Tour report USA and 34 000 tons of Metal Cruise in September 2004
Hi there everybody,
I thought I would write something for the website about the trip we did to USA in September since we had such a good time, and also a little something from the 34 000 tons of metal cruise which was a lot of fun, too.
USA:
We had been looking forward to this trip for a long time and finally it was time for us to go back to USA. We played the Milwaukee Metal Fest a few year ago and we really enjoyed every minute there.We meet up at our rehearsal studio on Monday September 13th at 11 p.m. to pack everything. We also did some signing of Modus Vivendi CDs for some localfans. It is always fun to try to pack everything we need into a few cases. Since we flew, we had the baggage limitations to think about. But it worked out after a while. To ease the transfer thing we had decided to go by train from Bollnäs to the airport, but it never is appreciated by other travellers on a night train to wake up to the sound of a loading metal band, he he he.
But this time it went smooth. Last time it almost ended with a fist fight with a stupid asshole. The train left Bollnäs at 12.30 am and we arrived at Arlanda airport at 3 am and had something to eat. We left Sweden at 7 am on our way to Charles DeGaulle in Paris. We were a bit delayed for some reason so we got a bit worried about the next flight. When we landed in Paris the flight to New York should already be in the air! But a flight stewardess, a French one, since we flew with Air France, said something like that the flight to NY where waiting for us so we really had to make a run for it. It was a bit hard to tell exactly what the hell she said since her English sounded "very French".
Any way, I had a bad vibe about this airport since some friends of mine told me that it is one of the worst to try to find your way at. We also got some last minute "information" on where to go because, at least what we understood, they had changed the gates. When we finally got out of the plane we just kind of ran in the same direction as everybody else from our flight. I asked Peter, since he ran first of us, if he knew where he was running and he said: "No! But that guy over there said something on the plane about going to USA so I though I'll follow him" Ok, better then nothing I though, so we ran like hell. And we actually ended up at the right gate! And the plane was still there! We had some problems getting on the plane, they asked about 1000 questions about everything. But after a while everything was sorted out and we boarded the plane a sat down and relaxed. We had some drinks and tried to enjoy the flight as much as possible. The flight was pretty ok and we landed at Kennedy airport safely, got through customs and took the shuttle to the hotel. Went out to a store and bought some beer. But we just had to stop at a bar on the way. There was not much to do around the hotel so we just had a few beers and fell a sleep. The day after we meet up with Heather Smith from Century Media who where there to take care of us. She did a very good job, excellent! It was the first time we met her and she was nice, down to earth, and good looking. We have met some real "weird" people throughout the years, so we didn't know what to expect, but she was awesome. Later that day, Wednesday September 15th, we took a taxi to BB Kings. It was nice to get to see a little of NYC, man, that is a BIG city. It felt like it took forever to get there. We loaded in our gear and went out for some food. We walked around Times Square, went into some guitar shops but that was about it as far as sightseeing goes. I guess we are worst tourists ever! Ha ha ha. It was nice to meet up with the Edguy folks and their crew again. We did some interviews and talked with some fans. It was nice to meet Jack Frost again, we met him in Milwaukee when both we and Seven Witches played there and we had a good time together. Also Jens Johansson showed up, he and his brother has a tendency to show up everywhere. Later I found out that he lives in NY so it wasn't that strange. Ha ha ha.
The show was pretty okay, the amp a played through blew up after the first song so that pissed me off a bit, but soon the crew had another one up there. I don't know what it was and it sounded like a well never mind. Peter had some problems with the drum kit falling apart. But things like this is part of the game so it is just to play along. We were amazed by the response from the crowd. I hope we get back to NYC soon!!! We had a great time after the show, talking and partying with fans. I had some troubles getting to the hotel room later that night, I wonder why?, Ha ha ha.
We had some beer at the hotel and then fell a sleep like little babies. We were scheduled on a flight from Laguardia to Atlanta at 2 p.m., which would give us plenty of time to get to the pre-party at ProgPower. However, there was a hurricane going on. Maybe you heard something about it, it was called Ivan. Ha ha ha. So the flight got delayed, and delayed, and delayed. But that was no problem, they had a bar there. He he he. After a while (read: many hours) the flight got cancelled. So, no pre-party for Tad Morose. So what should we do? We just arranged our own "pre-party" at the FOX bar. Nice! But all good thing tends to end, they closed at 9 p.m. After that, it wasn't as much fun hanging around at a airport. Wonder why? Any way, we actually, finally, got on a plane at 2 a.m. to Atlanta. It was a bumpy flight with thunderstorms outside the windows. Modden was wide awake the whole flight but I just fell a sleep right away, drewling like a baby. We arrived in Atlanta safely at 4 am or so, picked up a rental van and Heather took us to the Faifield Inn. We just crashed into the beds right away. I have been told that there was heavy partying outside our room but I didn't hear a thing.
Me and Modden shared hotel rooms and we actually made it in time for breakfast! Took a shower and went to the venue. We sat around listening to soundchecks for some time until it was our turn. It was very exiting to see the Sava thingy sound check. After our sound check, we walked around the venue and talked to a lot of fans. We were amazed again! By the vibe in our dressing room just before the show you could really tell that everybody in the band was focused and thrilled to go on stage. When the guy who presented us to the audience and I heard the roar, the hair on my arms stood straight up! I enjoyed every second of the show, the crowd totally blew us away. It will be really cool when we get the DVD from the show so we can "re-live" the moment so to say. This show and the one we did at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2003 is our finest moments on stage so far I guess. The stage crew were awesome, easy to work with and very professional. THANX!
I had heard a lot of good things about this festival and about Glenn Harveston, but everything, and I mean everything, was even better then I expected. You rule! I guess we looked silly on stage with our jaws dropped to the stage floor due to the overwhelming feedback from the crowd. Ha ha ha. After the show we just sat down in the dressing room, had a beer, and everybody was quiet for some time, kind of letting our brains try to understand what we just had done. Then, there was this BIG, silly smile all over our faces. There we were, five HAPPY Swedes, on the other side of the globe, and now it was time to PARTY!!!! We spent the rest of the night partying with fans and had the time of our life. It was just awesome! At around 2 a.m., or so, I walked back to the hotel and crashed into the bed. I was totally exhausted. Again, I can't remember hearing anything outside the door so I guess I was in DEEP sleep. As far as I heard the morning after, there had been some wild partying going on. And I missed it! Damn! Me and Modden woke up pretty early, had some breakfast and then headed for the pool. The weather was warm and clear. The best way of treating a hangover is to dive into cold water I think, it kind of wakes you up. It was nice just relaxing by the pool, talking with other metal heads. Midnight came walking by on the balcony and tossed some beer into the pool to the drummer and bass player from Into Eternity. I guess you heard this before but I just have to say it again: It felt like it was a big bunch of old friends having a nice party. In the afternoon, Kim, a kind girl from Atlanta, many of you probably met her, took us to some Irish pub for food. On our way there, some cars were stopping, taking pictures of us, screaming TAD MOROSE! Or like we would have said here in Sweden: "Det var ett jävla holabaloo!
When we got to the pub our table was not ready, so we hung at the bar ordering in some gin & tonics. The bartender told us that the drinks was already paid for by a gentleman on the other side of the bar, so when we looked at him and raised our glasses for him he said: "you guys were awesome yesterday!" Man, I can easily adapt to this way of life. He he he. After the meal we walked to the Earthlink arena and just walked around in the Vinyl Club, talking to fans, drinking beer, taking pictures, just having a darn good time. We had a signing session scheduled later in the afternoon, but we were a bit scared that it would be kind of "Spinal Tap-ish" since we had signed so much stuff last night and so far this day. But we were totally amazed (yes, same word again) by the length of the line leading up to the table. I don't remember how long we sat there, I think it was an hour or so, then Glenn Harveston, promoter, showed up and asked if we could to move and continue the signing and photo sessions somewhere else to keep the time schedule for the signing sessions. Next up was Ben Jackson and Midnight I wish I had brought my Crimson Glory album covers. They were a huge influence for me in the mid 80´s, they still are. I guess I'm not the only one that would be happy if they got it together again. It was also very nice to meet the other bands, I mean, hearing Jon Oliva say: "You guys kicked ass" felt pretty good. We had a blast all evening, just partying and enjoying every second of it. Unfortunately, due to heavy drinking I guess, I kind of missed most of the bands on stage. Typical festival thing, it happens to me all the time. Again, I crashed into the bed pretty early, and missed all the parties at the hotel. I just have to get back here and make up for it. We managed to keep the check-out time, barely, and went for pizza. The sun was HOT, I "over-tanned" on Saturday at the pool so it had started to hurt pretty badly, so I tried to stay in the shadow.
We bordered the flight in time late afternoon, and landed in Paris early Monday morning (CET). The flight was not that fun and we had a 4,5 hour layover in Paris so it was just booooorrriiinnnggg!!!!!! The flight to Stockholm was not fun either, the plane made some weird noises and the "French" food was .well, "French" if you know what I mean. After getting our luggage we took the elevator down below to the train station and bordered a packed train to Bollnäs. Everybody was sitting in the wrong places but we didn't mind, there is no idea to get everybody to move around to their "right" seats. It's better to just sit down where ever there is a vacant seat. But, at the next station a stupid bitch entered and started to complain that her seat was taken by Peter. I tried to explain the situation to her but she was just like old stupid people. "I have a seat reservation and I want MY seat!" There was no vacant seats left in this wagon and she refused to look elsewhere on the train. So I let her have my seat, I couldn't stand to hear her voice any more. I went off to the restaurant wagon and had some coffee instead. Modden and Daniel joined me shortly and we stayed there the rest of the way, talking about what we just had done. We had been looking forward to this trip for a long time and now it was over. We felt happy, but a bit sad too at the same time. Now it was back to daily life for us with work, rehearsals and paying bills. We arrived back home in Bollnäs at 7 p.m. Monday September 20th after about 24 hours of travelling.
34 000 tons of Metal Cruise:
We met up again on Friday September 24th to start the trip to Stockholm to play the 34 000 tons of metal cruise. This was a fun event. The biggest metal magazine in Sweden had chartered a big cruise ship travelling between Stockholm and Åbo (Finland). 23 hours of total metal party. The cruise was sold out, I think they sold 1700 tickets. We had a rental van and three friends (crew) with us and the party started at 11.30 am at my house with beer and whisky. It was me, Modden and Putte, our driver, waiting for the van to arrive. We went to our rehearsal studio on the other side of town to meet up with the rest of the band and to load our equipment. Which was done very fast. We tried to enjoy our self as much as possible while driving to Stockholm. So we drank beer and Modden showed his bare ass to some old ladies in a car behind. That is always fun. It got even more fun as we came into the rush hour traffic in Stockholm because then the cars around ours couldn't get away. He he he. Times like this you could say that the average age within this band is about 14. Have you ever heard the expression: "act your age"? We haven't. He he he.
Arriving at the terminal building was nice, packed with metal heads and metal music through the speakers. We met some old friends which we hadn't seen for some time so this was going to be something to remember. On the cruise ship the party really started. We where playing the next day so it was just to party all night long. We went directly to the duty-free shop and got something for later. The food on these boats is excellent and cheep. You can eat and drink as much as you like. So we had a good time there. Then it was off to the bar and see some bands. Tankard, Skyclad and Hypocrisy where playing this night, to be honest, I totally missed Tankard, I saw half a song with Skyclad but they where just plain boring I think. I saw a few songs with Hypocrisy and they kicked ass as usual. We had a very good time, I even met Kai Hansen from Gamma Ray there. He was playing with Stormwarrior in Stockholm on Saturday evening so he was on the boat just to party. We started to have too many vodka and RedBulls. But hey! When I'm drinking my judgement is totally gone. Ha ha ha. When the bars closed we continued the partying in our cabin and I think I fell asleep around 7.30 am or so. It was a cool "after party", lots of laughter and lots of beer.
We woke up just in time for brunch and after that I had a Bloody Mary, trying to treat the hangover. I thought I succeeded but after a couple of hours it was real bad, and we where about to play soon First up today was Wolf. A bunch of cool guys, they did a good job, they had a fare share of hangover too. Ha ha ha.
Then it was Amon Amarth, Swedish Viking Death Metal from hell. When we where done setting up on stage I thought that this is going to be tough, I could barely stand up straight and I felt like I could puke just about anytime. Hmm, interesting. Where the hell should I puke? I had my guitar cases just behind the small stage so I thought that if I had to puke I would run back there and do it in the guitar case. Better then doing it on stage I thought. How ever, when we started to play the first song I just forgot about the hangover and it was back to normal "live-mode" again. The stage was very small and it felt a bit weird playing on a stage that moves. At one time I saw some islands moving by outside in the corner of my eye and I felt sick. So I closed my eyes and tried to forget how I felt. I was amazed that the crowd was so big, I mean everybody had been partying like hell yesterday. They did a good job! After the show I realized how exhausted I was, I grabbed a plastic bag just in case and a carried it with me for the rest of the trip. I went out side on to the deck and stayed there for some time. I don't think that I ever have felt so sick. It took about 4 days for me to recover after this trip. Sometimes you wonder if you ever will learn. Ha ha ha.
The cruise was a success for the Sweden Rock Magazine and I guess they now made it a annual event. Exellent! Silja Line, the cruise company, was satisfied as well. They where a bit worried at first, I mean a ship full of metal heads But they said that it was more easy going then a regular mid week cruise. Again, we had a very good time and I would like to say thanx to our crew: Pjuj, stage tech. Putte, driver. Lubbe, photographer. You make our life easy! THANX! Also a BIG thanx to all the fans for making all this worth it, and the Sweden Rock Magazine crew for making things run smoothly. Okay, I know this "tour report" got very long, but I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
Cheers,
Krunt
PS: Keep an eye on the "schedule" section on the web site for updated information on future shows with Tad Morose
Hi there everybody,
I thought I would write something for the website about the trip we did to USA in September since we had such a good time, and also a little something from the 34 000 tons of metal cruise which was a lot of fun, too.
USA:
We had been looking forward to this trip for a long time and finally it was time for us to go back to USA. We played the Milwaukee Metal Fest a few year ago and we really enjoyed every minute there.We meet up at our rehearsal studio on Monday September 13th at 11 p.m. to pack everything. We also did some signing of Modus Vivendi CDs for some localfans. It is always fun to try to pack everything we need into a few cases. Since we flew, we had the baggage limitations to think about. But it worked out after a while. To ease the transfer thing we had decided to go by train from Bollnäs to the airport, but it never is appreciated by other travellers on a night train to wake up to the sound of a loading metal band, he he he.
But this time it went smooth. Last time it almost ended with a fist fight with a stupid asshole. The train left Bollnäs at 12.30 am and we arrived at Arlanda airport at 3 am and had something to eat. We left Sweden at 7 am on our way to Charles DeGaulle in Paris. We were a bit delayed for some reason so we got a bit worried about the next flight. When we landed in Paris the flight to New York should already be in the air! But a flight stewardess, a French one, since we flew with Air France, said something like that the flight to NY where waiting for us so we really had to make a run for it. It was a bit hard to tell exactly what the hell she said since her English sounded "very French".
Any way, I had a bad vibe about this airport since some friends of mine told me that it is one of the worst to try to find your way at. We also got some last minute "information" on where to go because, at least what we understood, they had changed the gates. When we finally got out of the plane we just kind of ran in the same direction as everybody else from our flight. I asked Peter, since he ran first of us, if he knew where he was running and he said: "No! But that guy over there said something on the plane about going to USA so I though I'll follow him" Ok, better then nothing I though, so we ran like hell. And we actually ended up at the right gate! And the plane was still there! We had some problems getting on the plane, they asked about 1000 questions about everything. But after a while everything was sorted out and we boarded the plane a sat down and relaxed. We had some drinks and tried to enjoy the flight as much as possible. The flight was pretty ok and we landed at Kennedy airport safely, got through customs and took the shuttle to the hotel. Went out to a store and bought some beer. But we just had to stop at a bar on the way. There was not much to do around the hotel so we just had a few beers and fell a sleep. The day after we meet up with Heather Smith from Century Media who where there to take care of us. She did a very good job, excellent! It was the first time we met her and she was nice, down to earth, and good looking. We have met some real "weird" people throughout the years, so we didn't know what to expect, but she was awesome. Later that day, Wednesday September 15th, we took a taxi to BB Kings. It was nice to get to see a little of NYC, man, that is a BIG city. It felt like it took forever to get there. We loaded in our gear and went out for some food. We walked around Times Square, went into some guitar shops but that was about it as far as sightseeing goes. I guess we are worst tourists ever! Ha ha ha. It was nice to meet up with the Edguy folks and their crew again. We did some interviews and talked with some fans. It was nice to meet Jack Frost again, we met him in Milwaukee when both we and Seven Witches played there and we had a good time together. Also Jens Johansson showed up, he and his brother has a tendency to show up everywhere. Later I found out that he lives in NY so it wasn't that strange. Ha ha ha.
The show was pretty okay, the amp a played through blew up after the first song so that pissed me off a bit, but soon the crew had another one up there. I don't know what it was and it sounded like a well never mind. Peter had some problems with the drum kit falling apart. But things like this is part of the game so it is just to play along. We were amazed by the response from the crowd. I hope we get back to NYC soon!!! We had a great time after the show, talking and partying with fans. I had some troubles getting to the hotel room later that night, I wonder why?, Ha ha ha.
We had some beer at the hotel and then fell a sleep like little babies. We were scheduled on a flight from Laguardia to Atlanta at 2 p.m., which would give us plenty of time to get to the pre-party at ProgPower. However, there was a hurricane going on. Maybe you heard something about it, it was called Ivan. Ha ha ha. So the flight got delayed, and delayed, and delayed. But that was no problem, they had a bar there. He he he. After a while (read: many hours) the flight got cancelled. So, no pre-party for Tad Morose. So what should we do? We just arranged our own "pre-party" at the FOX bar. Nice! But all good thing tends to end, they closed at 9 p.m. After that, it wasn't as much fun hanging around at a airport. Wonder why? Any way, we actually, finally, got on a plane at 2 a.m. to Atlanta. It was a bumpy flight with thunderstorms outside the windows. Modden was wide awake the whole flight but I just fell a sleep right away, drewling like a baby. We arrived in Atlanta safely at 4 am or so, picked up a rental van and Heather took us to the Faifield Inn. We just crashed into the beds right away. I have been told that there was heavy partying outside our room but I didn't hear a thing.
Me and Modden shared hotel rooms and we actually made it in time for breakfast! Took a shower and went to the venue. We sat around listening to soundchecks for some time until it was our turn. It was very exiting to see the Sava thingy sound check. After our sound check, we walked around the venue and talked to a lot of fans. We were amazed again! By the vibe in our dressing room just before the show you could really tell that everybody in the band was focused and thrilled to go on stage. When the guy who presented us to the audience and I heard the roar, the hair on my arms stood straight up! I enjoyed every second of the show, the crowd totally blew us away. It will be really cool when we get the DVD from the show so we can "re-live" the moment so to say. This show and the one we did at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2003 is our finest moments on stage so far I guess. The stage crew were awesome, easy to work with and very professional. THANX!
I had heard a lot of good things about this festival and about Glenn Harveston, but everything, and I mean everything, was even better then I expected. You rule! I guess we looked silly on stage with our jaws dropped to the stage floor due to the overwhelming feedback from the crowd. Ha ha ha. After the show we just sat down in the dressing room, had a beer, and everybody was quiet for some time, kind of letting our brains try to understand what we just had done. Then, there was this BIG, silly smile all over our faces. There we were, five HAPPY Swedes, on the other side of the globe, and now it was time to PARTY!!!! We spent the rest of the night partying with fans and had the time of our life. It was just awesome! At around 2 a.m., or so, I walked back to the hotel and crashed into the bed. I was totally exhausted. Again, I can't remember hearing anything outside the door so I guess I was in DEEP sleep. As far as I heard the morning after, there had been some wild partying going on. And I missed it! Damn! Me and Modden woke up pretty early, had some breakfast and then headed for the pool. The weather was warm and clear. The best way of treating a hangover is to dive into cold water I think, it kind of wakes you up. It was nice just relaxing by the pool, talking with other metal heads. Midnight came walking by on the balcony and tossed some beer into the pool to the drummer and bass player from Into Eternity. I guess you heard this before but I just have to say it again: It felt like it was a big bunch of old friends having a nice party. In the afternoon, Kim, a kind girl from Atlanta, many of you probably met her, took us to some Irish pub for food. On our way there, some cars were stopping, taking pictures of us, screaming TAD MOROSE! Or like we would have said here in Sweden: "Det var ett jävla holabaloo!
When we got to the pub our table was not ready, so we hung at the bar ordering in some gin & tonics. The bartender told us that the drinks was already paid for by a gentleman on the other side of the bar, so when we looked at him and raised our glasses for him he said: "you guys were awesome yesterday!" Man, I can easily adapt to this way of life. He he he. After the meal we walked to the Earthlink arena and just walked around in the Vinyl Club, talking to fans, drinking beer, taking pictures, just having a darn good time. We had a signing session scheduled later in the afternoon, but we were a bit scared that it would be kind of "Spinal Tap-ish" since we had signed so much stuff last night and so far this day. But we were totally amazed (yes, same word again) by the length of the line leading up to the table. I don't remember how long we sat there, I think it was an hour or so, then Glenn Harveston, promoter, showed up and asked if we could to move and continue the signing and photo sessions somewhere else to keep the time schedule for the signing sessions. Next up was Ben Jackson and Midnight I wish I had brought my Crimson Glory album covers. They were a huge influence for me in the mid 80´s, they still are. I guess I'm not the only one that would be happy if they got it together again. It was also very nice to meet the other bands, I mean, hearing Jon Oliva say: "You guys kicked ass" felt pretty good. We had a blast all evening, just partying and enjoying every second of it. Unfortunately, due to heavy drinking I guess, I kind of missed most of the bands on stage. Typical festival thing, it happens to me all the time. Again, I crashed into the bed pretty early, and missed all the parties at the hotel. I just have to get back here and make up for it. We managed to keep the check-out time, barely, and went for pizza. The sun was HOT, I "over-tanned" on Saturday at the pool so it had started to hurt pretty badly, so I tried to stay in the shadow.
We bordered the flight in time late afternoon, and landed in Paris early Monday morning (CET). The flight was not that fun and we had a 4,5 hour layover in Paris so it was just booooorrriiinnnggg!!!!!! The flight to Stockholm was not fun either, the plane made some weird noises and the "French" food was .well, "French" if you know what I mean. After getting our luggage we took the elevator down below to the train station and bordered a packed train to Bollnäs. Everybody was sitting in the wrong places but we didn't mind, there is no idea to get everybody to move around to their "right" seats. It's better to just sit down where ever there is a vacant seat. But, at the next station a stupid bitch entered and started to complain that her seat was taken by Peter. I tried to explain the situation to her but she was just like old stupid people. "I have a seat reservation and I want MY seat!" There was no vacant seats left in this wagon and she refused to look elsewhere on the train. So I let her have my seat, I couldn't stand to hear her voice any more. I went off to the restaurant wagon and had some coffee instead. Modden and Daniel joined me shortly and we stayed there the rest of the way, talking about what we just had done. We had been looking forward to this trip for a long time and now it was over. We felt happy, but a bit sad too at the same time. Now it was back to daily life for us with work, rehearsals and paying bills. We arrived back home in Bollnäs at 7 p.m. Monday September 20th after about 24 hours of travelling.
34 000 tons of Metal Cruise:
We met up again on Friday September 24th to start the trip to Stockholm to play the 34 000 tons of metal cruise. This was a fun event. The biggest metal magazine in Sweden had chartered a big cruise ship travelling between Stockholm and Åbo (Finland). 23 hours of total metal party. The cruise was sold out, I think they sold 1700 tickets. We had a rental van and three friends (crew) with us and the party started at 11.30 am at my house with beer and whisky. It was me, Modden and Putte, our driver, waiting for the van to arrive. We went to our rehearsal studio on the other side of town to meet up with the rest of the band and to load our equipment. Which was done very fast. We tried to enjoy our self as much as possible while driving to Stockholm. So we drank beer and Modden showed his bare ass to some old ladies in a car behind. That is always fun. It got even more fun as we came into the rush hour traffic in Stockholm because then the cars around ours couldn't get away. He he he. Times like this you could say that the average age within this band is about 14. Have you ever heard the expression: "act your age"? We haven't. He he he.
Arriving at the terminal building was nice, packed with metal heads and metal music through the speakers. We met some old friends which we hadn't seen for some time so this was going to be something to remember. On the cruise ship the party really started. We where playing the next day so it was just to party all night long. We went directly to the duty-free shop and got something for later. The food on these boats is excellent and cheep. You can eat and drink as much as you like. So we had a good time there. Then it was off to the bar and see some bands. Tankard, Skyclad and Hypocrisy where playing this night, to be honest, I totally missed Tankard, I saw half a song with Skyclad but they where just plain boring I think. I saw a few songs with Hypocrisy and they kicked ass as usual. We had a very good time, I even met Kai Hansen from Gamma Ray there. He was playing with Stormwarrior in Stockholm on Saturday evening so he was on the boat just to party. We started to have too many vodka and RedBulls. But hey! When I'm drinking my judgement is totally gone. Ha ha ha. When the bars closed we continued the partying in our cabin and I think I fell asleep around 7.30 am or so. It was a cool "after party", lots of laughter and lots of beer.
We woke up just in time for brunch and after that I had a Bloody Mary, trying to treat the hangover. I thought I succeeded but after a couple of hours it was real bad, and we where about to play soon First up today was Wolf. A bunch of cool guys, they did a good job, they had a fare share of hangover too. Ha ha ha.
Then it was Amon Amarth, Swedish Viking Death Metal from hell. When we where done setting up on stage I thought that this is going to be tough, I could barely stand up straight and I felt like I could puke just about anytime. Hmm, interesting. Where the hell should I puke? I had my guitar cases just behind the small stage so I thought that if I had to puke I would run back there and do it in the guitar case. Better then doing it on stage I thought. How ever, when we started to play the first song I just forgot about the hangover and it was back to normal "live-mode" again. The stage was very small and it felt a bit weird playing on a stage that moves. At one time I saw some islands moving by outside in the corner of my eye and I felt sick. So I closed my eyes and tried to forget how I felt. I was amazed that the crowd was so big, I mean everybody had been partying like hell yesterday. They did a good job! After the show I realized how exhausted I was, I grabbed a plastic bag just in case and a carried it with me for the rest of the trip. I went out side on to the deck and stayed there for some time. I don't think that I ever have felt so sick. It took about 4 days for me to recover after this trip. Sometimes you wonder if you ever will learn. Ha ha ha.
The cruise was a success for the Sweden Rock Magazine and I guess they now made it a annual event. Exellent! Silja Line, the cruise company, was satisfied as well. They where a bit worried at first, I mean a ship full of metal heads But they said that it was more easy going then a regular mid week cruise. Again, we had a very good time and I would like to say thanx to our crew: Pjuj, stage tech. Putte, driver. Lubbe, photographer. You make our life easy! THANX! Also a BIG thanx to all the fans for making all this worth it, and the Sweden Rock Magazine crew for making things run smoothly. Okay, I know this "tour report" got very long, but I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
Cheers,
Krunt
PS: Keep an eye on the "schedule" section on the web site for updated information on future shows with Tad Morose
