page_title: Bang and Whimper 2017 – The Farewell Tour
section_title: Reception
hierarchical_section_title: Bang and Whimper 2017 – The Farewell Tour / Reception
caption_attribution_description: English: HIM performing at Helsinki Ice Hall on 27 December 2017
context_page_description: Bang and Whimper 2017 – The Farewell Tour was a concert tour by the Finnish gothic rock band HIM. Originally formed in 1991, the band announced on 5 March 2017 their plans to disband following a farewell tour that same year. HIM had taken a break during 2016 but began work on new material at the end of the year. According to vocalist Ville Valo, the band felt their new material was lacking, and the band members eventually decided to disband while they were all still on good terms.
  The tour began on 14 June 2017 in Barcelona, Spain, and concluded on 31 December 2017 in Helsinki, Finland, as a part of the band's annual Helldone Festival. The tour spanned three legs across Europe and North America. Most shows were sold out and the tour gathered over 110,000 attendees in total. It also attracted mostly positive reviews, with the Nottingham Post noting that HIM "truly went out with a 'bang' ".
  For the tour, the band performed material from all of their studio albums. They played their first-ever outdoor show in Helsinki at the Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, breaking the festival's record for highest attendance on a single date.
context_section_description: Most shows on HIM's farewell tour were sold-out, and the tour dates drew a total audience of more than 110,000 people.
  The tour was generally well received by critics. Eve Smallman of the Nottingham Post said that HIM "truly went out with a 'bang'". The overall atmosphere of the shows was described as "celebratory", "exciting", yet "solemn" by Billboard's Katy Kroll. The Guardian's Graeme Virtue concluded his review by stating that "in an era saturated with cash-in reunions it is refreshing to see a band devil-sign off on their own eccentric terms". Pasi Kostiainen of Ilta-Sanomat commented how HIM "never became journeymen, whose only fuel for touring was just nostalgia", noting how their show at the Helsinki Ice Hall featured a band with "more fury and character than most performers ever". Jussi Ahlroth of Helsingin Sanomat touted the band's show at Tuska "meeting all expectations".
  Soundi's Henri Eerola praised the band's stage-presence and overall performance at Tuska. He described Valo's performance as "possibly the best the man has ever sounded". Loudwire's Graham Hartmann touted Valo as sounding "perfect the entire night" at the band's show in New York. The rest of the band also received praise, with Millamari Uotila of Etelä-Suomen Sanomat noting how all members got their respective moments to shine, singling out Linde Lindström's solo in "Wicked Game" as a particular highlight.
  While the tour was mostly well received, Billboard's Katy Kroll noted technical difficulties hindering the band's show in New York and Nita Makkonen of Ilta-Sanomat gave a less-favorable review for the band's appearance at Miljoona Rock, describing the band's performance as lacking "atmosphere" and Valo as "looking bored". Visa Högmander of MTV Uutiset felt similarly, likening Valo's performance at the Helsinki Ice Hall to a "karaoke night", and stating that "at the Ice Hall we saw a HIM that won't be missed in the slightest". Zach Redrup of Dead Press! gave the band's show in Manchester a mixed review, noting how the band seemed to be "going through the motions", and ultimately called the show "mostly a yawn orgy, and unfortunately a bittersweet farewell."
  Ticket sales for the tour's final five dates caused some controversy. Tickets for the Helldone shows were named specific to the buyer, and attendees were required to show matching identification upon entry to the venue. This caused some controversy among concertgoers, because if several tickets had been purchased to a large party and the buyer was unable to attend, the other ticket holders were not allowed entrance to the venue. Ticket offices did not provide the option of changing the name, only allowing resale of the tickets back to the seller. This policy was taken in order to reduce scalping, with organizer Tiina Vuorinen commenting: "HIM has always been surrounded by a ticket-scam-mentality, and that's why this policy has been in effect for years at previous Helldone shows."
caption: HIM performing at the Helsinki Ice Hall on 27 December 2017
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