† This show was to be my third HIM outing to date. With me were four HIM veterans and three newbies, one of whom is indirectly responsible for my HIM fandom. We all met at my house earlier than some thought was necessary but it wound up being worth it for the line we met about 80 minutes later. The show was at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion (formerly Promowest Pavilion) in Columbus. The line, when we arrived, stretched the length of a Columbus block, then wrapped around an up a dirt hill a few hundred feet. When they started allowing people in, the line reached back over the hill and toward the highway. Thankfully, the entry process was very speedy.

We got inand before even half the crowd had entered, we were adjusting our vision for all the smoke. This place definitely had more class than Bogart's or the Odeon. It was brighter, wider, shorter, and with a nice lounge and balcony (though the sound wasn't as loud as the Odeon and the lights not as impressive as Bogart's). The merch booth had more new shirts, cool, but an other-wise disappointing selection of stuff. But hey, with my $30 for a tee shirt, I got a fee plastic HIM/Jagermeister shot glass... made of plastic.

After we all drained our bladders, we divided the group up. Dustin, Carly, Joe, Julie, and Brooke all headed to the front but Zeke, Stephanie and I all headed up to the balcony. The kids who went forward wound up around 15 feet from the stage before the end. It was a bit crowded upstairs but eventually we got angles to view the stage which, due to the shortness of the venue, still put us an acceptable distance from the band.

So the real meat of the matter: the music. HIM only had one opening act this time around, which was Aiden. I'd heard that they were just another emo band, and my fears were somewhat proven when they came out with swooshed-over hair and the lead singer wore a black suit and red tie. I was, however, pleasently surprised.

Firstly, it wasn't the same old slow and heavy "I cut my wrists because girls make me cry inside" bullshit, it was actually energetic and fast. The lead singer was bouncing around, jumping, spinning, swinging his mic by the cord, and God help me I liked the music! I also appreciated that he was a really good sport. Some opening acts make no acknowledgement of the band they're opening for, and understandably so: they're bitter to be the opening act no one paid to see. But Aiden kept amping everyone up for HIM in-between songs. Before going off, the lead singer gave a short speech about never listening to people who tell you you cannot do what you want to do (whether that is to fly a plane, or drive a bus, or be in some silly rock band) and that had he listened to people who told him he'd never amount to anything he would not be there, opening up for such a cool, popular band. He also threw us into a chant of "we set our friends on fire" at which point some dickheads down below began throwing matches at other people.

Then it was time for HIM. About 20 minutes later, the fog began to blow. Four great chandeliers rose from the stage. The band members finally replaced their roadies onstage. Then, as Ville gave a short introduction, the Heartagram behind glowed bright orange and they began Soul on Fire. The whole set was a follows:

Soul on Fire
Vampire Heart
Right Here in My Arms
Wicked Game
Behind the Crimson Door
Join Me (In Death)
It's All Tears (Drown in This Love)
Wings of a Butterfly
Razorblade Kiss
Play Dead
Your Sweet Six Six Six
Killing Loneliness
Solitary Man's opening verse followed by Poison Girl
The Sacrament (is Mom)
Then, the encore

Under the Rose
Funeral of Hearts
Buried Alive by Love

This was my best HIM concert yet. Ville came on wearing his normal black pants and dress shirt, which—sadly—was accented by an emo-licious red tie. Still, he made the look work like he always does. Go team. He talked much more this time than last, and held his mic to the audience evenly throughout the show. He seemed in high spirits, which may have been influenced by the bra collection that grew so large during the show that they brought out a second mic stand for him to hang them on.

It was also cool to see how wide the variety of fans (or escorts of fans) was, and how they reacted to the tunes. I saw middle-aged people who came with their youths who were rocking out and dancing by the end. I saw little kids, teens, everyone... and while this brought to my eyes that yes, the band is officially mainstream, it was really just okay with me. It made me smile.

When playing The Sacrament, Ville announced that he had not seen his dear mother in a long time. He said he last talked to her 2 (3, 4... no, 5!) days ago on the phone. He said that we should all value our mothers because they are so wonderful to us and so he sent the song out to all the moms in the audience. He quickly ran through with us that we were to change the word "you" to "Mom" and sing "The Sacrament is Mom!" and we did... it was really cool. Then, when playing Buried Alive By Love, three young kids no older than 12, were brought up to show us how to rock on stage. That was really cute.

I really wish they'd played some Deep Shadows or more of Greatest Lovesongs but beggers can't be choosers and this was overall a fantastic concert. He didn't even get tipsy until towards the end, there. To close out after the wonderful 3-song encore, he had us chant "Black Sabbath" over and over. When the show finished my feet hut, my abs hurt, my throat hurt, I was famished and parched, and ready as hell to just sleep for days... and I spent 60 bucks between getting there, buying a shirt, and getting some Arby's... and every single bit of it was worth it. Best concert of my life.