Earlier this week, the Finnish winners of Eurovision 2006, Lordi, performed at the Exeter Lemon Grove as part of their Bringing Back The Balls To Rock tour.

Exeter is a small city located in south west England, and the Lemon Grove is a venue popular with students and locals alike.  It is a popular location for indie and rock bands, such the Devon rock band Muse, so it is unsurprising that Lordi chose this venue.

Lordi mostly performed songs from their seventh album Scare force one, which is true to their typical over-the-top hard rock style. They were joined by dancers dressed as puppets throughout the evening. Nailed by the hammer of Frankenstein, the album’s lead single was their opening track and set the tone of the evening. Lordi did not play their winning Eurovision song until slot number three, but it was the song and performance everyone came to see and the atmosphere was electric during and after Hard rock hallelujah.

Other songs performed over the course of the night included ‘Hell sent in the Clowns‘, one of their earlier songs Don’t let my mother know and Deadache, which is reminiscent of fellow Finns, Nightwish.

Lordi also used this opportunity to show off some of their new and upgraded costumes, all designed by lead singer Mr Lordi himself. Throughout their performance, he brandished a smoking skull, a crowd-covering steam gun and the wings he used in the 2006 contest. Keyboardist Hella was dressed as a ‘Scarbie’ doll, Mana the drummer was the self-proclaimed ‘Minister of the Sinister’, OX who plays the bass was dressed as a ‘Bulltaurus’ and Amen the guitarist appeared as a mummified Pharoah, and at one point donned a Tutankhamen headdress to perform a solo in the song ‘A lament to Ra‘

Lordi won the 2006 Eurovision song contest for Finland in Athens with song ‘Hard rock hallelujah‘, scoring 292 points and Finland’s first ever victory. Finland will be represented in the 2015 contest by fellow rock band Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, and they will compete in the first semi-final on Tuesday 19 May 2015.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for all the news about Eurovision, Finland and Lordi!