keskiviikko 17. lokakuuta 2007

Leeuwarden, Pop Podium Romein

Gagball, first log, day 2 of the magical mystery tour.

I wake up, tired and slightly worn out after last night. Where am I? What am I doing here? What have I gotten myself into?

3 and a half weeks ago, what seemed like a normal wednesday afternoon was about to change the course of my life as I know it. I got a call from Niko, who has on his way to a few gigs with the big A'L at that time. He asked me, what I was about to do in the near future. I was doing nothing and I also told him so, which led me to ask him about his reason for asking me. He responded, that they had had some sort of a Spinal Tap situation with their bass session man and they needed someone to play bass on the European tour. Would I do it, I was asked and then told that the tour would begin in three and a half weeks.

'Whatever it takes, I'll do it man.' I told him.

My feet began to tremble fericiously and my heart began racing at least 220 bpm per hour. Something that I always wanted was now offered to me on a snake skin platter. My dreams were actually coming true. Being a fan ever since I first saw them live in 2004.

But anyway, back to the bus... I almost hit my head on the bunk ceiling. I crawl downstairs - yes, we have a funk ass pimped up super dooper doubledecker bus with us - and there's already someone awake. Last night everyone got to know one another and to me it seems, that we have a nice and interesting bunch with us.

We arrived to the first town, Leeuwarden, and the first thing we all notice is the narrowness of the streets. We get out of the bus in front of a local fancy hotel and just as we've gotten our gear on the way to the venue we hear a fierce blasting of several car horns. A dozen cars pull over in front of the hotel and lots of finely dressed people get out. It's a wedding in progress. We're getting totally ignored, except for a couple of people complimenting us on behalf of our bus.

Our venue is an old place, dating back to 1639 that had been used as a church in the olden days. Old school. We set the stage and kill time for the next couple of hours.

I was a nervous wreck before the gig. Everyone was just telling me to calm down and after a while of psyching out I get just anxious instead of nervous. Then our intro hits the speakers and we hit the stage. 'Let's do this!' It's an action packed 45 minutes, with almost a couple of broken jaws with both Niko and Silver tripping over a couple of times on stage. The crowd warms up after a couple of songs and we've got 'em by the balls before our set is over. We prevail.

I've sweat atleast 2 liters out of my system and I feel relieved. I'm now looking very much forward to the rest of the tour. After packing up I head to town with the locals for a nice cup of coffee, with 'slagroom', whipped cream that is.

Over and out.

-Ykä

1 kommentti:

Anonyymi kirjoitti...

220 beats per minute per hour? :D