Bucharest show…

So after getting back to the hotel last night i crashed out the second my head hit the pillow and didn't wake till gone 9am. As i looked out of the hotel window i was a little worried about the weather, it was blowing gusty winds and raining. A couple of online weather sites said it was going to clear up.

I headed out of the hotel around 11am initially planning to come back later on before the show, however i took everything i needed with me just in case i didn't make it back.The walk to the venue took about an hour, having never been to Romania before i was amazed how stunning some of the building were. Not just the official building but also some of the houses too.

I’d seen a picture of a promotional “brick” on Matt’s website and wanted to go take a few picture of it first. it was a mile or so in the opposite direction to the venue but just as i was looking on the map to figure out which was to go i spotted another one in the middle of the road! As i got near the area where the gig was i could tell something was happening, even at noon there were guards and security everywhere, there were even people lining up outside the venue gate to get in! There were half a dozen press there too at the side of the street.

    

I was fortunate to be able to go into the venue today to watch the stage build up and the sound check, i had nowhere to be and no one to meet really so could sped some time relaxing and watching everything get put together.Well that's a lie, i did have a couple of friends who were coming to the show, Thomas from Austria and Marek from Prague. I’d arranged to meet up with Thomas at a restaurant close by at 4pm but i let him know earlier i may be a little late.

I was stunned when i walked in and saw the setting for the show, as big as the wall was it was dwarfed in comparison to what was around it! The buildings around the stage were in a crescent shape and towered up above the wall and the stage. Then directly opposite the stage as you looked across was the heaviest building in the world,

The area around the stage and between the fence at the back was immense too. There was a section of about 1500 seats directly in front of the stage, then an area that would be the golden circle, then a standing area, a raised seating area with about 4500 seats and then a huge lawn area.Then at the back of the lawn area was THE biggest building I've ever seen and one that's the heaviest in the world, and second biggest (only to the Pentagon in DC)  the Palace of Parliament

It took me a few minutes to take in everything that was around me, it was simply a stunning setting to have a show and the wall just sat right in there, probably the best “venue” I've ever been too.

I took a wander around and went from corner to corner of the place. I got to see a lot of things that most people don't get to see and had my camera with me so was able to snap picture anywhere and everywhere. The “fixed” section of the wall was already built but due to the wind they hadn't built any of the loose brick sections yet. The seats were all set up but there were fences still to be added, the stage ha all the equipment on but the pyros were still to be done, again due to the weather, it was still a little cloudy but the sun was breaking through and it looked like another hour and it would be clear skies.

The Stuka was still on the ground in the flight box and i know they usually do a test run around 3pm for it so i thought id hang around the rest of the day and get to see that happen. The lower part all along the bottom of the wall still had to have the black cloth attached, this was a great time to take a few pictures of something that's not usually seen. Even though the scaffolding behind the end parts of the wall is metal and heavy, when you add all the facade of the brick on it become a real wind trap and need the whole construction holding down firmly to the ground. This is done by using large plastic square containers that are filled with water. the are placed on then floor section of the scaffolding to hold it all in place and prevent any movement at all. This system is also used on the projection towers, these have to be rock solid and as you can imagine, half an inch of movement at the projection tower become 6” of movement for the projections projected on a wall a few hundred feet away! As you can see on the pictures below, they even use pallets filled with bricks to ensure the whole thing isn't going to move at all!

    

The guys who look after the Stuka unpacked it out of the box and assembled it on the floor in front of the wall, its amazing to see how much work it takes to set the line up, make sure its taught enough, then lower the line down, mount the plane, pull it along on the ground as far as it’ll go with a rope, then get a rope fed down from the guys in the cherry picker up by the top of the crane and then they pull it up the rest of the way, they do all this twice as they do a text run first which is timed and then do it all over again to get it back up ready for show time.They also build the wall up enough for the plane to know down a few bricks when it goes through on the test run.

   

   

 

 

   

 

The sun was out by now and the skies were clear and blue, didn't look like there's was going to be any worries about the weather tonight at all. I headed around the back of the stage to look at the Pyros.At the outdoor shows there are usually a lot more pyros than the indoor venues. As your watching the show you’ll pyros shooting up from what looks like the roof. These are actually all shot up from the floor behind the actual stage. they are set up in a curve shape around the back with barriers to stop people going anywhere near. The pig is also inflated well in advance and parked up around the back of the stage.

Pyros ready at the rear of the stage

On the right side end of the wall at a few of the shows there's been a large mural painted as like an end stop for the wall, tonight was one of those nights and there was a guy on a hydraulic lift with spray cans doing his stuff.

  

You don't realise how much more has to be done for the outdoor shows than the indoor ones, a simple thing like providing power for the show show is a huge ordeal and its not so simple as running power lines like in an indoor venue, you have to have huge generators to provide it! There were seven of the huge generator trailed around the back of the stage for this show.

I took a walk out of the venue at the back just to take the few shots below to get the stage and the building in the same picture.

   

As i came back into the venue, Roger and the band arrived. They weren't staying in Bucharest but had been staying in Budapest and flew straight in fro there for the sound check and were then heading out to stay in Sofia straight after the show. The band usually stay in one place as long as they can, if the venue is close enough to fly in and fly back then they will base themselves in one place for as long as they can and only move on when travelling to the next show becomes a little too far.

   

 

 

 

They usually always do the same sound check too, a bit of In The Flesh, Run Like Hell, Mother and Goodbye Blue Sky.They then practice Another Brick with the kids, Roger and Kip and John who look after the kids and teach tem the moves and what they should be doing. The kids don't get a rehearsal until the day of the show and the sound check, they have however before hand seen a video that John’s made explaining what they should be doing and when.  Earlier in the day they had been playing the airplane sound effects that they use at the end of In The Flesh, they had really cranked it up though and it was totally deafening to hear. The video clip below doesn't do it justice at all, it sounded incredible.

 

 

After the sound check i headed up to the restaurant to meet up with Thomas and his girlfriend Carolyn, he had flown down for three days and the same as me, had never been to Romania before and really liked it. It was his and Carolyn anniversary of being together for one year today and he had bought MMMMM tickets for valentines day. She had only seen the show once before and enjoyed it and was looking forward to seeing the outdoor show. By this time i realised i wouldn't be going back to the hotel so we sat for an hour and a half chatting and having drinks. I’d had a message from Marek that he was going to try come to meet us but later heard he had a problem finding the place.

The three of us headed down to the venue around 7pm, Thomas was in the golden circle and i was in the seats in front of the stage tonight, 16th row dead centre,,,,, yup you guessed it, right on the aisle:)

The gates had been opened while we were having a drink and the place had filled up a lot, there were people up on the balconies at the palace behind us and some braves souls up on the rooftops of the building at either side!

     

   

The seats in front of the stage were the equivalent of around $300 each, the golden circle about $150, the standing $100 and the lawn about $60, this is Romania, its cheap and poverty stricken, the whole of the lawn area sells out first, then the standing then the golden circle. Its a very limited market for the $300 seats here and its usually not the “real” fans that buy these. All of the areas were packed out, ticket sales were reported to be 40,000 but were confirmed to be 50,000 in the press the next day.

I was surprised by how dark it was at 8:30 when the show started, however we were a lot further south than we had been for Sweden so the projections looked great, very bright and visible even with just the projected white bricks before the show.

  

The crowd roared at the opening to In The Flesh, the projections looking as bright and clear as ever and the added effect of the searchlights from the stage projecting onto the facade of the Palace! At the end of In The Flesh It took maybe 20 seconds for the clapping and cheering of the crowd at the rear on the lawn to reach us at the front. This was really noticeable as Roger tried to do his speech for Mother, he started to speak and then the cheering was heard as he was a couple of lines into it and he had to stop and thanked the crowd. Can anyone decipher what the word is below in black writing that's over the letter C in Capitalism ? if so please let me know.

  

The sound was incredibly clear and loud, not as loud as it had been when they were sound checking the airplane effects earlier in day but it was certainly loud enough to be heard at the Palace! Roger was blown away by the crowd,a couple of times thanking them both in English and Romania, also commenting to them how he had never been and played in Romania and what a fantastic welcome they had given them. I've meant to post before about the video footage right on the end of either side the wall during Spare Bricks, the video of the rabbits is still there as are all the other things but watch the very left side for two guys doing underwater boxing! and the very right side for the guy mounted on a horse that dives into a huge tank of water, funny stuff.

As i said earlier, the crowd in the front seats were not your usual crowd and this was evident by most of the shouting and cheering coming from the golden circle and beyond. Everyone in the seats stay seated for the show and even for the intermission! no one really got that it was a chance to go pea and get food and drink and everyone remained in their seats. I remember this happening in Lodz, Poland in 2011. I’m not sure if the translation of the word “intermission” doesn't come across or they just think its all part of the show,but they al just stay seated and don't move but it was strange.

Pictures below of the crowd at intermission.

Second half of the show was probably one of the best I’ve heard music wise, i didn't hear a single fault or glitch the whole time. Dave totally nailed Comfy Numb as always and if there was any criticism at all then I'd says Robbie's vocals seemed off a little tonight, just didn't seem like he was hitting the notes with as much ease as normal, he seemed to be struggling a little.

 

Shadow Dave on the Palace         Shadow Robbie on the Palace

 

The wall came down great, one huge fall but with a large piece of it left hanging at one side for a good 30 seconds before the mechanical hammers that run up inside the bricks were raised up again and knocked the bricks forward. Due to there being a pretty large gap between the front row and the stage and it coming down in one huge piece, most of the bricks ended up on the floor between the stage and the barrier and not ON the stage.Again, Roger thanked the Romanian crowd for been such a fantastic audience and this was met was another huge cheer that took several seconds to come from the back of the venue.

This was such a unique show, just for the venue alone, out of the three shows i was planning to do in Easter Europe and the one that i actually ended up doing i couldn't be happier, id have sacrificed a few more shows just to have seen this one alone! the funny thing is, until i got to the venue i just thought it was a regular outdoor show, i had no idea what sort of setting this was and in a way that made it so much more special. Its certainly a show that I'll never forget and one that i wish we had arranged for a lot of us to come and see and get together at. Stuart, you could have been drunk every night for 7 Euros!!

Few show pictures, click pictures below for full album below:

View Full Album

Sound check pictures, click pictures below for full album:

View Full Album

Bucharest……WOW!……………

An amazing show last night but what really made it was the setting for the stage!

View from the lawn seats

View from the standing area

Looking back at the Palace of the Parliament from the stage

 

 

Full album of pictures from the sound check below.

View Full Album

Bucharest or Bust!

So after my friend Kevin having to change his travel plans, I'd decided to go to the Bucharest show on my own and then head up to Berlin and miss Sofia and Belgrade.

I flew out of Brussels Charleroi yesterday at 2pm on the cheap “wiz air” flight to Bucharest. 39 Euros one way and the flight took two and a half hours.This was the second time id flown out of here as I’d got a cheap Ryanair flight here and back to the UK when I’d come out earlier in the tour for the Werchter show. Its a very small airport with nothing much to do at all, The transfers to hotels and to downtown Brussels are a total rip off. Last night i had to take a cab to the hotel i was staying at, not even 1 kilometre distance from the airport to the hotel but due to the way the roads are and the whole airport been fenced in you cant walk! it cost me 10 Euros for the cab!

I also had to order a cab from the hotel to the airport this morning, i arranged this with the hotel and behind the reception is a sign that says cab rides to the airport can be UP TO 8 Euros. When my cab arrived he started the meter and when we got to the airport it read 5.50 Euros. I offered him 6 and he said no, no its 8 as agreed with the hotel! believe me i argued over 2 Euros but the guy wasn't moving. The ride in and out of Brussels is the same too, the airports an hour away from the city and you have to have a special train ticket to the airport, no other ticket is valid. You can get a ticket to almost anywhere in Brussels for the day for 4.5 Euros but the 45 minute train (and connecting bus) ride to the airport is just under 15 Euros.

Anyway, rant over. I fell asleep on the flight almost instantly, i cant even remember taking off! i had an emergency exit row seat so had plenty of legroom and no one sat next to me. I woke up with the worst crick in my neck but only 30 minutes to landing and the plane had just started its decent. I took a look in the in flight magazine and there was an article on Romanian food, some of it sounded good so i took a couple of pictures to remind me what was what for when i got there.

Wizzair flight          Piss poor advert!     Traditional Romanian food

     

After going through immigration i looked on the board and it said carousel 1 to pick up baggage. After standing there for 35 minutes, baggage started to appear, 3 carousels down on number 4!  Most places warn you in the guide books not to accept rides from unlicensed  taxis, there was a big page display in the in flight magazine saying the same as well as a large sign over each carousel with huge red warning letters in red! The god thing was it also gave you al the details of the transfers and the times and prices. Even though the price of the taxis was fantastic 1.39 LEI  per kilometre ( 1 Romanian lie = $0.30) so that's about 89US cents per mile, i decided to take the bus in that takes about a hour and costs about $2.25. There was also the train option too but i wanted to see things on the ride into the city and thought the bus would give me the better option to do so and it did.

I’d been thinking though, what if i were able to rent a car in Bucharest and i could drive to the Sofia show and then up to the Belgrade show and then get the flight i had booked back to Berlin on the 2nd. As i passed the car rental booths i gave it one last shot and asked all 6 of them if it was possible to rent a car here and drop it off in Belgrade. I got the answer i was expecting and that was, No. Even now just as i was typing that last sentence I'm looking on Google maps at the distances between Bucharest and Sofia and Sofia and Belgrade and its only 6 hours by car between each, why on earth is the train ride 12 hours!! where does the train go exactly ? Anyway, I've given up on the idea and am content with just the one show here and then the train ride back up to Berlin.

I had to change some Euros for Romanian LEI and i did this in the arrivals hall, there were about 4 LEI to the Euro and as i handed over my grotty old paper Euro notes i was given back plastic money!! yup, the money in Romania is plastic, you cant tear it and it doesn't wear! on most notes there's a little see through window too that is just clear plastic, bizarre but great!

On the ride into the city it was a mix of what looked like new building that had either being started  and not finished or new buildings that were half pulled down, along with old building back from years ago to new car showrooms, i passed BMW, Volvo and even a Ferrari dealership! it was a bizarre mix.As the bus topped at one place there was a house at the side of the street and the owners had opened up their front windows and hey were selling beer to the locals out of their living room! they;de placed a table on the sidewalk and a couple of locals were sat down drinking beer while the woman in the house looked on with a table full of al different bottles for sale behind her in her house!

 

The bus dropped me off at the North Railways station, I’d booked a cheap hotel (24 Euros a night) that was a 5 minute walk from the station. The fist thing i see when i stepped off the bus is two or three bright red signs lit up with the words SEX SHOP flickering away. Why are all areas around stations sketchy ? I opened my blackberry and tried to log on to Google maps, i guess the mapping isn't that great in Romania and i resorted to asking a local if he knew where the “Hello Hotel” was.I swear to you, it was like something off a comedy programme. “Hello” i said to a local taxi driver that was standing outside his cab, “Hello” he replied, “ hello hotel” i asked, “hello” again he replied and then said “what hotel ?” in broken English. “Hello hotel” i said again, “Hello, which hotel he replied” i gave up and walked across the street, there was a woman with a flower stall sat on a crate in front of the stall and i said “excuse me, d you know where the Hello hotel is” just didn't even lift her had or look up and just pointed down the street. I crossed the road and soon as i got to the other side i saw the big red sign that said HELLO HOTEL! i looked at it and in my head i just said “hello”

I checked in and the receptionist asked if i was here for the concert, i said yes and she said “see you tomorrow then”  i thought yeh maybe if i spot you out of the 40,000 other people! Kevin had recommend the Hello hotel and its great, its clean has everything you need inc free Wi-Fi and at 24 Euros a night it couldn't be better.

After unpacking and grabbing a shower I Googled a few of the restaurants that I'd seen in the in flight magazine, took me a while to find them online due to the mapping and after looking at them online i decided to pass on them and went downstairs and asked the girl if she could recommend anywhere that had traditional Romanian food and wasn't too far away. She wrote the name of a a place down and a street, i walked outside grabbed a cab and showed him the place name and street, he just nodded, flicked the meter on and 10 minutes and $1.50 later i was there.

The place was amazing, it was like stepping back in time! as i waked in the door i was met by a couple of people ballroom dancing around the tables! the hostess shoed me to a table and i sat and looked at the place in awe! unfortunately i only had my cell phone camera so the pictures aren't great but you get the idea!

   

The menus were like newspapers and fortunately written in English as well as Romanian, something that the in-flight magazine had mentioned was that a lot of restaurants don't offer English menus but it the waitresses speak English they will help you out. I hadn't eaten since the airport at noon where I’d had an orange juice ad a croissant, it was now gone 10pm and i was starving. I looked over the menu and ordered the mixed grill, i;d read that the pork and the sausages in Romania were a must try and this had both of them so i thought id give it a hot and ordered a glass of wine and bottle of water too.

Before                                                     After                                                       Dessert (yes i know what they look like!)

   

The food was amazing and i also saw on the menu they had traditional Romanian dessert, Papanasi it was great but there was way too much of it and i left more than half on the plate. the grand total was less than $10 for the water, wine, mixed grill, dessert and the 24% tax!! As i slowly walked out of the restaurant i took a cab at the end of the street and got back to the hotel around midnight. I have one friend at the show tomorrow, Thomas and i think Werner maybe here too, I’ve arranged to meet up with them at 4pm and hopefully the rain will stay stay for the show!

Its 10am on the morning of the show when I'm writing this and below is the view out of my hotel window, its not raining so much but the wind is very blustery, I'm hoping that settles down for the show as its not just the rain that could cause problems for the wall! I'm gonna grab a shower and take the subway over to the venue and see how the walls holding up i think. For those of you that don't know, the venue is outside tonight, in front of the huge Palace of the Parliament its a fantastic building and looks like it gonna be an amazing setting for the show

View out of window                                    Venue for tonight's show!

 

Bucharest!!

Got here earlier today, more details and pictures tomorrow.

      

        

Slight change of plans..

So the original plan was to see all 3 shows, Bucharest, Sofia and Belgrade with my friend Kevin, we have flights booked to Bucharest and i have a flight booked out of Belgrade to Berlin on the 2nd, however, Kevin had to change his plans at the last minute and cant make this leg of the tour.Kevin's friend was due to drive us between shows as, the distances are not huge , about 5 hours between each but the trains in Romania are horrendous, they go 5 miles north to go 1 mile south! so getting from venue to venue on time and then to Belgrade was proving impossible.

After uuuming and arghing for several hours last night and this morning, and listening to Kit and Emil telling me how werewolves roam the Romanian night trains and it’s the country where Dracula comes from!  I've decided to fly to Bucharest tomorrow,see the show on Wednesday night, then on Thursday i take the night train to Budapest, it leaves Bucharest at 17:40 and arrives at 8:50 in the morning. I then take the 9:25 train from Budapest and arrive in Berlin at 21:15 on the 30th August. That's a total of 28 hours and 35 minutes on the train! I will be missing the Sofia and Belgrade shows but there's nothing i can really d about that. One show is better than none at all and I'll also be in Berlin for 2 nights before Kami and her family arrive.

I'm now at a hotel at Charleroi airport in Brussels ready for the flight tomorrow afternoon. 8 hours of trains, buses and a cab today to get here from Saarlouis and I'm shattered, can wait for 28 hours of this!

More soon….

Help needed...

If anyone reading my blog is driving from Bucharest to Sofia to Belgrade, drop me a message, thanks