†

I drove the long 7 hours to Minneapolis from Norther Michigan and got to the club at about 11am. The doors didn't open until 6:30, so I had lots of time to kill. The highlights of that wait in the cold were Burton & Mige leaving their bus and walking down the street towards a cafe. I believe I saw them before anybody else did... and I couldn't believe it. Other fans waiting in line caught on, and they all dashed across the road and mobbed them and annoyed them. I stayed put, I didn't want to be "that guy." Maybe two hours later, Linde walked from their bus into the club which meant walking right down the big line of fans. Same kind of reaction; everybody running after him and mobbing him.

When the doors finally opened, I was probably the 10th person into the building. I got held up at the metal detector though because of my digital camera. The guy said I couldn't take it in, should bring it to my car, and as I was explaining "Ive been in line for 7 hours, I'm not losing my spot" another worker ran over and said just screw the metal detector and let everyone in. So, I ran in and had my camera. I thought I was home free.

Skindred came on and though their first two songs had absolutely no crowd reaction. The singer then said "Is this Minneapolis? I've heard that Minneapolis rocks. That's bullshit." He kept trying to fire us up and get us to bounce, and to say "Pressuh!" Whatever. At the end he played some weird outro on a casio keyboard that I used to play with as a tot and thanked us a hundred times. The best part of their set was the intro, which had the Imperial March from Star Wars.

Next was Finch, who I think is having a miserable time on this tour. They got a little bit better reaction than Skindred, but still poor. After 2 or 3 songs, the fans started chanting "WE WANT HIM! WE WANT HIM!'' and Finch's frontman, pissed off, said "You think we don't get that every night? We still have 3 more songs for you to sit through, we know you don't care. We'll be out of here soon." They did their set, and afterwards the singer said "Thanks" and walked off stage. Poor baby. During their set, I snapped a picture of the band (what a mistake) and a bouncer ran over to me and told me I couldn't use my digital camera. I gave it to him to hold on to, then. Thus -- not one picture of HIM. FUCKERS. At CKY 2 months ago, I used that same camera and took over a hundred pictures. Big deal. (Picture credit above goes to Jack Skellington of The Sac forums. Other picture credit to aligrrrl.)

Finally, it was time for the boys. There was a really long wait, but things got set up and out they came. No backdrop, again. They didn't have it last year either. The back area of the stage at The Quest must be too small. They played all of the same songs they've played at every other show, starting with Vampire Heart and then Right Here in my Arms. We got Wings of a Butterfly, Under the Rose, Play Dead, It's All Tears, Killing Loneliness, Razorblade Kiss, and all the rest you've read. For the encore, in which Ville came back out onstage shirtless, they played Funeral of Hearts and then Poison Heart. Poison Heart ended with Ville on his knees screaming and screaming and rolling around screaming. I ate it up.

I think the story of the night had to be Ville's drunkeness. It was shades of last year's New York, to be honest. Early on, he chugged some beer and let it run down his face, all over his clothes, and spit some out. That kind of let me know how much he had to drink before the show. Later, he had a paper cup on stage and said it was a Jager shot and slammed it. Behind him, on a box, were like 6 beers that he kept drinking from. At one point, he picked one up, tasted, threw it. Picked up the next, tasted, threw it. Next, tasted, threw it. Then, in the mic, said "Somebody get me a cold beer... these are all fucking lukewarm." It was entertaining.

Also early on, some girl threw up a pair of black panties. Ville picked them up and pressed them to his face and sniffed them and everyone got a good laugh. They were then wrapped around his hand for awhile and eventually given to Mige. Tons of bras came up after that, so Ville hung them on his mic stand. Someone threw up an ugly brown DC hat, and Ville picked it up, looked at it, made a disgusted face and threw it back. He's an Adio fan I guess.

Much like New York last year, Ville forgot a lot of his words. The worst was Soul on Fire, where he didn't remember either of the verses so he gave the microphone to the front row and told them to sing it since he couldn't. Also, in Poison Heart, he forgot one of the verses and stopped the song and started it up again. During Wicked Game, he tried getting the whole club to be silent, but idiots kept yelling. This took up a good 5 or so minutes, and he said something like "I know it's impossible for Americans to shut up for a minute but..." and everyone laughed. Over the course of the night, he probably stopped 2 or 3 songs due to forgetting words, and then stopped another song to just talk about something. That was funny as well. He just seemed so excited and happy all night. He looked like he was really enjoying himself.

I really feel like drunk Ville gave us his all that night. 110% drunk effort. After the show, I went to the merch stand and bought a tour shirt and keychain and lanyard and called it a night. I enjoyed this show more than last years, due to Ville being more drunk and animated and entertaining. Like I said, I feel he really gave it his all.

If you were at the show and have any pictures or anything, I demand you get ahold of me. Kiitos.