Saturday, October 4, 2014

SA:On the road:Pariah’s Child World Tour / North-America part 4

Thursday 25.9.2014 - Seattle, WA
The show last night went really well and after that it was time to say goodbye to Canada for now. It was also the midway of the tour so now we only have half of it
left ;-) The bordercrossing went without any hassles and later we stopped at a Walmart for some late night shopping. I was trying to find a couple of movies but they didn’t have the ones I looked for so I just ended up buying a bunch of other stuff. In Seattle the morning started out with us being bribed into playing In the Dark. We got a bunch of rhye bread and salmiakki from Finland. That’s how easily you can buy our integrity.
Nevertheless the day went by as usual. We found a Mexican restaurant after the soundcheck and the food was really good. The usual meet & greet, a short nap and a kick-ass show to round up the night….ended my night by watching Semi-pro…a really funny movie.I like’d it.

Friday 26.9.2014-Portland, OR
Another day, another show. I went to the convenience store to get some white wine and then it was time for the usual drill of soundcheck and meet & greet etc. I met up with my cousing for dinner and we hung out for awhile before I had to get ready for the show. Rock’n’roll…afterwards I hung out outside for awhile and then it was time to drive into the night and towards our next off day….in the middle of nowhere.

Saturday 27.9.2014-Off day, Medford, OR
Spent the day just loitering around and in the evening me & Tony joined the some of the peeps from Xandria & Delain and went bowling. I didn’t do too well but at least I wasn’t last ;-) We shot some pool afterwards and that went considerably better. At the end of the night I was pretty much wasted and slept really well in my bunk until the afternoon the next day.

Sunday 28.9.2014-San Fransisco, CA
Woke up really late and still a bit hungover…well…after the soundcheck me, Tommy & Elias went to dinner and a big pasta bowl later I felt a lot better. A nap later I was back to normal ;-). The show was a fun one with a big stage for a change but the stagesound was kinda weird for some reason…we hammered it out anyways. When Pasi made some coffe in the morning he looked out the window and saw some dudes smoking crack…later Mikko saw someone shooting up across the street…just thought you should now, really different from back home over here. Met up with some friends afterwards and then we had to leave. Watched the Broad Street Bullies documentary for the 140th time or something.

Monday 29.9.2014-Los Angeles, CA
Woke up at around 0800 when my ears started popping as we crossed some mountains or hills or whatever. Managed to sleep a bit longer before finally giving up and starting the day. Did a short workout with our dumbell. Well at the House of Blues we started our morning by watching how the support bands bus tried to drive into the parking lot and managed to get stuck with the trailer scraping holes in the street. Nice and smart driving ;-) Eventually the got it sorted out but for awhile it looked really hopeless. Had breakfast with the boys at the Saddle Ranch. Good stuff. For the show tonight we had a bunch of friends showing up from our hometown and it was really nice to hang out after the show…and of course they brought us more finnish ruisleipä and some candy from back home.

Tuesday 30.9.2014-Anaheim, CA
Never played here before but the venue was really nice. Big stage etc etc. I slept really late since I stayed up a bit too late last night talking to our FOH Mikko and destroying some white wine….we also stopped in front of a Wal-mart so I managed to find a couple of movies for the bus. In the afternoon we all went to dinner after the soundcheck, however the in house dinner was appeareantly one of the best on this tour so far so I felt a bit bummed about missing that. Anyways, no use to whine about that…maybe next time I’ll hit it. The show in the evening was a bit blaah since my keytar wireless was acting funny, just like in Montreal. It’ll be better tomorrow, I’m sure. Weird stuff. It was however fun to have a big stage to run around on. Our Finnish friends came to this one as well and we had a short hangout before they had to leave. Managed to meet some other peoples outside after the show as well. Fell asleep watching NHL highlights.

Wednesday 1.10.2014-Mesa,AZ
Back in Arizona ;-) Our friends took us to dinner at a scandinavian restaurant (and yeah I know that Finland is actually not part of scandinavia..) anyways it was really great to get some food that was pretty close to what we eat at home. I could hardly keep my eyes open during the meet and greet but luckily there was time to take a nap before the show. The show itself was quite smooth, there air was really weird for some reason, maybe because the place was not quite finished yet. After the show we had a couple of beers but nothing spectacular. Getting ready for the long drive to Denver and 2 days off.

Thursday 2.10.2014- Albuquerque, NM - Off day
Went to the mall with Tony and bought a nice belt and then me & Tero had dinner together. Later in the bus I found out that there’s a tramway called Seguia Peak Tramway or something to that effect so we quickly ordered a cab and when there. Well, not quickly enough so it was really dark when we took the ride. The city did look great though and Tony managed to get some cool pics…I tried as well but I guess there’s a reason why people buy proper cameras and don’t rely on their smartphones for everything. In addition this was advertised as the world’s longest tramway, which of course it’s not so….in the evening we watched a couple of movies and ended the night with making white russians without kahlua…wasn’t too bad though and we needed the drinks for our screening of the Big Lebowski.

Friday 3.10.2014-Colorado Springs, CO, Off day
Didn’t really feel like doing anything or seing anyone so I just spent the whole day in my bunk….with the occasional smoking break. I did however finish the Dave Grohl book I borrowed from Pasi earlier on the tour so the day wasn’t a complete waste. Did I mention that I hate off-days ?
...anyways we got 10 shows left + 1 in Puerto Rico...grinding it out ;-)

cheers,

Henrik

36 comments:

  1. Hey, half my suitcase was bread, it wasn't THAT easy ;) and bribery was just part of it, I really just wanted to bring you guys some comfort from home. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with that idea! :)

    Oh! Btw, we heard the I Can't Dance cover! Good job sneaking it into the waiting track before the show, it was a treat! It sounds great :D

    Is everybody healthy now? Elias was totally miserable in Seattle and Tommy getting there, I hope they're feeling better?

    You can do it! You're almost done!

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    1. ...and now everyone knows it'll be played before the show ;-) At the moment we're all healthy so fingers crossed, I think we'll make it !!

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    2. Whoops! I can delete the comment if you want it to be a surprise! ;)

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  2. I was kinda bummed that I couldn't meet up with Miss Rhye bread (so much closer than normal, but still pretty far), but you guys were amazing at the LA show :D. That was my first SA concert and I was grinning like a doofus the whole time.

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  3. Lol, I probably should have asked this week's ago, but what the hell is the process for the meet and greet thing?

    I bought the vip tickets with zero knowledge of how this shit works and I'm still confused. Do we just go in a couple of hours early, show them our tickets, and meet you guys?

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    1. Basically that's it yeah, you show up early meet us, get autographs and pics...

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    2. ...and of course you're the first ones to get into the venue and you have a chance to buy merch without a 100 people yelling at the same time...

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  4. Hi Henkka! How is it going? I'd need you to do me a favour, if you please..I am the guy taking care of all Sonata setlists, since the official website doesn't cover this aspect. You can see my work on setlist.fm
    As you may notice I'm covering the Pariah's Child and the only missing setlist is the Arizona show on October 1st..No one could help me as it happened with the other ones, I wonder if you can..it's for the sake of Sonata history :D thank you so much -Tiziano

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    1. Ask and you shall receive ;-)

      Sonata Arctica Mesa 1.10.2014

      1.Intro
      2.The Wolves die young
      3.Losing my insanity
      4.My Land
      5.In the Dark
      6.Cloud Factory
      7.Black Sheep
      8.Letter to Dana
      9.Flag in the ground
      10.I have a right
      11.X-marks the spot
      12.Last drop falls
      13.Fullmoon
      14.Kingdom for a heart
      15.San Sebastian
      ——
      16.Blood
      17.Wolf & Raven
      18.Don’t say a word + vodka & outro

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    2. Wow! Thank you so much!! you've been so nice and just made my day! :)
      I hope it didn't bother you at all!
      So..does this mean I may ask you again if I can't find it anywhere? Don't worry, it won't be happening often ;)

      Have a great day!! thanks again!:) -Tiz

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    3. Sure, you can always ask.. ;-)

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    4. So nice of you! :) Well I'll try with El paso October 7th, can't find it anywere!
      At the most, I'll ask you just one more time at the end of tour.. promise! :) Thanks again for your kindness! Cheers!

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    5. Forget about my previous post! Actually the only missing one is Louisville, KY 10/12/14 and this was the last! All 2014 dates are covered! Thank you so much (again!) for the help! :)
      Hope to see you at the book fair in Helsinki!-T

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    6. Sonata Arctica Luisville 12.10.2014

      1.Intro
      2.The Wolves die young
      3.Losing my insanity
      4.My Land
      5.In the dark
      6.Cloud Factory
      7.Black Sheep
      8.Letter to Dana
      9.Paid in full
      10.I have a right
      11.X-marks the spot
      12.Last drop falls
      13.Fullmoon
      14.Kingdom for a heart
      15.San Sebastian
      ——
      16.Blood
      17.Wolf & Raven
      18.Don’t say a word + vodka & outro

      Happy ? ;-)

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    7. Very much! :) Thank you again! Have a nice show at the book fair!:)

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  5. Hey Henkka!

    Montreal misses you already so, you have to come back as soon as you can. :-) I love to see you guys work the stage like you do at your festival shows and bigger staged venues, so I'm really sorry you had to play on that dinky little stage over here. :-( Nonetheless, I really really enjoyed the show! Hope you did too despite the size of the venue and your keytar acting up. You're not going to at some point put it out of its misery like you did to Moon, are you?! Btw, have you given this one a name?

    Awe, it's so nice that you were able to get some food from back home. I'm sure it helped you feel a little closer. I wouldn't doubt you guys get a little homesick every now and then...Is this the longest tour you've been on?

    Hahaha, you must have been really tired to fall asleep during the NHL highlights! Regular season starts on Wednesday, woooohoooo!..without Budaj. Just last night I was telling someone how I wouldn't be surprised if he were to be traded...but I didn't expect it this soon! How did your Rangers do during preseason?
    Though we won 4 out of 7 of our games, the last two were played back to back with the Ottawa Sens in which we lost both. :-( Lets hope this isn't a bad omen for the Habs in regular season...but then again it's only the beginning so anything can happen. GO HABS GO!!!


    Ah, yes...why not honor The Big Lebowski with a few white russians...or did you mean "caucasians"?. ;-)...I haven't seen that in ages! Now I want to see it again!...and I had no idea there was a movie on the Broad Street Bullies. I'm gonna have to look for that too.

    Sending good vibes to you and your keytar. :-) Hopefully he will decide to behave himself for the rest of your tour. Of course I send good vibes out to everyone else too...but it seems you and your black and white keyed friend may need them a little more at the moment. Hope you have a great show tonight and...though you hate off days, I hope you enjoy yours tomorrow.

    Alrighty, then! I think maybe I've typed enough so I'll stop now...

    Signed,
    The Babbling Brook ;-)

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    1. Yeah this is the longest tour we've been on so far and no I haven't named my new keytar...might do it at some point but right now it's not in the books.

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  6. Hi Henkka! How you doing there? Hope everything's alright and that you guys are fine :) I'd like to ask you a little thing about the Helsinki Book Fair on the 25th of October, if you please. Since my boyfriend and I would love to be there, we're searching some info about the event, but two problems occurred: first of all we cannot find detailed descriptions about it and, last but not least, we don't understand Finnish so well... so it's kinda hard for us to figure that out ;-) will you all be there? Is it confirmed? Let us know, so we can smoothly reserve flight-tickets, hotel and so on :-) thank you for your answer! wish the very best for the whole band ;)

    Cheers! :)
    Beatrice

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    1. The plan is that we'll all be there, I have no detailed info about the schedule or anything yet, it's all still in the works..

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    2. Heard it's gonna be at 15:00

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    3. What a good news :) this means we'll see there! just going to buy those flight-tickets, thanks for your answer ;)

      -B

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  7. Hi Henrik!
    We are waiting for you in Saint-Petersburg and would like to present you a gift that (we hope) will be unique in your huge collection.
    And there's a question whether we would be able to give it to you after the show..
    We hope we'll have a chance!

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    1. I hope you get the chance as well, I have no idea about how things are set up there so...

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  8. Pohjois-Amerikka oli yksi paikoista missä saattoi nähdä lokakuun alussa verikuun/blood moonin, kävittekö tsekkaamassa? :)

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    1. ...tais jäädä välistä ;-)

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    2. Aaaivan, todellakintodellakin... Tarkemmin tutkittua asiaa niin se onkin ollut siellä päin mualimoo aamulla... Ja ehkä muutenkin.. Enivei ;D

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  9. You were all wonderful in Portland. I hope you liked it there! :)

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  10. Someone on facebook said you've played the entire Ecliptica album in Orlando a couple of nights ago..is it for real?

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    1. Pretty much bullshit, we haven't played the entire album live...yet.

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  11. Hey! awesome show in Puerto Rico!! the sound very clear excellent job from your crew etc but... what happened with you? looks like you are upset and not happy at all...your tongue out and other stuff from you I missed them

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    1. I wasn't upset, and I don't stick my tongue out on every show anyways ;-) Had a hard time keeping my hair out of my mouth becouse of the wind though....

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    2. people like you, who take time out of their busy schedules for the fans have my highest respect. It's a clear sign of how genuine you still are... sorry! I don't want be rude lol just I analyze everything.... just complain about we can't have the chance for meet and greet or something like that but thanks for "visit us".. hope you enjoyed our island Puerto RIco and yes... that day was so f....ng HOT! at least wasn't raining like days before

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  12. Lord Henkka !, happy birthday, if not read this but I want to wish you a beautiful day for you, I'm a big fan of his work in my favorite band
    and wish that today as many, many more to come, thanks for letting me admire her talent, see you soon at some excellent concert, congratulations, a hug from Peru, blessings.

    Lo amo :(

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  13. I don't have an idea where i can say this but!

    Today, I wish all your dreams come true as you walk on your path. count your blessings day by day realize there are more than years in your life,So Henkka, celebrate your day! Just live it out to the fullest and have fun, life is a journey ...so enjoy every mile. Disfruta con tu familia =)

    Take care always and keep on rocking



    ********************************************************************************
    Some videos - Puerto Rico
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2lRMFtQ7nkkzzliPc8sQkw

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