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When I heard that the mighty Lordi were to play Manchester Academy I was expecting it to be in room 1 or 2 due to their extravagant stage show of theatrical props and pyrotechnics and not in the Club Academy with its tiny stage and low roof, indeed would Mr Lordi be able to fit on the stage without butting the ceiling?
Both the support bands Dirty Passion and Hollywood Groupies looked like they were lined up just behind the monitors due to the amount of kit on the stage and while they both played decent sets I feel the whole performance was marred by not being able to throw the moves, in fact Groupies’ vocalist Foxy had barely any room to move at all.
Lordi’s current tour follows the release of their seventh studio album ‘Scare Force One’. To most people they are that Metal band who won the Eurovision way back in 2006 and they don’t realize that they were going for 14 years before that and have since released four albums and done numerous tours.
Mr Lordi is larger than life, literally, standing some 7 feet tall he runs a closed shop with
the band and they are rarely seen without their trademark masks and stage gear! Which is impressive to say the least.
All the band members have a detailed character persona which all builds on the whole performance and mystique – ‘OX’ and ‘Amen’ taking up front roles on bass and guitar with tub thumper Mana on drums and Hella on keyboards – musically awesome and adding to the theatrics that draws you in the same way that Alice Cooper does.
Kicking off with one of the new tracks from Scare Force One, ‘Nailed By The Hammer of Frankenstein’ there is definitely a corny edge to the lyrics ‘Good Girls Get Bad, Get Hammered’ followed by crowd pleaser ‘This is Heavy Metal’ and ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’, their Eurovision winning song.
In a carefully choreographed set there are solos from all the musicians and they use what props they can but unfortunately they are limited by the venue size. This doesn’t seem to stop the crowd having one hell of a night joining in on the vocals, raising the middle finger high on ‘Sincerely With Love’ and finishing off with ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ and their first hit single, ‘Would You Love A Monsterman’.
In the same vein as Alice Cooper and GWAR they shock with lyrics and props, and whilst the lyrics are on the corny side it’s a musical and visual treat. Hard Rock Hallelujah indeed!
Review and photos by Simon Dunkerley
Lordi Setlist: +ETA, Nailed by the Hammer of Frankenstein, This Is Heavy Metal, Hard Rock Hallelujah, Deadache, Hella’s Kitchen, (keyboard solo), Hell Sent in the Clowns, Blood Red Sandman, Drum Solo, Give Your Life for Rock and Roll, Don’t Let My Mother Know, Bass Solo, How to Slice a Whore, It Snows in Hell, The Riff, Sincerely With Love, Amen’s Lament to Ra II, (Guitar solo), Not the Nicest Guy, Devil Is a Loser, Encore: SCG7: Arm Your Doors and Cross Check, Scare Force One, Who’s Your Daddy?, Would You
Love a Monsterman?
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