The world tour everyone longed for since over two years took Helloween to 26 countries on 3 continents. After several pandemic related postponements, the United Forces tour finally ignited in England in May 2022 and brought together more than 800,000 fans of the seven pumpkins, catapulting them into a euphoric orbit for a year and a half.
Sold-out headline shows in Los Angeles, New York and São Paulo, legendary highlights like the show at the Prague O2 Arena, the Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, or in front of 14,000 metalheads in Santiago de Chile and their first ever sold-out concert at the iconic Budokan in Tokyo - the Holy Grail and the ultimate accolade for every rock band. Without a doubt, there were tears in everyone's eyes at the bombastic Hell & Heaven Festival in Mexico City, which closed the tour.
Waving the United Forces flag, Helloween opened a new live chapter after more than 35 years of band history: all seven Helloween members, including 3 singers, rocked the stages, larger than life, side by side with colleagues like KISS, Scorpions and Deep Purple, and for the second time headlining the Wacken Open Air.
Andi Deris, Michael Kiske, Michael Weikath, Kai Hansen, Markus Grosskopf, Sascha Gerstner and Dani Löble send their thanks to all their fans in Europe, the United States, Canada, Central & South America and Asia and are incredibly grateful that everyone kept their tickets even with all the ongoing postponements and, that they stayed true fans, waiting patiently to see Helloween live. As well, the band would like to thank their friends in HammerFall supporting the tour for most of the dates and spicing things up with their pure Swedish metal, ensuring a sweaty, energetic and bombastic package.
Andi: "What a ride! This world tour was something special for all of us - to get together with all our fans after the long waiting - a feeling we all missed so much! We enjoyed all the shows: our fans were superb and gave us only strikingly happy moments that led to an even stronger cohesion of the band! Personally, I can't even imagine doing this without Michi and Kai anymore! And now we are looking very much forward to our next studio album with the crazy pumpgang we've got!"
Markus: "Hi Helloween folks all over the globe: you were the ones who welcomed us with open arms and hearts all over the world and you turned our world tour into an unique, euphoric party! We love you all and we are very much looking forward to continue this party with you, our Helloween family in 2024 - right after we are done with the new record."
Sascha: "Wow, what an incredible tour once again! I've met so many wonderful people, and the atmosphere during our concerts has been filled with love and energy. Each tour gives me a steady growing and fulfilling experience! Much love to all the fans out there, our hard-working crew, dedicated management, and my talented bandmates!"
After 60 extremely emotional shows and the number one album Helloween, the band is now going directly into the songwriting process and follow up production for the successor - it will be the second release for a new era, the new time calculation of Helloween.
Helloween are:
Michael Kiske - vocals
Andi Deris - vocals
Kai Hansen - guitar, vocals
Michael Weikath - guitar
Sascha Gerstner - guitar
Markus Grosskopf - bass
Daniel Löble - drums
(Photo - Franz Schepers)
