Day 36 - Thursday 24.3. -Off-day somewhere
After the last NW show yesterday, we had a farewell party before heading
out to our first headlining show in Louisville, Kentucky. Since it’s a rather long
drive we had a resting day in between. I was kinda hungover from the party last
night so I was just chilling the whole day. At around 0400 in the morning we continued
our ride….
Day 37 - Friday 25.3. - Louisville, KY
The first day of the tour without a tourmanager…. Interesting. Well, there were
some hassles as usual but nothing we couldn’t deal with. i guess the biggest
thing we did was switch the stage setup, me & Tommy traded sides, as did
Pasi and Elias. It felt a bit weird but I’m sure we get used to it. Another thing was
that since playing 45min shows for 5 weeks we now got back to the “normal” 90min
set. The day went by rather quickly, Tony missed the meet & greet because he had to
go to see the doctor. He got some antibiotics and had no problem doing the show so
nothing to worry about at this moment ;-) After the show we met up with a couple of friends of ours for a few drinks but we couldn’t really hang out for that long since we
had the longest drive on the tour from Louisville to Baltimore. We hang out with the guys for a bit and when everybody else went to bed I stayed up and watched a movie
since I wasn’t that tired.
Day 38 - Saturday 26.3. - Baltimore, MD
Another place we’ve been to before , nice to be back. I woke up in the afternoon and headed inside to check things out and do some business e-mails etc. Everything went
rather smoothly today and we’re slowly getting used to the longer set, just in time for
the off-day ;-) Tonights show was a sweaty one with a good crowd so nothing to bitch
about here. Afterwards we headed back to our container and tried to get some sleep….
Day 39 - Sunday 27.3. - Off-day
Took a stop in Cleveland. Since it was easter and Sunday on top of that, there wasn’t really anything open or anything to do so….drinks it was.
Day 40 - Monday 28.3. - Chicago, IL
A new venue for us, yay. Other than that these days seems to repeat themselves.
Wake up and head into the venue, sort out guest lists, dinner etc details with Aaron
our drumtech who’s taking charge here. Then soundcheck, meet & greet , dinner
a quick nap and then it’s showtime….showers and a few beers and then back into
the container and towards the next stop ;-) Sometimes we have a couple of interviews thrown in between but that’s about it. The show tonight took awhile to get going and
since nobody felt like doing setlists we were all trying to check it out from the only crappy sheet that Tony had in front of him. No big mishaps here though. I think we’ll
do some lists tomorrow. Good night Chicago.
Day 41 - Tuesday 29.3. - Cleveland, OH
We were here on the last tour as well. The day was as usual, I did spend some time
online again with work stuff (which I usually prefer to do at home). Anyways, we changed one song in the set tonight and managed to do setlists as well (actually
Aaron did)….After the show it was time to say goodbye to Delain. Tony went on stage
and brushed his teeth during the Delain show…..oh and btw we had some good burgers for dinner at the restaurant in the venue.
Day 42 - Wednesday 30.3. - Off-day
The last day off on this tour. I woke up rather early and went into the hotel to chill. We spent this day in Buffalo next to a mall. I only went there with the boys for awhile to get something to eat, some of the guys stayed at the mall to do some shopping. Back at the hotel we headed for the pool and then for another round of food. Ended the night watching movies in the container.
Day 43 - Thursday 31.3. - Toronto, Canada
I don’t know how many times we’ve played here at the Opera House but it’s been
quite a few. Everything worked well and this was pretty much a normal day at
the office, if I may say so. The show was really good in front of an excited crowd,
so nothing to bitch about here. After the show we had a long drive to Quebec.
Day 44 - Friday 1.4. - Quebec City, Canada
Once again, everything works and we’re happy ;-) The Crowd was the loudest
so far on this tour. During the day I headed for a cool shop that I know of to buy
myself a new jacket…the only problem was that my memory failed me and the
shop in question is actually situated in Montreal hahaha, as soon as I started walking
towards it I realised the mistake. Well, shit happens. Me & Aaron headed out to a nearby bar for a couple of drinks before it was time to leave.Met some fans, took
some pics, no biggie ;-)
Day 45 - Saturday 2.4. - Worchester, MA
Woke up at the border, the van got searched and I was grilled a bit by an officer about
our money-situation etc. No problem, he was nice but just wanted to clear some things up. Back to bed after that and I didn’t wake up until late in the afternoon. At the soundcheck we realised that my new keytar was missing. Still don’t know where it’s at
so I’ll be doing the last two shows with the old half-broken Ax-7. Not too happy about
that. Let’s see how it turns out….if it craps out on me I WILL BREAK IT !!!
The show was really hot and the lights were….interesting to say the least. We don’t have our own lightguy on these last 4 shows so you never know what will happend ;-)
Did some solo stuff with Elias….things got a bit out of hand at times but no worries.
Day 46 - Sunday 3.4. - New York City, NY
Last day of the tour = a lot of things going on, trying to find all your stuff from the
bandwagon etc etc. Went out for breakfast as soon as we arrived in NYC, later
on I got my stuff together, we did the soundcheck, meet & greet etc. Soon enough
it was showtime. A good show for us, which of course is how you want to end a tour,
met up with some ppl after the show for a few beers and then it was off to the airport
hotel. Didn’t really stay up that long…everyone were more or less ready to go home.
Day 47 - Monday 4.4. - Travel Day
Just before noon we left the hotel to the airport, waited a couple of hours and did the
check-in. A couple of drinks and on to the plane. I started watching latest bond movie
but couldn’t stay awake….
Day 48 - Tuesday 5.4. - Travel Day
Arrived at the Helsinki airport and said goodbye to everyone except Tommy & Tony, we
still had a 5 hour wait until our flight would leave towards Kemi. Spent that time in the lounge just resting…at 1400 our flight left and at 1535 we were home.
35 shows (-1 cancelled) over 20,000km in the bandwagon and 48 days. I think
9 or 10 of the NW shows were sold out….that’s about it for now. Thank you
North-America and we’ll be back in November with our new album and some new
stuff to present to you.
Next stop is the studio !!! I’ll post some updates from there as well as
some pics from this tour…when I get around to it.
cheers,
Henkka
Aw man that sucks about the new keytar! You had that for what, a week? Maybe somebody nicked it at a venue or at the border? Lame :(
ReplyDeleteAlso my friend in Worcester totally won the bid war on your pants and I am Very Jealous. Is this becoming a thing, or did they just not fit into your suitcase anymore?
Welcome back home! You brought a semblance of spring! Hopefully you're all okay and not too mangled by all that time in the container :)
The keytar was actually found...it was left behind in Quebec so no worries...I'll guess we meet again sometime ;-)
ReplyDeleteAww that's good :)
DeleteI saw you guys at that Worcester show. I gotta say, even though they stuck you guys upstairs and the sound was shit, and the lights were "interesting" the crowd was loving it and you guys gave a great show! You guys are great on stage and I wanted to say thanks! I'll either see you guys in Tilburg, NL in October or New Jersey in November! Great job again!
ReplyDelete