Following the overwhelming success of their recent tribute shows in Helsinki, the surviving members of the legendary Finnish metal outfit Children Of Bodom have officially confirmed that their “Celebration Of Music” concerts will return next year.
Back in February, bassist Henkka Seppälä, keyboardist Janne Wirman, drummer Jaska Raatikainen, and early guitarist Alexander Kuoppala reunited at the historic Tavastia club. Joined by Lost Society frontman Samy Elbanna, the group played two highly emotional sets honoring the legacy of their late frontman and principal songwriter, Alexi Laiho, who tragically passed away on December 29, 2020.
During a new interview with Ed Hack of “This Day In Metal,” Janne Wirman opened up about the emotional weight of returning to the stage and the chain of events that finally brought the surviving members back together. He explained that a persistent Austrian booking agent named Dominik was the catalyst for the reunion.
“We’ve gotten some requests and we’ve said ‘no’ to everything. But then this one guy, who is now our booking agent, from Austria, Dominik, he contacted us and he was convincing enough. Like, ‘Guys, I have so many requests for Bodom shows.’ And we replied to him politely that we don’t have a band. We just have three guys and a legacy. And he goes, like, ‘Can I come to Helsinki and meet you?’ We were, like, ‘Okay, fine.’ And this guy flies to Helsinki and we meet him for dinner. He turns out to be a super-nice guy, someone we could work with,” the keyboardist shared (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
With a trusted agent on board, the band then turned to a familiar face to help guide the delicate process of honoring their fallen brother.
“Back in the day, Bodom, it was such a tight family. Everyone needed to kind of fit in — like a manager, booking agent, we always kind of needed to know these guys, that they really fit to the picture. So this guy kind of was very convincing. And this was a couple of years ago. And then we started thinking, like, ‘Okay, well, if we ever gonna play any shows, how are we gonna approach it? And then we hired our old manager Steve [Davis] back, ’cause Steve is a mastermind and a genius in his own really f**ked up way. And he said that, ‘Guys, how we are gonna do this is that we’re gonna celebrate the music, ’cause that’s what we have — we have the music.’ And then that’s how we started unraveling. And, yeah, that’s where we are right now.”
Filling the massive void left by Alexi Laiho was no small task, but Wirman offered immense praise for Samy Elbanna, who tackled the incredibly complex vocal and guitar duties with remarkable precision.
“Dude, he was on fire. And he was so well practiced already when we had our first like band practice. Three months prior, four months prior to the shows, when we started practicing, he already knew everything, and I was just starting to remember, like, ‘How the f**k was this again?’ So he was so well prepared, so well practiced. He’s a young and enthusiastic little kid, and I love him. And he’s been practicing a lot. I think it takes a lot of practice for someone to be able to pull off everything that Alexi put on those albums. I think his performance was flawless. All the guitar solos, all the guitar leads were just perfect.”
He continued: “Of course, we all know how f**king talented Alexi was, but that was something we were always in awe of, how he could play the most complex riff and then sing at the same time or shout or whatever. And I know there were some parts that were really difficult for Samy, but he pulled it off. I don’t even know, and I cannot even understand how much he had to have been practicing.”
Despite months of preparation, the keyboardist admitted that the reality of the first performance was completely nerve-wracking. The show began with a poignant video installation featuring the late frontman, leaving the band anxious about how the crowd, and they themselves, would react.
“I had no idea [what to expect]. No one could have predicted… We had been rehearsing for months, and, like I said, I think Samy was the most confident player at the rehearsals. He was doing fine all the time, and I was still finding my way around the Bodom songs. And then I knew that we’re gonna do this video installation [to present to the audience at the beginning of the show], and then Alexi is gonna speak and there’s gonna be all these photos and whatever. So going on stage the first night, I really had no idea if I’m gonna start crying. Is the whole audience gonna be crying when we go out? Literally from the moment we went on stage, we were all panicking back there, like, ‘What the f**k is gonna happen?’ And the crowd was kind of quiet during the video installation, which I understand, ’cause you wanna hear the dialogue. So the first 15 seconds I walked on stage, I had no idea what’s gonna f**king happen, but then I see the immediate crowd reaction to the music, and then I knew, like, ‘F**k, this is gonna be a good time.’ And it was a good time.”
Reflecting on the raw energy of the room, Wirman noted that the audience ultimately fueled the band’s tight performance.
”I tried to kind of describe it as that something magical happened. ‘Cause no one knew what was gonna happen the first night. It could have been falling apart, and we could all just been crying and, like, ‘Why the f**k are we here?’ So something truly magical happened in terms also [of] how tight the band was. ‘Cause, if I’m honest, some of the rehearsals were not tight at all. So it was the crowd reaction. And sometimes you need that. And when the crowd makes you do your best, that’s when it’s beautiful.”
While the initial run was strictly limited to two nights, the overwhelming demand from the global metal community has prompted the group to look toward the future.
“It was a very special event, and we knew that two nights was not gonna be enough kind of to feed the [fan interest]. We knew that a lot of people are gonna be asking for tickets. And I also panicked the last minute — I told the management, like, ‘Why don’t we extend this?’ But that’s how we had originally planned it — just two nights, and that’s it.”
When pressed directly on whether fans can expect more Children Of Bodom tribute performances, the keyboardist left no room for doubt.
“Yes, there is. I mean, we said that next year the celebration is gonna continue, so it’s gonna continue.”
