News - Mr Lordi runs into trouble in Kentucky | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2009 Moscow, Russia 

Lordi is currently on their second American tour and performed in Louisville, Kentucky last night. After the gig they had an unpleasant encounter with a gang of armed teenage drug addicts. Mr Lordi, his wife Johanna and Awa were in the bus just within meters from the incident while their manager and bodyguard were shot at, and a fan was robbed.

The events started after the concert when Mr Lordi, his wife Johanna and Awa had just entered the tour bus. The rest of the band went into a nearby bar for a drink. Their tour manager Rikk Scholvinck and a bodyguard were escorting some of their fans towards the bus when a van appeared next to the bus and four (five according to the girl fan) teenagers jumped out of it. “One of the men with a gun took a fan, a girl, put the gun to her head and forced her to lie down on the ground. Also one of the boys froze on the spot while the others fled away, including Rikk and the bodyguard while  another man started shooting at them. Luckily he missed and no one was hurt. Rikk ran to the bar and called the police who arrived soon. In a moment we were surrounded by like five police cars but the guys managed to escape,” Tomi Putaansuu or Mr Lordi himself said. “They were a group of drug addicts that had stolen the car earlier that night, and police were already looking for them but have still not managed to catch them.”

“The girl that was held at gunpoint  is obviously very shocked. We did our best to comfort and calm her down, but one can only wonder what could happen when people start running around with guns and even using them!” he continues. “It is a bit amusing that the boy fan was just happy he didn’t lose the t-shirt he was wearing with all the autographs on it, even if they both lost everything else.” The fans involved were given lifetime all access passes to Lordi shows worldwide as compensation.

This was a second time Lordi has had trouble in the USA. During their Ozzfest tour in the summer their tour bus was hijacked. Two of their fans were robbed on that occasion, too. “This was like a deja vú of that, once again we were surrounded by police cars and their flashing lights”

You can read the girl fan's story here.

Lordi became national heros in Finland after winning the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest with Hard rock hallelujah on Finland's 40th attempt in the contest.