JULY.11.2008
Via De La Plata – Merida Spain
We took a flight on the afternoon before the gig from Berlin to Seville, Spain. From there we headed not far away to a hotel in the middle of town. We had a little bit of time for sightseeing before getting some rest to catch a shuttle in the morning for the town of Merida. We got to the venue early in the afternoon and went straight to the dressing room. It was a hot day, but at least we were in the shade. The crowd was mostly huddled together under large tents spread around the venue with only a small percentage being right up at the front of the stage. There was a water truck on the grounds spraying water onto a small section of the crowd. Since there was only dirt on the ground to begin with, that meant there was plenty of mud on the right side of the crowd area, if looking out from the stage. They looked like they were having a good time though, so getting muddy didn’t really matter too much to them.
The headliner of this festival was Iron Maiden, so we saw most of them walking in to the backstage area. Brent got his picture taken with Steve Harris (lucky). After a while it was show time for us. Even though it was a hot day, the wind was blowing hard enough to keep us cooled down. We played for about an hour. Slayer was on after us so I rushed back to the stage to watch. One of our crew guys is a friend of some of Maiden’s crew, so I asked him for a special favor. I asked for two passes to go on stage with Maiden to sing the middle section of “Heaven Can Wait.” After some checking around – we got them! So there Jon and I were, standing behind Steve Harris with a few other folks on stage singing “whoah oh oh, whoah oh oh oh ooohhhh oh oh.” We felt like we were teenagers again. It was a truly great experience that I’ll never forget. We went back around to the side of the venue and watched the rest of the show, got back on the bus and drove to the next show, also with Maiden in Zaragosa, Spain. Well, not really….
We woke up once arriving at the next venue only to find that the entire show had been cancelled. It seems there was some really bad weather the night before, and it destroyed much of the equipment and staging. At least one person was injured. We got out of the bus to find people putting gear back into trucks instead of taking the gear out. Our original plan for after the show was to leave immediately after our set for the airport. There was some sort of world’s fair going on in Zaragosa, so there were absolutely no hotel rooms available, hence the quick dash for the airport. Instead, we ate lunch at the venue and took a train into Barcelona, Spain so we could catch a flight back to Berlin. Adios amigos!
JUNE.29.2008
Gods of Metal – Bologna, Italy
We hopped back on the bus and left Belgium bound for Bologna, Italy. We reached the venue at nearly 3:30pm after a fifteen-hour or so bus ride. It then took around a half an hour for the bus to weave its way around cars, pedestrians and other goings-on from the rear entrance of the festival grounds to the backstage area. We had a bite to eat and watched some of the other bands before getting ready to take the stage. Once again we went on right before Judas Priest. It was nice to see the familiar faces of their crewmembers again, and it was great to watch Priest for the fifth time in one week. A few of us went back to the dressing room where some of our crew were watching the soccer playoffs. There was no TV there, but they had a laptop and were watching it live on the internet. At times, the streaming video would freeze and they were all yelling at the laptop. It was hilarious to watch several people screaming at a computer in German. Unfortunately, Germany lost the game this time and were knocked out of the finals. Our crew was not as cheery as they were a few nights back, but it was still fun to watch it with them and share in their excitement. At the end of the night, we got back on the bus for a nine-hour ride headed for Munich, Germany where we would catch a flight to Berlin for a few days off.
JUNE.28.2008
Graspop Metal Meeting – Dessel, Belgium
We couldn't have asked for a better day to play an open-air festival, the
weather was perfect. The festival was well organized and the other bands
playing that day were all killer. Of course the headliners Kiss is a favorite
of Jon's and also of mine. Unfortunately we had to leave shortly after our
set to make the trip to Italy to play the next day but at least I was able
to explore the huge Kiss stage set behind the scenes and see how it was all
put together , the number of crew people to put there show on is amazing.
When it came time to play we were fired-up and so was the crowd. It was a
massive show and we had the crowd of 50,000 singing along at times louder
than the sound system. It was killer to have the fans throwing all their
energy at us and we just kept throwing it back. I wish we could have played
another hour because the energy level was so high. After our set Jon and
Matt did a live interview for MTV in Europe which was fun for me to watch
because the female v-jays were gorgeous.
After we played there was an autograph signing that we did that was fun but
there was a short amount of time and a lot of fans. The festival didn't allow
pictures or personal items to be signed only the posters that were supplied
by Graspop and they kept the line moving really fast. I know there were fans
that really wanted some personal items signed and their pictures taken with
the band. We apologize to you but, it was beyond our control.
We had a great experience in Belgium and the band appreciates the warm welcome
that we always receive here.
JUNE.25.2008
Hutwill, Switzerland
Our fourth and final show supporting Priest took place at a sports arena in Hutwill, Switzerland. Our dressing rooms for the night were hockey locker rooms - skates included. Airbourne from Melbourne, Australia opened the show. They are great to watch since they have such a high energy level.
We took the stage again, this time Jon and I were back in blue denim since our black clothes were not yet dry. We got a great response from the Swiss crowd, and there were many voices singing along with us. After the show, the five of us walked around the outside of the venue to look at some of the Harley-Davidson motorcycles people had ridden to the show. We then went through the main entrance of the venue to watch some of the Priest show. We met some fans for a few minutes before heading back to the dressing room to watch the soccer game. We have several Germans on our crew, so we watched the soccer semi-finals and cheered along with the crew as Germany beat Turkey to advance. Everyone was in good spirits that night.
A couple of our crew guys are Swiss so, while the rest of us were preparing for the show, they walked along way off to find a shop unbeknownst to us. At the end of the night, they surprised us by giving each of us in the band a large box of Swiss chocolate. That was a really nice gift and we’ve been snacking on it ever since. Time to go get some exercise...
JUNE.24.08
Munich, Germany
On Tuesday we arrived at the venue in Munich, Germany. This was the third of our shows as support for Judas Priest. Our allotted set time was sixty minutes, but we went on about five minutes early so we could add My Own Savior to the list. Jon and I donned black attire this night as opposed to blue denim that is worn most nights. The stage was dark and the crowd was cheering as we started the show with Dark Saga. The cheers grew exponentially louder as soon as Matt walked up and started into “the deal was rigged.” The crowd was fired up for a night of metal, and from the second we hit the stage until the end of the last song, they kept the energy going at full strength. Our performances seem to be getting tighter and tighter from one show to the next. Our crew has been doing a great job of keeping the shows flowing smoothly.
The venue had a long catwalk leading from the dressing rooms to the stage. It was the perfect vantage point to watch Priest from, and as usual, they delivered the goods. We hung around the venue for an hour or two after the show before boarding the bus for Switzerland.
