Mother of all updates

October 29, on the bus somewhere in France, 12:00

A long time without any writing again. No excuses, just laziness.

The last entry was added near La Coruna, so I'll continue from there. The first impression of the venue wasn't that good. "We're playing in a bar?!" It didn't get much better later either. The venue was a some sort of night club with a really small stage with a low ceiling. One part of the club served as our back stage. The local promoter seemed to be just some local metal dude who had decided to put up a show. However, all was not bad. The guy kept repeating that he wants us to be happy and that he has for example completely fulfilled our riders. Which he probably had done at least for the catering rider since there was plenty of food and drinks. I am not so sure about technical rider though. The venue had no showers but he had booked rooms from the nearby hotel for us. So basically that side was ok too.

The city of La Coruna is located in the north-western corner of "Spain", but if you ask locals they'll tell you that it's Galicia, not Spain. The city looked really nice, at least the part I managed to see. The venue was by the sea, the local main beach was just a stone throw away. Of course it is not a beach season anymore but I still had a walk on the beach when the sun was going down and the city light s were coming up. It was beautiful. But I got sand in my shoes. I hate that. Shoes suck, flip-flops rule!

Once I returned from the city I returned to the scene I didn't want to see. The promoter was wasted, walking around with his bottles of shit (an educated guess) local alcohol and shouting at everybody how well he's done everything. The backstage was full of his friends, sidekicks or whatever. We ask the tour manager to take care of that and after a lot of hassle and shouting the extra people leave. The promoter returns in 2 minutes telling everybody that "I have to be here, I'm the promoter." Then the other started to slowly return there too. The whole thing quickly grew to the point of a fistfight being a second away. I love our (tour) manager. He doesn't care if the guy is 20cm taller and 30kg heavier. He stands up and does everything for his bands even if the guy is threatening to punch him in the face. After all I wasn't really sure what will go on there while we play so I gathered all my stuff and carried them back to the bus so that all I had was just my stage clothes.

The show itself was our worst of the tour. We sucked. The audience didn't seem to care though. I had the worst monitor ever and the front row kept pushing and turning that all the time. During the first few songs it was either too silent or too fucking loud. I asked Gump many times "more bass!" or "less bass!" and kept wondering if there is only an on/off switch for my channel and no slider until I realized that there was some sort of a switch behind the monitor that the audience kept pushing. Hence the silent/loud problem. Once I realized that I shouted at them something like "Ja nyt jumalauta ne sormet irti siitä monitorista tai lävähtää turpaan!" Seemed to do the trick. I would have never guessed that they actually speak Finnish there! After the show I just quickly got my stuff from the bus, had a shower in the hotel and packed myself for the night. I was glad to leave that place.

The next day in Madrid included something that no one expected from anyone in our band and I definitely didn't expect it from myself. I went to an art museum. Prado that is. And I liked it. I had this strange idea in the morning that I should do something different that just wander pointlessly around the city looking for record shops with Matson. I didn't even ask anyone of the other guys to join me because I knew that the answer would have been just these blank faces with empty looks. Anyway, after a breakfast in the city and a few stops to find a new pair of flip-flops (with no luck) I was in an art museum. I have to admit that I don't really know much about visual arts. I have my own favourites of course but when it comes to understanding different styles or eras I am an ignoramus. I got myself a guide booklet of the museum. It had some examples of what is located where. I was totally surprised a few times: "That is here?! Wow!" Actually my favourite painting ever is in Prado, Madrid. Of course I had to see that.

As I said, I am not an expert in visual arts. I like to think that I know at least something about music as an art form. I am able to analyze music. I can pick up different instrument from the recordings. I know how some things are done when it comes to music and therefore I can appreciate it on levels that not all can. A confession time: I don't cry much. Or at least when I do I do it in strange occasions. I didn't cry when I was carrying my own father to his grave. I cry when I hear music beautiful or powerful enough. Happy tears. There is music that can move me more than the death of my own father. Call me cold if you will. See if I care. And there I was in an art museum standing in front of that one painting with tears filling my eyes. Actually just thinking about that moment brings tears to my eyes again.

Oh yes. It is "El Triumfo de la Muerte" by Brueghel.

The museum was eye-opening in many ways. I understood that I can actually enjoy that stuff even without really understanding the process behind the works. And I also found some artists whose works seemed too interesting to just pass. Like the local man, Goya. Really weird stuff. He must have been on something while painting them.

Back to the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. The venue was Sala Heineken. I liked the venue. The only downside was that the actual backstage was really small, even for just one band, but we were using the huge catering area as a backstage so it wasn't really a big problem. I think the place was sold-out. At least it was packed and the crowd was amazing. Reminded me of some of the South-American dates. Pure mayhem. We were having such good time on stage as well. I have become a rock star too. A cocky rock star. Put your foot on the monitor and let it rip. For the past ten or so days I haven't even been drinking. Just a a glass of wine and an occasional beer every now and then. Sober shows. Nice.

The next stop was Toulouse. Another really long drive. Toulouse show was the last one to be confirmed and our tour book had basically a blank page on that. No information of any kind. Just a hand written address of the venue. I tried to find that from my GPS but I couldn't. There was no such street in Toulouse. However, I realized that the place is not necessarily in Toulouse but in one of it's suburbs so I started going through them. I didn't really have to but I generally want to know where I am and I definitely had time. The street was found in Tournefeuille. The biggest suburb of Toulouse. This didn't really put my hopes up. I have lots of experiences of these venues at suburbs. However this one proved to be different. A real concert hall! Excellent catering, nice backstage. Really good. Le Phare I think it was called.

I wanted to see Toulouse but we arrived too late, were too far away to walk there and even with the local bus it would have taken almost an hour to get there. Instead of Toulouse I enjoyed a nice walk around Tournefeuille. There wasn't much to see. A cemetery was perhaps the most interesting sight. And that wasn't much.

We were in France so Eluveitie was headlining. As I've mentioned earlier this order suits me fine. This was another addition to the list of great shows. We were not using the entire hall. We were actually using only the third of it. It was still quite big and as far as I understood it was sold out. Lots of people and all crazy. It is good to see that things are moving that way for us also in France. Ok, Paris has always been really good anyway, but the other parts, especially the south, have been difficult. Not anymore it seems. Me likes. I honestly have trouble remembering which show was which or how did the actual show go since they all blend together after a while. Sorry.

The next stop was Lyon. I think we've been there before on Paganfest. This time the venue was called Ninkasikao or something like that. Don't ask me why. Again one of those nicer venues. I went earlier to the city too since the subway station was only 50 metres away from the venue and managed to see a really interesting
looking theatre building but the combination of October weather in Lyon and my shorts didn't really work that well. At least I was wearing proper shoes and not just flip-flops.

As I mentioned earlier, I haven't been drinking, yet I have problems remembering the venue in Lyon. I remember that backstage easily but the stage is difficult. Anyway, it was again sold-out or at least close to that and the good shows just kept coming. I don't really know what has happened to me, but I've felt good on stage, totally sober just feeling like I guess a musician should, proud of the band and sure of yourself. Nice.

Now I remember! The place sucked! Not because of not having a shower or anything but because the only access to the backstage was through the audience so once you got in and the doors were open you were stuck! There was an exit to backyard though. That is how they took us to a dinner to a restaurant at the other end of the building. And now that we're on the subject of food, I'll use the opportunity to complain. Again. Not about the food but about organizing a tour meal in general.

If doors open let's say at 19.00 and the first band starts at 19.30, you do not schedule a dinner at 19.00 at a normal restaurant! First of all, it takes for ages for 20 people to select their food and in the end you get your food 15 minutes after you stepped on stage! Buffet is your answer. Buffet from 18.30 till 21.00 is the answer! Or if you want to keep your bands really really happy, it's buffet till the band leaves the venue. Learn this!

Then it was a time for Nantes. We have played there before a few years ago. I remember that we sold the place out then. It was a small club with the capacity of maybe 200 but still it was good. This time we played at l'Olympique with the capacity of 800. We sold that out too. Or actually there is now a confusion if it was sold out or not since there were no tickets left for all who wanted to get in yet the promoter keeps telling us that 17 tickets were not sold. Go figure.

Nantes is s lovely town. It was founded by some Gaulish tribes over 2000 years ago, then later invaded by the Romans led by Julius Caesar. The city has a history, you could say. I guess the main attraction is the castle of the dukes of Bretagne or whatever that was called and the main cathedral. I went to both. Weather was nice too, sunny and sort of warm. Warm for the season anyway. I even found a real irish pub that had Magner's cider on tap! Nice town.

The venue was an old movie theatre I think. Basically a good venue, a bit complex but nice. And again on of those good shows to remember and tell stories to grandchildren. Our set has remained pretty much the same lately there's been some variation like an occasional "Palovana" every now and then. The most memorable moment of Nantes show was the huge spontaneous circle pit during the latter part of "Pine Woods". Excellent. Great audience.