Ville Valo, vocalist of the Finnish rock goth band HIM, is currently on a solo tour titled, Neon Noir. The US and Canada leg of the tour will be running from April 1st to May 28th. We got the chance to check out his show in Houston, Texas at House of Blues on April 27 (shoutout to Cactus Music for the free tickets!)

Opening trio group, Kælan Mikla, was a pleasant surprise. I had never even heard of the band before, but I was really impressed. They had a lot of stage presence and great energy. Likewise, the crowd at this show was chill and respectful. I’ve been to plenty of shows where the crowd can be straight up rude to the opening act, but that wasn’t the case here.

Finally, we were reaching the 9 o’clock mark, and the energy was buzzing in anticipation for Ville. Once Ville and the rest of the band arrived, the show started with no breaks or chitchat. Although, I was a little disappointed that Ville didn’t really interact with the crowd until the encore, it really wasn’t a big deal. Ville and the group were really amazing, performing songs from several HIM albums and Ville’s solo album, Neon Noir.

Every song they performed was spot-on, and Ville’s vocals were beautiful. My favorite song that the group performed was a HIM song, “Join Me in Death.” During the encore, Ville also dedicated a song to Jerry Springer, who passed away the same day. Although it’s sad, I loved how the crowd added to the act shouting “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” (I wish I caught this on camera!)

Overall, I really enjoyed the show, and I have since been on a HIM and VV binge.