Looking back at 2011, I am still amazed and super happy for all the great things that happened. The soon ending 12 months has been probably the best period for Sunrise Avenue ever. Not only the great album, single and ticket sales figures but also the way it’s been so relaxed with the band, crew and everyone working with us. Feels better than ever before. The tour is just on a break right now and we will continue in February with new cities and new countries. But before that we will have the whole January off and we’ll all come back sun tanned as little brownies

We recorded the whole tour again and it’s been cool editing and mixing the DVD / Live CD we’re releasing in march. After lying on the sofa for a few weeks after the tour, listening to the shows again brought back all the great moments from the tour we did this year. You sound amazing!!

Somewhere in the spring we will also go to studio with the guys, but honestly, we have no plans on when we would release something totally new. Maybe 2013. We’ll just make music and have fun with it. That’s the way to do it.

I just wanted to send a little “thank you” to you all for this the great year 2011 and I hope we see you all soon again as we start the engines again in February.

Remember to protect your eyes when shooting the fireworks in the night, I will. I have these very stupid looking glasses I bought with a HUGE sack of rockets, bombs and stuff

I’ll celebrate tonight with Sami and Raul & other friends here in Helsinki and next week I’ll join Riku in Thailand, where the guitar hero is already dreaming of longer and louder solos on the spring tour and summer festivals next year. With a cold Singha-beer under a palm tree.

I don’t really need to make any wishes for next year. The calendar looks just great all the way to September and we will be on the road like hell with the guys. We also have some cool ideas and plans for our spring tour already and we can’t wait to hit the road.

Thank you all for a wonderful year. May the New Year 2012 bring you all love, happiness and success.

Love you all & See you soon,

Samu and the boys

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What an evening it was today! The show in Oldenburg was this kind of a festival of the N-joy radio from Hamburg and there were two bands also before us. It’s been a few weeks since the last full band show and I must admit I had missed it. Full 90 minutes of sweat (and my lovely new guitars…) and now we all feel like falling asleep… The last two nights we slept 2-3 hours per night with Riku and we really need to get some bedtime before we hit the slopes tomorrow.

Riku and I arrived from Romania this morning. We performed at the Voice Of Romania yesterday and we also did radio & magazine interviews during the two-day stay. The last time we were in Romania was 2008 at the Best Fest and especially since the show was so great back then, I really hope we could have more shows there too – soon. I heard about some Bucharest show plans for next year so keep your fingers crossed.

On Monday evening after the interviews we were invited to the local super star’s Mr. Horia Breciu’s Frank Sinatra tribute show at the Hard Rock Café. He introduced us to the audience at one point in the show and I slipped some bad words in Romanian by accident. Hopefully nobody minded

I gotta say the talent show competitors yesterday were very good. They have said, in Finland too, that the Voice of Finland, starting this month, has better singers than any of the Idols or PopStar seasons have had until now. I like the concept. There are 4 coaches helping and assisting their own singers to get better than the other team members and the show is interesting in a new and fresh way. Check out the Dutch TV format clips on YouTube.

So… One more show to play on Saturday and then 2011 is done. It’s been quite a ride. I’m tired but super happy!

Thank you all for such great moments in Romania and today in Germany and see you all very soon. All the Burger King drive-ins have been closed so far tonight. Hopefully we could get some juicy burgers on the way to maximize the depth of the sleep.

Hugs,

Samu