Tuesday 9.9.2014-Quebec, Canada
The show last night went quite well, apart from my wireless midi picking up too much interference so I told Tero to switch to cable when it kept cutting out notes. He changed it during the intro of Fullmoon and the rest of the show went well despite of the fact that I had to stay on my riser ;-( Oh, btw thanks for the Black Swans T !! If anyone missed them, there’s a pic in the previous post. Well we got on with it and woke up in Quebec,
went out for a late lunch with the boys, well fed and happy it was time to do the soundcheck and the meet & greet. We practised some ”new” stuff, meaning a song we haven’t played yet on this tour, there will be one or two more songs added to the rotation of stuff we’ve been playing on this tour so far…maybe even more, who knows ?
I did a video interview with Elias and pretty soon it was showtime. No glitches and no hickups this time…hell yeah !! We had a good, loud and crazy audience and truly enjoyed our show. Afterwards it was time for a couple of beers and pretty soon it was time to go to bed as the bus rolled on towards Ottawa.
Wednesday 10.9.2014-Ottawa,Canada
It’s been a real long time since we’ve been here so it’s great to be back. We decided against switching any songs in the setlist, just messed with the order a bit. Our venue for tonight was a small bar with a small stage, nevertheless we managed to fit on stage…somehow. During the day I went walking around by myself and managed to find a juicepack for my iphone, which I’ve been looking for for some time now. We all went out for dinner after the soundcheck at a local irish pub. Great food. Kristian the photo dude from Sweden who has been hanging with us since Montreal, also joined in for the occasion. The show itself went rather well, Tony even switched the sounds for me just during the solo off Fullmoon…perfectly on time I might add, thanks dude ;-) No equipment hassle on stage but our FOH wasn’t too pleased with the PA. Well the crowd seemed to like it and appeareantly heard what we played so rock on !!! Actually before the show I watched the Achorman in the front lounge for the 150th time or something and after the show most of us watched Talladega Nights…also for the xxx th time. Tried to watch Jack Reacher again in my bunk but I fell asleep.
Thursday 11.9.2014-Toronto, Canada
Slept really well once again and went out for breakfast with Tommy as soon as we got up. After some online time, a bunch of us went searching for Alex Lifeson’s (of Rush) bar which was supposed to be pretty close…and we found it…it’s called the Orbit Room and of course it wasn’t open but whatta hell. Been there done that. I picked up A Frank Sinatra book by Donald Clarke at a local 2nd hand bookstore on the way back…and then it was time to do some e-mail business shit until soundcheck.
Friday 12.9.2014-Off day, PA
Spent the off-day in a hotel parking lot, as usual. Managed to use the hotel swimming pool, get some dinner and some wine. That’s pretty much it.
Saturday 13.9.2014-Baltimore,MD
Appeareantly there were some festivities going on and Obama was in the hood. This ment that I got a chance to watch parts of an airshow (Blue Angels I think) from the rooftop next to the venue. Later there were some firework extravaganza which I also watched from the same roof top. Lots of people in the street and a whole bunch of cops and military personnel. The day was otherwise the usual drills, soundcheck, meet & greet etc. No technical problems during the show, which is also nice. Another day at the office. Thank you Baltimore !!!
Sunday 14.9.2014-Pittsburgh,PA
Woke up with a sore throat and feeling like shit. Jiiihaa, here it goes. I haven’t had the flu on tour since January, if I’m not completely mistaken (I do tend to forget these rather quickly though ;-) ). Anyways, we went out to eat with the boys and did all the usual stuff. I took a nap before the show and felt a little bit better after that and downing a bunch off pills. The show went by rather quickly and since the stage was quite small I focused on the playing, which was more or less all I could do at that point anyways. After the show I was looking forward for the day off, usually that’s not the case.
Monday 15.9.2014-Off day, OH
Got up from my bunk at around 1600 and went to the mall with our FOH Mikko, bought a pair of sneakers to replace my old and stinky ones and had some dinner. After I got back to the bus it was movies and chilling until I returned to my bunk to continue my recovery ;-)
Tuesday 16.9.2014-Cleveland,OH
Woke up just before noon, feeling a lot better. Took a selfie in front of the Rock’n’Roll hall of fame when we dropped off some of the guys who wanted to go there. Went back to sleep and by soundcheck time I could clearly feel that I’m on the winning side of this bug….now we’ll just have to wait and see who’s next. Hopefully the rest of the dudes can skip this. At the moment we’re getting ready for the meet and greet and I’ll post more pics when I get around to it. Speaking of which, I got a couple of Jäger bottles and a New York Rangers watch as a gift, you’ll see more of that in the next pic update. Thanks a lot, highly appreciated dude !!!
cheers,
Henkka
Aww no dude! Get better soon. And let's hope it doesn't spread too much. Good to see you're taking care of yourself though :)
ReplyDelete(My friend that was at the Toronto show -the girl with the welcome Pasi sign- also came back with a sore throat and flu, there must be some bugs floating around! Remember to stock on hand sanitizer for after the meet and greets. Us fans are always crawling with disease! ;) )
If I remember correctly, aren't you like always sick on a tour? Hopefully you got the bug beaten and the rest of you are spared... Too bad you missed almost the whole day-off, you could have just hanged around the whole day doing nothing instead of sleeping ;)
ReplyDeleteWell someone is always sick, usually everyone gets sick for a day or two...however I think that in Latin-America and Europe this year I wasn't sick....only hangover from time to time...
DeleteYays, good job Tony! :D
ReplyDeleteOh noes, now I really feel sorry for you :-/ Flu is never nice, but when I get it I can at least spend days lying around on my couch being a miserable wreck. You have to get onstage and entertain audiences every evening. That's not fair if you ask me. Still, seems like you make a quick recovery, so that's good at least. Fingers crossed you haven't infected the others!
And another "eff u" for the wireless going nuts. A wild Henkka has to roam freely, it's not healthy for it when it gets stuck in one place (maybe that's where the flu came from?) :-) Or you should maybe stay away from rooftops.
Glad that it seems like you're enjoying the tour so far, and getting the love you deserve in form of presents ;-)
Take care!
Maria
Please Henkka tell us more about this "new" songs! Or at least a hint!! :D
ReplyDeleteWell..I assume that the night you're going to play it, you'll say it.
I'll tell you when we've played it ;-) It's a song from Ecliptica that we haven't played for awhile...and no not 8th commandment ;-)
DeleteThanks Henkka, that's some big hint! I'll be waiting for news and I'm not gonna try guessing it :-) made me really curious though!
DeleteI know what it is! Charlotte spilled the beans on twitter ahah.
DeleteOh, I forgot to ask, stupid me...
ReplyDeleteVideo interview with Elias? Where do I have to keep my eyes on? Or are you not allowed to tell before it's released? ;-)
And, umm.... I just received a message from a very nice lady from Cleveland. She was at the M&G and brought something for you to sign and, I just wanted to say, thanks a bunch! *waves back* :-)
No idea about where the video intie went...I don't keep track off these, I tried when I joined the band but it's too much these days and I do not enjoy reading or listening or watching my own interviews anyway so...
DeleteYeah, I could've thought of that myself... Sorry for asking stupid questions again :-)
DeleteOr maybe not.. Here comes another one. Speaking of listening to your interviews, you don't have an idea if the PC track by track thing you did recently is available anywhere else than Spotify, do you? If not, I hope you get paid from them, installed the app just for that and it's freakishly annoying.
Hope you're still enjoying your tour (Twitter says you do, congratulations btw! What did you win? :-) )
I only won bragging rights ;-) ...and yeah the tour is still going great and the spotify track by track is not available anywhere else...
DeleteWait, what? You have to EARN rights for braggin? Ah, damn... :-/
DeleteJust kidding. Thanks for answering once again ;-)
I did wonder why you weren't moving around on stage as much after a while(damn that interference!). But the show was still amazing and I was over the moon to see you guys! I was on a high for a few days after that...wait, I don't think I've come down yet. ;-)...and again, it was my pleasure to make those Black Swans for you. I chose the swan for several reasons(one being the obvious) which I will explain some other time...or maybe if you buy me a drink I'll tell you about the Black Swan. Sorry, I couldn't help myself there. :-P It really makes me happy that you like them!
ReplyDeleteSo, apparently the festivities you witnessed in Baltimore were part of a 10 day festival celebrating the 200th anniversary of the American national anthem(Star Spangled Banner). The airshow must have been something to see. Did you manage to catch a glimpse of President Obama?
Glad that nasty bug didn't stay with you and you're feeling better! If only you received the bottles of Jager before then, you could have taken a shot to help you feel better sooner. ;-)
Rangers watch, Oh my! Now I know you loved that, hehe. Siistii!
Looking forward to the pics to come!
I didn't see the President, and the jäger worked I'm all good now ;-)
DeleteIt's different every night but it's always before the show, usually around 5 or 6 in the evening...
ReplyDeleteHey Henkka, did you guys ever consider doing a one off show to play Ecliptica entirely?
ReplyDeleteWacken would be a good place to do a special kind of show, lots of bands are doing it and I think its nice since we get to hear some songs that arent played at all anymore
Yeah we might do something like that at some point ;-)
Delete