Photo Credit: Steve Barrass
Ville Valo returned to Cleveland, Ohio on Wednesday night for the first time outside of the Love Metal phenomenon HIM. This marks Ville’s first trip back to Cleveland since HIM played the House of Blues for the final time as a group on March 13th, 2014 (yes, we are still hopeful of a future reunion tour). With the major success of the band (on hiatus since 2017) and the first international release of a solo album from HIM’s frontman, there was plenty of mixed emotions to be had for anyone who followed Valo’s career prior to Neon Nior. With the release of his 2023 solo album, Neon Nior, Ville reassured fans that while his solo career will be different, he still hasn’t lost his core, and that certainly shows on the both the new album and the tour…
The time is 9:07 PM and the house lights are finally dimmed for the evening’s final act. Illuminating being the stage is a large “VV” that is built within the iconic Heartagram, a symbol of Ville’s that has becoming widely recognizable even if you’ve never heard of the artist who created it. A very brief moment later, Valo follows behind his touring band and is met with the voices of those who have waited almost 10 years for his return.
Jumping right into the set, VV opened with Neon Nior’s opening track Echolocate Your Love and then rolled right into, what is arguably one of HIM’s most popular hits, Funeral of Hearts. You can feel the energy immediately elevate at this moment because this gave fans reassurance that memories of what once was, certainly have not been forgotten. It’s no secret that fans of Ville were dying to hear some HIM classics, but (while this is not an album review) it needs to be noted that VV’s Neon Nior exceeded expectations and that showed on Wednesday night, as fans sang back word for word, songs old and new. The band powered through an 18 song setlist with little words in between (Ville has never one to speak much between songs). The setlist, which you can see below if you like spoilers, was composed of 50% Neon Nior and 50% HIM, and it sure was a trip down memory lane.
This tour has something (if not everything) for anyone who has been a fan of Valo’s work, and is something you may not want to miss. Remember, seeing Ville in the United States is not something that happens very often and you never know when your next chance will come.
The “VV / Neon Nior US Tour 2023” continues in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 8th and wraps up with 2 nights in New York on May 8th and 9th. VV also has music festival appearances scheduled this summer, in case you can’t make it out to the tour. Keep an eye on the Heartagram social media pages for those announcements, as they come.
Remember to check us out on our social media pages for more photos, giveaways (yes, we gave tickets away for this show), and concert announcements! For spoilers, check the setlist below!
VV 2023 Setlist
- Echolocate Your Love
- Funeral of Hearts (HIM Cover)
- Neon Nior
- Right Here In My Arms (HIM Cover)
- Loveletting
- Buried Alive By Love (HIM Cover)
- In Trenodia
- Wings of a Butterfly (HIM Cover)
- Heartful of Ghosts
- Join Me In Death (HIM Cover)
- The Foreverlost
- Kiss of Dawn (HIM Cover)
- Run Away From The Sun
- When Love and Death Embrace (HIM Cover)
Encore
- Soul on Fire (HIM Cover)
- Salute the Sanguine
- Poison Girl (HIM Cover)
- Saturnine Saturnalia