Thursday 19.2.-Friday 20.2.2015 - Travel Days (Kemi-Fortaleza)
Marching out with a great combo of flights, Kemi-Helsinki-London-Sao Paulo-Fortaleza.
Flight times should be 1,5h + 3,5 h + 12h + 2,5h and the changeovers 5,5h + 3h +
4,5 so from my front door until the hotel in Fortaleza we have slightly less than 35
hours if everything goes well. (Note: Just stating the facts at the moment, no whining).
Disclaimer:
I shall spend this time using my computer (until the battery dies), my phone (until the battery dies) and maybe reading a bit (not likely), drinking a bit (highly possible) and watching movies if available (high probability) and sleeping (good luck with that ! ).
….alrighty-o, actually this was probably one of the easiest long-haul flights we’ve ever had. I managed to sleep for around 6 hours on the flight from London to Sao Paulo which was great. When we finally arrived in Fortaleza we took a quick stop at the hotel for showers etc and then we went for a really nice dinner !!! We ended the night sitting outside at the beach and drinking beer. It’s good to be back on the roead ;-)
Saturday 21.2.2015 - Fortaleza, Brazil
Got up at around 10 and managed to hit the breakfast buffet before it closed. Elias joined me so I didn’t have to eat alone. A bit later Pasi, Tony & I went for the gym for a short session. It was nice to do a short work out and get fully awake. In the afternoon we had dinner at the hotel and then it was time to go to the venue and do the soundcheck. The sound on stage was a bit chaotic because of the venue setup but I’m sure it’ll be ok tonight when the people arrive. Todays piano is a Triton Extreme 88 which is ok, not the best but it’ll do. Since we haven’t played here before we dropped What did you do in the war, Dad ? and Love from the setlist and added Replica and Tallulah instead. We’ll probably be juggling the setlists around depending on where we are. In the snowcastle we played White Pearl, Black Oceans and we might do that one again on this tour since we now play it until the end (as opposed to the previous live version) and we also have new orchestral backing tracks that Mikko P. Mustonen did for us so the song sounds quite different these days compared to how we did it last year. Let’s see what other stuff we’ll come up with, it seems that it’s getting harder and harder to decide which songs to play….
Anyways, before the show we had a short meet & greet and then it was time to go onstage in front of around 1500 people. Really nice !! ..and we also found out that the show was sold out so a great start to the tour. Afterwards we had to be quick to get back to the hotel since we had a 0445 lobby call to fly out to Recife.
Sunday 22.2.2015 - Travel Day & Recife, Brazil
Got up at 0430….tired, no surprise here, we came to the hotel at around 01 last night so…Anyways, the flight to Recife was really short and upon arrival we hit the breakfast buffet and then it was off to bed to sleep some more. Decided to take a short swim in the pool in the afternoon, which was a great idea ;-) Dinner, Soundcheck…the usual routine and then it was time to chill at the hotel for awhile before the show…
…and post this ;-)
cheers,
Henkka
Can't wait to hear this new live version of WPBO! :) I know that you'll be doing an Ecliptica over Europe" show in London on May the first, but I was curious as to whether you have plans to bring the Pariah's Child tour to England too this year?
ReplyDeleteWe're going to finish the Pariah's Child World Tour in the fall of 2015, so unless some festival books us this summer, the London gig is the only one in the UK this year.
DeleteWell damn, now you gotta play this new and improved WPBO in June ;)
ReplyDeleteSounds like this tour is starting right :) have fun!
Hi man. Welcome back!
ReplyDeleteHope that you all can enjoy this tour as you've never enjoyed Brazil before. Go to the beaches, a little bit sightseeing in Manaus (rainforest region) and all of that.
Can't wait to see you once again in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte. Hope to see What did you do in the war, Dad ? and Love on these concerts as you came here last year and they were not "ready for live".
("Just stating the facts at the moment, no whining").
White Pearls would be an awesome experience once again too. Checked the snowcastle version and it was awesome with the fireworks and the full ending.
Anyway, enjoy the tour and meet you on the next weekend! Have nice concerts! See ya
Hope you guys play the improved WPBO on the Ecliptica tour in Europe, its still the best Sonata song to a lot of people
ReplyDeleteMoi Henkka!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your new blog. It is always a pleasure to share your adventures and your thoughts with us. I'm a little bit jealous of the South America fans cause they can see you live right this time ;)
I wish, I could be there in this nice countries. But hey ... everybody deserves to see your fantastic show and so it's is quite okay.
And as well it takes only a little while until you're back here in Germany and I can also finally enjoy the music live again.
Have fun on your road trip with the fans, the venues, the hotels, the food , the parties, the drinks, the books, the films, the boring nights in a bus ...and everything else, what belongs to this. Have everybody anytime a safe journey!
See you later this year! :)
Greetings from the cold Germany!
Ps: It would really really be great to hear WPBO live on the upcoming tour! It is one of my favorites.
PPs: Last question .... can we expect a new Tour-TV from Toni??? That would be great! :D
Tony hasn't had the time to do the tour-videos for awhile now so....he might make a come-back in that field at some point but at the moment....no videos, sorry.
DeleteOooo. Any chance of you guys playing WPBO in summer? Here in Finland? Just asking, I'll be happy with anything from you anyway. I know I already saw it live twice last year...
ReplyDeleteCounting the days to seeing you again while you guys hopefully are having fun on tour and all being well and so on.
There's always a chance ;-) We're not even thinking about what we will play this summer, just trying to figure the setlist out for tonight here in Manaus, Brazil.
DeleteOf course, first things first :) We'll see it then. Good to know there's at least a chance though!
DeleteHey Henkka!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to have you guys around South America in such a short period of time. Even happier since I'm gonna see you for the second year in a row here in Lima Peru (I believe Sonata's the first international band to archieve that in my country). The venue's smaller than the last year one but is still pretty nice and I have no doubts that's gonna be a hell of a blast show ;D only hope to have the chance to chat a little and take some pics with you, hopefully... cheers!!! :D
PS: It'd be beautiful if you guys manage to play 'Tallulah' here again... Last year was phenomenal of course but this time I'm going to the show with my gf and without being cheesy, that song truly means a lot for both of us :)
Hola Henkka, I'm so happy for the excellent beginning of the Latin American tour! With a first sold out show and good flight! Brasil is a great place to enjoy the beach, sun and drinks ;)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the show in Peru!, is the second time for me and I will be traveling 10 hours to Lima again :)
Sonata Arctica comes to my country for second consecutive year...Incredible!
Hope you play What did you do in the war dad? this time and wpbo too!
kisses and good vibes
Hey Henkka. I am really happy you guys played in my hometown Recife for the first time. I hope you have enjoyed the show and the city. I complained before about the fact that I am working in the US this week and had to miss the show in Recife but I will catch you in São Paulo :) Have fun in Brazil.
ReplyDeleteHi Henkka!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHope you're all enjoying the sun so far because in São Paulo it's been raining ATM, let's hope it warms up a bit till you arrive.
Then you can take your shirt off, yes? The 3 São Paulo shows: Limeira, Osasco, São Paulo? Huh, yes please???????? We want shirtless Henkka!!!!
(And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one asking for it, #amiright ?)
Haha, you might be the only one asking for it ;-) I think I'll keep my shirt on...
DeleteHi Henkka, how's it going? Heard you guys busted out Unopened in Osasco, didn't you? That was the first time since 2003! I guess you're getting ready for the Ecliptica shows! Well, you're doing a damn fine job with those setlists, this tour has been full of surprises so far.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we're getting ready for the Ecliptica shows and since we're on the road so much we try to rehearse the songs during soundchecks ...so there might be some more surprises on this tour...
Delete