Venue: The Classic Grand, Glasgow

Last year we witnessed what was one of the gigs of 2014 at the Classic Grand, when Eden’s Curse performed their 'Live With The Curse' album show.  Now we return to that very same venue for what turned out to be our show of 2015 so far, as we headed North to see the mighty Lordi put on a really rock n' roll SHOW. 

As the lights went down the crowd waited in anticipation as the dulcet tones of Kiss’s God Of Thunder flooded out through the speakers.  As the song drifted into the night, the ground crew complete with light wands, paved the way for the landing Of Scare Force One and for the Rock Monsters, Mr Lordi, Mr Ox, Mr Amen, Mr Mana and Miss Hella to disembark and give us one hell of a rock show, as we entered their hard rock vortex for real.

The set was kicked off in emphatic style with massive single ‘Nailed By The Hammer of Frankenstein’ and instantly these monster rockers hit a chord with the crowd and from here on in, it was rock all the way.

The band went straight into the aptly titled ‘This Is Heavy Metal’, the towering anthem that had the crowd singing along to the chorus with Mr Lordi without a prompt.  The song also brought in a guest appearance of the scariest Dee Snider you’ve ever seen, as he frolicked about the front of stage looking at the crowd gathered before him.   Song three of the set was ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’, with the crowd providing the backing vocals once again, as the rolled the years back to that Eurovision winner, although that was many moons ago and the band have come so far since then. The fists pummeled the air as the fans danced along in fever pitch style to this thumping rendition.

The band rolled back the years once more to their fourth studio album 'Deadache' for what else but the title track.  A darker slab of monstrous rock from the Finns  with the crowd really getting into this one, as a mosh-pit tug formed as the young metal-heads hyped up on Coke (the pop not the drugs!) unleashed their inner demons.

It was time for the first of the solo intros as keyboardist Hella brought us ‘Hella’s Kitchen’, which led nicely into the dark IT inspired ‘Hell Sent In The Clowns’, which came complete with some scary-ass clowns who flung buckets of blood out into the audience, much to the delight of the hoards of adoring fans.  

It was time to roll back the years again to the band's debut 'The Monsterican Dream' for the excellent ‘Blood Red Sandman’, upon which yet another energetic and frenzied mosh-pit erupted.

Now it was time for a little Shriek Priest magic as Mana made a skull dance in mid air, before the lights went out and we were treat to a storming drum solo, complete with fluorescent drums sticks, which lead the way for the anthemic ‘Give Your Life for Rock n' Roll’, complete with stage lights back on.  

Then it was time for a rare track, as tradition depicts that on each tour, the band pick one song that is not taken from any album to perform for their fans.  Tonight's set had a real corker in the shape of ‘Don’t Let My Mother Know’.  The song might not have been on any album, but that didn’t stop the die-hard fans singing along to every word.

It was time for the might Mr Ox to lay down some heavy soloing, as he thumped the bass with all his might before the band unleashed one of my favourite songs off 'Scare Force One’, the excellent sing-a-long ‘How To Slice A Whore’, on which Mr Lordi took a machete to a not quite dead cadaver, slicing and dicing it before eating the brains and inners, while the cadaver refused to die on the table, sitting up to take in some of the show itself. Obviously it had heard what a cracking show the band were putting on tonight and wanted to have a look for itself.  

The nearest Lordi come to a ballad was the thumping ‘It Snows In Hell’, with all the camera phones held high around the gig, you could say there wasn’t a dry I-phone in the house for this one.  Especially when Mr Lordi paraded across the front of the stage with smoking skulls on the end of a stick. 

It was to 'To Beast Or Not To Beast' for 'The Riff', which was opened up by the monster keys of Hella.  For the next song Mr Lordi asked for a little audience participation, when he asked crowd to raise their middle finger's on mass for ‘Sincerely With Love’ and raise it they did.  In fact there were so many birds flicking in the air, even the mighty Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud.

The encore continued with the bombastic tones of ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ as Mr Lordi dowsed the crowd in dry ice, before wrapping up a great night with ‘Would You Love a Monsterman’?  A fitting end to one of the best rock shows I’ve seen in quite some time.  Everyone here tonight loved this Monster Band.  If you're looking for a show to add to your bucket-list, then this is the show.  If you want a mix of Alice Cooper meets Rob Zombie then Lordi is definitely for you.  This band should be made compulsory viewing for all rock fans because rock SHOWS don’t come any better than this!

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