MANOWAR Finland special

Warriors of Finland, unite! Tomorrow on Saturday 13th, MANOWAR will headline the Provinssirock in Seinäjoki, Finland. As a little warm-up I'm going to do a little "MANOWAR Finland special" here on the blog :) I hope you enjoy it!

The last time the band played in Finland was in 2002 on the "Warriors of the World Tour", which also included Sweden, Denmark among other countries such as Germany and France. I was lucky enough to see the band on three shows this year; on the Roskilde Festival together with 60.000 other people, in Gothenburg and in Denmark.

The setlist for the show in Finland 2002 was:

Manowar
Brothers of Metal
Spirit Horse of Cherokee
Warriors of the World United
Kill With Power
Guitar solo
Army of the Immortals
Call to Arms
Kings of Metal
Sign of the Hammer
Bass solo
The Gods Made Heavy Metal
Hail and Kill
Sword in the Wind, Courage and Master of the Wind (acoustic)
Outlaw
The Power
House of Death
Black Wind, Fire and Steel


Pretty sweet setlist, right? :) The highlight of this show was of course, the acoustic part with "Swords in the Wind", "Courage" and "Master of the Wind". These are all featured on "Hell on Earth part 4", as well as other songs from this tour such as "Kings of Metal", "Spirit Horse of the Cherokee" and many more.

There's actually official live recordings from shows in Finland to be found on the "Return of the Warlord"-single released in 1996. There you can find recordings from Helsinki from 1994, "Blood of my enemies" and "Kill with Power", with the last one being a bit different from the original version.

Past tourdates in Finland:

1984 - Himanka (Fight for Revenge Tour?)

1987, 28 May, Fighting the World Tour, Helsinki

1989, 6 April, Kings of Metal World Tour, Helsinki

1994 - Agony & Ecstasy Tour, Helsinki, Finland
1999, Monsters of the Millennium tour with Motörhead and DIO

2002, 26 nov, Oulu, Monsters of the Millennium tour with Motörhead and DIO

2002, 27 nov, Turku, Monsters of the Millennium tour with Motörhead and DIO (originally scheduled for Tampere Icehall)

2002, 29 Nov, Icehall, Helsinki, Warriors of the World Tour with Bludgeon

I'm not sure if I got all the dates, if you have any corrections please let me know!

Joey and Eric in Finland 2002 with a spectacular stage setup.

Have fun seeing the band in Finland if you're going there! If you're not, there's plenty of other festivals this summer where you can see the band. I hope to get back as soon as possible when the show in Finland is over to give you the setlist!

Hail to Finland!

/Johan

Background: Norse mythology and MANOWAR

MANOWAR was one of the first heavy metal bands to bring Norse mythology into their lyrics. The 1983 album release "Into Glory Ride" which featured the song "Gates of Valhalla", set the course for Norse mythology in Heavy Metal. Numerous of artists have been inspired by this epic song which celebrate the glory of finally taking place next to Odin in Valhalla.

In 1984 Manowar continued on the theme, releasing the song "Blood of my enemies" on the album Hail to England.

Later the same year, the band's third album "Sign of the Hammer" was released. The album included the powerful anthem "Thor (The Powerhead)" which celebrated the God.

On the 2002 release "Warriors of the World", the band once again brought up Norse mythology in their songs. The instrumental track "Valhalla" led the listener into a powerful and epic tale in "Swords in the Wind", which in the booklet was credited to the Sons and Daughters of the North.

The 2007 release of the album "Gods of War" was a concept album entierly dedicated to Norse mythology. It consisted of grand, epic and powerful instrumental passages, combined with stories about the Norse gods.

Memories

This is where I collect some of my best MANOWAR memories.


This photo is from the Galaxy Studios in Belgium 2002 (where the band recorded and mixed some of the Warriors of the World stuff and later also Gods of War). It was the press-conference for the release of the album Warriors of the World. I hope to write more about this as it was a fantastic experience to meet the band. (I'm down to the right!)