TR

Hi from Germany!

The tour has started well. Really good gigs so far!!! You guys know how to sing along and some people even came on the stage to sing a song, that's great! How come you can sing in finnish??
So prepare to sing "rakkauslaulu" on the stage, next time it might be your turn...

Now we're in Dresden, spending some time in the bus, in a WARM bus, yes!!! 2 days ago i woke up in hamburg and it was only ab. 10 C in the bus = freezing!! The heating system was broken...

So, I've been sick for couple of days, fever and cold, feeling really shitty, but every night when i get on the stage i totally forget it and i feel great, there is so much energy in the air. So biggest thank you for giving me all that energy!

Ok, time for a little nap before the soundcheck, moimoi,

Aki

Thanks for the great gigs, great feelings, great memories, great everything!

Hope to come back soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon,

 

Aki

 

Day off in Vladivostok.

Hello friends! One of my dreams came true, I'm in Vladivostok. All the day off, if we don't count the press conference and some interviews we did...why I'm calling it a day off then...anyways...Really nice day, so many things to do and see, Beautiful orthodox churches, I visited the chinese markets, but maybe the coolest thing was the old submarine. We got inside and saw how people have been sleeping there etc. I even went into the tube/pipe (or how do you call it) which is for the torpedos, but don't tell anybody, i wasn't allowed to do that. 

Lauri and Eero and our lovely light engineer Mikko went to scuba dive, they saw interesting underwater life of Vladivostok. Eero got a little sunburned, so if you wonder who is the crabguy on the bass, it's him, believe or not. 

Everyone feels very relaxed and ready for the show tomorrow, it's gonna be outdoors so let's hope it's not raining! And if it's raining we'll have great fun anyway, right?

Ok, i think i'll put my electric blue Speedos on and go to swim. 

Pus och Kram,

Aki "Speedo" Hakala

 

 

Khabarovsk-Vladivostok flight 6:30AM

 

This flight is maybe the most awful in my life, the turbulence was so bad, our bags flew so high that they hit the ceiling, Keri Kellys (Alice Coopers guitarist) red wine too and then it was all over me. I was so scared, now I'm bit afraid of the landing...will there be turbulence as well...my heart is still beating like hell and i'm sweating like a pig, as we say in Finland. 

 

Ok, let's think about nice things now, I need to get rid of this feeling. We played ultimate rock show in Khabarovsk, had so much fun on the stage, and yes we played 60 min set, jahuuuuuuuu!!! I Want to thank all the people who came to check us out! And made our first visit to Khabarovsk very special, hope to come back soon!

Also we saw some of the city. I went to the river with Lauri and Eero, saw some nice churches, drove dodgem cars, had really nice day! 

 

I'm so much looking forward to spend couple of days in Vladivostok, some of our friends from another finnish band (Amorphis) have been there and they said it's beautiful. I have my camera with me so i hope to find something interesting to shoot.

 

Ou shit, time for the landing, everybody seem to be a bit scared, so let's pray for the best and I'll let you know how it was...

 

 

Vladivostok-Khabarovsk flight 7:02AM

 

Our pilot wasn't able to land, we need to fly back to Khabarovsk! Shit! I'll try to sleep...

 

 

Khabarovsk-Vladivostok flight 11:50AM

 

Ok, second try...the sky looks more clear now. Hope we have more luck this time! So far so good...

 

 

Khabarovsk, at the hotel 6:00PM

Ah, slept so well, what a tiring day. The second try of landing was successful, thank god. Now it's time to have a "morning" coffee and a little walk outside before the dinner. Tomorrow is a day off too, so if you're from Vladivostok please let me know what  should we see in here, thanks. And see you at Avantgard Stadium!!!

Flying is nice, flying is nice, flying is nice.............NOT!

Aki

 

As all the fans in Novosibirsk know Monsters of Rock gig was cancelled (not only our show but the whole festival).

We are extremely sorry about it! We feel as bad as you guys. This situation was not in our hands, and it sucks. People who got upset cause of this remember that you're important part of The Rasmus family and we hope to play for you as soon as possibly!!!

Anyway I want to say that we liked your city (and the zoo) very much and we had the best russian food on this tour in Novosibirsk! 

Take care of yourselves,

Aki& the boys

 

 

On the plane Rostov-Ekaterinburg.  02:23AM. 

 

We spent couple of nice days in Rostov, did the riverboat trip, went to the market place, enjoyed the nice (very hot) weather, met some fans and friends, and yes also played a gig...It was the second The R show in Rostov, in a sport hall, where people had seats, and if one stand up the security guys asked people to sit down, that was rock'n roll, hehehehe!!! First i felt that our music is never going to work for these people, but after couple of songs i only saw smiling people, I think they enjoyed what they heard. And of course it was good to see some The R fans with finnish flags in the crowd, thanks for the great support!!! All the Scorpions guys came to check us out as well, that was cool.

 

After the gig we went to see The Scorpions, we had seats on the 4th row, so pretty good places...good old songs like Rock you like a hurricane, Still loving you etc. A real 80's rock show. These guys have been around for ages and they still seemed to like what they're doing! Respect!

 

Ok, maybe I will try to sleep a little, before we land.

 

Aki

 

St. Petersburg Hi guys,   I'm enjoying my breakfast coffee and relaxing at the hotel lobby bar in St. Petersburg. The gig yesterday was great, only thing that sucked was that we were able to play only 30 min, but I think we played very well and it was great to see so many The R fans in the audience! From now on we'll play 60 min set, cause now the technical things are (hopefully) solved and we hope that A. Coopers crew will be bit faster with their sound check...We'll see... After the gig I was watching Alice Cooper. Never saw him on the stage before, THAT was extremely entertaining!  Ok, I think I need to leave now, the hotel restaurant is on fire, and the firemen are asking me to go out, the lobby is full of smoke, whatta???? So, time to head to Rostov... Aki