The 69 Eyes, commonly referred to as The Helsinki Vampires, are on tour and promoting their latest cd, “Back in Blood.” They swung on through Toronto to play The Opera House on Queen St E. The venue itself has a bit of a Gothic feel to it, which complimented the atmosphere as Jryki 69, Bazie, Archzie, Timo-Timo & Jussi 69 hit the stage. It has been 20 years since the band formed in the Finland bar scene and the original line-up still endures.

The crowd was a sea of black leather and lace adorned fans, albeit a slightly smaller crowd than I expected. Still, energy was high as the band caressed their way through a setlist of old and new tracks which included Brandon Lee, Lost Boys, Gothic Girl, Never Say Die, Dance D’Amore, Betty Blue as well as the title track of their latest album, Back in Blood. It was not as long a show as I expected but the crowd enjoyed every minute of it, enticing the band back to perform a 3 song encore before the leather clad, sweat soaked Finns retired for the evening.

A few of the band members signed autographs and took photos with fans outside by the bus post show before hightailing it to Toronto hotspot The Bovine for an after party. Did I mention the Bovine has a stripper pole? It does. One of the boys hopped up there and gave it a go, quite a sight to see.

Karen’s full gallery and original writeup can be found here.