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South America Tour 2000
Mexico - 27th to 31st of July
We are warned beforehand that in Mexico nothing works. And for a good reason. The list of things that don't work includes at least showers, toilets, playing gear, electricity, schedules, car tires and security people.
We play in Morelia, Mexico City and Guadalajara. The first of those asks a good deal of the famous rock'n'roll attitude from all of us. The gear arrives six hours late and even after that pretty much nothing works. There are barely a couple of hundred people in the audience and after the gig we have to travel 400 kilometres in a cramped van with empty tires back to Mexico City. And the driver decides to play the local salsa hit channel on the radio with full volume. We rank the day the most disappointing on the tour.
The following night we play with the Swedish band Tiamat and things look promising. The stage is big, there are almost 2000 people in the hall and even the schedules almost hold. But as the show starts the local guitar gear breaks down and the show is nearing a fiasco. The crowd is however absolutely ecstatic and understands what has happened. Unbelievable people.
The last gig of a tour is always hard. Even before the show you know the sad feeling during the last song, the goodbyes and the much too long flight back home. And it gives you extra pressure as you want to leave a good impression of the tour both to yourself and to others. The reception is excited as usual. Even the security persons stand on the edge of the stage with cameras in their hands. Some fanatic Mexican grabs Tarja in a hot embrace and the whole gig almost ends there. Despite that we manage to play all the songs down to the last encore and I guess the poor security fellows have bad conscience for the rest of their lives. At the moment of goodbye the feelings are sad. We hug and kiss, praise each other and exchange addresses many times. And promise to be back soon, of course. I guess the greatness of this three weeks experience can't be understood until days have passed.
In the plane it feels homely to finally hear some news from the homeland and read a Finnish newspaper.
Written by Tuomas Holopainen on July 30, 2000
Panama - 23rd to 26th of July
The flight to Panama on "Aereo Boliviano" airlines which brings the horror stories about South American air traffic security to our minds. However, our prejudices were shamefully washed away when the plane landed safely at the Santa Cruz airport where we had a press session.
If the unreal thought of meeting the press and fans at a Bolivian airport made us happy it was at least as unbelievable to step on the Panama ground. When the tropical heat first struck us on the face no one of us could understand what a metal band from Kitee, Finland was doing in Panama.
A soldier armed with a shotgun in every street corner gives us chills. We are told not to leave the hotel in the night, not even in groups. We believe that and do not go out. Later on we hear that we are the first European metal band to play in this country. That feels incredibly awesome.
The days go by with interviews and autograph signings. We find a metal store nearby with plenty of new releases on the shelves. Once again we have to abandon our prejudices and illusions of "llama mail".
There are over 300 people at the venue, twice the crowd the organizers expected. The mother of all gig speaks, "We love you, Panama!" tastes pretty exotic in the mouth...
In Panama we have the only really warm days on the tour. The guitar player of our warm-up band takes us to his villa which lies far from everything on the top of a shore cliff just beside the sea and a beach that goes on as far as the eye can see. Swimming and body boarding in the Pacific Ocean. The day is ranked the most memorable on the tour and the environment a paradise.
Written by Tuomas Holopainen on July 25, 2000
Argentina - 19th to 22nd of July
In the morning we say goodbye and head for Buenos Aires which the travel guide says to be the most boring city in Latin America. I don't know about boring but the local night culture surprises us big time. We eat an "early dinner" at 9 (the normal dinner time is around 11 or midnight) because we have live radio interviews in the night from 1 to 4. And it continues eight o'clock in the morning. I wonder when these people sleep. The streets are filled with people throughout the night. The locals say this kind of night life is quite normal for them. Well, that's okay, to each their own.
The first venue is pretty strange: A theatre hall with seats for 250 persons. The intimacy of the gig (which is sold out with very high ticket prices) makes it an experience to remember forever.
Before the next gig they surprise us by telling that the gig will be recorded with four cameras. They shouldn't have told that... The crowd goes absolutely nuts again, though, so the right feeling comes naturally to us.
After these successful gigs our over-stressed chief promoter Marcello is starting to show signs of smile. He says everything has gone much better than expected so far. That's great.
Written by Tuomas Holopainen on July 21, 2000
Chile - 16th to 18th of July
We wake up 4 o'clock in the morning and head for the plane to Chile. There is nothing left of ecstasy and humor of last night except a note in the diary. We haven't slept for more than a couple of ours in four nights. Keeping smiling is getting very hard at the Santiago airport where we are greeted by new promoters and the landscape magnificently surrounded by the Andes. There is only one interview booked for tonight. The most welcome news for today. 16 hours of Sleeping Beauty's sleep after which we all have a new life.
The locals are genuinely excited and proud of us coming to Chile to play. We feel that it's absolutely our pleasure. In fact we have much to thank for the Finnish embassy whose sponsoring brought us to Chile as the first foreign band this year. It had happened that a few weeks earlier the Catholic Church had denied the mega band Iron Maiden from entering the country.
The gig was again very good even though we are puzzled by the audience shouting "Nightwit, Nightwit!" We are told that to say "sh" is in Chile a sign of low education and poverty. So "Nightwish" is out of the question. We don't play any poor man's metal, we are told.
Written by Tuomas Holopainen on July 17, 2000
Brazil - 12th to 15th of July
The group which includes the five band members and our roadie/technician Tero Kinnunen and the tour manager Ewo Rytkönen has finally found each other at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport cafeteria where there are also the news teams of Channel 4 TV and radio Ylen Ykkönen. The media seems very interested in our tour in the southern American continent. The Channel 4 reporter gives us a bottle of sunscreen which we end up not using during the whole trip.
The start is not good. At the Sao Paulo airport we wonder why most of our stuff including all instruments has gone to Paris. Luckily the gig is not until the next day. After 14 hours of flying we could use a hotel room and a warm bed but the local promoter has booked the day full of interviews, press meetings, autograph signing and photo shoots.
In the same night we fly to Curitiba where the first gig will be. Even our gear is there. The worst is over.
In Brazil it's winter which means temperatures under 10 C degrees and chilly hotel rooms.
An autograph session at the local record store gives us a taste of the much praised South American audience. Screaming people are there by the hundreds and without security everything would be out of control. They even run after our car for hundreds of meters with cameras in their hands. I wonder how all these people know us.
Tarja is beginning to be more than a little ill so the near sold-out gig that night falls short by three songs.
Early in the next morning we fly back to Sao Paulo. This could be the best venue of the tour and the biggest crowd. The ticket prices are shocking. 25 to 30 USD, two weeks pay for a local worker. Despite that the gig is sold out. And that's one reason why before the gig in backstage we are, instead nervous, filled with determination to show what we can do. The local MTV comes and asks how popular salsa is in Finland. Interviews, posing and praise for the Finnish music. The gig itself hits the bull's eye. 2200 mouths sing all choruses of every song and when one of us raises a hand 4400 hands do the same.
The only negative point is the insane heat in the hall which makes five people in the front row pass out. That looks scary; luckily the security people know what to do. When be bow to the audience after the show my thoughts concentrate on nothing but the roar of the thankful crowd. It feels incredibly great.
Written by Tuomas Holopainen on July 14, 2000
We are warned beforehand that in Mexico nothing works. And for a good reason. The list of things that don't work includes at least showers, toilets, playing gear, electricity, schedules, car tires and security people.
We play in Morelia, Mexico City and Guadalajara. The first of those asks a good deal of the famous rock'n'roll attitude from all of us. The gear arrives six hours late and even after that pretty much nothing works. There are barely a couple of hundred people in the audience and after the gig we have to travel 400 kilometres in a cramped van with empty tires back to Mexico City. And the driver decides to play the local salsa hit channel on the radio with full volume. We rank the day the most disappointing on the tour.
The following night we play with the Swedish band Tiamat and things look promising. The stage is big, there are almost 2000 people in the hall and even the schedules almost hold. But as the show starts the local guitar gear breaks down and the show is nearing a fiasco. The crowd is however absolutely ecstatic and understands what has happened. Unbelievable people.
The last gig of a tour is always hard. Even before the show you know the sad feeling during the last song, the goodbyes and the much too long flight back home. And it gives you extra pressure as you want to leave a good impression of the tour both to yourself and to others. The reception is excited as usual. Even the security persons stand on the edge of the stage with cameras in their hands. Some fanatic Mexican grabs Tarja in a hot embrace and the whole gig almost ends there. Despite that we manage to play all the songs down to the last encore and I guess the poor security fellows have bad conscience for the rest of their lives. At the moment of goodbye the feelings are sad. We hug and kiss, praise each other and exchange addresses many times. And promise to be back soon, of course. I guess the greatness of this three weeks experience can't be understood until days have passed.
In the plane it feels homely to finally hear some news from the homeland and read a Finnish newspaper.
Written by Tuomas Holopainen on July 30, 2000
Panama - 23rd to 26th of July
The flight to Panama on "Aereo Boliviano" airlines which brings the horror stories about South American air traffic security to our minds. However, our prejudices were shamefully washed away when the plane landed safely at the Santa Cruz airport where we had a press session.
If the unreal thought of meeting the press and fans at a Bolivian airport made us happy it was at least as unbelievable to step on the Panama ground. When the tropical heat first struck us on the face no one of us could understand what a metal band from Kitee, Finland was doing in Panama.
A soldier armed with a shotgun in every street corner gives us chills. We are told not to leave the hotel in the night, not even in groups. We believe that and do not go out. Later on we hear that we are the first European metal band to play in this country. That feels incredibly awesome.
The days go by with interviews and autograph signings. We find a metal store nearby with plenty of new releases on the shelves. Once again we have to abandon our prejudices and illusions of "llama mail".
There are over 300 people at the venue, twice the crowd the organizers expected. The mother of all gig speaks, "We love you, Panama!" tastes pretty exotic in the mouth...
In Panama we have the only really warm days on the tour. The guitar player of our warm-up band takes us to his villa which lies far from everything on the top of a shore cliff just beside the sea and a beach that goes on as far as the eye can see. Swimming and body boarding in the Pacific Ocean. The day is ranked the most memorable on the tour and the environment a paradise.
Written by Tuomas Holopainen on July 25, 2000
Argentina - 19th to 22nd of July
In the morning we say goodbye and head for Buenos Aires which the travel guide says to be the most boring city in Latin America. I don't know about boring but the local night culture surprises us big time. We eat an "early dinner" at 9 (the normal dinner time is around 11 or midnight) because we have live radio interviews in the night from 1 to 4. And it continues eight o'clock in the morning. I wonder when these people sleep. The streets are filled with people throughout the night. The locals say this kind of night life is quite normal for them. Well, that's okay, to each their own.
The first venue is pretty strange: A theatre hall with seats for 250 persons. The intimacy of the gig (which is sold out with very high ticket prices) makes it an experience to remember forever.
Before the next gig they surprise us by telling that the gig will be recorded with four cameras. They shouldn't have told that... The crowd goes absolutely nuts again, though, so the right feeling comes naturally to us.
After these successful gigs our over-stressed chief promoter Marcello is starting to show signs of smile. He says everything has gone much better than expected so far. That's great.
Written by Tuomas Holopainen on July 21, 2000
Chile - 16th to 18th of July
We wake up 4 o'clock in the morning and head for the plane to Chile. There is nothing left of ecstasy and humor of last night except a note in the diary. We haven't slept for more than a couple of ours in four nights. Keeping smiling is getting very hard at the Santiago airport where we are greeted by new promoters and the landscape magnificently surrounded by the Andes. There is only one interview booked for tonight. The most welcome news for today. 16 hours of Sleeping Beauty's sleep after which we all have a new life.
The locals are genuinely excited and proud of us coming to Chile to play. We feel that it's absolutely our pleasure. In fact we have much to thank for the Finnish embassy whose sponsoring brought us to Chile as the first foreign band this year. It had happened that a few weeks earlier the Catholic Church had denied the mega band Iron Maiden from entering the country.
The gig was again very good even though we are puzzled by the audience shouting "Nightwit, Nightwit!" We are told that to say "sh" is in Chile a sign of low education and poverty. So "Nightwish" is out of the question. We don't play any poor man's metal, we are told.
Written by Tuomas Holopainen on July 17, 2000
Brazil - 12th to 15th of July
The group which includes the five band members and our roadie/technician Tero Kinnunen and the tour manager Ewo Rytkönen has finally found each other at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport cafeteria where there are also the news teams of Channel 4 TV and radio Ylen Ykkönen. The media seems very interested in our tour in the southern American continent. The Channel 4 reporter gives us a bottle of sunscreen which we end up not using during the whole trip.
The start is not good. At the Sao Paulo airport we wonder why most of our stuff including all instruments has gone to Paris. Luckily the gig is not until the next day. After 14 hours of flying we could use a hotel room and a warm bed but the local promoter has booked the day full of interviews, press meetings, autograph signing and photo shoots.
In the same night we fly to Curitiba where the first gig will be. Even our gear is there. The worst is over.
In Brazil it's winter which means temperatures under 10 C degrees and chilly hotel rooms.
An autograph session at the local record store gives us a taste of the much praised South American audience. Screaming people are there by the hundreds and without security everything would be out of control. They even run after our car for hundreds of meters with cameras in their hands. I wonder how all these people know us.
Tarja is beginning to be more than a little ill so the near sold-out gig that night falls short by three songs.
Early in the next morning we fly back to Sao Paulo. This could be the best venue of the tour and the biggest crowd. The ticket prices are shocking. 25 to 30 USD, two weeks pay for a local worker. Despite that the gig is sold out. And that's one reason why before the gig in backstage we are, instead nervous, filled with determination to show what we can do. The local MTV comes and asks how popular salsa is in Finland. Interviews, posing and praise for the Finnish music. The gig itself hits the bull's eye. 2200 mouths sing all choruses of every song and when one of us raises a hand 4400 hands do the same.
The only negative point is the insane heat in the hall which makes five people in the front row pass out. That looks scary; luckily the security people know what to do. When be bow to the audience after the show my thoughts concentrate on nothing but the roar of the thankful crowd. It feels incredibly great.
Written by Tuomas Holopainen on July 14, 2000
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