Here Today... Gone To Hell!

"Valo, lead singer for Finnish quartet H.I.M., was so smashed onstage at Irving Plaza that he took what started out as a fairly good set and proceeded to crash it into the dirt.

Valo appeared to be the only band member to indulge ? and his behavior during a New York gig, the band's most important concert since it emerged on the Scandinavian music scene in the late '90s, obviously embarrassed the rest of the quintet.

As they delivered lite-metal with solid musicianship, Valo slurred his way through the songs, forgot words and sang so softly that the lyrics were inaudible.

If he took a lesson from dead rock stars like Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison or Janis Joplin, he'd know: If you're going to get wasted onstage, you better be fantastic.

He wasn't.

Instead of projecting the demeanor of a songful, sinful, bacchanal-loving hedonist, he was more like a pathetic skell who wandered onstage and got caught in the lights.

His performance worsened as his bender progressed, save for his midconcert rally with two covers, Chris Isaak's "Wicked Games" and Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man," which he unfortunately credited to the late Johnny Cash.

On records, Valo sounds like a talented fellow, but this concert proved that he has no respect for the audience or himself. More disturbing than his drinking was how he'd take a swig of beer and toss the remainder of the can over his shoulder to spill onto the stage.

Not only was it a waste, a kid had to scramble on his hands and knees to wipe up the mess. Valo drank a six-pack that way, demeaning an associate each time.

He's a singer with an ego bigger than his talent who thinks the world of himself. Too bad he's such a terrible judge of character. "


http://www.nypost.com/seven/11172004/entertainment/20633.htm


Way to go finns!  :hihi:

... and so ends H.I.M.'s attempt to conquer USA.


Pretty smart move to get drunk before the most important show of the tour.  : ok:





/jarmo

Boo-hoo. That's rockety roll for ya. Too bad he was never that drunk during any of the gigs I've been to, would've made it much more interesting.

It's a safe bet that after H.I.M. disbands and they write the biography of the band, one chapter will be the failed attemp at breaking on the US market. ;)



/jarmo

Razonblade romance sales in usa is about 200 000. not bad whitout promotion..

...If you don't count Bam Margera as promotion? :P

haha yeah good point.  Now that you mention it I did buy Razorblade Romance becaue of bam.  I like him, he's hilarious and i wanted to know what was up with all his "heartograms" and stuff so i bought a H.I.M. cd.  Needless to say, i thought it was garbage.  pretentious pseudo-goth pop metal.  The lyrics and the song titles are laughable. "gone with the sin" "join me in death" "your sweet six six six" come on, could you be any more obvious?

I guess you have to take it with a grain of salt.. I'm not that much into them either, but I think Resurrection and One Last Time are brilliant tracks.

Well, I used to hate the band because of all this love titles, girley things and so on but now I have learned to like them. Personally I like the album Razonblade Romance, it has some good tracks on it.?

I mean, i have no problem not taking them completely seriously, i'd definetely like them better.  But aren't they completely serious? I mean judging by their snapshots, they intend to play their gothness to the bone.

I highly doubt it, Ville Valo is a pretty smart guy and judging by all the interviews I've read, he knows exactly what he's doing.

Why ???

People aren't just going to stop buying their stuff just because its reported somewhere they had one bad show, every band has scores of such shows during their career - GNR cancelled something like 95 shows, caused 5 riots (or was it 6?) and walked off the stage early dozens of times, and axl sounded less than great at every single one of them but it never hurt them.....

Hehe, I pretty much agree.
Valo's stage appeal owes  so much to Jim Morrison that I'm suprised he hasn't pulled his "drunken lizard king!"-ripoff any sooner.
Local yellowpresshorseshit-mag reported "At one point, Valo was even singing while laying on the floor!"like it was a BAD thing!Jesus!
Since when has it been illegal for rockstars to occasionally pull out the drunken psychedelia brawl-whoo i fuck everything up -stunt?If you pretend you are Jim Morrison you pretty much HAVE TO do it occasionally :)

IMHO HIM is incredibly mind dumbingly fucking dull,live&otherwise.

You don't think bad reviews will make it harder for a quite small band to make it big?




/jarmo

No publicity is bad publicity when ur trying to get noticed - this could well be their push, rock acts don't get fair without some controversy, and thanks to this they have people talking about them.

That's true.

But it might also scare people into thinking their shows suck and so they won't go see them.


Anyway, in case nothing happens with their plans to break in USA, they'll start looking for reasons....



/jarmo

I think the whole drunk thing was planned..
As someone said, no publicity is bad publicity.

When The in hell's name was this concert?, cause I were in NY between sept 5 and sept 20 and I couldn't go on any show  :crying:, God I hate my country  :rant:, Anyaway talking about riot I think rock n roll scene has lost that kind of controversy that for me is very boring to be a "rock star" without being on drugs, or drunk or destroying yourself, so cheers up to HIM  :beer:

Great Band , Great frontman and god bless the booze

Amen  :beer: