Off day in Philadelphia today, where I've been quite a few times before. The bus was parked in Chinatown, which also hosts the Trocadero, the venue where we play tomorrow. Funny signs are always, well, funny, and here's one I liked. Wonder if you can plead ignorance if you don't speak the language?

The others went to the hotel to shower, Anders and I went out in search of food. Potbelly's was the choice, and proved to be a good one. Then we walked around for a bit more, and eventually found what I was looking for: South Street, an American version of Camden Street. Sort of, anyway.

After a shower, we took a trip to the Philadelphia Art Museum, which was the site of the famous Rocky training session where he sprints up the stairs. The last time I was here, there was also a statue of the guy on the top. They had moved it down to the foot of the stairs this time.

I decided to try my hand at running up the steps, to see if I indeed would feel like a pro athlete. In all fairness, I kind of knew the outcome, because I did this eight years ago already, but perhaps it had changed. The answer, sadly, is no. But I did make it on the news!

Woke up in New York City, which is always cool. A beautiful spring Sunday, Fredrik, Pontus and Joacim went sightseeing since Fredrik had never been in NYC before. Anders and I had a late breakfast outside in the sun, watching people walk by on the street. Richard Christy came by to see us. He was the drummer of Death when we toured with them 12 years ago, and we have kept in touch since then. He now works for Howard Stern's radio show, doing prank calls and things like that. It was really great catching up, I haven't seen him since we last played in New York five years ago!

The Filmore is a small, intimate rock club at Irving Plaza, and after soundcheck we had the usual meet and greet with fans who have purchased VIP tickets. A veritable crucible of nationalities were represented: Ecuador, Mexico, Sweden, Germany, Taiwan and of course USA. The gig was absolutely unbelievable! Such a release from both audience and band, it was incredible!

Worcester, MA (pronounced 'wooster', for those not in the know) today, a place we've been twice before. First time was with Dio and King's X back in 2002, and I remember there was two fans in the front row who, during the entire King's X set, stood with their backs turned towards the stage to make a point out of the fact that the band was not enough 'metal' for the bill.

Not much action during the day, but we took a stroll around the neighborhood. Not much to do. All five of us went to a restaurant right by the venue, where we ran into John Macaluso, who used to play with Yngwie Malmsteen a couple of years ago. He was playing at another place the same night.

Woke up at six-thirty, was met by a drowsy Joacim trying to get the satellite dish in the bus to work. Soon, all the others except Pontus were up, and we went to get bagels at Einstein Bros. Bagels (I didn't know he had any siblings!). Anders and I walked around for a bit, buying alco-gel, shower gel and other necessities, musing at absurdities that sets this country apart from the rest of the world.

An ok and uneventful (the best ones, I find) flight across the Atlantic, and we're back in North American soil for the first time in five years! The place is Jaxx Night Club in Springfield, VA, a venue we've played on all the three past tours over here.

We flew in to Washington, DC, on Thursday, and right away there was trouble. We all have VISAS, so there should be no problem. But customs officials can be moody, and when Anders didn't know which address we would have in the US (we'll be touring with a bus, but everyone else said Holiday Inn Springfield and got through), they became suspicious. We had to wait for over an hour for Anders to finally come through the doors, all the while not knowing for sure if he would be let in. But of course he was, and off we went to the bus.

A quick stop at Guitar Centre to stock up on cables and such later, and we were in Springfield. We found Austin Grill restaurant and all had margeritas. Anders and Pontus decided to have another one, and it was HUGE! Being jetlagged and easily influenced by the alcohol, they were quite happy when we left the eatery, hehe!

We bought some beers and snacks and breakfast for tomorrow, and went back to the bus, which was parked right outside the club. There was some kind of Haiti benefit thing going on, and some of us went in in time to catch the reggae band topping the bill. Kinda sucked, to be honest, but the guitar player was pretty finny to watch cause he was so into what he was doing. Then bed.

We leave for the North American tour tomorrow, and I can't wait to go on the road across the ocean again! Five years is waaaaaaaay too long, if you ask me, and we'll definitely make the most of this trip!
Over the last couple of days, we've rehearsed some new (old) songs to spice up the setlist a little and to give you guys something extra. This will be our first proper headline tour Stateside where we can do a full set of music without time constraints.

HammerFall has played live only twice since August 20 last year, so be prepared for an energy overload the likes of which you have never seen! It's gonna be fucking awesome!

Everyone except Anders gathered at Arlanda, the airport in Stockholm, for the British Airways flight to London Heathrow. There, we had a couple of hours to kill, and did so by eating before Anders joined us from Copenhagen.

The next part of the trip was with Emirates and took us to Dubai, and man, what a plane! Everything looked brand new, and there seemingly was no end to the luxury. It was an Airbus 380, and it was the biggest plane I have ever seen! The economy class alone seated at least 800 passengers in 88 rows. Each seat had a screen with an entertainment system, which is pretty much par for the course for long flights these days. But a couple of things stood out.

First of all, it was a wide screen, something I have never seen on a plane before. Second, you had lots and lots of movies and television programs to choose from, some feature films were so new I didn't even know they had come out yet! You could share your screen with the ones immediately next to you, so Fredrik, Joacim and I watched the post-apocalyptic Carriers (was good, but pretty uneventful). And if hundreds of movies, TV shows, CD's and radio stations wasn't enough, you could plug in an USB device of your own and play stuff from there. There was an e-mail and an SMS function in the controller, which of course also could be used as a telephone. Very expensive to use, no doubt, but it had the cool bonus feature that you could call between seats. Anders sat fifteen rows away from us, and was to put it mildly, a little surprised when his screen informed him he had an incoming call.

The weather was fantastic today as well, so I decided to check out the hotel pool located on the roof. The sun is extremely hot here at this time of year, and I had to cover myself in sunblock to prevent my skin from burning I barely have seen it (the sun, not my skin) since September last year.

Then, the fun began! I decided to have my own still photo Wipeout show, trying to be in the air when the timer went off. It was not as hard as I thought, actually, because the camera had a rhythmical timer. I finished everything with the obligatory "I'm so cool" pose afterwards.

We're not allowed to divulge anything about the course or the result, but fucking hell what a draining track! Shit cardio and performance nerves (yes, playing live in front of 70,000 is absolutely NOTHING compared to this!) made me blow everything ounce I had already halfway through, I have never been more tired in my life! Let's leave it at that.

In the evening, we went out to eat at an Italian restaurant nearby one of the hotels we are staying at. In a ridiculous coincidence, it turned out to be ten metres from El Mirasol, the place we went to have dinner when we were here with HammerFall three yeas ago! I ordered a Coke, and the label said 350 cubic centimetres, which I found odd and surely way off. A quick discussion and a confirmation with my iPhone later, and we found it to be accurate. Weird, but correct.

I left the house at nine on Thursday to go to the airport, and were in London a couple of hours later. There, we had eight fucking hours to kill before we could board the flight to Argentina. In an "ideal" world, that is...

At long last on the plane, we were immediately informed that there would be a delay of an hour and a half, which somehow stretched into four (4!) hours of waiting on the plane before we were cleared for take off. For a 14 hour flight via Sao Paolo to Buenos Aires. Some 30 hours after I initially left, we arrived at the hotel. And what a nice one that was!

An actual suite, it turned out, with a reception area and then the bedroom. And a bathtub, I will heal my aching muscles and sore body in the tub afterwards! On the roof, there's a pool. Did I mention that it's summer here, and over 30°C! I am going to enjoy the five nights here, I know it! Most of the other contestants on Wipeout are lodged in a different hotel ten minutes from here, so I guess we'll join up with them for dinner later. Tomorrow, no matter how anyone fares on the course, we'll all party afterwards. Anyone who has tips on where to go? Nice bars, rock clubs or anything like that? Would be much appreciated!