Stratovarius live in Hollywood 10/9/05 and in Santa Ana 10/10/05
Do you know what its like to finally see one of your favorite bands perform? Have you ever dreamed about seeing a band you really liked for many years? Well, as of the last two days, my dream had finally become reality! Pounding double bass drums, shredding guitars, ominous keyboards, bombastic bass playing and soaring vocals has kept me listening to one of my all time favorite bands Stratovarius for about five years. After about ten years of playing together, touring the world and releasing about seven to eight studio albums with the same line up, Stratovarius finally graced us with their first North American tour and I was lucky enough to catch them play at two of their stops in California!
The past couple days in L.A. before Sunday were very hot, and on Sunday it was a nice change because the temperature was cool and there was a gentle breeze all day. As I was preparing to leave my house, I took a shower and completed a mental check list of things I wanted to bring and do. I started the day with a hardy steak breakfast at a local restaurant that satisfied my appetite all day. I was on the freeway by 3:45 and made it to the Key Club in Hollywood by 5:00. It took me awhile to find parking, but once I found it, it was cool because the parking lot was right across the street from the Key Club and the parking guy gave me a parking pass and forgot to make me pay the eight dollar parking fee! Other metal heads were walking out of the parking lot as I was leaving and we ended up talking together and hanging out and holding each others places in line. The conversations with everyone varied from how long weve been listening to Stratovarius to how many times we have seen Children of Bodom live to all sorts of metal related talk. After waiting outside about two hours, the doors opened at 7:00pm and the show was about to begin.
I was one of the first people in line so I managed to get really close up in front and center of the stage. The friends that I had made in line were right next to me the entire time. After the two opening bands played, Stratovarius was ready to begin and the place became packed. Everyone was pushing even though there wasnt any room to move. To the left and to the right people were pushing very hard making it difficult to remain comfortable. I had at least a couple elbows in my side the whole time. There were these little Mexican girls that look they had to be under eighteen and they were annoying enough to make me want to hit them. They screamed Kotipelto! the whole time and I doubt it was because they wanted to get his autograph or something tame like that. The crowd was actually kind of inconsiderate and unpleasant. As a result of the crowd, the vibe, and being uncomfortable the whole time, Ill reserve most of the details of the show for the Santa Ana show because it had everything the Hollywood show had and more!
Before Stratovarius began, they had this lengthy video of them when they were ready to begin their world tour. It started off with rehearsal footage of Lauri Porra and the rest of band getting ready for Wacken summer festival this year. The video showed a lot of footage from shows they played from Wacken on in chronological order. Among the footage was them in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Kotipelto looking at some girls asses in Brazil, drinking, Lauri playing a Mexican guitar, crowd shots, airport footage, and then when the video was coming to an end, a big American flag was on the screen. The room went dark and then the keyboard intro to Maniac dance could be heard and the band ran out on stage and started playing!
During each song, they had some various stuff appear on the screen behind them. For example, during Maniac Dance, they had the video for the song playing on the screen, for the Kiss of Judas they had Nostradamus and a rainbow, for Will the Sun Rise they had a picture with a view of the sun setting from some shore over the ocean, for the song united the band left the stage and everything went dark, all these Statistics came up about deaths from war during the 18th century, World War one and two, then the screen said that we spend one trillion dollars towards wars each year and it asked the question when will we learn..., that we are all in this together, were all in the same boat, the key to the universe is LOVE, and finally the last screen said we stand UNTIED. The set list was something like this: Maniac Dance, Speed of Light, the Kiss of Judas, Twilight Symphony, Will the Sun Rise, Father Time, a bass solo intermission that was probably the most impressive bass playing Ive ever seen live, the Land of ice and Snow, United, Against the Wind, Hunting High and Low, and then three encore songs which were Forever, Destiny and Black Diamond.
Following the end of their set, I was glad it was over despite being really happy to see them because I was extremely uncomfortable with everyone pushing and I felt like a sponge drenched in my and others sweat. I also felt that the sound was equalized very poorly because it was very hard to hear Kotipeltos voice and Jens keyboards even though I was standing right in the front and center of the stage. As I walked outside, I met up with the guys I was waiting with in line. They agreed that the pushing was ridiculous and we started talking about Stratos performance; other metal heads join the groups discussion that included everything from Gigantour, the Iron Maiden Egging incident at Ozzfest, and talking about the Stratovarius show at the Galaxy the next day. I also met the moderator at the Nightwish forum and she was very nice.
An hour or so passes while waiting in front of the venue when Timo Tolkki, Jens Johansson, and Lauri Porra walk out the front door. They go a few buildings down the street to a local bar. I pay the five dollar cover charge to get in. They had not ordered drinks yet and I offered to buy them all drinks, but they were really quick with ordering. I started off by talking to Jens and let me tell you he was crazy. I told him hes one of my favorite musicians, that I have all of his solo CDs, and that his music puts me on top of the world and he replied with Oh really, thats great! I need booze. I asked him for his autograph and he said You want an autograph? Look, there, I did it. A few minutes later Kotipelto shows up and I explain to him how I find his lyrics are really inspirational to me because it takes a lot of courage to express those feelings that I could never put into words like he could. I also expressed my deepest gratitude for coming back to Stratovarius because the band wouldve never been the same without him. He seemed touched by what I had to say and told me Thank you. I never thought things would end up this way either. I asked Lauri for an autograph next and told him how I liked Sinergy a lot and thanked him for saving Stratovarius too. He modestly said I didnt do anything! I didnt save Stratovarius! Whatever though, I appreciate that someone as good as him could heed the call and fill the shoes of someone as great as Jari Kainulainen. When it came time to talk to Tolkki, I pretty much told him the same thing as I told Kotipelto and how much his music means to me. I kind of stood around a little more because I still intended to buy any one of the Strato members drinks, and it looked like it wouldnt happen as the waitress kept on taking orders very quickly. I ended up pulling six dollars out of my wallet and I told Tolkki, Here take this. I still wanted to buy you a drink because I appreciate everything youve done over the years. Only you could create music that expresses how I truly feel and I love you guys. I knew you could overcome your sickness and I want to express my deepest gratitude for keeping Stratovarius together! Tolkki holding the money looked at me with wide eyes and I think he was touched by what I had to say when he told me thank you very much. I thank everyone out loud again and told them Id be seeing them tomorrow in Santa Ana. As I walked back towards the front of the venue, Jorg Michael was about to go into the bus after signing a few things for some other people already there, and I said please Jorg! Just one more! Without hesitation he turned around to sign my Stratovarius booklet and I told him thanks for coming back! I know you must be tired from all of that double bass work! Jorg chuckled at my comment. I thank him for his determination in the band and also for doing the drum tracks for the new album while Tolkki was in the hospital. After Jorg signed a few more things for other people, he was off to see the others band members at the bar. By this time people were gathered around and I was talking to them about unbelievable it was to meet everybody in the band. I met some guys from Utah that traveled 700 miles to see Stratovarius and some other friends that took pictures of me with Jorg. These friends would call me the next morning to meet them at the show in Santa Ana.
Despite the crowd and venue not being too pleasant in Hollywood, just meeting the band was worth the money I paid for the show that night. I was still in awe from meeting the band and I couldnt believe that I was going to see them again on their final stop of their North American tour. So I wake up and theres a phone call for me from a friend I made at the show the night before and he said that hed like to meet up. I agreed and started the day by heading towards the Japanese market to eat, get some tea, and get prepared for the show in general. After a nice meal, it was time to hit the road toward Orange County. The venue was pretty difficult to find as it was dwarfed behind some other large building. Surprisingly, there was already a line. I lined up and they started letting people in a few hours early. The kid that called me in the morning wasnt there yet so I went inside and I saw the moderator from the Nightwish forum again and we began to talk about the day before. I ended up getting a Stratovarius tour shirt that said monster metal madness with the tour dates on the back. After buying the tour shirt, I went outside to talk to some smokers about the show. There was one guy whos liked Stratovarius for ten years and we shared the excitement as we were about to see them. I had my bloody Children of Bodom shirt on over my new Strato shirt the whole time and I was surprised how many people came up to me and commented about it. The security guard there even liked CoB and said that hed probably be back stage when they came. After a lot more talk about metal, I could hear the opening band begin to play and everybody headed inside.
Three bands and two hours later, I could already tell this was going to be a great show. There were people pitting and the people in the front were totally respecting everybody and their space; I was so much more comfortable in Santa Ana than I was in Hollywood. Stratovarius setup was pretty much the same as in Hollywood with the intro video and the video screen displaying images the whole time. They opened with Maniac Dance again and the head bangers in the front were going nuts. Kotipelto came out and let me tell you, this crowd was fucking loud! Even after Maniac Dance, Kotipelto commented on how loud we were. Yes we were loud, and this energy continued all throughout the night. During Speed of Light, everybody stopped playing and Kotipelto stuck out his arm and opened his hand, pulled it back and everybody went wooooooaaahhhh and then when he punched forward, everybody was like Yeaaaahhhh! Kotipelto signaled us to do it a couple more times and asked Tolkki if that was good enough. Tolkki did a hand gesture like it was Okay and Kotipelto responded with There must be something wrong with you if you couldnt hear that! Tolkki looked much more into the show than the day before at Hollywood. Jorg was throwing his drum sticks in the air and catching them while playing songs like Father Time, and was also twirling his drum sticks all throughout the Kiss of Judas. On the solo of Black Diamond, Tolkki played the whole solo above the neck and Lauris bass solo was different from the one performed the night before. If you glorify someone like Cliff Burton, prepare yourself for a new bass god named Lauri Porra. He was shredding his bass like it were an electric guitar, he was using both hands and playing slap bass on the neck and near the pick-ups, he did a little bit of a slow part that included bass harmonics and then proceeded to his Wah pedal where he continued to shred the bass as if it were a guitar! The set list was the same as the Hollywood show except that they added the song Coming Home. I normally dont like Stratovarius ballads, but I think Ive found new beauty in these songs; the unity of everyone singing together is a great feeling. Seriously, Destiny must be one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard live. I almost shed a tear towards the end of the song. Then in between Destiny and Black Diamond, Tolkki started playing the riff to Iron Man and then Jens started playing it too. Jens then ran away grabbed a beer, drank some, paused, and then started the intro to Black Diamond. Afterwards, Kotipelto made us count to four in Finnish to prove how loud we could be and then they took a bow and walked off stage.
As the show was winding down and people were walking out, I saw and talked to some friends that I made which included the moderator from the Nightwish forum. I was about to pass out without some water so I had to leave the venue and my friends around this time. I walked outside and around the block to see if I could get a glimpse of the Strato guys, but there was nothing there. I came back around to the front and it ended up that their bus was on the opposite side of the venue. There were about fifteen people waiting for the band to come out. Jens was the first one to be seen and we called him over, but he ignored us. Someone from Into Eternity said hed be back in a little bit. Then Tolkki and Kotipelto graced us with a few minutes of their time. It was funny because there was a fence between the fans and Strato guys, so we had to slip our CD booklets through the fence and others were throwing their shirts over the fence to get them signed. Kotipelto was even kind enough to ask if I wanted the inside of my Coldness booklet signed as well as the front
.theres no way I could refuse that! Next, Jorg comes out and signs some stuff and asks us if we were thirsty, and then he comes back with beers for everybody! He even signed the beer that he gave me! I drank the beer right away and it couldnt have tasted any better; it came from Jorg Michael! Lauri actually opened the gate and came out and said Alright, lets have a little signing session! He also informed us that Jens snuck out and wouldnt be signing anything. When it came time for me to get Lauris signature, I asked him if he was a permanent member of Stratovarius, and he said I think so! So I said, So fuck Sinergy eh? He looked at me with wide eyes and he said Hell no! I met Roope Latvala (Stone/Sinergy/Children of Bodom), last year at a Children of Bodom show and he said that the Sinergy album was almost done and I told Lauri what Roope had told me. Lauri said that the new Sinergy album was almost done and that It has the best bass playing of my whole career on that album! It looks like Im going to have to get that CD right when it comes out! I also mentioned that I knew about his solo CD, and he said Oh really? Yeah, Im not sure if youd like it because its kind of weird I told him I like weird stuff and showed him my Fission, Heavy Machinery, and Featherless Bipeds CD covers that I wanted Jens to sign and told him I like Spastic Ink too (Jens guest appears on the new Spastic Ink album). He said Good, because its very different from what I usually do and Ive got a lot of other artist on the CD like Alexi (Laiho). He also told me that itll be released in Finland first and then later it would be available on the Stratovarius website. It was cool being so engaged in a conversation with him, but I guess it was because I knew what I was talking about! I told Lauri Id look out for his solo CD and he thanked me as he headed toward his car and waved goodbye.
Walking towards my car, I couldnt believe how surreal the past two days were! The Hollywood show was worth it just because I got to really express how I felt about Stratovarius to each band member personally. The Santa Ana show topped the Hollywood show and the crowd was so great that I really felt the emotion, power and unity between the fans and the band. Perhaps the Key to the Universe truly is love? Anyway, with a big smile on my face I put on Elements part one, blasted Eagleheart through my car stereo and sped out the parking lot. I felt tired, satisfied, grateful and privileged that I saw two great shows in a row and had the pleasure of meeting some of my heroes from one of my favorite bands Stratovarius
