SA:On the road:Finland 15th anniversary part 1 28.1.-2.2.2014

Oooh shit, here we go again…great to be back btw. We decided to play some 

15th anniversary shows before the album was out and the Pariah’s Child World Tour

got started. The first part will consist of two short stints in Finland totalling 10 shows,

the second part will take place in Latin-America and we’re doing 15 shows there. How

fitting ;-)  Anyways, here’s how the the first part of the Finnish tour went. 4 shows, debuting

our new bass player Pasi, playing the first single off Pariah’s Child for the first time. We also

threw in a bunch of stuff from the past as well as the European bonus track from The Days of

Grays: In the Dark. I’m not sure wether I should post the setlist here, I think I’ll skip that since not

everyone wants to know in advance what they’re gonna hear. Sorry for the spoilers above.

Anyways enough of this an off we go:

Tuesday 28.1.2014 Full Production Rehersal @ The Circus / Helsinki

We wanted to have a rehersal with all the crew guys present and on stage

with lights and shit just to make sure the show was presentable. Last time we did this

rehersal thing at the same time with the videoshooting in Kemi, this time we rented the

venue for the first show one day earlier as well. The Kemi gang, me, Tony & Tommy took

the afternoon flight to Helsinki. At the venue you’re not supposed to make any noise before

1700 so there was no hurry for us to get there, the crew set up the gear, we did a short sound-check

around 1900 after which we run through the whole show. My new keyboard system that we figured out with Tero, was finally put to a test and it didn’t work. Appeareantly there was something wrong with the new MIDI merger that I got. Nevertheless, we got it working enough to play the show but our grand designs needs some re-thinking.I think this made Tero more upset than me anyway….poor guy. In the evening we had a few beers at the hotel and then it was time for bed.

Wednesday 29.1.2014 The Circus / Helsinki

Had to get up earlier than I wanted to ’cause I needed to go to the doctor to get some papers in order

to apply for a pyro-license. Basically they had to make sure I was sane enough to handle show-explosives and such. Run some errands after that and the afternoon was spent doing interviews with Tommy. There is such a huge excitement and a great deal of nervousness, at least for me. How will it feel ? Will everything work out fine ? What about the actual playing ? etc etc. ..and of course the introduction of Pasi to y’all, so let’s see how this one turned out. 

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post show:

Pasi did a great job and overall I think this was a good first show for us all. Of course little things

happened here and there but as a whole, this is a good way to start out and it’ll only get better

from here on. Naturally we ended the night with some beers in our room but nothing too crazy,

I guess we’re gettin old…er… or something.

Thursday 30.1.2014 Tampere-talo / Tampere

Elias hometown, jiihaa, since yesterday went ok tonight is gonna be a more easygoing affair,

at least I hope so. Everyone was more or less nervous last night but most of that will be gone

today. Upon arrival in Tampere we went straight to the hotel for a short nap before it was time

for dinner and soundcheck. Tonight was an early show, already at 1900. My brother came to see

us so it was nice to hang out for a while….and we got the first technical shit for this tour, actually

it was my own fault, I forgot to re-program a knob on the shoulder keyboard so in the middle of

White Pearl, Black Oceans I got some unwanted pitch bends going on…and in the heat of the moment it took me awhile to get it working right…..(I figured it out the next day before soundcheck

as I was testing my gear to find the actual problem).

Friday 31.1.2014 Verkatehdas / Hämeenlinna

As always you get sick on tour, so far I’ve had a fever since Tuesday so it’s been a bit of a struggle. Last night I took some stronger pills for the night and slept very well, I probably sweated out most of the shit so tonight will be better than the first couple of shows. In the morning me & Punkki took a walk to get some paperwork filed and then it was time to drive to Hämeenlinna. At the hotel I found out that the restaurant was closed so I went to the venue with the crew to get some food. Which was

really excellent. As soon as Tero got my stuff set up I spent some time re-programmin the shoulder keyboard since it was causing some problems for me yesterday….nevertheless it’s ok now so we’re

back on track.(crossing fingers).

…nicely enough no technical problems today ;-) After the show we had some red wine and chilled out

before heading to the hotel. Got some Italian chocolate as a gift from the Kauppinen Mafia - fans. Thanks it was delicious !!

Saturday 1.2.2014 Kerubi / Joensuu

SOLD OUT. Need I say more ? Ok, I guess I do. First off was a 400km drive to Joensuu. We started at 10 in the morning and it went quite smoothly. Watched some VK goes wild videos on youtube during the ride, amazing stuff ;-) As always the food @ Kerubi really rocks, we signed some stuff for our webshop as well. I was feeling rather good but it was Pasi & Tony who were the next victims of the flu bug. We did however pull off the show and everyone seemed satisfied.

Sunday 2.2.2014

Even though I love Joensuu, it’s really a pain in the ass to get home from there. This time the smartest/easiest play was to ride with the bus to Helsinki and then Fly home. So most of the day

in the bus and then a 1 hour flight home. Basic traveling stuff, finishing up this blogpost and so on.

The next trek will be 6 shows in 9 days, including the infamous Radio Rock Cruise as well as some additional weirdness. Until then, I will rest….or work on something else…whatever…

cheers,

Henkka