perjantai 9. lokakuuta 2009

Day 1 – Berlin (07.10.2009)


Alright, here we go! Early wake-up for everyone to catch a flight to Riga, and from there to Berlin, where the first show was to take place. Our designated driver Peki picks us up from the airport with the Mercedes Benz Sprinter that is to be our home for the next month, and we start rollin'. We get to Columbia club around 3pm, where the crew is already setting up the backline, and the guys from Amorphis and Before the Dawn are already hanging out. Nice big venue, capasity 800 people. We get some food into our systems (biggest selection of cereals we've ever seen backstage!), load in our gear and chill. Not long after, Joey, our personal tour manager / helping hand shows up. We met Joey on our first European tour ever (2005, with Finntroll and Naglfar), where he was tour managing. The tour was awesome and we got along great, so we've kept in touch over the years. We were psyched that Joe was able to join us on this tour to help us out.




Quick soundcheck, a couple of interviews and it's showtime! We go out guns blazing, taking no prisoners and rocking out like the crazy horses that we are. Great first show, lots of people inside already by the time we start, with more coming for every song. We seem to win the Berlinians over by the time we're done, lots of happy faces in the crowd. Or maybe they're just happy our set is over... Nah, that can't be it.

We quickly make room for Before the Dawn (10 minutes changeover, whew!) and chat for a while about our set. We all feel it went good for a first show. Valtteri, our rhythm guitarist for this tour (Silver wasn't able to join us for this one becuse of his studies) is also satisfied: ”I didn't fuck up as much as I thought I was going to!”.


After the show it's business as usual: hanging out, a few beers, chitchat, watching the two other bands, and finally packing the gear in the trailer. Then we start going through the sleeping arrangements. We're doing this tour old school, back2basics, punk rock style: no fancy nightliners, Playstations, capuccino makers, leather sofas or private bunks for us! No, fuck that. It's all about throwing a cheap-ass matress in the cargo space and spooning with your friend in the middle of suitcases, guitars and plastic bags. We've been spoilt early on in our career, as all our previous tours we've done in cosy nightliners that cost a ton. So it's about time we experience the true touring facilities of an opening band. This is how all the big bands have done it in their early days, so how hard can it be? Well, we'll get back to that in a couple of weeks...


As I'm writing this, it's the morning after, 11.30am. I woke up in the back of the van about an hour ago, I actually slept well in there! I get out and make room for Pexi to jump in to try to sleep. The poor bastard got the short end of the stick and has spent the last eight hours sitting in the front, which is no picnic when you're tired. The rest of the guys are still sleeping. Just drove in to Holland, we're about an hour away from the venue. It's been raining hard all night, but finally the sun is out. This is gonna be a good day, I can feel it...


-Ben

1 kommentti:

  1. Thanks for telling us about your first gig, and pics are nice too. :)

    Have fun!

    - Krista

    VastaaPoista