Stratovarius to play Wacken, start work on new album in 2010

[JensJohansson]

Here is a news update from the band:

"We're still in the middle of the Polaris world tour, but we do have a bit of news.

The European summer festivals earlier this year were nice and relaxing as always, and then we embarked on a long three-month leg which covered the Far East, North and South America, and Finland. One highlight was Beijing, a place none of us in the band had played or visited before.

Some of Lauri's video blogs from the past year are at http://www.stratovarius.com/blog.

After a break for the holidays, the caravan will roll on in 2010, and we will do a long tour of Europe in January and February (see dates below). You can always check an up-to-date list of any upcoming dates at this address:
http://www.stratovarius.com/tour.

We have some more good news: we just confirmed to play Wacken in August 2010, which is always great fun. It's the biggest metal festival in the world, and has a great crowd, but also since there are so many bands there, you can always reconnect with many old friends backstage and in the VIP bar. This gig will mark the end of the "Polaris" would tour which spanned four continents with close to a hundred gigs. Wacken's website is at http://www.wacken.com/.

We have finally made available the remaining stock some of the band's older merch. It's available for sale now at the "treasure chest" on Stratovarius' official webshop at Fanzone. Some of these classic items are pretty unlikely that we will reprint, ever. The information about the old "treasure chest' merch you can find here (pdf). The main webshop with all the stock you can find at this address: http://www.fanzone.fi/stratovarius/.

We have also confirmed an appearance on the '70,000 tons of metal' Caribbean cruise in late January, 2011. You can find details about this very nice cruise here: http://www.70000tons.com.

We saved the best piece of good news for last: next year we will start work on a new full-length record, a follow-up to 2009's 'Polaris.'

Best regards, happy holidays and have a great new 2010!"

--Stratovarius

Remaining confirmed live dates:

[[INSDATES]]

[emperor_black]

yay! these are great news!

wish you luck, guys. can't wait

[NeverendingAbyss]

Working for new album in 2010?!

Is it New Year's Eve yet?

[VictorTDD]

Thanks for your great performance in Beijing.

Can't wait for the new album... :headbang: :headbang:

And hope you come to Mainland China again!

[HinatAArcticA]

New album!
Will it recover some of the non used songs for Polaris?
Or totally not? xD
Or maybe it's to early to be asking such questions XD
Anyway *-* I can't wait for it

[finnlandia]

Great news!!

[palarmux]

Fantastic news!

There were many fantastic news.

[LukeTheDuke]

Looking forward to see you in Milan & Wacken!

:headbang:

[Arkash]

Great news!!! See you guys in Toulouse!!!!

And I know that what I'm going to say is completely ridiculous, but, well, I do it anyway: I've made a lot of my friends listen to Strato, non-metal friends, and they'll all come with me at the gig in Toulouse (France), so, just a request that I know will never come true, but... the song that definitly took them into Strato is a song you do not usually play live, and it would be really amazing for us if you'd play it: it's Coming Home, well, so I just ask, we never know! ^^

And happy Xmas, New Year's eve, and fun to everyone!!!

[Plisken]

great news! looking forward to that next album! I hope jens writes more of the songs. My favorite songs on polaris were the ones he wrote.

[life-l]

Oh, great news!!!!! See you at Wacken! waiting for the new album............. :spin2: :w00t:

[browneyedgirl]

Great news! I am going to check out the Treasure Chest, and the other shop. One cannot have too much StratoStuff! :bigok:

OMG! The Angel Tshirt is so pretty!

[palarmux]

great news! looking forward to that next album! I hope jens writes more of the songs. My favorite songs on polaris were the ones he wrote.

1+ but Forever is today was killer song by lauri!

[palarmux]

Great news! I am going to check out the Treasure Chest, and the other shop. One cannot have too much StratoStuff! :bigok:

OMG! The Angel Tshirt is so pretty!

Yea they are! I bought earthcrisis T-shirt from there.

Let's wait for good!

[HinatAArcticA]

I hope to see more songs by Matias, my favorite by a real long distance was Deep Unknown... so fresh, so powerfull...
And idiots in Mexico City didn't know the lyric ¬¬
It seemed to me I was the only idiot sining as loud as I could as a mad lunatic in Circo Volador
I just love that song so much...

[RazielSR]

And there it is, new album in 2010. G-R-E-A-T.

[mayhem-for-all]

I think there should be a nice long epic this time and I will propably enjoy it if it does go proggier like Jens thought it would.

[eagledreamr]

Thank you for those news!

I'm so sad not to be able to come to see you in January...

[RazielSR]

I think there should be a nice long epic this time and I will propably enjoy it if it does go proggier like Jens thought it would.

I think that's one of the few paths nowadays Stratovarius should take. And not just because of Jens. Because of Lauri and mainly Matias, too.

[Kmasters]

WACKEN 2010 AMAZING OPPORTUNITY FOR RECORD A LIVE DVD THE LAST SHOW OF THE TOUR IN THE BEST METAL FESTIVAL IN THE WORLD.

[RazielSR]

WACKEN 2010 AMAZING OPPORTUNITY FOR RECORD A LIVE DVD THE LAST SHOW OF THE TOUR IN THE BEST METAL FESTIVAL IN THE WORLD.

TRUE AND +100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[Rebel]

Wacken shows would be too short.
Strato needs to organize their own festival ala Blind Guardian Open Air

[Ragehead91]

WACKEN 2010 AMAZING OPPORTUNITY FOR RECORD A LIVE DVD THE LAST SHOW OF THE TOUR IN THE BEST METAL FESTIVAL IN THE WORLD.

TRUE AND +100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Only if they get enough time. If not, than it is worthles. Maybe as an extra for the new album.

[RazielSR]

I agree, but you know!! at least something!! For an extra or whatever.

[Kmasters]

Maybe they should do the same as Rage they record the Wacken 2007 and 2009 and use as Bonus DVD of their new studio Cd's

[life-l]

Strato needs to organize their own festival ala Blind Guardian Open Air

heh... good idea, but... that's fantastic

[Ragehead91]

Strato needs to organize their own festival ala Blind Guardian Open Air

heh... good idea, but... that's fantastic

If they do it in their homecountry, it would work. I think they have a bigger audience there as in any other country.

[mayhem-for-all]

Strato needs to organize their own festival ala Blind Guardian Open Air

heh... good idea, but... that's fantastic

If they do it in their homecountry, it would work. I think they have a bigger audience there as in any other country.

I on the other hand don't think so.
I guess they have bigger audiences in South America I guess.
This country may offer nice big shows for PM bands with an army of Fangirls (Sonata Arctica, Nightwish...) but Strato has a bit more quality fanbase (which isn't represented by this forum)

But Sonata did their own Open Air this year and filmed it for their DvD.

[Ragehead91]

Strato needs to organize their own festival ala Blind Guardian Open Air

heh... good idea, but... that's fantastic

If they do it in their homecountry, it would work. I think they have a bigger audience there as in any other country.

I on the other hand don't think so.
I guess they have bigger audiences in South America I guess.
This country may offer nice big shows for PM bands with an army of Fangirls (Sonata Arctica, Nightwish...) but Strato has a bit more quality fanbase (which isn't represented by this forum)

But Sonata did their own Open Air this year and filmed it for their DvD.

I have a question: Do Timo Kotipelto and other members of the band frequently appear in TV or other media in Finland? Are they considered to be a popular band by the media in Finland? Or are they seen as a mere afterthough of the 90s? A Band that had a few hits once and releases an Album every now and then? I'd like to know. When it comes to germany, the only bands that get mentioned relatively often are Scorpions, Rammstein and Oomph. I'd like to know how stratos status in the finnish media is.

[stratoleo]

OOOOOOOOH YEEEEEEEES HELL YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!