VV (HIM's Ville Valo) Announces March 2024 Australian Tour

Ville Valo, the vocalist of the Helsinki-based rockers HIM, who makes solo music under the moniker VV, is making his return to Australia and New Zealand in March 2024 – his first dates in the Antipodean region since his former band performed at Soundwave 2014.

A recent setlist from the singer at Väinölänniemi, Kuopio, Finland, in late July, showcases a solid mix of HIM and solo tracks, with Valo performing the classics like Poison Girl, Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly, Right Here In My Arms and Join Me In Death alongside songs from his debut solo album, Neon Noir, and his Gothica Fennica Vol. 1 EP.

Be still our jet black hearts… Valo’s tour begins at the Powerstation in Auckland on Wednesday, 13 March, followed by Melbourne’s Northcote Theatre on Friday, 15 March, Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Saturday, 16 March, and wraps up at Brisbane’s Tivoli on Sunday, 17 March.

Tickets to Valo’s first-ever solo tour down under go on sale on Thursday, 10 August, at 10 am local time via The Phoenix.

Known for his captivating baritone vocal and gothic rock music, Valo’s voice and lovelorn tunes defined the soundtracks of heavy metal and rock music fans from HIM’s 1997 debut album, Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666, until their disbandment in 2017.

With the band’s fifth album, Dark Light, released in 2005, HIM finally cracked the ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart, landing at #40. The follow-up release, 2007’s Venus Doom, crept up to #32.

On Valo’s debut album, Neon Noir, the singer remains gothic while featuring many diverse influences that primarily thrived during the 80s, such as A-ha, early Depeche Mode and Erasure, Siouxsie And The Banshees, and Cocteau Twins.

In a Kill Your Stereo album review, we summarised, “A debut album often showcases an artist's influences with hints about where they'll go next. Valo has accomplished that with Neon Noir and more - he's established himself as an artist apart from the band he was recognised in for almost 30 years. What a remarkable achievement that is.”

We also caught up with Valo to learn more about the album, with the Gone With The Sin singer telling Kill Your Stereo about his inspirations, “I've always been a sucker for melancholy music and melancholic melodies. So that's a given.

“My comfort zone feels like it's somewhere between Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode because they both have sensitive music, but the sensitivity and the sensibilities are quite different.”

He also teased the possibility of an Australian tour, which is finally arriving in March 2024. You can read our interview with Valo here.

VV (Ville Valo)

March 2024 Australian Tour

Wed, 13 March: Powerstation, Auckland

Fri, 15 March: Northcote Theatre, Melbourne

Sat, 16 March: The Metro, Sydney

Sun, 17 March: The Tivoli, Brisbane