share your international showgoing stories

[TychoCelchu]

(This might belong in the lounge?) For those of you who have traveled across an ocean, in either direction, for a fest or show, I'd like to hear (read) your stories. How did it go (especially your first trip)? Was it a bank-breaker? Did you get lost? Have any culture-clashes? Was language barrier ever a problem? Any serious scares or funny encounters? etc. etc.

I've never done this yet but I'm really getting the travel itch lately and I'd really like to hit up one of those awesome faraway European or Scandinavian festivals I keep reading about. I do PPUSA and love it and I'd love for to do similar somewhere across the ocean, and very soon. I'll read as much as anyone would be willing to type. Thanks.

 

[Dolamite S. Biffle]

Never been to a concert out of the country unfortunately. PP Scan though might change that.

 

[zedowns]

I'm REALLLLLY hoping to go to PP Scan this year, so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for sure.

 

[cinflames]

I live in California and traveled to Germany for Wacken OpenAir 2003. You can read about it here. A few pictures are included, too. For more pictures, go here.



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[lady_space]

Europe-wise, I've been to 3 Marillion Weekends in the UK, 1 in the Netherlands, and to Sweden Rock once. North America, I road-tripped once to see Queensryche/DT/Fates Warning in Barrie, Montreal and Quebec. No language barriers whatsoever (of course, 3x in the UK and in Canada prolly doesn't count... much ), no travel nightmares, really no major headaches at all. I did all my trips fairly on the cheap, even going so far as to spend the odd night with people I'd never met before. I love it because I get to not only go see a show I'm dying to see, but I also get to do a little sight-seeing. I usually take a whole week around the weekend I'm going for.

My first trip (2002), I was in school and working only PT so in all honesty I "shouldn't have" as the entire thing pretty much went on my credit card. But, man, getting to see Marillion for the first time, them doing Brave live, and then getting to see Stonehenge, not to mention hanging out with some of the Balance of Power guys around London... well, it was worth every red cent. I don't know that that trip could ever be beaten. All in all, I don't think it set me back but maybe $1000 altogether. Come to think of it, someone else may've bought my plane ticket for me... not sure. My mom got the ticket for me for Xmas the next year for a graduation gift, so though barely out of school at that time, it was still not prohibitively expensive.

I will be travelling to at least one Marillion Weekend in '09, too--there's one in the Netherlands again *and* one in Montreal! W00t!

(I DID, however, come back with a kidney infection in both kidneys when I came back from Sweden Rock last year, but I attribute that to not drinking nearly enough water. Plus, I think I started to develop it before I even went, so though I would have happily let you shoot me on the miserable plane ride back, you can't really blame that on the trip itself. I did learn you get a free upgrade if you uke: twice. )

Shaye

 

[Ostracised]

Well, me and Mooseknuckle and a few others saw Dream Theater twice in Japan (for the Metropolis 2000 and 6DoIT tours). Those were good times!!! Of course there's another one that I missed that he likes to brag about...

 

[jaimek]

I went to see Dream Theater in London in 2000 - nothing out of the ordinary there, but it was the second best show I've ever seen from them.

While I was in Germany in 2003, I saw Strato, Symphony X, and Thunderstone in Nürnberg. It helps to have private transportation available, because most European cities shut down by mid-evening. I was staying at a hostel about four miles away, public transportation shut down at midnight, and I was at the club until 2am. I must've walked a mile and a half before a taxi appeared. They also handle trash and recycling a little different at the bar: when you buy a drink, they charge you a nominal fee (the equivalent of fifty cents or so) and give you some kind of token - a colored coin, a receipt, things like that. When you finish your drink, you bring the bottle back to the bar along with the token, they dispose of the bottle, and give you back that fee. I speak enough German to get by, so language wasn't really a problem, but pretty much everyone under the age of 40 speaks English anyway.

I don't recommend going to a four hour show directly after you've been touring a city the entire day, though. Oh, god, my feet hurt SO bad.

I'd really like to attend one of the outdoor festivals someday, myself. Maybe when the economy levels out a bit and airfare isn't so outrageous. I wanted to go to Sweden Rock, but airfare alone is nearly a thousand dollars. Bit out of my budget.

Speaking of outrageous airfare, I'm going to Australia/New Zealand for a couple weeks in August 2010 - I'm hoping that someone interesting will be touring through Melbourne while I'm in town...

 

[Leopard]

I've been to Germany to see bands. I saw Pink Cream 69 twice and saw David Readman with his acoustic cover band once. The worst thing to happen to me was when I got lost driving to the airport and I made it to the gate just as the final boarding call was announced; talk about cutting it close!

As for breaking the bank...well, yeah.

Next month I'm off to Finland to see Leverage! And in October I go to the UK for Firefest, mainly to see David Readman and Pink Cream 69 (I had also really wanted to see Eden's Curse, but they got bumped, grr!)

Beth

 

[Pellaz]

I wrote up an after-the-fact journal of my trip to ProgPower Europe in 1999, with pics: http://jet13.hasweb.com/~paulcas/progpowr/index.html

I was only on Dutch soil for about 26 hours and it was my first journey overseas...and it was totally awesome!


I had to travel to Detroit from Atlanta to see my first Dream Theater show ever, back on the Awake tour....but since we drove across the bridge into Canada for a couple of hours before the show started, I officially consider that an international show.


Not a true showgoing overseas trip (although we were hoping to catch someone good while we were there), but here's a link to the beginning of my 10-day trip to England for an author friend's fan-convention and then to London afterward.
I bought so much extra stuff (books, CDs, DVDs) that I had to buy an auxiliary suitcase to bring it all back.

 

[Rezz]

I've been to Germany to see bands. I saw Pink Cream 69 twice and saw David Readman with his acoustic cover band once. The worst thing to happen to me was when I got lost driving to the airport and I made it to the gate just as the final boarding call was announced; talk about cutting it close!

As for breaking the bank...well, yeah.

Next month I'm off to Finland to see Leverage! And in October I go to the UK for Firefest, mainly to see David Readman and Pink Cream 69 (I had also really wanted to see Eden's Curse, but they got bumped, grr!)

Beth

I hate you! A friend and I had tentative plans to go to Germany to see PC69 a few years back but I went and got married instead. I have an 9 month old daughter as well now so my traveling to Europe for concerts days are over. At least I got to see PC69 at PPVI.

My best trip was in November, 2001. We flew to France and followed Edguy around the country for 3 shows (Lyon, Paris & Lille). My buddy followed them up to London as well while I went back to Paris to see the sights. Great time! Also saw Fredom Call, Lullacry, Nostradameus, Heavenly and a couple others I can't remember now. Sonata was supposed to play but they cancelled for some reason. I am soooo glad I did it when I had the chance. No regrets at all.

 

[Angrafan]

I absolutely love doing this! It's just a perfect excuse to get to know some other places, and see a great gig..

in 2005 I travelled through Europe for a couple of weeks, catching 2 festivals.. No major problems whatsoever.. had a great time

in 2006 I went to Mexico to see Anathema! It was a quick trip, flew in saturday morning and came back sunday night.. Didn't get to see much of the country, the concert was excellent!

I Went to Chile last march to see The Gathering's DVD recording! what a GREAT experience.. Not only the show was one of the best I've ever seen, I just fell in love with the country.. LOVED Chile! Santiago has some great bars/restaurants, plenty of tourist stuff to do and great food (and wines and beers)...

In August I went to Finland to see Anneke's last gig with The Gathering. We stayed a whole week in Helsinki (the festival lasted 2 days, so 5 days just getting to know the city a little).. Absolutely everyone speaks english! Really easy to get around, just a bit expensive... Having Aki as our guide made it all even better

And last november I went to Mexico City again to a Gathering DVD release party/tribute concert (With Marcela Bovio from Stream of passion)... It was nice to see the DVD before it came out and the tribute band was dead on! Spent only 3 days in Mexico, but I could get to see the city a bit more than the previous time...

 

[bwrightson]

Last year I went over to ProgPower Scandinavia and absolutely had a blast! The Rock was a cool venue with really good sound, the beer was really good but damn expensive due to the value of the dollar, oh and Machine Men, Threshold, Circus Maximus, SUE, Firewind, and Andromeda all kicked ass!!! The Rock was right off the main strip in Copenhagen, so it was close to other restaurants, bars, and hotels.

Machine Men would be a great ProgPowerUSA band one day!!!

Bill

 

[J-Man]

Okay, where to start? let's start at the beginning

I was privileged enough to see The Allman Brothers many times as they would play our High School dances.

Saw Hendrix with Ted Nugent and Amboy Dukes in Atlanta in the late Sixties.

Woodstock
Atlanta Pop Festival

Now for Overseas:

SLADE in Wurzburg Germany 1974
Robin Trower in Stockholm9 at a soccer stadium no lest than 50,000 in attendance

Royal Hunt in Yokohama Japan(with John West)
Rhapsody in Seoul Korea
Nightwish at the Busan Festival in Korea
Fragile Vastness at the Texas Club in Pyra Greece.

I guess it pays to have been in the military and now working for a Company that sends me all over the world.

 

[pollution]

I've done a few trips out of Finland for festivals and concerts, most importantly the 4 trips to PPUSA which always were the highlights of those years for me Those trips always included some extra days somewhere in the East Coast too (VA area, Boston, DC & New York) and thanks to some wonderful friends everything always went as smoothly as possible really.

Done some trips inside Europe too, like to see Dream Theater in London 2003, the Bang Your Head festival in Germany last year (lots of fun!) and also last year to Germany on a different trip to see Anathema, Porcupine Tree and Dead Soul Tribe. I did fine with English in Germany and like Lucas said above anyone visiting Finland for concerts or festivals will do great with English only also.

So hopefully next trip across the pond will be in Sept for PPUSA again, would suck to miss the usual highlight of the year for the 2nd straight year. And inside Europe I'm VERY tempted to go to PP Scandinavia in Oct/Nov.

 

[TychoCelchu]

Appreciate everyone's posts so far!

 

[johan68]

Sweden Rock three times.
Two Marillion conventions, one in Holland and one in Britain.
Have also seen Marilion in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Mexico, Holland and 9 times in the U.K.
Seen Rhapsody in Italy once.
Crazy U.S roadtrips to see Marillion, Cincinatti, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver just to name a few.
This is all since I've lived in the U.S. When I lived in Sweden going abroad to see shows was naturally much cheaper and easier.

 

[DADRocks]

I've been to Germany to see bands. I saw Pink Cream 69 twice and saw David Readman with his acoustic cover band once. The worst thing to happen to me was when I got lost driving to the airport and I made it to the gate just as the final boarding call was announced; talk about cutting it close!

As for breaking the bank...well, yeah.

Next month I'm off to Finland to see Leverage! And in October I go to the UK for Firefest, mainly to see David Readman and Pink Cream 69 (I had also really wanted to see Eden's Curse, but they got bumped, grr!)

Beth

I'm jealous, even though seeing PC69 at ProgPower (which was awesome!) I would love to see them at Firefest, the lineup is awesome. I'd really like to see Tyketto, PC69, David Readman, & JSS all together. I cannot though since I'm going to Octoberfest in Germany which I hope there is a killer show somewhere close in Germany that I'll be able to catch (hopefully Serenity!)

Two years ago I caught D.A.D. in Marne, Germany which was awesome and then the next day caught them in Copenhagen, Denmark which was really insane due to the amount of people that showed up, wasn't expecting such a high turnout. We were supposed to head up to see one day of a two day festival in I believe Oslo, Norway that ended up getting cancelled which we would of been able to catch Helloween, Masterplan (w/ Jorn), and Gotthard all in a row which would of been ideal. It ended up getting cancelled and they never refunded the cost of the tickets (those bastards!!!!!) So instead we got tickets for the 2nd D.A.D show.

 

[Bullet For My Valentine]

I went to LA (from Korea) to see In Flames and Dream Theater in 2000. Those two were my first oversea shows which blew me away!!

When I visited LA again in 2005, I flew to Columbus, OH to see Warped Tour '05 because I had to come back to Korea the next day.

In 2006, I went to Japan to see Loud Park '06, which had the BEST metal/metalcore line-up ever!! Can't beat the second-day line-up of the festival, because ALL the bands were huge enough to headline a world tour. As I Lay Dying hit the stage at 11:00 *AM* and In Flames were in the middle of the line-up!!!

Last year, I was supposed to go to Wacken, but my girlfriend couldn't make it. Instead, we went to Norway to see Metal Heart Festival featuring Blind Guardian, Dimmu Borgir, Therion, Testament, Queensryche, UDO, Candlemass, Jorn, Circus Maximus, Primal Fear, Falconer, Cloudscape, Sirenia, Freak Kitchen, Zyklon, Vreid and more. I was really shocked by the small venue and crowd in spite of the brilliant line-up! Testament, the headliner, had 1000-1500 people I guess, whereas Falconer had 20-30. It was an amazing experience though it's soooooooo cold even in August.
After the festival we went to Finland just because I, and especially my girlfriend love Finnish metal bands very much. We visited Helsinki, Suomenlina, and Lake Bodom, but failed to catch a gig cause we stayed there only for three days.

And I came to Atlanta with a J-Visa (visiting status) last year, which means 50 rock/metal gigs I saw here, including PPVIII, were all oversea concerts to me

This year, I'm thinking of Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium. Is anyone planning to go there?

 

[Bullet For My Valentine]

Rhapsody in Seoul Korea
Nightwish at the Busan Festival in Korea

I was there too!
They were hometown gigs to me, though.

 

[TychoCelchu]

we went to Norway to see Metal Heart Festival featuring Blind Guardian, Dimmu Borgir, Therion, Testament, Queensryche, UDO, Candlemass, Jorn, Circus Maximus, Primal Fear, Falconer, Cloudscape, Sirenia, Freak Kitchen, Zyklon, Vreid and more.

O

M

F

G

Is this a yearly or regular-interval festival?

Who's playing Graspop? I'd consider that. I almost don't care where I go as long as it's somewhere with metal and in Europe or Scandinavia. I do want to go to Korea as I was born there but immediately adopted into the US. I don't know any Korean though and I know there would be many awkward moments with people who would assume I do since that's what I look like. (That probably shouldn't stop me though)