Here's all I've been through in the last two days. This is going to be a long story.
February 26th. After a six-hour drive to Québec city with my dad and two of my friends, we finally arrive at our hotel. Once the checking-in is done, we roam outside, have a quick supper and at 4pm me and my two buddies are the 7,8 and 9th in line for the Opeth+Dark Tranquillity show. After about 2 hours and a half of waiting outside at -20 and -35 with the wind factor, we finally got inside. I got a place in first row on the left of the scene, right in front of Niklas. The funny thing is that due to problems at the american border, The Devin Townsend couldn't make it in time and therefore DT played a 60 minutes show instead of 45. Now, once DT finished their set, I listened to about half of the Opeth show and then I spotted Michael running with a sandwich. Intrigued I followed him only to realise he was bringing a meal to the poor merch seller who was starving to death, with a british accent. So I went to Michael, congratulated him for the show and I asked where I could find the other guys 'cause I'd like to talk to them too. He said most of them were still backstage taking their shower and taking a rest well-deserved but maybe I could find a few in their tour bus. So, I decided to not listen to the rest of the Opeth show, went outside and searched for the tour bus. So I stood around for about two minutes, hoping one of the guys would come out or in the RV but unfortunately no one passed. So I just said to myself "Oh, what the hey!" and I knocked on the RV's door. This is where it gets interesting. Niklas Sundin opens the door and after a few formal phrases I got in with him and well I had a 20 minutes chat with the guy in the tour RV. I felt like a journalist mixed with a little girl. But seriously, Niklas you are a great guy and I really enjoyed talking to you. Still, after that, I went back outside and waited to see my friends come out after the Opeth part. I finally met all the other members.
February 27th : Montréal show, as you all know, kickass show. It was the greatest day of my life. Since I was in first row center, Mikael often came close and I sung lyrics along with him. I'm not 100% sure but I think the guys recognized me from the day before because most of them looked at me and smiled. Now once again I waited, after the show, outside, to once again congratulate them and exchange a few words. I was aslo willing to get some autographs. And I did. here's what I got :
All six members have signed my "The Gallery" booklet. Michael's signature is hard to see, he's in the top right corner, in golden ink. Also, when Martin B. took the layout he said "You know I'm not on this album?" and I replied "Yeah, I know, and I don't care, you're a DT member aren't you?" So that's pretty much all of it. Oh, yeah, one last thing, Mikael also told me that the Montréal show was simply awesome and he kind of felt at home there on the scene.
Well, this is it. Both shows were great and now, all I have to do is wait until they come back. I am now able to say that Dark Tranquillity is in fact one of the, if not the, most fan-friendly band around. Cheers to all of you guys and hope to see you soon again in Canada!
the sound was perfect(in Pittsburgh the sound was poor) ... I'm blown away -
