bru_dall
Messages : 8779
Date d'inscription : 14/04/2009
Age : 64
Localisation : puybrun
 | Sujet: Dani Nolden  Ven 16 Juil - 22:01 | |
| Tour Report - Romania/Bosnia and Herzegovina 2010
Alright, rockers... you've been waiting for quite a while to find out what happened during our stay in Europe and now the time has come! We have a bunch of pictures and stories to share with you. As most of you know, we spent two weeks in Europe and played in Bran, Romania and Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina in some of the most amazing locations one could possibly imagine. The Bran concert took place right in front of a castle known worldwide as Dracula's Castle, while in Banja Luka we performed inside of a true Roman castle.
I would like to start this report differently however... this time, I'll start with the thanks. This would not have been possible if it wasn't for such special people, that did such an impecable job at making these festivals happen, treated us with extreme respect and made the whole tour run as smoothly as usually bands only dream about. There are always a few last minute problems a band has to solve that keep us from fully enjoying the experience and sometimes even turn out to be so bad that the show becomes the only good part of the day. This, however, didn't happen this time. I can't recall being worried at all during this tour. These promoters and helpers dealt with everything so well that us, the musicians, only had to focus on playing. Therefore, Shadowside would like to thank:
Olaf Reif and Mihaela Reif, along with Doina, Corinna and all the volunteers and workers at Rockin' Transilvania, for making this an unique experience and for their extreme generosity and hospitality; Bosko Beuk (you will all know why as soon as I tell you about the show in Banja Luka), Sonja, the secretly Portuguese speaker (thank you for your patience and for showing us around), the really cool tech that drove us to the music store to buy Fabio's drum kick thus making the concert possible and all the techs, workers that made Banja Luka Rock Open Air an unforgettable experience! To all the amazing fans and friends we met - a HUGE thank you, we can't wait to see you again!
[/size]
Dani, Corina and a funny guy ;-)
So sit tight... and get ready for the two weeks where Metal met History!
Bucharest, Romania - June 18
We arrived on the 17th and spent the night in Bucharest. After traveling for about 24 hours including flights, connections and waiting in airports, we got the hotel in Bucharest a complete wreck. We planned on going for some sightseeing and finding a cool place to hang out but our beds were way too irresistible... After a good night of sleep, we met our friends from the other bands and we all got on the bus to Bran. Everyone else was very tired since they had just arrived to Romania, they had to leave their homes in Austria, Holland, Spain and Italy very early... but we were wide awake *evil grin*. Of course Fabio had to try and please everyone, but make their lives miserable instead *laughs*. After showing them his collection of...uhm..."explicit" movies from his imaginary wife, he started playing 80's (cheesy) songs for everyone to enjoy, while everyone wanted to sleep... isn't he adorable? :-)
When we arrived, we officialy received our invitation to the opening reception of Rockin' Transilvania Open Air 2010.
It took place inside Bran Castle and it couldn't be a more apropriate place for a Rock party. The castle was constructed in the 14th century, and has been used as a defence stronghold by several lords (the King of Hungary, the city council of nearby Braşov, Transylvanian voivodes and others) against different invaders, like the Ottoman Empire. We were welcomed by a commitee of knights (one of them even helped me up those freaking stairs... what a gentleman!) and inside the castle by Olaf Reif, Consul and Deputy of the Consul General at the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Sibiu and his wife, Mihaela Reif, who made sure we felt extremely welcome. After a short introduction speech, the party was officialy started and we had a chance to get acquainted with our fellow musicians, a few fans and people who made the festival happen. We had a great time and had a chance to relax for the next day... the start of Rockin' Transilvania Open Air 2010!
 
The knight in shining armor on the left, Olaf and Mihaela on the right.
Bran, Romania - June 19
The day started for me with the Romanian Wacken Metal Battle. As one of the judges, I had the chance to help pick the band that would represent Romania on Wacken in August. It was quite hard to score them as they were all extremely talented. I felt they all would do their jobs well if they were the winning band. On that day, Dirty Shirt, Guerrillas and Pillfed played and they got the crowd ready and eager for more! Handful of Rain, In Slumber, Derdian and Axxis kept on rockin' and made sure no one would even think about leaving, even with the rain that also must be a Metal fan...
Bran, Romania - June 20
Again the day started with the Metal Battle, this time with Altar, Bucium and Nexus. Right after they were done playing, we went back to the hotel to get ready. We were all very excited about our first ever performance in Romania and we knew it would be special. You could just feel it in the air. It was like everyone was thirsty for heavy music. When we got back, Firefly was just ending their set and the rain started to fall again, however nothing would get in the way of that show!
We got on stage at about 7:30pm and were greeted by a screaming crowd of very intense Metal fans! I could not believe how much they were headbanging, I guess some people got severe neck pain on the day after! After a few songs, I said hello to day with the best "bună seara" I could say (good evening in Romanian) and kept on going for almost 1 hour and a half. An amazing evening that can only be topped by the next time we go there!
Bran, Romania - June 21 to June 23
I took these free days to do some sightseeing. Bran is a very calm and very welcoming city, where tourists come in every day to visit the castle and to see the beautiful nearabouts of the place. The boys went to Sofia, Bulgaria but I decided the long trip would be a bit too crazy for me. As a singer, I can't afford to get exhausted during a tour and risk getting sick. It sucks that I don't get to experience the same adventure as they do but this time it turned out to be great as it gave me more time to actually know a bit of Romania. The drive back to Bucharest was amazing, as our driver gave us a 3-hour lesson on Romanian history while looking at some of the most amazing landscapes.
 
Shadowside inside Castle Bran
Fabio searching for something... if anyone finds it, please contact us!
Raphael in his bear days! No, he didn't kill it, we promise...
On the way to Bosnia and Herzegovina!
Now this wouldn't be bad - if we hadn't caught so many damn small planes! I'm terrified of them. Horrified. I panic just to think of them. I promised to myself I would never EVER go on board of one... until I realized I had no choice! They turned out to be quite nice and comfortable however... and we got to our destination fast and safely. After landing in Zagreb, Croatia, we were welcomed by a few helpers of Banja Luka Rock Open Air and they drove us to Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The festival was already taking place and we stopped by to check out. What we saw when we got there was one of the best festival structures I have ever seen, comparable to the biggest festivals of the world. We were scheduled to be the headliners on Friday and I didn't know what to expect. Everyone was very welcoming, the press was all over us but as always when you play in a country for the first time, you can't really tell what the crowd reaction is going to be like and how many fans you have in the area. So we were very excited and very focused... and went back to the hotel to get ready for the big day!
| |
|
bru_dall
Messages : 8779
Date d'inscription : 14/04/2009
Age : 64
Localisation : puybrun
| | Sujet: Re: Dani Nolden Ven 16 Juil - 22:09 | |
|
Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina - June 25
Raphael, Dani and the two translators
Fabio, Ricardo, one of the hard workers at Banja Luka Rock Open Air, Dani and Raphael
The big day. We are greeted during lunch by the promoter, Bosko Beuk, and he tells us our concert is going to be broadcasted live on TV. Nice! But first, we need to get Fabio's drum kicks, since his was broken. No kicks, no show. Needless to say, he was very concerned about it as we all were so we asked around where we could buy one of those. The really cool tech that I mentioned earlier offered himself to drive him to the store to get what he needed and so he did before soundcheck. I didn't catch his name unfortunately but he knows who he is and how much we appreciate his help! So Fabio came back with his gear ready, we did the soundcheck and went back to the hotel to get some rest and get ready. Being the last band of the day, we got there at about 11pm for a press conference and waited to get on stage. At about 1am, we were ready... and so were they!!!
We were welcomed on stage by a crazy crowd, screaming EVERY word of our songs. They knew them all, by heart. It was an amazing surprise and I wouldn't even have to sing, because they were singing for me *laughs*. We could see it all, from children to teenagers, adults to old people and the little more than 1 hour went by way too fast. We left the stage, planning to really end the show there, but heard the screams requesting and encore and decided to give them what they wanted - as well as keep our fun going for a little longer!
We left the stage in ecstasy and went back to the hotel to a little party with our fans. It only ended when the security got sick of us speaking loudly, at about 4 or 5am. If they hadn't stopped us, I don't think it would have ended anytime soon!
So when does the party start??
Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina - June 26 and 27
Shadowside taking a walk in Banja Luka
These were the sightseeing days in Banja Luka for all of us. We just took the time to walk around aimlessly, being stopped quite oftenly by fans in the streets, extremely nice people that made us feel at home. That's when we found out from the promoter that the concert had been broadcasted live to an audience of about 250.000 people - yes, 250 THOUSANDS of people - by TV - RTRS (Radio Televizija Republike Srpske) and received an informal invitation to come back next year. Of course we said yes, so there is a very good chance Bosnia and Herzegovina will see us again very soon! Unfortunately it was time to go back home... but we keep in our hearts the memories of both countries and shows, and we can't wait to be back.
June 28 - On the way back...
[/size]
The boogie-man dance?!?
5 planes to go back home. Lots of connections. I wanted to spend 30 hours inside of an airplane instead of going through several passport controls and check in over and over again. But it was all worth it. To all the awesome fans the saw us this time - we will not forget you! To the awesome fans that still haven't had a chance to see us or haven't seen us in a while - We DID NOT forget you and you will see us very soon ;-) Keep your horns up... bye!
| |
|
