I had eagerly waited for this gig since I first heard Children of Bodom were going to do a Finnish tour for their new album Hate Crew Deathroll. I had seen them before, and therefore knew what to expect. I knew they were an excellent live act, so I would not have accepted anything short of perfect. The crowd was rather large, and as there were no opening acts, they had all come to see Children of Bodom, which actually wasn’t a big surprise, since Hate Crew Deathroll was number one in the Finnish charts for a lengthy period in January and February. Majority of the crowd seemed to be die hard CoB fans, so all the elements of a great show, that don’t depend on the band, were there. An hour before the show, I was already sweating from sheer anticipation.

When the band finally climbed on stage, what I (and I guess most of the crowd, as well) felt was pure ecstasy. They opened the show with their recent hit (among Finnish metal heads), Needled 24/7, and I must say that it sounded much better live, although there is nothing wrong with the album version, either. From the very beginning, they proved that they can really play well live, and that there was no way they were going to let their fans down. My earlier experience of CoB shows was exactly this, so massive live charisma and excellent musicianship were to be expected, and therefore I wasn’t perhaps quite as astonished as I had been when I first saw them, but that does not diminish the value of this show. Watching them on stage, you can immediately tell that they are experienced and professional performers, who really love what they are doing.

What was surprising, was the lack of new material. They only played somewhere around half of the songs on Hate Crew Deathroll. Surprisingly they wouldn’t play Sixpounder or the Slayer cover Silent Scream, although the crowd repeatedly screamed for them. I would have personally really liked to hear Sixpounder, since it sounds like a killer live track on the CD. Another new song that I particularly missed was Lil’ Bloodred Ridin’ Hood, which is one of my favorite tracks from the new album. Including less new songs in their set is definitely a change from Hatebreeder and Follow the Reaper tours, which both concentrated on the latest record’s material (Northern Comfort was the only new song they didn’t play on Follow the Reaper tour). Another thing that had changed since the last time I saw them was that Janne Wirman, the keyboardist, didn’t have as visible role on stage as before. That was a sort of a shame, because watching his fingers fly on the keyboard is truly a delight. I also missed the "War of Razors" thing, where Alexi Laiho and Janne Wirman do a solo battle. To my knowledge, they have never done this on any of their Finnish gigs, but an example can be found on their live album, Tokyo Warhearts. It would have been really interesting to see this sort of a heavy metal show cliché, which are virtually non-existant these days

Out of the songs they played, Needled 24/7, Angels Don’t Kill, Bodom After Midnight, Hate Me!, Every time I Die, Towards Dead End and Children of Bodom were in a league of their own, although every song was better than on CD. Especially the slower songs sounded über-massive and made the hair stand on the back of my neck. I won’t complain too much about the small amount of new songs, since older material worked just perfectly (although they left out my two most favorite songs, Hatebreeder and Warheart). The show lasted about 90 minutes, and they played a long encore of five or six songs. This was just about sufficient, although I’m sure anyone wouldn’t have minded if they continued for 30 more minutes. All in all, this was one of the best concerts I have ever seen, and I am definitely going to see them again, whenever I get the chance. Had they only played all my favorite songs, I would definitely have given this concert full points. Now it will have to be 9½ / 10. I recommend Children of Bodom concerts for everyone, but especially for those who have not seen them yet. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen CoB in concert.

WARNING! Wear earplugs. My ears were still ringing three days after the show.