Tour Report - Spain
Hello my babies in the dark!
As some of you know, we recently came back from a tour in Spain and needless to say, we LOVED IT! We kinda knew what to expect already since this was our second time there but honestly, this run surpassed my expectations. I was ready, the boys were ready... and the question before the whole thing started was... are THEY ready for US? Well, judging by the crowd's reaction and the amount of fun we had, it's safe to say their answer was a big "HELL YEAH"!
So sit back while I take you a few days back in time on this tour report... enjoy the ride cause WE sure DID!
July 1st - Arriving in Madrid
Dani, Costabile (press agent) and Raphael
First day in Spain was an open day so we could get some rest after the 10 hours long flight from Sao Paulo to Madrid. Even though the flight was one of the best I've ever experienced and I actually managed to sleep through most of it, it's always a bit hard to jump through time zones like that. We arrived at 7am and met our tour managers (more like friends nowadays) Chema and Juan. They took us to get some food and get settled at our hotel in Toledo, about an hour away from Madrid. Plans were that we would all hang out around the city right after getting something to eat but it wasn't happening... we "dared to dream" we wouldn't be too tired but this time the dream didn't come true *laughs*. However after a few hours of sleep, we were back on our feet and did some sight-seeing around the charming Toledo, sat down for a few beers and Spanish sangria (red wine with orange, lemon and pineapple - DELICIOUS!).
Our Spanish sucks and our tour managers' Portuguese does too, but incredibly we could all understand each other after we emptied our bottles *laughs*. It was a fantastic evening and it took away all of our stress. All we needed was a good night of sleep to get ready to headbang...
BEER to Dream...
July 2nd - Madrid... stage for the FIRST concert of the WAKE UP SCREAMING
TOUR!
We arrived at the venue at about 6:30pm, did the soundcheck and got ourselves ready to rock. I had the chance to come back to the venue in time to catch the last couple of songs from Enuma Elish, one of our support bands for the night. Their singer, my fellow South American, has a very cool voice. Having played in Madrid before, it was no surprise to us that Metal fans there rock! However they still managed to shock us in a VERY positive sense of the word by singing along to the Dare to Dream tunes. I could easily sit there and just let them scream Baby in the Dark or Hideaway! When we finished our set, they kept asking us for more... next time, we promise... we'll prepare a nice surprise for you all!
July 3rd - Next stop... Valencia!
Unfortunately we didn't get to see much of the city which is a shame, we were told it's a lovely place. It was HOT as hell, especially inside the venue. We all complain about the heat but I guess it gives you a little taste of FIRE, which makes the whole experience even more intense, not only for the fans but also to ourselves! We got on stage about an hour later than scheduled because of an accident with the support band Parking Fox's bass player. Kudos to that guy for playing bass with a hurt wrist, that was as Metal as it gets. The crowd again was fantastic, we had some people going crazy there and I received a request to exchange t-shirts (he wanted my Brazilian Metal Hurricane t-shirt). I think it wouldn't fit him... but maybe he didn't really care about it, if you know what I mean... naughty boy! *laughs* No time to party after the show... back to the hotel to get 3 hours of sleep before 7 hours on the road till the next city... Guijuelo, Salamanca!
July 4th - Jamon Rock Fest... are you ready???
I had never been to a bullfighting arena before and it was quite a feeling to be inside of one... literally! Since I would never have the guts to be a "toreadora", I felt like the bull... eh, better not say that or people will start comparing me to cows *laughs*. Oh well, I was told cows are pretty much like women in general... they will step on you, bite you and won't leave you alone until you aren't moving anymore, I guess most of you guys will agree that sounds exactly like a woman in PMS *laughs*. The concert was freaking fantastic and the crowd seemed to be having as much fun as we were. After the show, we talked to the fans and heard the awesome news that there were also people from Portugal there, along with others that traveled over 6 hours to catch us live. You guys traveled as much as we did and still had the energy to scream your guts out! The local were also brilliant, you guys gave us the energy to headbang through that hour as if we had had a whole night of sleep... you rock!
July 5th - Villaviciosa... here we come!
We got at Villaviciosa de Cordoba early enough to catch a delicious meal at a charming local restaurant (which had a poster of the show up right at the frontdoor, by the way... nice!) Tonight was the last show, it happened at Villaviciosa de Cordoba's Soccer Field so of course we had to play soccer... us crazy Brazilian folks can't see anything that resembles a ball, we start kicking it! Our tour manager Flavio warned us that we shouldn't be playing before a show, someone might break a leg or something, we didn't really want to listen so he took the ball from us and locked it in the dressing room... he's so mean *laughs*. We had to go in there though so we asked him to unlock it... he did but made us promise we wouldn't play. We promised... but we decided to jerk him around a little. Fabio arrived at the hotel, carried by Raphael, saying he had broke his ankle. He screamed so much that half the hotel thought it was true, except for our target. It sucks when people know you too well! We didn't fool him, but we did fool our other crew members so it was worth it... we are such babies *laughs*. Jokes aside, we got ready to rock... it was quite cold, weather was kinda weird and it looked like it was going to rain, but we had too much of that already... this time, we managed to scare it away and everyone had a great time.
We played our set (Villaviciosa rocks!) and then I was asked by Lars and Henning to sing
"Smoke on the Water" with Metalium. I said I didn't know the lyrics by heart so I ended up writing the lyrics down (thanks, Henning!) and learn it as best as I could. It ended up being fun as hell and it turned out to be a great Metal party for everyone.
Dani and Lars Ratz from Metalium
We didn't know what to expect from the concert because we didn't see many people out in the streets, it seemed to be a very small and peaceful town, populated by not-very-Metal people. Boy, were we WRONG! Even dogs there like Metal *laughs*. We had no idea what this little guy was called, so we just named him Popeye because of his arms. We were told he never misses a concert... I want a dog like that!
Fabio with Popeye, Raphael and Edu
Show is over...but the jokes aren't! We partied A LOT backstage, the boys drank one or ten too much and decided to walk (or should I say STAGGER) back to the hotel, since it was only two blocks away. As they were leaving, they saw Metalium's van right behind them. Sick in the head as they all are, they stopped in front of the van, closing the road, so they started flashing at them so they would move... however they not only did not move but they also dropped their pants and mooned Metalium and walked in front of the van all the way to the hotel. Shadowside's asses will now be forever in Metalium's mind... *laughs*, sorry guys, we had to tell... if you have pictures, send them! Party carried on for a few hours more at a local bar and most people have no memories of what happened next... what a night (I THINK!).
Dani, Juan and Henning (Metalium)Unfortunately all good things come to an end and we flew back home in the evening the day after. Tired, shattered but extremely happy with how things went during the whole tour.
We would like to thank Adolfo and Juan at Rockstars Producciones, Chema, all of our support bands, Metalium, Adelino from Portugal, Guille from Aldea Metal and everyone who helped us, headbanged with us or supported us in any way. Stay tuned... we will come back!
And LOOK OUT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.YOU will WAKE UP SCREAMING with SHADOWSIDE in September! We will do a daily blog for you all.see ya in OUR DREAMS!
Dani
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