DEMOLITION 23 (Michael Monroe, Sami Yaffa, Nasty Suicide, Karl Rockfist)

The show started with a rare reunion of, in my mind, one of the most underrated punk rock bands ever; Demolition 23. Accompanied by the original lineup of Michael Monroe, Sami Yaffa and Nasty Suicide, the only one missing was the original drummer Jimmy Clark whom now works as a drum tech for Metallica, so it’s not surprising that he wasn’t able to make it. The drummer for tonight’s Demolition 23 was Karl Rockfist who was an obvious choice, since he has played Demolition 23 classics live with the Michael Monroe band hundreds of times. The set included classics from the band; ‘Nothings Alright’, ‘Dysfunctional’, ‘You Crucified Me’ and ‘Hammersmith Palais’ but one song that completely surprised me was the fantastic Demolition 23 cover of the U.K Subs classic ‘Endangered Species’.

The Demolition 23 part of the show was short with approximately 20 minutes, but served it’s purpose as a fun start for a long night. At this point it could be seen that Michael Monroe was taking it fairly easy on stage, clearly saving energy for a show that would last over three hours.

After Demolition 23, there was a quick set change to prepare everything for the second part of the night where the current Michael Monroe band performed old 80’s classics from Monroe‘s solo catalog. During the set change we saw a heartwarming slideshow on the big screen with old pictures from Michael Monroe‘s career and personal life while an absolutely beautiful acoustic version of the Demolition 23 classic ‘Hammersmith Palais’ played, sang by Monroe. That gave me literal chills, I truly hope that the acoustic version of that song is published somewhere someday.

MICHAEL MONROE BAND (Michael Monroe, Sami Yaffa, Steve Conte, Rich Jones, Karl Rockfist, special guest Lenni-Kalle Taipale)

Michael Monroe 80’s hits started with one of his best songs; ‘She’s No Angel’, accompanied by fantastic piano work from Lenni-Kalle Taipale. The set continued with other rarities like ‘Nights Are So long’, ‘Shakedown’ and ‘All Night the Lights On’, which was performed live for the first time ever. Even though this part of the set didn’t include anyone from the lineup that played with Monroe in the 80’s, the current Monroe band lineup did a true service to these fantastic classics which sounded better than ever live, absolutely fantastic stuff and the night wasn’t even half way through at this point.

HANOI ROCKS 2001-2004 (Michael Monroe, Andy McCoy, Timppa Laine, Costello Hautamäki, Lacu, special guest for one song Dave Lindholm)

Again, time for a quick set change and time for the most recent iteration of Hanoi Rocks, from 2001-2004, to hit the stage not with Andy McCoy on the guitar, but with Dave Lindholm performing his song ‘Telephone Bill’s All Mine’. The crowd seemed to be too excited about the fact that Andy McCoy would join Michael Monroe on stage for the first time since 2009 which clearly overshadowed the crowd’s excitement for Lindholm‘s appearance. It was a nice touch but during the song, many eyes were looking away when they saw a pirate looking dude on the side of the stage setting up his guitar. After Dave left the stage, Michael Monroe introduced Andy to the stage by saying ”welcome my brother from another mother; Andy McCoy! ”

After all the years of drama between the two, it truly warmed my heart seeing Andy and Monroe getting along so well. Andy took a while to start playing which really raised the anticipation of what was coming next, and then we heard the familiar harmonics from the song ‘Obscured’. Amazing song choice to start this part of the show with the new Hanoi Rocks. Many people including myself started to get very emotional during this, hearing these songs we thought we would never hear live again since the Monroe band doesn’t perform them and just seeing old brothers or so called ” Muddy Twins ” just having fun on stage after all these years. After that we heard a true hidden gem from the new Hanoi Rocks; ‘People Like Me’ which made this reporter extremely happy and emotional to hear that song live. This part of the set was wrapped up by ‘Day Late Dollar Short’, another fantastic rock ‘n’ roll song. Even though this part of the set lasted for only three songs, it gave me serotonin to last me for a week. It even felt and sounded too good to be true.

ACOUSTIC SET (Michael Monroe, Lenni-Kalle Taipale, special guest Jenni Vartiainen)

After three separate shows, it was time for a much needed intermission not only for Michael Monroe, (who didn’t even seem tired at the age of 60) but for the crowd. Went to grab a quick beer and returned to my seats after approximately 30 minutes. After already over an hour worth of loud rock ‘n’ roll, this was a great placement for a quick acoustic set. On the stage were only Michael Monroe with his harmonica and acoustic guitar and on the side Lenni-Kalle Taipale on piano duties again. Acoustic set started with a beautiful version of Demolition 23‘s song ‘Deadtime Stories’ but after that came something that visibly brought half of the sold out crowd to tears. ‘Fallen Star’ by Hanoi Rocks performed for the third time ever live by my sources. This song has always been one of the most touching songs Hanoi Rocks has ever made. Stunning version of a beautiful song. Emotions started to switch also to the stage when Monroe declared that the next song is dedicated to his wife Johanna. Monroe introduced to the stage one of Finland’s most successful singers Jenni Vartiainen to perform a surprising song ‘Missä Muruseni On’ by Jenni Vartiainen. You could really see that singing in Finnish isn’t really Monroe‘s strong suit but it was patched up great by Jenni. This was something probably no one saw coming, but it was a touching way for Monroe to thank his wife for all the years she’s been besides him.

MICHAEL MONROE BAND (Michael Monroe, Sami Yaffa, Steve Conte, Rich Jones, Karl Rockfist, special guests Ginger Wildheart and Dregen)

But now, now it was time for rock ‘n’ roll! The good ol’ and familiar Michael Monroe band joined Monroe on stage once again, not with their current guitarist but with Ginger Wildheart from the original MM band lineup playing three songs from their debut album ‘Sensory Overdrive’. Guitarists kept on changing when the Swedish lunatic called Dregen stormed the stage, once again matching Monroe‘s chaotic energy jumping and running all around. Dregen has always been my favorite guitarist in the MM band, so I was super happy to see him going crazy on stage with his former brothers in arms once again. During Dregen‘s visit the band played three songs from their second album ‘Horns and Halos’ followed by the band and the whole crowd singing happy birthday to Monroe and the real birthday boy Steve Conte who actually turned 62 on the day of the show. Rich Jones returned to the stage and MM band played three more songs from their more recent albums. At this point there was a clear sense of anticipation and electricity in the air while the crowd was waiting for the main event of the night so to speak, the original lineup of Hanoi Rocks. But there was still one more song left to wrap up this set; Michael Monroe solo band classic, ‘Dead Jail or Rock ‘n’ Roll’. All of the guitarists from the MM band joined the stage; Steve Conte, Rich Jones, Dregen and Ginger Wildheart. It was a fun song but kinda all over the place with so many people on stage and four guitarists on stage, which occurred later again.

ORIGINAL LINEUP OF HANOI ROCKS (Michael Monroe, Andy McCoy, Sami Yaffa, Nasty Suicide, Gyp Casino)

At this point it has been a long night, the show has lasted for almost three hours but still the final act hasn’t happened. The one thing why many people flew from all over the world to Helsinki to witness this, why this event sold out in the first place. The original lineup of Hanoi Rocks performing for the first time in 40 years. I myself haven’t felt so much anticipation before a gig ever before, it was truly something magical even how corny it sounds.

Lights went black and ‘O Fortuna’ by Carl Orff started blasting through the speakers, the same old intro Hanoi Rocks used in the 80’s. At this point I bet half of the audience were sent back on a nostalgic trip back to their teenage years in the 80’s. Intro ended and there it was, the original Hanoi Rocks lineup and the show started by the best way possible, with ‘Tragedy’. Pyros went off and Michael Monroe strutted to the catwalk with Andy McCoy. I am literally getting goosebumps writing this, it felt that surreal being there witnessing that.

I had many guesses on what kind of old school Hanoi Rocks songs they would play and I got one guess right, that’s right, in my opinion their best song ever written ‘11th Street Kids’ was next on the setlist. Even though how amazing it was to hear this song live, you couldn’t help but notice that Gyp Casino clearly hasn’t been spending time behind a drum kit in a long while, at some points the song felt clumsy and offbeat. Still enjoyed it nonetheless, fantastic song performed by living legends. The classics just kept on coming with ‘Oriental Beat’, the song sounded great and it seemed like the whole band were truly enjoying themselves and having fun. Some people maybe had too much fun when Andy started to stumble with his playing. Taking nothing away from them, it was actually as chaotic as I expected it to be.

But after this the set got a little weird in my mind. This was the original Hanoi Rocks lineup so you would expect songs from the first two albums, right? Following two songs performed were from the last Hanoi Rocks album ‘Two Steps From the Move’, which did not include Gyp Casino. Not to say I didn’t enjoy hearing ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ or ‘Don’t You Ever Leave Me’, but I expected actually original Hanoi Rocks catalog music and songs you wouldn’t hear almost at every Michael Monroe band show. This was followed by little older Hanoi songs, ‘Motorvaitin’ and ‘Malibu Beach Nightmare’. Again songs the MM band have played live for many years even with Nasty Suicide. Of course it was great to hear them with Andy on the guitar but the set was truly missing some old unpredictable songs like ‘11th Street Kids’.

Final song of the night was ‘Million Miles Away’, even though it is a song from ’84 I think it was very fitting since it’s dedicated to Hanoi Rocks‘ deceased drummer Razzle. At the start of the song Andy McCoy took the mic and said ” this is for my best friend Razzle ” and fog machines started rolling making the stage look like when Hanoi Rocks played their tribute show to Razzle after his untimely death at Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki in 1985. At this point at least the water works started running in the crowd, very emotional and beautiful way to end the night.

Oh, but of course that wasn’t it, it was time for one more song! Encore! Original Hanoi Rocks hit the stage one more time with everyone that played during this huge extravaganza. The stage was absolutely packed and the night ended with ‘Up Around the Bend’ (cover of CCR), tons of pyro, chaos and lots of smiling faces on stage. It was a good way to end the night.

When everyone had already left the stage after posing for the camera crew for a minute, Michael Monroe stayed on stage and embraced the huge standing ovation he received from a sold out arena. He stood on the catwalk with roses in his hands which some fans threw on stage with tears in his eyes thanking everyone in the crowd in Finnish and sent blow kisses around the arena. Emotional moment for him which he absolutely deserved. Amazing feat to be in your 60’s and be able to sing and perform at the level he does for over three hours. He is truly the greatest frontman in rock ‘n’ roll history.