Monday, February 3, 2014

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. 
——
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

22 comments:

  1. Of course you get sick the second you go on tour. Take care!! Also, you doing pyros? That sounds interesting! Planning something special?

    Glad you liked the chocolate ;) The Kauppinen Mafia fans are gonna be back in full numbers at the cruise so see you there! :D

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    Replies
    1. I occasionally do pyros when I have the time, this year I don't think having too much down time will be an issue ;-)

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  2. Okay, I even don't know where to start to praise the shows and new single and setlist and everything... It was so amazing to see you all on stage once again, you really seemed to enjoy yourselves! This is going to be a long week, waiting for the cruise... :) Hope you get rid of that flu by then.

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  3. Just one question: will THAT setlist change a bit during the Finnish shows? or maybe during the south-american ones?
    It's awesome btw! Cheers

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    1. This is more or less the show we've got prepared for the 15th anniversary shows. Once the new album is out, we'll play some more new songs as well.

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  4. Nice to see someone noticed our shirts ;) I hope Pasi also liked the poster! I had so much fun in Helsinki and Hämeenlinna (shows were AMAZING and Elias was making us laugh all the time) - see you again on the cruise!

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  5. I was already worried that you've forgotten your blog... xD just kidding :p

    it was really great show in Helsinki (my first Sonata gig ever and definitely not the last) so i want to thank you all!

    Hopefully everyone gets better and the flu won't be though (i mean rankka but i'm not sure if that's the correct word :p)

    Yes. This was that what i wanted to say (: thank you!

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  6. I absolutely love the live rendition of In The Dark, it sounds great! and the rest of the setlist is awesome too, real good classics there.. :)
    Also really pleased to see that Cinderblox made the list, it truly deserves it!!
    Great Pariah's Child girlie ziphoodie,too.. I preordered that bundle already :D
    Btw, could you ask your lights tech to slow down the strobes, please..? They increase the risk of me having a seizure, at the speed they're currently at..
    Hope you get some rest and feel well enough in time for the cruise and next shows :)

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    Replies
    1. We got other complaints about the strobe lights as well so we're looking into it.

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    2. Thanks from me too, they didn't bother me much during the show but Punkki testing them while we were already inside in HML almost made me feel sick....and I'm just light sensitive. I can't imagine how bad it would have been if somebody had been seizure-prone in there...

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  7. congratulate them on their first tour, you think the setlist will be the same in latin america? likewise we will be waiting in chile.

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  8. Also! I just noticed the sneaky Christmas post you made on your website (I thought you weren't going to update it anymore!) and it mentions currently shelved plans about MCF.

    I know this probably won't happen anytime soon but please please please if you guys do ANYTHING, even a single pub show, let me know. I will travel all the way to Kokkola, hitchhiking if I have to, and I can pretty much guarantee you a few other people making noise. :D

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  9. I hate pages like setlist.fm, the chilean fanclub spoiled the surprise telling the people what are you playing in Europe x)

    I hope you guys enjoy the rest of the show and please play White Pearl, Black Oceans in Chile!

    Cheer!

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  10. Cool, dude. Hope you are feeling better. It is fun to know what goes on backstage, the rehearsal, traveling, techinical set ups, so good job with the blog, keep it up. See you in Brazil.

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  11. Wow, thanks for the tour diary, so interesting! Glad to hear you´re already better :) It must be exhausting to perform when being sick... You guys rocked in Kerubi despite the flu, I´m so thankful that you came here in Joensuu and didn´t have to cancel the show :) We (the audience) were more than satisfied, it was awesome!!! Sadly I picked my place in the front row so that I could hardly see you at all, only when Elias moved a little aside from his place... But when he did, I took as many photos of you as I could :D

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  12. Maybe you should all have a flu jab before you go on tour, hope you are feeling better and enjoy the rest of the tour.

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  13. suomeks tulee, tuskin ketään haittaa :D -> tosiaa sellasta lähin kyseleen et tiiätkö tai ootteko ees suunnitellu sen verran että aiotteko tehä ton pariah's child -kiertueen aikana keikkoja enää suomeen vai oliko ne niinku tässä tavallaan mukana ton juhlavuoden aikana? (harmittaa niin pirusti ku en tampereelle pässy ja seinäjoen keikka k-18...) ja viimekerta tais olla 2012 ku seinäjoella esiinnyitte ja oli keikka kyl niin huikee et en malta oottaa seuraavaa!! (btw sillon teidän keikka oli alunperin k-18 mutta muutettiin ikärajattomaks 'lukuisten yleisöpalautteiden vuoksi' :D)

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  14. Ei tässä nyt vielä oo suunnitelmat ihan selvät mutta kyllähän meidän pitää Pariah's Childin kanssa vetää suomessakin keikkoja jolla soitetaan muitakin uusia biisejä ku toi eka sinkku :-)

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  15. I'm happy you enjoy my videos :))

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  16. Someone said... WHITE PEARL BLACK OCEANS???

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