By Jonny Bakes
It may come as a surprise to you that, for me, the Eurovision Song Contest is one of the highlights of the year. Have I gone mad? Perhaps, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve religiously watched it for years! There’s one year that will always stand out to me though…
The year was 2006, and Eurovision was held in the ancient city of Athens. The majority of acts had been the usual mix of annoyingly catchy Europop and crooning ballads and even an appearance from 00s one hit wonders – Las Ketchup. But there was a relatively unknown band from Finland (well, unknown outside of their native land) who completely the sole the show resulting in an unexpected win for Finland, and for metal. That band, of course, was Lordi.
Fast forward 13 years and many people have forgotten about Lordi, but not this guy. So I was excited to learn that Lordi had recorded and released an official live DVD covering their greatest hits to date (that’s right, Lordi have more than one hit). Although ‘Recordead Live – Sextourcism in Z7’ is the third live DVD that the band have released, this is claimed to be the only ‘official’ one with the personal approval of the band.
The DVD was recorded at the Z7 concert hall in Pratteln, Switzerland which has become a regular stop and somewhat of a second home for the Finnish monsters and comes in at an impressive length of two hours. It was only Mr Lordi’s “stupid announcements” that didn’t make the cut, everything else that happened on the night found its way into the final cut! The DVD release itself also comes with a whole butt load of special features including a tour diary and every official promo video that the band have released, but for today it is the audio CD of the live show that I’m concerned with.
A look at the track list shows that the band has managed to capture all of the big hitters in this set list. ‘Would You Love a Monster Man’, ‘Devil is a Loser’, ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ and the Eurovision winning ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’ all make an appearance alongside a decent helping of tracks from the latest album, ‘Sexorcism’ and other tracks from the band’s extensive back catalogue.
The set kicks off with ‘Sexorcism’, the title track from the latest album, after the tolling of a bell to a very excited sounding crowd. It’s clear from the start that this is a well mixed live recording, all of the elements are well balanced and the keyboards remain as prominent as they are on the album which is an excellent start.
They then move swiftly on to one of the fan favourites from all the way back in 2002 – ‘Would You Love a Monster Man?’ The intro is swiftly followed by explosions that are bound to have driven the crowd wild. Unfortunately, the downside of having such a clear mix of the music means that you can’t hear the crowd during the songs, not that it’s a huge issue! I mean who buys a live album to hear the crowd?
Unsurprisingly, the song that propelled Lordi into the spotlight is saved until last. So if you want to listen to ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’, you’ll have to listen your way through the album (Okay, I know you don’t HAVE to, but it’d be rude not to) as it’s nestled at the end of a trio of belters that bring the set to an end. You’ll be glad you waited though, the crowd start to get wild as the extended organ intro marks the start of the song. I must say that this is a very impressive performance of the song, the whole band are tight and Mr Lordi’s trademark growl is still holding out even after two hours of nonstop action!
There’s a significant amount of action going on in these songs that suggest that the DVD is really worth a watch as I don’t believe that a mere CD can fully capture the atmosphere of the live show. As many of you will remember from the 2006 Eurovision final, Lordi are all about the visual effects in their live performance. There’s heavy use of pyrotechnics throughout the show, and I’m convinced there was a chainsaw used during the song ‘Naked in my Cellar’. I had to use my imagination to put together what was happening on the stage at that point, and I quickly learned that my mind is firmly placed in the gutter…
Overall, this album is exactly what you would expect if you’re a fan of Lordi, it certainly covers the majority of songs that I would consider to be their greatest hits. I believe that you’re missing out on a lot of the experience of you opt out of getting the DVD version though, that’s not too say that CD is bad, but I feel that part of the appeal of Lordi is in their visual performance. If your only experience of Lordi is the 2006 Eurovision performance, then this album might spark an interest in the further catalogue of the band, but I would still recommend going that bit further and picking up the DVD. For you record collectors out there, the live audio is also available in a variety of vinyl colours: blue, green and white/red splatter.
- ‘Recordead Live – Sextourcism in Z7’ is released on 26 July. You can get your copy HERE.
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