Artist: HIM
Venue: Irving Plaza (New York, NY)
Date: 11/15/2004
Opener: Monster Magnet & Melissa Auf De Maur
Label: Sire Records

Having attended the previous evening’s performance for HIM I entered the venue tonight with my friends a little more relaxed and sporting some notes from the night before to reference against what would go on this evening. Since both of the performances had been long sold out I felt that I was I was lucky enough to be able to attend both nights of these shows and it was worth my doing so on behalf of the site readers. Tonight I would pay a little more attention to Melissa Auf De Maur who played what seemed to be a couple of different numbers this time around and was a little heavier than I remembered her being last night. I might have to look more into them as time allows. Monster Magnet was again tight but were doing the exact same set as the previous night. Even the introduction at the beginning by Dave Wyndorf, their singer, who was tossing cigarettes into the crowd in order to assist in the corruption of the youth was the same. However the band does Rock and are quite solid live. Wyndorf did bring on a dancing girl who did her thing during “Space Lord” which made it a little more interesting and fun. I hope to see a full Magnet set sometime soon as their music really rocks in a very 70’s sorta way.

H.I.M. however would be a different and far more amusing experience this time. The evening started off just as the night before, but one sure could see that Ville Vallo was drinking far too much this time. I figure he got about half way into the set before the silly drunken antics were taking place. His speesh wush shlerred (I mean his speech was slurred) and he told the audience he was drunk. He would open a beer and sip it deep, then toss it behind him. Clearly driving the poor stage hand of theirs crazy as he has spending spent a lot of time doing beer cleanup. Then he would drink from what appeared to be Jaegermeister bottle (never a smart mix in my opinion). At one point he was singing the song while laying down on the stage, and then at another he disappeared for at least 10 minutes (to get sick I imagine) while the band just looked at one another and jammed. From my vantage point upstairs it seemed as though Mige (bass) was very annoyed at this. There was a funny audience participation sequence when Ville would toss his microphone into the crowd and the roadie would grab it and put it back on stage. When Ville saw it, he tossed it back. This nonsense happened a couple of times before he let some girl sing for far too long. Sorry, not everyone can sing and this was more shouting than trying to help. The set remained pretty much the same until the very end when Ville seemed to be adamant about a particular song. So “In Joy And Sorrow” as well as “Soul On Fire” were not played and instead “Funeral Of Hearts” was performed and that was it. As a matter of fact Ville changed the song as the band started it, this did not look to go over well on Mige’s face.

As a fan of the band I hope that these kind of antics do not become commonplace. The signing to Sire Records for them and the desire to break bigger in the US can easily be compromised if the fans get the impression that they will be cheated at live shows and given a performance that is not far from the unprofessional attitude we used to find in Guns ‘N Roses shows. When I arrived home it was to emails that informed me about the antics of this evening had already made their rounds and were going to be in the Finnish newspapers and they were very upset at Ville for it. The band is a huge thing over there and one of the biggest selling artists that they have ever had so their national pride was a little bit at stake here. Sadly this was also the show that a New York newspaper reporter attended and based on it destroyed the band in print. This one is going to sting without question and how easily the band recovers from the debacle and bounces back is anyone’s guess.

Monster Magnet Set:
1. Dopes
2. Powertrippin
3. Radiation Day
4. Monolithic Baby
5. Unbroken (Hotel Baby)
6. Megasonic
7. Spacelord.

H.I.M. Set:
1. Buried Alive By Love
1. Your Sweet 666
2. Sacarament
3. Wicked Game
4. Right Here In My Arms
5. Heartache Every Moment
6. Its All Tears
7. Join Me In Death
8. Fortress Of Tears
9. Solitary Man
10. Poison Girl
11. Lose You Tonight
12. Love Said No
13. In Joy And Sorrow
14. Soul On Fire

Official Website: www.heartagram.com
Official Website: www.monstermagnet.com

Editor’s Note: This article was written for another medium prior to the 2005 launch of PiercingMetal.com and has been added to our content for your enjoyment.