LORDI Manager, Bodyguard Shot At Following Louisville Concert

According to ESCtoday.com, LORDI's manager and bodyguard were shot at, and a fan was robbed, following the band's performance in Louisville, Kentucky Friday night (October 26).

The events started after the concert when LORDI mainman Mr. Lordi, his wife Johanna and the band's keyboardist Awa had just entered the tour bus. The rest of the group 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 or five 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," Mr. Lordi said. "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. 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."

Mr. Lordi continued, "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!"

"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," Mr. Lordi said.

You can read the girl fan's story at this location.

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.