We were lucky enough to attend the show of finnish pop-rock band Sunrise Avenue, who played the sold-out Hallenstadion in Zurich. I personally have had the chance to see these guys numerous times before, but mostly in smaller venues. I’ve always thought that these “intimate” shows fit better to this band. That might be the reason why I was even more looking forward to seeing them play Hallenstadion a second time, after their show in 2014.
Showtime
After support act Tim Kamrad warmed up the crowd a bit, Sunrise Avenue took the stage at 9pm, right on time. I was quite surprised by the opener song „Prisoner in Paradise“ – but the song did bring up a great atmosphere right away. The following songs like “Beautiful”, “Hurtsville” and “I Help You Hate Me” definitely kept the audience going for a while. The bands newest single “Heartbreak Century” (the video clip to this song was filmed at the Swiss clubtour show at X-Tra btw.) for sure made a few fan-hearts beat a little faster. The entire production was amazing. Thanks to the huge screens in the background, that were very well arranged and showed different angles and scenes, also helped keeping the mood up.
The famous Swiss flag
If you’ve been to previous Sunrise Avenue shows in the past, you will know, no show goes through without Samu Haber mentioning the big Swiss flag, which is owned by the official Swiss fanclub, that is always put up at the venues. Of course this day, it was also hanging proud across the stage, so the band can see it. Samu eve had the house lights turn on, so he could see the flag properly, he then also said: „Never let THAT Flag go down“, which obviously made all fanclub members ecstatic. At this point, a big shoutout to the fanclub. Your presence at the show is always great and appreciated! Naturally, after talking about the flag, the song “Flag” was up next.
The set continued with hits such as „Lifesaver”, “Forever Yours” in the Nightlinerversion, as well as “I Don’t Dance” and “Fairytale Gone Bad”. Everything sounded great, no one seemed to mess up. The atmosphere at the Hallenstadion was incredible and by the time FGB was being played, the mood of all the fans peaked! The fans were clapping, singing along and dancing. It was great to be in the middle of all of this.
Encore, Encore, Encore!
After the band left the stage, strong and loud encore shouts went through the venue. Of course the 5 piece came back up on stage for a few encores. The ballad “Home” made the entire Hallenstadion light up thanks to 13’000 cell phones. The big finale was naturally one of their biggest hits “Hollywood Hills” managed to lift up the entire room once again. What a great last song!
My conclusion
The finns definitely grew and evolved. They played a 105minute incredible show. They learned how to deal with such a big stage and you can see how much they’re enjoying it now. I’m sure that the fans that have been on this SA Journey since the beginning are hella proud right now. They were there to see how this band changed, grew and made it in this business.
Sunrise Avenue will be back soon
They will be back. For now the following dates have been confirmed: July 6th at Stars of Sound and July 20th at Moon & Stars. Make sure to get your tickest asap!
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