Monsters Emerge from Hiding

The band held a press conference on Monday in Helsinki’s Katajanokka district. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen was also on hand to congratulate the winners.

Lordi’s record company, Sony-BMG, did not allow television cameras to film the event. The band has stated that they do not want to be shown without their masks. Lordi’s lead monster, Tomi Putaansuu, also appealed to the media again to not harass the band.

The band is scheduled to celebrate the win with a performance in Helsinki on Friday. Other bands are also set to perform. YLE says it hopes to broadcast the event live on TV Channel 2.

Lordi Predicts Change With 292 points, Lordi snagged the most points ever in Eurovision history. Russia placed second with 248 points and Bosnia-Hertsegovina came in third with 229 points. Twenty-three other countries also participated in the finals. Lordi caused a media circus even before the competition started with their monster masks and hard rock music. According to the lead singer Mr. Lordi, the win was not only for the band and Finland, but also for rock music. He thanked Europeans for their open-mindedness during a previous press conference after the event in Athens. He also predicted that there will be more changes on the way for the Eurovision Song Contest, "This was proof that there are rock fans watching Eurovision. Maybe in few years you´ll see metal bands rock bands you see hip hop acts you see all sorts of different variation and musical styles. And I think that should be a key of Eurovision." Win Celebrated in Finland’s Streets

Hundreds of people gathered in Helsinki’s Market Square to celebrate in the early hours following the win on Sunday morning. In Lordi’s hometown of Rovaniemi in Lapland, celebrations were peaceful.

President Tarja Halonen also offered her congratulations to Lordi after the competition.