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Happy 20th Lordi anniversary you all!

#eurovision #esc 2006 #lordi #that was a great year!

Eurovision Fact #1296:

Mr. Lordi, otherwise known as Tomi Putaansuu, frontman of the band Lordi which won Eurovision for Finland in 2006, revealed to Finnish news outlet Iltalehti that he and the band wanted to perform at UMK, Finland's national final for Eurovision, this year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their win, but they were denied.

Two of the band's record labels, Warner Music Finland and Sony Music Finland, reached out to Yle, the Finnish public broadcaster, to see if the group could perform. Both requests were made months in advance of the contest and were met with lukewarm responses.

About the rejection and his desire to perform, Putaansuu said:

"It feels ridiculous. It's not that we needed that performance, the gigs are selling anyway. Now would have been the momentum when the victory will be 20 years and there have been many other winners from Finland. For me, performing would have been a circle closing. Apparently, we thought stupidly and childishly."

After being denied a spot to perform, the band was asked if they would like to come sit in the audience between Käärijä (Finland 2023) and Erika Vikman (Finland 2025), which Putaansuu thought was a ridiculous request, especially because of the distance he would have to travel to get to the arena.

The lead producer of UMK and the Managing Director of Yle Entertainment both noted that Lordi has been featured prominently in other Yle media recently, and had no comments about the band's earlier requests to perform at UMK.

[Source]

"Lordi raivostui UMK:n päätöksestä: ”Saatanan saletti, että tämä oli tässä”," iltalehti.fi.

#esc facts oc #eurovision #eurovision song contest #esc #eurovision facts oc #ESC 2006 #Lordi #ESC winners #umk #uuden musiikin kilpailu #UMK26 #umk 2026

Eurovision 2006 - Number 3 - Lordi - "Hard Rock Hallelujah"

What else is there to say about Hard Rock Hallelujah that hasn't already been said? The barrier-breaking, template-busting power-metal anthem featuring demons and ghouls shrieking about hell and probably as many fireworks on stage at one time as had been used in all of Eurovision history to this point. The classic winner that always features in any video on YouTube explaining to Eurovision novices exactly what Eurovision is.

Everyone knows it, and everyone one knows Lordi.

The band had been slowly, painstakingly assembled by Mr. Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu) over a decade, starting with him as a solo act in 1992. Members were recruited, left, returned and the aesthetic developed until at the end of 2002, in Helsinki, Lordi as we know them gave their first stage performance. They toured Finland and Germany, and their reputation grew. Shortly before Euroviisut 2006, they had more line-up changes. The line-up you see on stage at Eurovision had only been together for a few months.

Hard Rock Hallelujah nearly didn't make it to the final. In the heats, each band had two songs that went up against each other. Lordi's other song was Bringing Back the Balls to Rock which only lost out on a televote 58% to 42%. Having said that, once Lordi got to the semi-final and final, the televote decisively swung in their favour. There was never really much doubt that they'd be Finland's representative.

Going into the contest, Finland and Lordi were not favourites. Not even in the top ten of the odds. They had to get through the semi-final and that's where they introduced Eurovision not only to hard rock and metal but also a new concept in staging (for Eurovision) - spectacle. There had been great staging before, but never anything like this. The costumes, the make-up, the pyro, the demonic wings, the top hat. It was attention-grabbing in the extreme and it crushed the semi-final, finishing top with 292 points.

In the final, they were eagerly anticipated. When asked what changes they'd make to their final performance, Mr Lordi said:

We'll scream louder, and turn the amps up

In the end he wore an iconic Finnish flag top hat and proved that with a performance that amazing, seeing the same thing twice isn't a bad thing. 292 points exactly again in the final, and an even bigger margin to second place.

Lordi are the band that not only brought rock and metal to Eurovision, not only the band that blew the entire concept of Eurovision wide open to all sorts of acts and musicians, broke the pop meta, but perhaps most importantly, showed that emphasising what the audience sees on stage is perhaps the most important element of any Eurovision performance. From this point forward how a song is going to be staged would be as talked about as the song itself.