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Roadstories
9 Feb. 2010 20:14 von Martin Sosna
Tour Diary: MILANO, January 21st, 2010
Already before the start of the tour I made a promise that I wanted to keep: I'm going to pick up the Mystic Prophecy guys in Milano!!!
But somehow back then I didn't understand what I'm going to get myself into... already the 600 km to Southern Germany were quite hard but the 400 km from Memmingen to Milano were a real challenge.
I stayed overnight with Lia's family in Memmingen, his dear wife Petra and his little son Patrik. And soon I learnt that Duplo bricks are for babies and that really cool kids are into Lego Power Miners.
My first private lessons in the matter of Lego... and I listen attentively.
The next day I pick up the Transit bus and leave for Milano. I, being a fellow from the Ruhr district didn't get it, that winter in Memmingen or in Switzerland is different to winter in Bochum, Essen or Dortmund. Fuck... how high could you pile up that white stuff? I almost freak out. To the left and right there are walls made of snow!!!
Also very unusual is the fact that you have to buy road charge labels. For the journey through Austria there's at least a "Korridor" ticket, but in Switzerland you're kindly asked to pay 27 Euros for the complete year 2010. Very nice... the more so as the bus belongs to the car rental who now got this label for free. I've had better laughs...
In Switzerland I promptly have a meeting with a flash cam... SHIT!!!
Arriving in Milano I know one thing: There are too many cars on this planet. If someone thinks that the yards of VW, Opel or Audi are overcrowded... you haven't been in Milano yet. I mean, what's that? Double and triple parking! If your car is parked at the farthest end, that's it, you can spend years finding out to whom the other vehicles belong, hell!
It takes me only an hour until I'm able to find a place to park the bus. The site in front of the club has been occupied by a bootlegger who is absolutely not interested in the fact that this site has been reserved for me. First he has to set up his BOOTH.
Booth???
Yes, the bootleggers in Italy build up plenty of booths in front of the clubs and busily present bootleg shirts from all over the world. You can find thousands of Stratovarius design copies. Luckily the name Mystic Prophecy seems to be unknown to the merchandise mafia, so we hope to sell some of our stuff inside the club. But that's not going to happen because in the end the mafia is the lesser of two evils. Outside the Stratovarius bootleg shirt costs 10 Euros, inside there's a concessionaire.
Concession business is legal and okay... however you deal with usuries there. 25 % concession and 20% space rate... which means that the club earns nearly 50% of the income from t-shirt and CD sales. Therefore our cardboard boxes stay inside the bus and we keep our mouths shut. When we offer our stuff to the fans in front of the club at the end of the show it doesn't take long until we're ruggedly asked to stop it. The impending consequences convince us, so we have to dissuade our top salesman Connie from selling even more t-shirts and CDs!!! At least Connie - being the most hardworking one among us - sold merchandise for nearly 300 Euros.
But now to something completely different: When I talk to the guys they tell me how they spent the night on the bus, party as usual with usual topics ;-). This time Lia gave a lecture on Hellenic orgies, he has to know because the ancient Greeks are his ancestors... hahaha... I'm sure they had a good night's sleep! At 10 am they arrived at the club and made the same experience as I with the traffic. Be quick or be dead! Connie and he had also talked to a fan who flew to Milano only to see Stratovarius. It's amazing, that there are still fans who do those things for their bands. That's metal! Outside there are 4° C below zero, so the people are really glad when they finally can enter the club.
Matt C. (Mystic drummer) opens the show. He had come up with a very funny intro for Tracedawn and the guys nearly die laughing on stage... Today's the last tour day for Mystic Prophecy, so it's nonsense time... everyone is joking.
In Bochum, Tracedawn's performance still seemed a bit boring to me... but in Milan the band is absolutely hellish. In 35 minutes they prove that they're great. Bassist Pekko speaks Italian and uses this talent to rile the fans up. It works perfectly and during the last song "Without Walls" nearly all hell breaks loose. During their set Markus is taking a nap in front of their drum kit... outfitted with Lidl plastic bags and a sleeping bag he looks like a genuine urban vagrant from Gelsenkirchen. The Finns laugh away...
After Tracedawn's powerful performance it was clear to me that hard work lies ahead of Mystic Prophecy. And it was really difficult!!! The first three songs were sheer torment, but look, what's that? Our Connie speaks Italian too and starts to animate the fans. It works! With each following song the 5 prophets win more and more fans over. The groovy and pounding tunes are even more favoured than high-speed songs like "We Kill - You Die". And again it's time for another funny incident when Tracedawn join Mystic Prophecy onstage for "Paranoid", some of them are just wearing towels, the others are playing along on the guitars. The fans have a good laugh and they realise quickly that today is a special day. Before "Paranoid" Lia thanks Tracedawn, Stratovarius and the fantastic crew in the name of the whole band for those great days on the road.
At the end of a 45 minute set 1200 fans are giving standing ovations. This tour has been one of the most successful Mystic Prophecy tours ever. The start in Germany was difficult... but in the end everything went well! To be fair, I have to mention that Stratovarius made a good performance and they were frenetically celebrated by the fans from the first to the last minute. Finally, my conclusion is that the fans abroad are more fanatic and also more faithful than the German "grumblers"!!! Power Metal still has a solid home here, as well as in France and Spain. Here are 1200 people and they put heart and soul into celebrating their bands! Respect to Milano!!!
It's about 1 am when we finally have loaded all the equipment into the bus and it's 1:30 am when the band is ready for the journey home. The day has been long and the trip will be even longer... and the kilometres drag on. What seems quite unfunny to me personally are the rules of road charge in Italy!!! You go some kilometres and bingo there's a gate. Out with the money or you can stop right here!!! Dutifully you pay, another few kilometres and... Out with the money or stop! It goes on like this 3 times. At home I have a look at the map and I think: How much is a trip to Venice? So many countries, so many customs.
But somehow back then I didn't understand what I'm going to get myself into... already the 600 km to Southern Germany were quite hard but the 400 km from Memmingen to Milano were a real challenge.
I stayed overnight with Lia's family in Memmingen, his dear wife Petra and his little son Patrik. And soon I learnt that Duplo bricks are for babies and that really cool kids are into Lego Power Miners.
My first private lessons in the matter of Lego... and I listen attentively.
The next day I pick up the Transit bus and leave for Milano. I, being a fellow from the Ruhr district didn't get it, that winter in Memmingen or in Switzerland is different to winter in Bochum, Essen or Dortmund. Fuck... how high could you pile up that white stuff? I almost freak out. To the left and right there are walls made of snow!!!
Also very unusual is the fact that you have to buy road charge labels. For the journey through Austria there's at least a "Korridor" ticket, but in Switzerland you're kindly asked to pay 27 Euros for the complete year 2010. Very nice... the more so as the bus belongs to the car rental who now got this label for free. I've had better laughs...
In Switzerland I promptly have a meeting with a flash cam... SHIT!!!
Arriving in Milano I know one thing: There are too many cars on this planet. If someone thinks that the yards of VW, Opel or Audi are overcrowded... you haven't been in Milano yet. I mean, what's that? Double and triple parking! If your car is parked at the farthest end, that's it, you can spend years finding out to whom the other vehicles belong, hell!
It takes me only an hour until I'm able to find a place to park the bus. The site in front of the club has been occupied by a bootlegger who is absolutely not interested in the fact that this site has been reserved for me. First he has to set up his BOOTH.
Booth???
Yes, the bootleggers in Italy build up plenty of booths in front of the clubs and busily present bootleg shirts from all over the world. You can find thousands of Stratovarius design copies. Luckily the name Mystic Prophecy seems to be unknown to the merchandise mafia, so we hope to sell some of our stuff inside the club. But that's not going to happen because in the end the mafia is the lesser of two evils. Outside the Stratovarius bootleg shirt costs 10 Euros, inside there's a concessionaire.
Concession business is legal and okay... however you deal with usuries there. 25 % concession and 20% space rate... which means that the club earns nearly 50% of the income from t-shirt and CD sales. Therefore our cardboard boxes stay inside the bus and we keep our mouths shut. When we offer our stuff to the fans in front of the club at the end of the show it doesn't take long until we're ruggedly asked to stop it. The impending consequences convince us, so we have to dissuade our top salesman Connie from selling even more t-shirts and CDs!!! At least Connie - being the most hardworking one among us - sold merchandise for nearly 300 Euros.
But now to something completely different: When I talk to the guys they tell me how they spent the night on the bus, party as usual with usual topics ;-). This time Lia gave a lecture on Hellenic orgies, he has to know because the ancient Greeks are his ancestors... hahaha... I'm sure they had a good night's sleep! At 10 am they arrived at the club and made the same experience as I with the traffic. Be quick or be dead! Connie and he had also talked to a fan who flew to Milano only to see Stratovarius. It's amazing, that there are still fans who do those things for their bands. That's metal! Outside there are 4° C below zero, so the people are really glad when they finally can enter the club.
Matt C. (Mystic drummer) opens the show. He had come up with a very funny intro for Tracedawn and the guys nearly die laughing on stage... Today's the last tour day for Mystic Prophecy, so it's nonsense time... everyone is joking.
In Bochum, Tracedawn's performance still seemed a bit boring to me... but in Milan the band is absolutely hellish. In 35 minutes they prove that they're great. Bassist Pekko speaks Italian and uses this talent to rile the fans up. It works perfectly and during the last song "Without Walls" nearly all hell breaks loose. During their set Markus is taking a nap in front of their drum kit... outfitted with Lidl plastic bags and a sleeping bag he looks like a genuine urban vagrant from Gelsenkirchen. The Finns laugh away...
After Tracedawn's powerful performance it was clear to me that hard work lies ahead of Mystic Prophecy. And it was really difficult!!! The first three songs were sheer torment, but look, what's that? Our Connie speaks Italian too and starts to animate the fans. It works! With each following song the 5 prophets win more and more fans over. The groovy and pounding tunes are even more favoured than high-speed songs like "We Kill - You Die". And again it's time for another funny incident when Tracedawn join Mystic Prophecy onstage for "Paranoid", some of them are just wearing towels, the others are playing along on the guitars. The fans have a good laugh and they realise quickly that today is a special day. Before "Paranoid" Lia thanks Tracedawn, Stratovarius and the fantastic crew in the name of the whole band for those great days on the road.
At the end of a 45 minute set 1200 fans are giving standing ovations. This tour has been one of the most successful Mystic Prophecy tours ever. The start in Germany was difficult... but in the end everything went well! To be fair, I have to mention that Stratovarius made a good performance and they were frenetically celebrated by the fans from the first to the last minute. Finally, my conclusion is that the fans abroad are more fanatic and also more faithful than the German "grumblers"!!! Power Metal still has a solid home here, as well as in France and Spain. Here are 1200 people and they put heart and soul into celebrating their bands! Respect to Milano!!!
It's about 1 am when we finally have loaded all the equipment into the bus and it's 1:30 am when the band is ready for the journey home. The day has been long and the trip will be even longer... and the kilometres drag on. What seems quite unfunny to me personally are the rules of road charge in Italy!!! You go some kilometres and bingo there's a gate. Out with the money or you can stop right here!!! Dutifully you pay, another few kilometres and... Out with the money or stop! It goes on like this 3 times. At home I have a look at the map and I think: How much is a trip to Venice? So many countries, so many customs.
7 Feb. 2010 19:53 von Lia
Tour Diary: PRATTELN, January 20th, 2010
In the night we're off to Switzerland, everyone is nervous because for getting granted the entry we need a list which specifies what is carried on the bus. Oh my! I have to count all the t-shirts and CDs and I also write down every instrument. This said and done we wait to reach the border, there is a passport check and luckily they don't want to examine the list. So we continue on our way to Pratteln.
I awake and I'm freezing my ass off... ahhhhh... sometimes the heating is out of order and when you want to have warm air it's producing cold air. But nobody besides me is interested in that, all of them are sleeping or they have drunk lots of alcohol that's keeping them warm... hahaha.
For musicians who know the Z7, it's always a nice day there. You can wash and dry clothes... well, ladies, when it's necessary, men can do this job too ;-).
Everyone is looking forward to the dinner, because nearly everything you wish for is offered. Markus and I go for fish and fried prawns, very tasty!
The club is huge and it's very cold inside. We make the sound check and then we pass the hours waiting.
The doors open at 7 pm and Tracedawn enter the stage, like every evening they rock and give their best, but... why is it so quiet here? Well, I think that every day is different and maybe we got used to the audience in Spain and France where the people celebrate the night away from the beginning on.
Anyway, shut your eyes and hope for the best.
Now it's time for us to go on stage, intro, "Across the Gates...", "Masters of Sin"... and then I usually talk to the audience. In which language? English or German? Never mind! German is okay. "Hello Switzerland!" ... I barely hear anything. What the hell... "Hello Switzerlaaaaand!!!" ... there is a murmuring among the crowd. Just like what happened to Tracedawn, only a few fans making some noise.
Okay, we don't give up so soon. Pedal to the metal! Slowly the Swiss are warming up and look, after five songs we made it. They're cheering and clapping.
During "To the Devil I pray" Matt tries to tell me something and he points upwards. When I look this direction I see that there's an open window, three Tracedawn guys are standing there, making faces. And in the middle of them, there's their bassist presenting his bare manhood... hahaha. The guys are priceless and we're cracking up with laughter onstage.
The last song is "Paranoid" and the Swiss people show that they can celebrate like the others... hehehe... there we go!
From time to time we play in Switzerland and we know that the people there are very reserved, and therefore it's important that a band gives its best to animate them. They're quiet but it doesn't mean that they don't like the music, what we noticed on the merchandise stand. Because it has been the day on which we sold the most stuff ;-). I think this says all about the evening.
Thanks Switzerland - and we don't have enough yet, because we're coming back on May 14th for the Metalfest and we're looking forward to it!
Until next time, thank you very much Pratteln!
I awake and I'm freezing my ass off... ahhhhh... sometimes the heating is out of order and when you want to have warm air it's producing cold air. But nobody besides me is interested in that, all of them are sleeping or they have drunk lots of alcohol that's keeping them warm... hahaha.
For musicians who know the Z7, it's always a nice day there. You can wash and dry clothes... well, ladies, when it's necessary, men can do this job too ;-).
Everyone is looking forward to the dinner, because nearly everything you wish for is offered. Markus and I go for fish and fried prawns, very tasty!
The club is huge and it's very cold inside. We make the sound check and then we pass the hours waiting.
The doors open at 7 pm and Tracedawn enter the stage, like every evening they rock and give their best, but... why is it so quiet here? Well, I think that every day is different and maybe we got used to the audience in Spain and France where the people celebrate the night away from the beginning on.
Anyway, shut your eyes and hope for the best.
Now it's time for us to go on stage, intro, "Across the Gates...", "Masters of Sin"... and then I usually talk to the audience. In which language? English or German? Never mind! German is okay. "Hello Switzerland!" ... I barely hear anything. What the hell... "Hello Switzerlaaaaand!!!" ... there is a murmuring among the crowd. Just like what happened to Tracedawn, only a few fans making some noise.
Okay, we don't give up so soon. Pedal to the metal! Slowly the Swiss are warming up and look, after five songs we made it. They're cheering and clapping.
During "To the Devil I pray" Matt tries to tell me something and he points upwards. When I look this direction I see that there's an open window, three Tracedawn guys are standing there, making faces. And in the middle of them, there's their bassist presenting his bare manhood... hahaha. The guys are priceless and we're cracking up with laughter onstage.
The last song is "Paranoid" and the Swiss people show that they can celebrate like the others... hehehe... there we go!
From time to time we play in Switzerland and we know that the people there are very reserved, and therefore it's important that a band gives its best to animate them. They're quiet but it doesn't mean that they don't like the music, what we noticed on the merchandise stand. Because it has been the day on which we sold the most stuff ;-). I think this says all about the evening.
Thanks Switzerland - and we don't have enough yet, because we're coming back on May 14th for the Metalfest and we're looking forward to it!
Until next time, thank you very much Pratteln!
7 Feb. 2010 19:04 von Lia
Tour Diary: LYON, January 19th, 2010
Well, it's time again to step on the bus and to travel to Lyon. The journey begins at 8 pm but first we have to make sure that Tracedawn's bassist has found the bus. Hahaha... supposedly the guy was on his way to the bus after the gig, but at 7 pm he had not shown up. Somehow we get worried because they're really nice guys and Pekko is... special. It's clear that we're going to wait until he comes, in the end we're one team. The keyboarder makes a call and - bingo - there's Pekko at the door carrying full bags with food and wine. So we're complete again and we start our journey to Lyon... 600 kilometres.
We arrive in Lyon and it's frigging cold outside. The club is located in the outskirts, so we don't see this much of the city. When I exit the bus there's Tracedawn's bassist at the other side of the street. This guy is amazing, I have no clue when he sleeps and how fast he's getting sober again after 5 BAL... hahaha... and I neither know why he goes for a walk in the park in the morning wearing just a thin t-shirt. I ask what he had done there. He replies: "I don't know." ;-). This guy is seriously cult and each day I admire how much young people can stand. Have I been like this too? Hahaha...
The club itself is huge, it holds 1800 people. The stage is a killer, 13 meters in length; it means we can win a marathon race onstage tonight ;-).
It's Tuesday and I ask myself if there will be about 1000 people in the evening? I'm in for a surprise. After the sound check dinner is in order and as always in France (and in general on this tour) the food is good.
We go outside to see if already some people had come and I get a shock! There's a queue, 50 meters long, and it's just 6 pm. What's going on here? Incredible, in the end there were more than 1000 people.
At 7:30 pm Tracedawn enter the stage and the crowd is in a really good mood. Our intro resounds and the audience is getting crazy. I'm always surprised how much power the people have after a tough day at work. We start with "Across the Gates of Hell" and they celebrate, it stays like this during the whole gig, the people sing along to each song and chorus. Unbelievable! During "Sacrifice me" we check how high the crowd can jump, sheer madness, the audience in Lyon is brilliant. We play the last song "Paranoid" and hell breaks loose. The atmosphere sends shivers down my spine.
They always say: "Metal is dead in France." This is bullshit! How the people welcome a band is just fantastic and it shows clearly that Metal is still very popular.
It's hard to say which concert or audience in France was the best, Paris, Toulouse or Lyon? All three of them were amazing and we thank all of you for your support. Probably we have won some new fans over; we could sell a lot of merchandise too.
Thanks again, Lyon and France, we hope to be back soon, we'll miss you!
On the bus there's the party going on and this time it's my turn to explain the Tracedawn guys how to seduce women in Alaska... hahaha... From where do I know this? I have no clue... nonsense among men is it ;-).
We arrive in Lyon and it's frigging cold outside. The club is located in the outskirts, so we don't see this much of the city. When I exit the bus there's Tracedawn's bassist at the other side of the street. This guy is amazing, I have no clue when he sleeps and how fast he's getting sober again after 5 BAL... hahaha... and I neither know why he goes for a walk in the park in the morning wearing just a thin t-shirt. I ask what he had done there. He replies: "I don't know." ;-). This guy is seriously cult and each day I admire how much young people can stand. Have I been like this too? Hahaha...
The club itself is huge, it holds 1800 people. The stage is a killer, 13 meters in length; it means we can win a marathon race onstage tonight ;-).
It's Tuesday and I ask myself if there will be about 1000 people in the evening? I'm in for a surprise. After the sound check dinner is in order and as always in France (and in general on this tour) the food is good.
We go outside to see if already some people had come and I get a shock! There's a queue, 50 meters long, and it's just 6 pm. What's going on here? Incredible, in the end there were more than 1000 people.
At 7:30 pm Tracedawn enter the stage and the crowd is in a really good mood. Our intro resounds and the audience is getting crazy. I'm always surprised how much power the people have after a tough day at work. We start with "Across the Gates of Hell" and they celebrate, it stays like this during the whole gig, the people sing along to each song and chorus. Unbelievable! During "Sacrifice me" we check how high the crowd can jump, sheer madness, the audience in Lyon is brilliant. We play the last song "Paranoid" and hell breaks loose. The atmosphere sends shivers down my spine.
They always say: "Metal is dead in France." This is bullshit! How the people welcome a band is just fantastic and it shows clearly that Metal is still very popular.
It's hard to say which concert or audience in France was the best, Paris, Toulouse or Lyon? All three of them were amazing and we thank all of you for your support. Probably we have won some new fans over; we could sell a lot of merchandise too.
Thanks again, Lyon and France, we hope to be back soon, we'll miss you!
On the bus there's the party going on and this time it's my turn to explain the Tracedawn guys how to seduce women in Alaska... hahaha... From where do I know this? I have no clue... nonsense among men is it ;-).
31 Jan. 2010 20:33 von Lia
Tour Diary: BARCELONA, January 17th, 2010 and Day Off
The day after... 600 kilometres to Barcelona and we arrive at the seaside promenade at 10 in the morning. Connie and I leave the bus for taking some pictures; it's raining but quite warm outside. Barcelona is a beautiful city on the coast with a very interesting architecture. About noon we enter the location. Weird, the surroundings look quite desolate there are many abandoned factories but whatever; we're not here to admire the neighbourhood and the clubs.
Someone is preparing our lunch and not only does it smell very good it tastes good as well. The stage is small; I think we're going to kill each other later on.
In the beginning, during Tracedawn's set, there are about 400 people among the crowd, the guys do their best and receive a big applause. It's time for us, the show must go on, the intro resounds and the audience goes crazy. Everything works well, but somewhat the people are not like those in Bilbao. We play "Sacrifice Me" and the crowd is out of its mind. This song seems to be a killer; everyone is jumping as high as possible! Because of the narrowness onstage we can't move like we want and have to be careful not to hurt each other. But all in all it's a cool show; during "Paranoid" the people are going crazy. Connie and I step into the photo pit to be near the crowd and the security guys seem to want to kill us. But well, if you're running on adrenaline you do such things... hahaha... sorry guys, but sometimes you have to live Rock'n'Roll first hand and the fans like it :-). Great evening!!!
And like in the football league, here are the end results for Spain:
Bilbao : Madrid - 1:0
Bilbao : Barcelona - 1:0
And the winner is: Bilbao, olé!
After the show we go to the hotel across from the club, because we'll be spending the Day Off in Barcelona. The hotel is a 4-star establishment and Connie tells me that my wallet is too small for this... hahaha... but you can ask nonetheless, no? The seņora at the counter says 70 Euros per night for a double room. I ask again because I think that the price is too low, but no, 70 Euros. We book two rooms and still I'm convinced that the rooms won't look this good from the inside. Ehm... no, it's incredible, luxurious and very tidy too. In Germany you'd pay 150 - 200 Euros per person.
On our Day Off, Markus and I have a look round the city, shopping and stuff, you know ;-)? Like always... hahaha... The city is beautiful and there are many interesting places to see. In the evening we eat at a restaurant and then we're on our way to the bus, which is waiting for us at the seaside promenade. The journey begins at 8 pm; we have 600 kilometres to go, Lyon is our next destination and again it's a long trip.
Someone is preparing our lunch and not only does it smell very good it tastes good as well. The stage is small; I think we're going to kill each other later on.
In the beginning, during Tracedawn's set, there are about 400 people among the crowd, the guys do their best and receive a big applause. It's time for us, the show must go on, the intro resounds and the audience goes crazy. Everything works well, but somewhat the people are not like those in Bilbao. We play "Sacrifice Me" and the crowd is out of its mind. This song seems to be a killer; everyone is jumping as high as possible! Because of the narrowness onstage we can't move like we want and have to be careful not to hurt each other. But all in all it's a cool show; during "Paranoid" the people are going crazy. Connie and I step into the photo pit to be near the crowd and the security guys seem to want to kill us. But well, if you're running on adrenaline you do such things... hahaha... sorry guys, but sometimes you have to live Rock'n'Roll first hand and the fans like it :-). Great evening!!!
And like in the football league, here are the end results for Spain:
Bilbao : Madrid - 1:0
Bilbao : Barcelona - 1:0
And the winner is: Bilbao, olé!
After the show we go to the hotel across from the club, because we'll be spending the Day Off in Barcelona. The hotel is a 4-star establishment and Connie tells me that my wallet is too small for this... hahaha... but you can ask nonetheless, no? The seņora at the counter says 70 Euros per night for a double room. I ask again because I think that the price is too low, but no, 70 Euros. We book two rooms and still I'm convinced that the rooms won't look this good from the inside. Ehm... no, it's incredible, luxurious and very tidy too. In Germany you'd pay 150 - 200 Euros per person.
On our Day Off, Markus and I have a look round the city, shopping and stuff, you know ;-)? Like always... hahaha... The city is beautiful and there are many interesting places to see. In the evening we eat at a restaurant and then we're on our way to the bus, which is waiting for us at the seaside promenade. The journey begins at 8 pm; we have 600 kilometres to go, Lyon is our next destination and again it's a long trip.