SONATA ARCTICA keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg checked in with the following update:

"The great gig in the sky !

So, after the last show we drive to the airport in Düsseldorf at 0600 in the morning, the flight to Helsinki via Munich goes well but then things start to happend. We arrived in Helsinki just after noon and were supposed to fly home to Kemi at 16:40, of course there's a snowstorm but finally at around 18:00 we drive to the plane with a bus. After waiting for about 30min in the plane it's back to the bus and to the terminal....whattafuck ?

At around 19:30 we drive back to the plane and manage to get airbourne, after 20 min in the air we're informed that there's something wrong with the plane and we have to return to Helsinki. Well that's just great. So the flight is cancelled and we're informed that we've been put on another flight to Oulu (a 1.5 hour drive from Kemi by bus). As a sidenote, when we asked about it at the counter naturally they 'forgot' to move us to the other flight... nevetheless we manage to take care of this.

So now we're waiting for the 23:59 flight to Oulu.....and finally at around 0400 in the morning we get to that plane....of course the power goes out a couple of times etc, etc so after sitting in the plane for almost 3 hours we leave at around 0700.

At the moment I'm waiting for the bus to leave for Kemi, it's 09:00 and we're gonna be about 16 hours late and our luggage is god knows where. I've been more or less awake for the past two days as have the rest of the guys. Does it sound like bitching...yes...am I pissed.....yes.

I hate fucking flying !!!!

Luckily we're flying out on Thursday for the Russian shows and the weather forecast should be about the same.....so let's see how that goes. Cheers to aviation in Finland !!!

And then... the Russian shows were great as far as I remember, and of course we had too much vodka and whatnot, honestly I'm not quite sure what went on at that trip, that always seems to happend at the last shows of a world tour. As for those of you who wonder, I don't check my Facebook or MySpace accounts that much at home so if you REALLY need to tell me something send me a mail. I'll be back when I have something to share with y'all, right now it's holiday time for me, which means movies, books, PS3 and family life. Maybe I throw in some poker if I have the time."

Cheers and pinapple juice,

Lance