Sun is shining and it feels a bit like spring. Feels so cool to wear the sunglasses after so many months. Actually you have to because your eyes are not used to the sunbeams. I am in Berlin for two and a half days with our bass player Raul. He rented a car in Leipzig where we arrived after the Oberhausen show on Saturday morning and here we are.
Today I finally had a chance to check out the Mauerpark and Arkonaplaz flee markets. WOW! I could have bought a truck full of stuff there. Especially all the vintage furniture, decoration stuff and electronics stuff there is just crazy! I bought two vintage cameras from the 60’s and one analogue metronome from early 80’s and it says made in West Germany. How cool is that! For more than 30 years it has given the beat to musicians and now it’ll be decorating my little studio room giving some sort of a beat to my life. The camera stuff was amazing. There were hundreds of really old shooting machines and I just had to take a few of them with me. They will look amazing combined with my brand new Nikon equipment.
So, we lost against Sweden at the ice hockey semifinals. Last night the Finnish lions won their bronze game and I think it’s actually not that bad. AND one of the Sweden’s biggest stars Nicklas Bäckström got caught today with illegal doping stuff, so who knows… Anyways. Bronze is a great achievement against such tough teams and we did beat the team USA 5-0 at the last game. I’m proud of you boys. And Teemu Selänne #8 Forever!
Seems as if the shows are just super cool everywhere this time. The Swiss Life Arena in Hannover was a little smaller than the ones before, but the mood in the room was just as explosive as everywhere else sofar. I don’t know what it always is with me and the 6th show, but after “Angels On A Rampage” I hit my head with the guitar really hard as I was trying to get the new guitar from guitar technician Karri between the songs. My hand was very sweaty and it just slipped. I survived that and then in “Fairytale Gone Bad” I fell of the stage. You can’t see too well in the front because of the lights and at some point I just felt “oops, there’s nothing under my feet anymore…” I love the look on the crew guys faces at these moments saying: “Did I just lose most of my summer jobs this summer…?”
But the sweet security guys saved me. Again ;) Was also cool playing for my songwriter friend Sharon. It’s Sharon actually speaking in “I Can Break Your Heart” after the guitar solo and she said she almost freaked out when she heard herself through the speakers.
Oberhausen Arena has been this kind of a dream for us for many years. We heard from the Nightwish guys that it’s just an amazing place to play and the mood is always super intimate even though there are 12.000 peoplein the crowd. Feels like a little club. So finally it was our turn to enjoy that stage last Friday and damn it was cool. After the show I met some of my German relatives for the first time too. It’s kind of spooky to see people after more than 30-year break but they were super great. They have a photo of me when I’m 3-years old or something. I hope I have changed a bit since then. Not smarter but taller.
Also almost my whole family was there and even though the SWE-FIN ice hockey game went as it went, it was great watching it
together with them. The catering gilrs made hamburgers for us for the game. How sweet...
After the show Raul and I took our bus and all the others went to My First Band’s caravan to party the hell out of their souls. The boys looked pretty dead in Leipzig at 11Am as the busses arrived there. They went to bed, we drove to Berlin, so here I am.
I had a few meetings yesterday with some music industry people and in the night I visited our first product manager’s Julia’s birthday party. Was super cool having a few beers with the EMI music colleagues from 2006. Was amazing to just think about everything that happened to Sunrise Avenue after that. We would not be here without those first important months and the work of those wonderful people.
I’ll go to gym now so I have a little time for showers and stuff before I meet Raul at the lobby for dinner. He has booked a table at this very cool Asian restaurant for us. I also have the coolest vintage bathtub in my room, so I guess I better test drive that after dinner and watch a movie or something. Tomorrow we drive back to Leipzig with Raul to rock the people at Haus Auensee together with the guys. It’s the first time in the Band’s history we have a double day off. I love it. The throat rests and the mind rests. I like my life very much right now.
Thank you all for all the amazing moments again and see you really really soon.
A lot of love,
Samu
Today I finally had a chance to check out the Mauerpark and Arkonaplaz flee markets. WOW! I could have bought a truck full of stuff there. Especially all the vintage furniture, decoration stuff and electronics stuff there is just crazy! I bought two vintage cameras from the 60’s and one analogue metronome from early 80’s and it says made in West Germany. How cool is that! For more than 30 years it has given the beat to musicians and now it’ll be decorating my little studio room giving some sort of a beat to my life. The camera stuff was amazing. There were hundreds of really old shooting machines and I just had to take a few of them with me. They will look amazing combined with my brand new Nikon equipment.
So, we lost against Sweden at the ice hockey semifinals. Last night the Finnish lions won their bronze game and I think it’s actually not that bad. AND one of the Sweden’s biggest stars Nicklas Bäckström got caught today with illegal doping stuff, so who knows… Anyways. Bronze is a great achievement against such tough teams and we did beat the team USA 5-0 at the last game. I’m proud of you boys. And Teemu Selänne #8 Forever!
Seems as if the shows are just super cool everywhere this time. The Swiss Life Arena in Hannover was a little smaller than the ones before, but the mood in the room was just as explosive as everywhere else sofar. I don’t know what it always is with me and the 6th show, but after “Angels On A Rampage” I hit my head with the guitar really hard as I was trying to get the new guitar from guitar technician Karri between the songs. My hand was very sweaty and it just slipped. I survived that and then in “Fairytale Gone Bad” I fell of the stage. You can’t see too well in the front because of the lights and at some point I just felt “oops, there’s nothing under my feet anymore…” I love the look on the crew guys faces at these moments saying: “Did I just lose most of my summer jobs this summer…?”
But the sweet security guys saved me. Again ;) Was also cool playing for my songwriter friend Sharon. It’s Sharon actually speaking in “I Can Break Your Heart” after the guitar solo and she said she almost freaked out when she heard herself through the speakers.
Oberhausen Arena has been this kind of a dream for us for many years. We heard from the Nightwish guys that it’s just an amazing place to play and the mood is always super intimate even though there are 12.000 peoplein the crowd. Feels like a little club. So finally it was our turn to enjoy that stage last Friday and damn it was cool. After the show I met some of my German relatives for the first time too. It’s kind of spooky to see people after more than 30-year break but they were super great. They have a photo of me when I’m 3-years old or something. I hope I have changed a bit since then. Not smarter but taller.
Also almost my whole family was there and even though the SWE-FIN ice hockey game went as it went, it was great watching it
together with them. The catering gilrs made hamburgers for us for the game. How sweet...
After the show Raul and I took our bus and all the others went to My First Band’s caravan to party the hell out of their souls. The boys looked pretty dead in Leipzig at 11Am as the busses arrived there. They went to bed, we drove to Berlin, so here I am.
I had a few meetings yesterday with some music industry people and in the night I visited our first product manager’s Julia’s birthday party. Was super cool having a few beers with the EMI music colleagues from 2006. Was amazing to just think about everything that happened to Sunrise Avenue after that. We would not be here without those first important months and the work of those wonderful people.
I’ll go to gym now so I have a little time for showers and stuff before I meet Raul at the lobby for dinner. He has booked a table at this very cool Asian restaurant for us. I also have the coolest vintage bathtub in my room, so I guess I better test drive that after dinner and watch a movie or something. Tomorrow we drive back to Leipzig with Raul to rock the people at Haus Auensee together with the guys. It’s the first time in the Band’s history we have a double day off. I love it. The throat rests and the mind rests. I like my life very much right now.
Thank you all for all the amazing moments again and see you really really soon.
A lot of love,
Samu