OK now I have some time.
So I arrive in Cleveland (a literal butthole of the U.S.). I got there early, about 3:00 and checked out the place. Went in about 4:30 when they officially opened the doors. Not too long after I saw Fred and Daniel and introduced myself, they were cordial. Daniel speaks good english but Fred seemed a little stand offish maybe because he doesnt understand english real well? Soon after I met zzz and morbidenemy, as well as Anthony3. It was immediately apparent that zzz and morbidenemy were extreme Katatonia fans so I just hung with them (also in part because they were working the Katatonia shirt table some how). Anders was there and he recognized the shirt he sold me and we greeted each other, I asked him if he would sign my stuff and he said that it would be better if all of the guys were present to make it "official" so I waited. Hung out with Anthony for awhile as well. Bought an assload of vinyl, CDs, and shirts.
I hung out with the brothers Katatonia (zzz, morbid enemy) and basically just made friends with them and Paula who runs Candlelight U.S. at the table where the Katatonia shirts were being sold.
I heard from afar alot of 80s hairmetal which sucked, but it was cool because I was hangin with some cool Kats and talking about music etc with Paula.
I didnt see Anders for awhile and began to worry that they werent going to do a signing because I asked Fred and he said that they werent going to be doing one. But Paula said not to worry because thay couldnt leave without her because she had their money. She assured me that they would not be able to leave without seeing me, which made me feel really important(haha).
And so I waited for what seemed like days for katatonia to play. I hung out with Matti (the singer for Dismember) who was incredibly cool for a couple of hours.
And eventually they took the stage. I cant recall with any accuracy the Set list for the adrenaline took my memory, but I did record all of the show on my MP3 player, as well as about 45 min. of after show conversation when they were signing stuff and outside after the show.
I must say this about the nature of the show.
There were about 4-5 hundred people in the venue before Katatonia went on. Most of the people were there to see 80s metal and probably had no idea who Katatonia were. So I went to the front as soon as the band before Katatonia finished. I turned around just as Katatonia went on and there were maybe 75 people left there. Suddenly the atmosphere of the place changed, it seemed real intimate, and personal with so few people there. The people that stayed probably showed up just to see Katatonia. It sucked for the band, but it was great for me.
And so they played.....It was surreal to me, the sound was good, the vocals were perfect, they were all on top of their game. At some point they did the song "Strained" which is my fav. song from TD so that was a real nice suprise for me. And MURDER at the end with Jonas doing excellent on vocals was awesome. Anders was full on rockin with some good rocker poses. Fred was stoic and almost statuesque on stage. Mattias was good, his base was mixed louder than on the CDs which was sweet. Jonas was incredible, he looked pained when singing and I dont think that was an act of any kind. Daniel was precise and did some extra fills on the older songs which was cool. It looked to me that some of them were on the fly because Mattias would look at him when he would do it and they would smile at each other like it was unexpected. The whole thing is kind of blurry I think because of the anticipation level etc. I do not drink so that was not it. I did take a buttload of pics though to remember it (which you will all see when I get organized) some of which I have to thank MORBID ENEMY for taking because he was in the stage area
.
And so it was over.
I waited for them to come out and do a signing because Paula assured me that they would. Daniel and Anders came out and we waited for the rest of the guys to come. The venue was shutting down and they signed my stuff (which took awhile). It became apparent that they wanted to close the place in a hurry and I saw Jonas walking out. I told Daniel that he was leaving so he sent me out to get him. Jonas kind of hung at the door for a second and the bouncers were yelling for everyone to get out, bieng very rude (Me and Jonas had a conversation about that later) and so he went outside. I went back to Daniel and Anders and told them what was up so Anders went out after Jonas to get him to come back in. It took awhile but Anders came through and Jonas came in. He started to sign my stuff and the bouncers became impatient, turning the lights out on us and yelling etc. He told me a story about David Vincent, somthing about people in his(Davids) dressing room doing "something" and how it was very rude of them. He said it all softly. It was funny and I have it on tape.
So the bouncers were getting Jonas stressed so he said "bring your stuff outside so we can finish signing". Unfortunately I had SO MUCH SHIT that I could hardly carry it all so it took me a few to gather it all up.
I got outside and the guys were all hanging outside and he finished signing as well as Fred and Mattias.
The next day is another story in itself and I have wasted much of all your time already.
Sorry this is so long, but I figured you all could deal with some details.
There is word of a U.S. tour that I will find out about in the next week or two from Paula so be on the lookout for that.
I must say that the show kicked some serious ass. I have about 150 pics from the show that I will post the best of soon.
..i thank everybody for the nice pictures..'so close and so far away'
