— WARNING. I sadly do not have many pictures at all from this show! Sorry about that! —
SO THE BIG FUCKING DAY WAS HERE. Getting to bed waaay too late of course, because of some CERTAIN people sending me pics all night. At about 6 or 7 in the morning Nathan gave me a call and made it to the hotelroom. Just as about as tired as me, he crashed in bed and we went back to sleep for a couple of hours until it was time to get up and start getting somewhat ready for Paula’s arrival.
As per usual, I had a hard time deciding what to actually wear, so of course, even after Paula’s arrival, we still wound up a bit late. Or well, late for my own personal taste. We headed off to McDonalds for some quick lunch/dinner whatever it actually is on days like these, before heading home, collecting the necessities and then headed off to the venue.
As we forgot to actually check the tube at home, it was a bit of a questionmark once down under, but gladly, Nathan, who’s been at the venue before lead us there with GRACE. And once there, yes, much to our dismay we discovered some people were already waiting, but what can you do?
The first people we run into though is Michelle and Alice. I haven’t seen Michelle since Powerwolf, and this was also my first time seeing Alice, and we started hanging out a bit, when the wonder of all women was coming around the corner. And I can honestly say, I don’t often run up to people and attack them with hugs, but when I do – it’s when I see Niki. Jesus! This is one of the girls I met at Extralordinary earlier this year, so I’ve been looking forward to see her again, and spend some proper time with her.
The line got divided in two – the people who have 02 and the people who don’t. Gladly, as an 02 holder, you could bring a couple of people with you, so all of us moved to the other line. We had a lot of fun in the line – catching up, running around for coffee, being on a look out, planning and joking around with a lot of things. I’m fairly certain Nathan might be scarred for life because of this queueing.
Sadly, some unfortunate things also happen – all of a sudden, the two people infront of us in the line became 12, and despite trying to question this, they kept on fighting. Like… When the guard asked “who has 02?” only two of them raised their hands, and all of a sudden, well they became six times as many. But they stood their ground, apparently. Good thing Karma is a thing, right? I’ll get back to this one later.
Anyway, time passed on, and as darkness came, the temperature dropped DRASTICALLY. I said that after a while like, “Now it can’t be just me” and everyone agreed. Thankfully, the guard eventually let us in, and for the unusual sake, we wound up on OX’s side. I haven’t been on his side for I don’t know how long, so, well, I guess change is good right?
And with that, it was time for the first band of the night: Silver Dust
Silver Dust
As per usual, the band delivered a GREAT set – however, a very short one. I was surprised to see exactly how short it was, a lot of the songs you’d be used to hearing – not to mention “My Heart Is My Savior” was cut out of the set. But I guess what made up for it was that it got to be a proper show – including the mirror as well as actors. Very pleasant to see!
They left the stage, and soon thereafter, it was time for Shiraz Lane.
Shiraz Lane
Shiraz Lane delivered a good and energetic set – even though, just as Silver Dust, they had to cut their set very short – but still enjoyable. Thank you for this last night!
And then the wait for Lordi began. Oh by the way – remember how I spoke about karma? Well, one of the loudest and most bitchy out of the group got so sick from all her drinking she had to be evicted. Karma, bitches, karma. Anyway.
And you know – there’s something very special about when the light goes out and “God of Thunder” starts. At first you’re surprised, and then you feel the warmth on the inside spreading in your body and the heart starts racing and the excitment begins as the smile spreads across your face because now you know it’s about five minutes ’til stage time. And then – Opening Scene and Greyskull gets on stage.
Lordi
This is the third time I’m seeing Lordi this tour, and yet it feels like I’m witnessing a different show – this time, Greyskull actually brought us He-Mans head and put it on a pole. They continued on with “Babez for Breakfast” and seriously – and it’s time now for some serious music talk here – ever since Lordi got themselves a better skilled drummer, “Babez For Breakfast” has just elevated so much. I enjoy the live version of this song way more than the studio version.
The followed up with “The Riff” and “Hellbender Turbulence” before it was time for OX’s little bassolo. I have actually come to grow very fond of it – it’s just right down my alley with the funky and dubstep rhythms. And when OX singled me out in the audience to “Shake my ass” it felt even more like, yes, okay, here we go! Sadly metalnun comes and interrupts it, and the band continues on into “Bite it Like a Bulldog”.
Next on the list is one of the songs that I have personally been begging for for years to be played. Honestly, you guys have no idea how guilty as charged I feel whenever Mr Lordi imitates the begging fans for this song, because I sure as hell am one of them. You know it – “Icon of Dominance”. Seriously – I can honestly admit that I never thought I’d ever get to hear this song live, and having heard it live for the second time, it’s just… I cannot express enough gratitude to the band, nor can I ever be more satisfied.
Mana’s drumsolo was up next, and speaking about feeling like you see a completely new show – we got the dancing skeletons! Basically, three skeletons come on stage and they dances rhythmically to “The Unholy Gathering” as Mana plays it. The drumsolo levitates into “Hug You Hardcore” and you know, I might have had my ups and downs with this song, but this song live is just beyond amazing.
“It Snows in Hell” is next on the list, with “Children of the Night” parts of it. Mr Lordi coming over tilting his head and OX aiming pics at my cleavage always make it a bit more worth it, but at this time, I want to give a big hand and kudos to the security guard. We had talked to him beforehand about our little trick, and he said we could do it if he thought it was safe enough. So what happened is that he actually walked over to us when it started and became our personal security guard for the entire song, and then gave us all high fives for the show. That made me unbelievable happy.
Hella’s solo coming up next with the little baby, followed by “Down with the Devil”. This is also one of those songs who are just incredibly amazing live. Much better than on the album, I’ve found myself after Dublin and Galway to listen to it, and it doesn’t quite measure up to the live version. This, my friends, is a good thing.
The crewmember comes back on stage, OX beating her down and we all know what it is time for – “Blood Red Sandman”. And after this, Amen guitarsolo. He’s had a pretty good one this time around – first starting off with some known riffs, and then going to a smooth, sultry, sexy kind of romantic atmospheric kind of playing with romantic lights going all about… and then… The missus comes on stage and just adds to the effect with her stripping. Absolutely perfect. Fits his character as well, don’t you think?
“Hard Rock Halleujah” is next on the list and then they wrap it all up with “Devil is a Loser” before leaving the stage. Later on, they return and wrap up the whole set with “Who’s Your Daddy?” and “Would You Love a Monsterman?” and with that, Monstour was over for this time.
It’s an empty kind of feeling that fills you up this time when “The Night the Monsters Died” comes on. I guess it’s because it’s the last gig of the tour that, no matter how much you want another show, this is it until next time.
We hang around a little for a while, head off to the merch to pick up some last stuff and say good bye to the Silver Dust guys. We head out, and walk around the block to make it to the tourbus, only to find Mr Lordi in costume! What a pleasant surprise. This meant Nathan and Niki could finally have their picture taken with him, after all this time!
While waiting for the rest of the members to come out and say good bye for the tour, we met Valentina from Italy, and really just having a good time – waiting by the tourbus for the band (if they come out) is so much more than just hoping to meet the band – it’s the same as queueing, but at the end. It’s the last couple of survivors of the show, completely worn out running on pure adrenaline, but with hearts and minds full of joy, getting them drunk on life. That is the people you find outside the tourbus. The people with pure love in their hearts.
So, evening consisted of us getting a private show by Ralph Ruiz, getting a few good byes by some of the bandmates and crewmembers and awkwardly dancing and waving with “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. We could see that someone in the bus was actually waving back to us, which is very sweet although we do not know for sure who it actually was. And then off we went in the rainy night…
After this, we were supposed to go to a McDonalds that were “1 minute away” but ended up walking like 20 minutes until we finally found one that was still open – and we had a nice late night dinner talking about how amazing this show was and how much we all loved being there together.
We said good bye to Valentina as she was heading a different direction, and we went to the carpark to pick up Niki’s car and she drove us home to the hotel. 10 intense minutes of headbanging to Lordi songs together in the smallest roadtrip ever, but it happened, and it was amazing.
We then said a heartfelt good bye to her, went back to our hotel and packed our things before crashing in bed.
What a night. Thank you all, all of you involved in this show and in this tour – you guys are the reason I live, and I love you all so much. Til next time, people!
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 