Lordi recently put out their seventh studio album Scare Force One before embarking on a European tour in support of it, which brought them to the Live Rooms in Chester for their first ever show at the venue.
Dirty Passion (3/10) opened up proceedings but it wasn’t the strongest of starts; there was nothing all that special about the music they were playing and the band had no stage presence, which didn’t make for the most engaging of performances. Additionally, at times their singer struggled to maintain in tune, which certainly didn’t help proceedings, however the set ended on a high with the band getting a decent amount of crowd participation – even if it did feel like the song was being dragged out for no reason.
Things picked up a bit with Hollywood Groupies (5.5/10) who had a bit more balls. Although their singer was throwing her voice a bit at times with no support to it, she worked the crowd well and a good chunk of the room got fairly involved as the set progressed, so it has to be said that the band worked well at warming the crowd up. Like with Dirty Passion, Hollywood Groupies’ songs weren’t the most memorable, but everything had a nice kick to it that helped everything move along well.
Of course, the night really belonged to Lordi (7/10). Like the last time we saw them in Manchester, their set began with the lights being turned off and God Of Thunder by KISS being played over the PA and it really didn’t make for the most interesting of openings and inevitably took a five-minute chunk out of the band’s set that could have been spent playing another of their songs. Additionally, whilst there was no denying that it was nice to see each member of the band being spotlighted and having their time to shine with a solo section, again it felt like the time could have been better spent by playing another song instead.
Aside from that, it was a pretty good performance from the five-piece and it’s always great to see a band put a lot into their live show. From fake snow being projected into the crowd for It Snows In Hell to Mr. Lordi’s sandman dust that was blown into the audience for Blood Red Sandman and even some people dressed up as clowns that came onstage for Hell Sent In The Clowns, Lordi always puts on a visually stimulating performance and it’s clear they put a lot into making sure the whole room enjoys the show.
Although they weren’t quite at their best, there’s no denying that it was a highly memorable show and you can be sure that Lordi proved they were more than just ‘that band that won Eurovision one year’!
