- We are very pleased to announce new European festival in summer 2012!

13.07.2012: Masters of Rock, Zlin, Czech Republic
18.08.2012: Leyendas del Rock, Murcia, Spain
25.08.2012: Summer's end Festival, Andernach, Germany

- Gallery section was updating with Online Photos and too Fans section...

Send me your "Rock" photos (For ex. Tattoo, car, dog...not with band members) about Stratovarius

UPDATE 2:
5 Fans Pics are online! Thanks!!
"Fans" Gallery

Hi to all the Stratovarius fans,

An exceptional competition is organized from 1st to 25th of December 2011, with lot of presents to win (Drumsticks, Tshirt, and for the winner, a Jörg’s batter head drum dedicated by himself).

The Finnish Metal Awards 2011 is Open.

The categories are:

• FMA LEVY (FMA LEVY yhtyeennimi levynnimi)--> Band + Album
• FMA BÄNDI (FMA BÄNDI yhtyeennimi)--> Band
• FMA TULOKAS (FMA TULOKAS yhtyeennimi)--> Best Newcomer
• FMA TAIDE (FMA TAIDE yhtyeennimi levynnimi)--> Best Cover
• FMA SOITTAJA (FMA SOITTAJA etunimi sukunimi)--> Best Musician
• FMA LAULAJA (FMA LAULAJA etunimi sukunimi)--> Best Singer
• FMA DEMO (FMA DEMO yhtyeennimi julkaisu)--> Best Demo Band
   

Go And Vote for Stratovarius here: www.imperiumi.net/index.php

The show today in Helsinki/Tavastia has been SOLD OUT.
Thank you Helsinkians!!

Stratovarius will be in Guatemala, Teatro de Bellas Artes, Guatemala City on January 31st 2012.

It's too the last show of drummer Jörg Michael (not Mexico) after 15 years with Stratovarius.

Staying at home can be a real choice if you want to experience live music. Stratovarius, the Finnish power metal wonder, is next up playing for a global audience at an interactive online gig on 20th November. It is also a chance for the fans to say ‘farewell’ to drummer Jörg Michael, who is leaving the band soon.

LiveMusicStage.com lets people become part of live music events on the web. The living room is the stage, with your TV or laptop showing a global online crowd and a high-quality live stream of the show. You can chat and make friends, applaud, swing a lighter, vote for songs to be played and more. The band members see all that live and talk back to the audience between songs.

Stratovarius will be in Mexico, Circo Volador, Mexico City on January 28th 2012.

It's widely known that Timo Kotipelto is a heavy poker fanatic. Now, you can take part in a Stratovarius poker tournament at nordicbet.com! It's a freeroll (you don't have to pay anything), and the prize pool is 500€.

Stratovarius, one of the most successful Finnish acts with over 2.5 million albums sold, says farewell to longtime drummer Mr. Jörg Michael who will leave the band after 15 years for personal reasons. Jörg will play all the remaining tour dates until the end of January, and will celebrate with a special Finnish "Farewell Jörg" tour in Finland November 18th - 26th.

Timo has answered your questions from August. You can find his answers in the Stratomail.

>> Read Timo's Stratomail <<

Thanks a lot for your questions!! Soon a new Stratomail...

On July 18th, we will be starting the first session of Stratomail. This means you will be able to ask your questions directly to the bandmembers, who will then answer a selection of questions here on this website.

The first person waiting for your questions is Timo Kotipelto.

Please send your questions short and do not send us comments or other nonsense. Stratomail is for questions only!

Stratomail

We are very pleased to announce the Russia Tour with Helloween.

13.09.2011: Premiera,  Krasnodar,  Russia
14.09.2011: Dom Oficerov,  Rostov-On-Don,  Russia
16.09.2011: Milk,  Moscow,  Russia
20.09.2011: DK Lensovetov,  Saint-Petersburg,  Russia

Coming soon, the new "Stratomail" section...

 

We are very pleased to announce a new tour date in Germany, the Knock Out Festival 2011, Karlsruhe, on December 10th 2011.

Tickets/infos: shop.knockout-festival.de/index.php

Stratovarius will take part in the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise from January 23 to 27, 2012 aboard the Royal Caribbean “Majesty of the Seas” from Miami FL to George Town, Cayman Islands.

We have a Signing session on the Radio Rock ferry, Finland, May 14th!
22:00 at info area on the 6th floor!

Brilliant South-American tour is over! Hope to get back in two years!

Thanks a lot for your support.

We are pleased to announce a contest for Argentina Fans of a meet and greet at Buenos Aires concert on May 10th.

For the contest:
Send us a photo of your May 10th ticket and a Stratovarius rarity to strato_arg@hotmail.com or polaris_press@hotmail.com.
You have time until May 8th, the 5 lucky winners will be announced the May 9th and you can bring 1 friend!! (both with your May 10th ticket)

We are very pleased to announce a new tour date in France for the Festival Foire Aux Vins, Colmar, on August 7th 2011.

Tickets/infos: http://www.foire-colmar.com/fr/dimanche-7-aout-hard-rock-session/

We are very sorry the Presov Slovakia gig got cancelled, this was not our fault. There was a problem with the original venue, it was being repaired or something like that. I don't have a complete understanding of exactly what happened, maybe the Helloween site has more info, but this is what I heard: The promoter tried to save the show by putting Helloween and us in a hand ball arena but the capacity of that was not sufficient to hold all the people (some 3000 tickets were sold). The idea was to put the audience in the field where the hand ball game is usually happening. But the place was not designed for that, it was designed for people sitting in the bleachers while there was a hand ball game going on down on the field. Thus there was a barrier between the field and the emergency exits. And either way, it was too small to hold 3000 people, so trying to fit 2000 people in, while 1000 paying and partying Slovak metalheads were still outside in the snow (-5C temperature outside), with only a glass-enclosed foyer between as a barrier..... well, you do the math.

I know a lot of people were disappointed because I could hear chantings of "SHAME ON YOU!!" outside the bus as we were pulling out. But the buck has to stop somewhere. In this case I think the Bottom Row guys (Helloween's management) made the right call. It's the same call I would have made. If you have read this forum before, you would know I am really paranoid about the risk that someone gets hurt at a concert. Listening to music should be safe. Station Nightclub, Cromañon, Roskilde, this Love Parade thing in Germany. Stuff of nightmares, at least for me.

BTW this is the first time since Hlohovec Slovakia that I have had internet access, so therefore the late news update. Now it's 1800 km of bumpy roads and a few days later, and I am typing this as the last notes of Helloween's outro is running thru the Z7 PA in Pratteln.

Cheers anyway everyone!

/j

Hi everyone,

Due to a recent bacterial infection my voice isn't what it should be. The infection dried out my vocal chords, and I'm still struggling to recover. Although canceling the tour was discussed, we decided to not let you down but to play for all of you great people out there who have been with you through thick and thin and continue to support Stratovarius no matter what. I want to thank all of you who have sung with me on the gigs, you guys keep me going on! I'll keep you posted about my condition and everything directly related to me on my facebook page. I hope you've enjoyed the shows as much as we have and like our new album, Elysium. See you at the gig!

Rock the Metal!
Timo

Elysium hit number one on the Finnish album charts. We are of course very happy. This is probably old news but there has been very limited Internet access for the past few days. Cheers from a quite cold and damp backstage at the Hristo Botev (whatever that means) in Sofia Bulgaria. Gig in 70 minutes, better get a cup of coffee.

/j

http://www.loudtrax.com/Album.aspx?id=59116

Doesn't work in other countries than the US.

Well, the good news is that we're back on the road with Helloween. And Jörg Michael is back in his drum chair after his brush with death. The bad news is that Timo Kotipelto caught some sort of bacterial infection. We suspect it was something from the backstage food in December, but we don't know. Two of the other people on the tour had the same thing: a very bad dysentery-like stomach infection with vomiting and diarrhea, dehydration, also eventually had to go to hospital, etc.

Timo's infection is stubborn and in addition to ruining his Christmas break, it has dried out his vocal cords. In his own words, he can't sing a note at the moment. We are currently in France and so far we had to cancel playing in Paris and Lyon.

We are of course very sorry about this, and nobody is more heartbroken or frustrated than Timo himself. Apart from heeding the advice from doctors we are in touch with, the only thing we can do at the moment is to hope Timo gets better. We will ride the 1000 km to Bilbao tonight and hopefully we will all get some sleep on the nice smooth French motorways.

Here is a short video about the Paris cancellation and some words from Jörg. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBqq3o0_fhc

Dear All, this is Jörg speaking, finally.

I hope this message finds everybody well and everybody is in an easy-peasy Christmas mood already. The first leg of the European tour with Helloween is over – time to have a few words with you.

First of all, let's not forget the brilliant emergency rescue action and playing of Alex, thanx again for all what you did for the fans, the band and also for me.

Surely I hate the idea of somebody sitting on "my chair" but this special action needed some special treatment and I am proud and happy that it was you, Alex. Thanx again, we'll get together for a real drink, not like these other Scandinavian pussies in the band :-)

I was overwhelmed by all the wishes, tons of emails and text messages I received from all over the world wishing me a speedy recovery. Thank you so much for supporting me, and it made me feel very strong when fighting these bastards inside of me.

I have some good news to tell you and believe me - I really enjoy to tell the world:

The surgery was done about 6 weeks ago and the first therapy is done as well. All looks good so far and as Jens told me before: "Do not worry Jörg, nothing survives in your body after all what you did to it!"

Finally he was right, there are only small bits and bobs left - I will fight those with another therapy in about 4 months time.

I think I have been very lucky that it was discovered by one of my friends in a very early state. Very good that my friend decided to become a doctor, he was very lousy when he tried playing the guitar.

Besides preparing myself for Christmas, I am currently practicing the drums to be ready and kickin' again when the tour continues in the new year. I will be back, thanx again for everything and let's get alive and kicking once again, see you in Paris and everywhere else......

Best,
Jörg Michael