Anyhooooo – this was Lordi with All For Metal and Crimson Veil, O2 Institute 2, Birmingham presenting their Unliving PicTour Show.

An interesting night in prospect, not least because this would be the first time I’d seen Lordi live. I struggled to see how the larger than life figures, in their costumes, would fit on a stage as small as the one given to them tonight. Indeed, Mr. Lordi wasn’t slow in mentioning that tonight’s stage was, by far, the smallest they’d played on during this tour.

Before the costumed headliners however we had two other bands, again, neither of which I’d seen before and only 1 person between both of them that I recognised.

First up was Crimson Veil and the photographers finally got into the venue just after the band had hit the stage. Well, I say that but you couldn’t see very much of the stage for the amount of smoke that had already filled the front of the venue. The room had already filled up quite well and must have been a nice sight (sic) for the band.

A little bit of an odd one this, something of a crossover between Heilung, with their faeries look, and Fields of the Nephilim showing they are also advocates of not being able to see too much of them on stage because of the copious amounts of smoke used.

This was, apparently, Crimson Veil’s first tour and at times that showed. The music was largely fine, the vocals, on occasion, a little ‘industrial’, but the theatrical movement of the vocalist, Mishkin Fitzgerald, around the stage was captivating. Cellist, Hana Piranha, didn’t look too much like a fish out of water; although dressed all in black it was difficult to see her at time and drummer Anna Mylee was largely obscured for most of the set. Hooded monk, Garry, on guitar was invisible! Nonetheless, their half-hour set went by remarkably quickly.

Next up was All for Metal presenting Viking Rock to the masses. The band utilise a dual vocal approach personified by Tetzel (Tim Schmidt) – the growly one, and Antonio Calanna, a very refined tenor, but half the size of Tetzel, so maybe a fiver!

It was here that I recognised the single familiar face of the night, All for Metal’s guitarist Jasmin Pabst (also known for JJ’s One Girl Band). The Viking vibe was strong, to say the least, as the band’s set included their forthcoming single Gods of Metal, the title track from a new album coming later in the year. Formed only a couple of years ago the band have generated quite a following after tours all around Europe & Scandinavia, and now supporting Lordi. Another set that was full of energy, Viking imagery, and, of course, songs based on Norse mythology! Another short set, just 8 songs, but all given 110% in effort. The band kicked off the night with their ‘signature’ song, All for Metal, and followed up with Fury of the Gods. All the songs, except the anticipated new single, were taken from the band’s first studio album, Legends, released last year to, in all honesty, mixed reviews from the public. Nevertheless, the short set was energetic and great to watch.

Setlist:

All for Metal

Fury of the Gods

Raise your Hammer

Born in Valhalla

Prophecy of Hope

Mountain of Power

Hear the Drum

Gods of Metal

Goddess of War

The stage gets cleared, sort of, for the headline band – the Finnish Fiends, Lordi. There’s really not too much space on stage and much of what there is, is taken up by Mr. Lordi himself, a Scandinavian Abzorbaloff, a huge figure of a thing (I can’t say man) who walks on stage following an intro of God of Thunder by Kiss followed by a short monologue by Ralph Ruiz dressed as a creepy monk!

The set gets underway proper with Unliving Picture Show followed by Lucyfer Prime Evil. It’s at this point that you realise the disparity between the looks, the music and the chat. The looks suggest seriously heavy metal but the music is hard rock at best while the chat is definitely man in the street. Mr Lordi issues some orders to the crowd, who dutifully obey, but the seriousness of the chatter is completely blown away by Mr. Lordi’s repeated use of ‘anyhooooooo’ which made me snigger every time (all 10 or so during the first 3 songs alone).

Songs, tonight, were assembled from albums released over the past 22 years and which range from Get Heavy (2002) right up to Screem Writer’s Guild (2023).

Mr. Lordi punctuated the songs with fairly regular chats to the crowd who he had eating out of his hands, or should I say talons. I will also say that the Institute 2 was rammed, I think the main hall might have been a better venue offering more space and, potentially, more fans.

The songs were also ‘interrupted’ by various props making their way on stage and these included a rather scruffy looking skeleton and a snake puppet which looked like it was connected to a vacuum cleaner hose – but this hose delivered smoke. Strange? Yes indeed. Entertaining? Absolutely!

The set, inevitably, finished with the band’s 2006 Eurovision Song Contest winning tune, Hard Rock Hallelujah which took the fans into overdrive. This is a group full of contradictions but also one of the most entertaining bands you could wish to see. More please!

Setlist:

Intro (God of Thunder by Kiss)

Nosferuiz Horror Show (monologue by Ralph Ruiz)

Unliving Picture Show

Lucyfer Prime Evil

My Heaven is your Hell

Blood Red Sandman

Mana drum solo

Scarecrow

Thing in the Cage

Hella keyboard solo

The Children of the Night