| Archive | Tour Reports | Tour diary with Rotting Christ & Enthroned - Second half, January 2003 |
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(The first part of this tour report is missing)
22.01.2003 Wednesday day off in Marseille south of France
Days off generally really piss me off, ok sometimes you
really need them and on a monday or something it makes sense, but 90% of the
time you just want to play and that’s all that really matters. And more often
then not you just end up spending needless amounts of money on expensive food
you don’t need and generally have to endure total boredom at some truck stop in
the middle of nowhere. Today however we are allowed the freedom of Marseille for
a day, a city I have spent some time in over the years so there were a few
familiar streets and good memories coming back to me through out the day.
However, even if we had played here and only 50 people showed up its got to be
better then standing on the admittedly impressive waterfront in marseille
dodging gangs of arrogant fuckwit moroccan youths on their mopeds until you just
go fuck it and try and entertain yourself on the bus with no heating within
which almost everything has ceased to work. However yet again even in a
relatively expensive country like France we are again shocked and angered (well
me anyway) at still how much cheaper things are in the supermarkets then back
home. So we go mad and buy healthy bullshit convincing ourselves it might do us
some good…where are the beers ?, on the way back we part company with Ger and
Steve as they fly home and things get a little mental, tired and emotional at
the deserted airport !…Bin Laden plans his attack. Beware.
23.01.2003 Thursday – Insbruck – Hafen – Austria
We are running late as usual, how this is possible
considering where we stopped yesterday and the fact that we had a day off to get
to Austria I don’t know. And as usual I am left cursing our stupid bus driver
but worse is to come. Somewhere just over the Italian border I’m lying in my
coffin talking with Sakis who’s nocturnal abode is above and opposite me and
joking about the bus breaking down and hey presto 30 seconds later we hear a
loud metal on metal crunching scraping noise and 2 minutes later stop on the
hard shoulder. The fuckin trailer carrying all the gear has almost completely
broken off and is being held on simply by one cable. Personally again I blame
the bus driver who has been hammering it for the last couple of hours because
we are late and you simply cant do this on a tour bus with a trailer in tow. Of
course then the Italian AA arrive and don’t know if they can tow us to Insbruck.
Another day off now seems a certainty and I for one and loosing my fuckin mind
and patience in the extreme and it seems that some people in particular are
not bothered really and this ignites an almost incendiary situation to begin
with. Eventually somehow and by complete fluke we are towed to Austria at the
behest of the Italian AA and we charge the dutch bus company for the tow, which
they initially don’t want to pay…eh hello ?.We arrive at Hafen to about 300
annoyed and aggravated fans who have no idea what has happened and no one has
told them. Paul and Leary are there to play the last few shows and we are at
full strength. We set the gear up in about 30 mins and play a furious 4 song set
that at least for me contains about the most spite and anger I could possibly
muster and the crowd seem to appreciate the effort.
What happens after is surely what legends are made of…who
showed me the bottle of absinthe ?, as the next 8 hours or so are a blur of
violence, abuse, fighting, puking and insanity…the whole bus is pissed off at me
and my over the top antics of which I remember little…never in my whole life
have I felt so off the planet. And most people to varying degrees follow suit
but the Irish outdo themselves with a fresh set of scars to boast, piles of puke
and bad reputations enhanced no end. Apologies to the Greeks again for making that night Hell !.
Here’s where things become a pain in the ass…the bus company
is sending people from Holland to fix the trailer so we have to wait and the
show gets cancelled, so we loose another weekend night to bad luck and
stupidity. And considering the events from the night before all I want to do is
leave this wretched car park and fuck off somewhere else but we are condemned to
another bitterly cold night on the bus with nothing but some old Father Ted vids
to keep us entertained. An early night ?. Nope we stay up until 7 am pissed out
of our heads again and wander round the carboot market that has sprung up around
us in the carpark. Ciaran buys some completely useless and tacky wax wallhanging
which breaks within 10 minutes and we all wander round bleary eyed and wrecked
debating the merits of the spectrum 48k and jet set willy over an amstrad cpc464
and spacequest and arguing over stupid hats and dodgy sunglasses. The Dutch
handymen arrive and we sit watching them shout at each other for a few hours and
then retire to our frozen coffins.
What turns out to be our last show of the tour is a good one.
Leary gets a call and urgently has to return to Ireland and we all agree to
follow suit rather then sit in the bus for another 3 days with no shows. So
sadly no Slovakia or Hungary. A crowd of about 250 turn up in a great venue
which is really typical for Austria and we play a more relaxed and confident
show and slowly its seeping into me to sometimes stand still and concentrate on
singing as opposed to flinging myself about and breaking things and hitting into
people. Everyone seems a little down beat afterwards and what should be a good
farewell party turns into a sombre affair as we take to some goth-elektro party
afterwards and all we really want to do is rock out to AC/DC and get drunk…
The night drags on and again is freezing cold and with not a
wink of sleep we say our farewells and head for the airport and home to Ireland.
Overall a positive tour that with a little more care and
effort could have been a really great tour but you take your chances and we made
some great friends and renewed old acquaintances, visited places we had never
been before and met some new and great people…and sometimes you feel this is all
the payment your ever going to get from playing in band and you sure as Hell
wont make any money so it makes it all the more important, significant and
special…
So a few people to Hail….
Rotting Christ and Enthroned for a great month, We Shall meet
again, Erin, Joey and David for their efforts and David the Polish vodka pusher,
and all the killer people we met….
See you again soon
And hopefully it wont take me 3 fuckin months to write the
next report.
AANemty
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