The summer festival season is on now and WOW what a weekend we just had! It was super nice getting back on stage with the guys after a break and we couldn’t have done it in a more colorful way.
We started our summer tour in Tussling, Germany last Thursday. Everything was prepared well and we were super ready. In the morning as we arrived at the cool castle venue, I jumped off stage in my morning coma and twisted my ankle pretty bad. I was feeling a bit depressed as I didn’t know if I was gonna be able to make it through the show, but luckily the First Aid ladies took good care of me and gave me some pain killers and toys to keep my feet in one piece. The crew guys even had a bar chair for me, in case my foot would not be ok to stand with. Imagine sitting and singing there on that huge stage for the whole 90 minutes… But it went ok with the body parts too. It’s actually always funny how you forget your “broken bones” and illness on stage when the adrenaline hits you. After the show I was hurting like hell as soon as I “woke up” from the dream we had on stage. On stage you kind of forget everything else, even your pain and sorrows.
The first show was ok. It seems as if it’s always hard to be relaxed with the first performance after a break no matter how much you prepare yourself. The crowd was superb and all but we could have done a better and more relaxed job. Good start anyway.
After Tussling we had a day off in sunny Vienna but on Saturday there was even more action for us. We had been waiting for the biggest Austrian festival show at Nova Rock for months and as we started our show, it felt as if it’s going to be the best night ever. Actually the first songs went like in a dream but then the whole stage system crashed down. It felt a bit strange playing “Lifesaver” and the sound in our ears was superb but the audience just kept on showing us these sings that something was wrong. The problem was that the music didn’t play to them at all. Tiny problem ;) Even with that 10-minute technical break, the Nova Rock show was a blast and it kind of promised us the festival set would start working better and better.
These technical breakdown moments are very annoying on stage while they happen, but afterwards they make you feel like survivors together with our crew who glue the pieces together in super short time. Usually at least my guitar works so I could sing something small with the crowd while the boys fix the cables and stuff, but now the whole thing went down, actually for the first time ever. It felt so stupid, but there’s not much we can do.
After our own show, I also performed one song with my childhood idol, Mr David Hasselhoff. What a guy and what a great show he and his team made. It amazed me how well the Austrians know his songs. Not just “looking for freedom” that we sang. David kind of forgot to tell the crowd who’s gonna join him on stage and it was funny how everyone seemed to stare at me on stage wondering, “who the hell is that blonde guy?” My ego can take it ;)
After Nova Rock we drove to one of our favorite German festivals, the Hessentag near Frankfurt. I must admit we had a HUGE party in the buss together with the My First Band boys and as I woke up at the hotel in Frankfurt, I wasn’t too sure I could do my job that well on stage that night. But sometimes a slight hangover can also be good for the shows. It makes you feel sensitive and that’s good for performing music. It’s just my throat that bothers me if I have been screaming Hasselhoff songs until the morning.
The Hessentag show showed us that our live monster is alive. It was probably one of the Top 3 festival experiences I have ever had in my whole life and everything just seemed to work perfect. The show got a little better and it’s amazing how it also becomes a bit longer when we are not panicking on stage with starting the next song and doing the speeches in between etc. So promising sings for the rest of the summer.
So seems to me that we need a couple of concerts to get the system running properly. The “old diesel engines” need time… The same happened with the spring tour too. For me the tour was far the coolest and greatest of all times, but in Zurich at the first evening, we were not as good as we could be.
After Hessentag I flew home for one day and now I’m in Norway writing songs together with the World Idol winner Norwegian Kurt Nilsen. He’s a very nice guy and anyways I don’t mind being here. When I left Helsinki this morning, it was +9 and raining. Here the sun has been shining the whole day and it’s super hot. Well, I’m inside sitting in a studio, but anyhow… Looks nice through a window.
Tomorrow after the studio session, I will fly to Austria or Germany (can’t remember where) and I’ll wait for the rest of the band there overnight. The boys will pick me up on Friday and we’ll drive off to the next shows. My ankle is better and seems as if it can handle even jumping now. Strong boys come from my country…
I’m not feeling too great somehow. I hope it’s just travel sickness or lack of sleep. I can almost sleep 12 hours tonight, so I bet tomorrow is a better day. I heard there’s a pretty evil summer flu going around right now. But I bet I will be a new man tomorrow after sleeping in this mountain air and eating their super healthy salmon today.
Anyways. Thank you all for the super weekend in Germany and Austria last weekend and see you all very soon.
Good night everyone,
Samu
PS: In case you have a Sunrise Avenue tattoo, a band logo, song name or anything that clearly has something to do with us, feel free to join our art work stuff through our website within the next few weeks.
http://sunriseave.com/specials/tattoo-2014/index.php?lang=en
We started our summer tour in Tussling, Germany last Thursday. Everything was prepared well and we were super ready. In the morning as we arrived at the cool castle venue, I jumped off stage in my morning coma and twisted my ankle pretty bad. I was feeling a bit depressed as I didn’t know if I was gonna be able to make it through the show, but luckily the First Aid ladies took good care of me and gave me some pain killers and toys to keep my feet in one piece. The crew guys even had a bar chair for me, in case my foot would not be ok to stand with. Imagine sitting and singing there on that huge stage for the whole 90 minutes… But it went ok with the body parts too. It’s actually always funny how you forget your “broken bones” and illness on stage when the adrenaline hits you. After the show I was hurting like hell as soon as I “woke up” from the dream we had on stage. On stage you kind of forget everything else, even your pain and sorrows.
The first show was ok. It seems as if it’s always hard to be relaxed with the first performance after a break no matter how much you prepare yourself. The crowd was superb and all but we could have done a better and more relaxed job. Good start anyway.
After Tussling we had a day off in sunny Vienna but on Saturday there was even more action for us. We had been waiting for the biggest Austrian festival show at Nova Rock for months and as we started our show, it felt as if it’s going to be the best night ever. Actually the first songs went like in a dream but then the whole stage system crashed down. It felt a bit strange playing “Lifesaver” and the sound in our ears was superb but the audience just kept on showing us these sings that something was wrong. The problem was that the music didn’t play to them at all. Tiny problem ;) Even with that 10-minute technical break, the Nova Rock show was a blast and it kind of promised us the festival set would start working better and better.
These technical breakdown moments are very annoying on stage while they happen, but afterwards they make you feel like survivors together with our crew who glue the pieces together in super short time. Usually at least my guitar works so I could sing something small with the crowd while the boys fix the cables and stuff, but now the whole thing went down, actually for the first time ever. It felt so stupid, but there’s not much we can do.
After our own show, I also performed one song with my childhood idol, Mr David Hasselhoff. What a guy and what a great show he and his team made. It amazed me how well the Austrians know his songs. Not just “looking for freedom” that we sang. David kind of forgot to tell the crowd who’s gonna join him on stage and it was funny how everyone seemed to stare at me on stage wondering, “who the hell is that blonde guy?” My ego can take it ;)
After Nova Rock we drove to one of our favorite German festivals, the Hessentag near Frankfurt. I must admit we had a HUGE party in the buss together with the My First Band boys and as I woke up at the hotel in Frankfurt, I wasn’t too sure I could do my job that well on stage that night. But sometimes a slight hangover can also be good for the shows. It makes you feel sensitive and that’s good for performing music. It’s just my throat that bothers me if I have been screaming Hasselhoff songs until the morning.
The Hessentag show showed us that our live monster is alive. It was probably one of the Top 3 festival experiences I have ever had in my whole life and everything just seemed to work perfect. The show got a little better and it’s amazing how it also becomes a bit longer when we are not panicking on stage with starting the next song and doing the speeches in between etc. So promising sings for the rest of the summer.
So seems to me that we need a couple of concerts to get the system running properly. The “old diesel engines” need time… The same happened with the spring tour too. For me the tour was far the coolest and greatest of all times, but in Zurich at the first evening, we were not as good as we could be.
After Hessentag I flew home for one day and now I’m in Norway writing songs together with the World Idol winner Norwegian Kurt Nilsen. He’s a very nice guy and anyways I don’t mind being here. When I left Helsinki this morning, it was +9 and raining. Here the sun has been shining the whole day and it’s super hot. Well, I’m inside sitting in a studio, but anyhow… Looks nice through a window.
Tomorrow after the studio session, I will fly to Austria or Germany (can’t remember where) and I’ll wait for the rest of the band there overnight. The boys will pick me up on Friday and we’ll drive off to the next shows. My ankle is better and seems as if it can handle even jumping now. Strong boys come from my country…
I’m not feeling too great somehow. I hope it’s just travel sickness or lack of sleep. I can almost sleep 12 hours tonight, so I bet tomorrow is a better day. I heard there’s a pretty evil summer flu going around right now. But I bet I will be a new man tomorrow after sleeping in this mountain air and eating their super healthy salmon today.
Anyways. Thank you all for the super weekend in Germany and Austria last weekend and see you all very soon.
Good night everyone,
Samu
PS: In case you have a Sunrise Avenue tattoo, a band logo, song name or anything that clearly has something to do with us, feel free to join our art work stuff through our website within the next few weeks.
http://sunriseave.com/specials/tattoo-2014/index.php?lang=en