We are on Aeroflot flight SU1411 from Yekaterinburg to Moscow. Everyone made it to the flight even though the hassle at the airport was pretty bad again. The thing is, we need to get to the second plain from Moscow to Kiev, Ukraine and someone should make sure all the instruments and technical gear are on that plane too. It’s a good thing it’s Sunday. We’re gonna drive like crazy to the venue when we land in Ukraine to make everything ready for the show in the evening. It’s gonna be one hell of a day for our crew boys.

Tonight is our first show in Ukraine ever. Finally!!! Getting to the venue in the afternoon traffic would have been a mess if it wasn’t Sunday. Someone has thought this whole trip through pretty smart. The only thing that wasn’t too smart was that someone planned the day-off in Yekaterinburg on Friday. Some of the boys looked pretty “crispy” on Saturday morning after all the well-known Russian hospitality…;) Boys are boys. I slept 11 hours like a baby tiger.

We played three shows in Russia this week and the only thing I can say is WOW!! We’ve had some difficulties in the past with the little Russian tours we did, but this time everything has been as easy and pleasant as ever. In every city (St. Petersburg, Moscow and Yekaterinburg) the crowd, staff and the clubs have been just amazing and we have felt very special the whole way. I don’t know why it was so hard arranging this trip for us and it even got cancelled a few times, but now looking at it afterwards, the work was definitely worth it.

I don’t know if it’s the long break we had between the rock shows, but it felt like the crowd was as loud and great as ever! I had some strange thoughts during the Big Band Theory Tour if we should change our style just a little bit towards that. Nope. Rock is the thing we’re born for and there we shall stay. The Big Band and Acoustic things are like nice little holidays from our day jobs, but the old school stuff is still where we feel like home ;)

It’s a shame we can’t get to know the cities too much on these trips. Especially I have to rest my throat on the off days and prepare myself for the next day’s show. There’s nothing worse than singing with a broken throat. Just try to sing 90 minutes very loud next time you’re sick. Ok, don’t try it. Anyway. In Yekaterinburg the band guys & crew took a visit to one of the clubs and I went shopping to one of the malls with Heikki but that’s about it. We knew that Moscow is cool and St.Petersburg is a bit like Stockholm but even Yekaterinburg felt really nice. Of course the slowly coming spring helps all this too. When it’s dark and cold, nothing is pretty. I heard it’s close to +30C and sunny today in Kiev. I didn’t bring my shorts. But I have my sun glasses, unlike Heikki…

Everyone in the band and crew are playing the Hill Climb mobile game. It’s pretty cool and FREE and you should check it out if you haven’t yet. Usually I suck at games, but this time it finally seems as if I’m one of the best. It’s very addictive. The monster truck is my favorite vehicle in the game. The game is developed by two Finnish guys - Go Finland!! Sami is fun to watch when he plays. He really moves with every muscle even though he just has a tiny iPhone in his hands and when he dies in the game, he releases these amazing sounds of disappointment. It’s so annoying how good he is in NHL13 with Play Station. I just can’t beat him!!

Anyway. I just wanted to thank you all for the great trip and the fantastic moments on stage. We really hope we can come back soon!

I’ll take a nap now. It’s gonna be a long day until I lay my head on the hotel bed in Kiev tonight. And my mother will be there too checking us and the show out, so I better look fresh ;)

Hugs,

Samu

PS: Thanx & sorry to the staff at the Dom Pechati club in Yekaterinburg. I heard some of the boys were there quite late on Friday night and their dance moves weren’t exactly what you’d call cool ;) Oppaa, Sunrise Style!