleasent person to have to deal with, AmericanMonsterMan (I’m sorry if I misspell your usernames people!) miss_brutality, Sooooophie, Maddy, CB Studios, Miss-Elodia – I specifically remember when she randomly joined in me and Martine throwing fake Lordi lyrics in the Misc babbling, MarkusHasADeadache, Stude, Nillan, Kitawa, Judge-death, Erina, I could go on forever with this list! It’s a whole load of amazing people that you’ve met on this one little forum called Monsterboard. And we all united there for one reason: The love for Lordi.
Thanks to Lordi, I’ve been able to see a big part of Europe I probably never would have seen, and I’d want to say the world because really, we did wind up seeing Epica in Australia and New Zealand, but it was because of Lordi we even went there to begin with.
It hasn’t always been easy. On the contrary, it’s been a rollercoaster and different occasions. It’s been everything:
My first trip to Finland was because of them, which included Pippi Långstrump and Moomin madness – and a hairbrush that broke.
It has been shouting “Mr Porn” out towards the streets through a window in Paris, where we had a large get-together of Monsterboard people (Soooophie, FairyOfDarkness, Isa, Angel_Of_Death, LIVINGDEADDOLLIE, mummy-, Thomas, GoodToBeBadGirl is a few of the people who were there), and dancing around in the wild snow that appeared.
It has been yelling inapropriate things on trains in Germany (Lichtenfels), living like royals in the large rooms and finding questionable pig-porn art in the middle of the townsquare.
It has been walking along an Italian highway (Rome & Milano) for so long your feet are bleeding in a 30 degree heat, only to hours later crack your knee on the stone stairs forcing you to jump on one leg for the rest of the stay. This Italy trip was a basic nightmare from start to finish, with the questionable drivers on the first night, the hotelroom who all of a sudden lost all lights, and not to mention the hell in getting home – took us 36 hours because of a train accident. The trip from Hell.
It has been witnessing the coolest of releasegigs, spending the late night in the hotelroom with Soooophie, eeesti999_ and Anthalerero talking about everything and nothing ’til 4am in the morning, meeting up with Monstermaniacs from all over the place.
It has been a spontaneous trip to Germany (Frankfurt) where we couldn’t even feel our legs because of the cold, and a four day stay in Spain(Madrid) where we had the most questionable of hotel rooms – It was a large square with Jesus on the cross on the wall, two beds, high roof and a sink. It felt like we were in a horror movie.
It has been going through a damp and cold English harbor village (Southampton) where we randomly offered this guy chocolate cake, because why not? And it was probably the best decision made ever, seeing that is how we met Nathan. It has been traveling to beautiful Brighton living in a hotelroom that was made for Royals.
And not to mention: That one day we threw Mr L completely off his game at Sabaton Open Air! All hail us, the Swedish Lordi Crew: Paula, Hanna, Michelle, Me, Ludvig and Jonathan.
Thanks to Lordi, I’ve gotten to experience some of the most treasured moments with my best friends. Like the New Year Celebration in 2012, where a group of Lordi fans (PEML94, GoodToBeBadGirl, Thomas, FlameCurry and me) gathered at GTBBG and celebrated the new year together.
It was been those “GroupieBFF’s” weeks where we have just randomly gone somewhere. It has been all those nights spent with The Awesome Threesome, where we went to bed at eight in the morning and spent all the night recording stupid videos about seigemenn and superdupermegamojängen. One of my favorite memory is the Tuska weekend. Ten years after The Arockalypse tour, I was allowed to witness almost the same identical set with Sophie and Nathan under the burning Helsinki sun. That day, and the whole weekend was amazingly perfect in a way that I can do nothing but smile when I think about it. Even with the pepperspray.
As you can see, you who read this… Being a Lordi fan has been so much more than just simply liking their music and going to a show here and there. I practically owe my life to this band. It’s because of them that I’ve gotten to experience all the amazing stuff that I have, and I couldn’t even thank them enough for all of it. And all of you who were mentioned in this, I thank all of you for in one way or another, making these years the best.
And here’s to the next ten years: May they be as amazing as these first have been!
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 