share your international showgoing stories
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Bullet For My Valentine
In Flames We Trust
Metal Heart is a yearly festival and last year was the first one. This year's line-up announced so far includes My Dying Bride, Opeth, White Lion, Evergrey, Draconian, Twisted Siter, Freak Kitchen, TYR, Alestorm, Circus Maximus, Astral Doors, Susperia, etc. Please visit www.metalheart.no for more info.
Graspop's line-up is incredible this year!!!!
Friday - Judas Priest, White Snake, Def Leppard, Ministry, Morbid Angel, Saxon, Testament, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nile, Obituary, Symphony X, Deathstars, Tesla, Behemoth, Black Stone Cherry, Moonspell, Firewind + 4 more bands I haven't heard of before
Saturday - KISS, Cavalea Conspiracy, Iced Earth, Immortal, Sonata Arctica, My Dying Bride, Helmet, Forbidden, Volbeat, Bring Me The Horizon, Korpiklaani, Dying Fetus, Hollenthon, 36 Crazyfists, Agent Steel, Bleeding Through, Novembers Doom, Throwdown, Sabaton, Alestorm + 4 more
Sunday - Iron Maiden, In Flames, Apocalyptica, Bullet For My Valentine, Opeth, Avenged Sevenfold, At The Gates, Arch Enemy, Madball, Primordial, Soilwork, Rotting Christ, Comeback Kid, Lauren Harris, Disfear, Alchemist, Converge, Skindred, Shai Hulud, Black Tide + 5 more
I believe metalheads in the US deserve to have a festival like this!!
I'm not sure when I'll go back permanently to Korea but you can stay in my house then. A metalhead will be always welcomed.
johan68
Member
Well, damn, I believe I've just been out-Marillion-fanned!!!You, sir, rock!
Shaye
Well, I think I have a few years on you... Actually saw Marillion the first time on the Real to Reel tour.... Yiekes, makes me feel a bit dated.
Can't wait for the Montreal Convention.Cheers
Johan
Pellaz
Tigron of Immanion
Yep, RyanAir FTW.
When I was in The Netherlands for PP Europe, I noticed that almost everyone there spoke pretty decent English. The same was true of friends of ours from Belgium, etc. Meanwhile, not as many people we met from Germany or France were as fluent in English.
When I asked about this, my friends said "Oh, that's easy! In France and Germany, American movies are almost always overdubbed. In the BeNeLux countries, movies are usually subtitled instead....which means we get a better 'feel' for conversational English. It's like getting free lessons!"
That made perfect sense to me. I'm wondering, 9 years later, if that's still largely the same?
When I was in The Netherlands for PP Europe, I noticed that almost everyone there spoke pretty decent English. The same was true of friends of ours from Belgium, etc. Meanwhile, not as many people we met from Germany or France were as fluent in English.
When I asked about this, my friends said "Oh, that's easy! In France and Germany, American movies are almost always overdubbed. In the BeNeLux countries, movies are usually subtitled instead....which means we get a better 'feel' for conversational English. It's like getting free lessons!"
That made perfect sense to me. I'm wondering, 9 years later, if that's still largely the same?
TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER
Halcyon Way Sufferer
- Jan 7, 2002
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Saw Toto in California, Judas Priest in Japan (met Ian and KK) and Dark Tranquillity, Visions of Atlantis. Shadows Fall and Xandria (met all bands) in South Korea (2003 & 2004 Busan Rock Festival, Rolling Hill club in Seoul).
I think so... Well, I've never been to the Netherlands, but comparing Finland to Germany the difference is pretty brutal... In Finland more people spoke english and with way better accents!
But in germany you still could comunicate OK...
AMBR
Metal Grandma
I was in Germany and Finland last summer and it is still that way. Funny, on one of my trips to Finland I was watching television and they had TWO German stations that had Finnish subtitles. Now THAT was weird.
My first music experience overseas, was for the Nightwish Once release party in Kitee, FI. Got talked into it by some Finnish and German friends and remarkably, the paranoid flyer who had never been overseas found herself alone on a plane to Helsinki. It was a life-changing experience. Spent a five-hour layover wandering disoriented in Amsterdam then nearly two days prowling around Helsinki. Finally, my friends arrived and we converged on the city's most noted club, Tavastia for the "last" Stratovarius concert, since they were really breaking up this time. :Smug:
We had a blast and ended up going to bed at 4:30 AM (some didn't at all) then getting up and hour later in order to catch the 6:30 train to Kitee. That experience and concert was unbelievable and requires a lot more space than I'll waste here.
After that, I caught the travel bug full-blown. I returned to Helsinki for a 5-day trip to see the Nightwish show at the Hartwell Arena that ended that era. Interviewed John Two-Hawks too; really cool guy!
The following year my husband and I went to Sweden Rock. Best outdoor festival I've ever attended. The number and varieties of bands was outstanding. My husband could see more traditional rock bands while I had plenty of kick-ass metal to enjoy. The atmosphere was unlike anything I'd experienced in the states. No fight, vandalism or any negativity from the crowd or security that I could see for the entire 3-day event. Coming from Jersey - unblievable.
After Sweden Rock, we spent the better part of a week at a friend's villa out in the woods of Finland. A beautiful experience, but a story for another time. Then we made the trek into Helsinki for MyötätuuliRock. A small, but fun fesival, it was here I saw Amorphis and Tarot for the first time. Oh, and Stratovarius headlined. Guess, they hadn't broke up after all. I wrote a short review with photos here.
Last year I went to Bang Your Head in Germany and Tuska back in Finalnd. I LOVED the Bang Your Head festival. There's a little village only a 10-min. walk from the fest so it's very convenient. Got to see some great bands like Brainstorm, Mercenary, Amorphis, Amon Amarth and was even onstage to photograph Evergrey. Seeing Dio with Heaven and Hell was a major highlight.
EDIT: How could I forget?! I also went to see the LAST DAY of Andy Kuntz's play, "Abydos". Beyond words. Worth the whole trip to Germany and the very difficut train rides out to Kaiserslautern. Wow! Get that DVD. It's so other wordly.
Tuska is a totally different experience and also a hell of a lot of fun. It actually takes place in a park within Helsinki right by the main strain station. We stayed in a hostel in the city only walking distance from the fest. Actually, just about everything in Helsinki is walking distance. Again, great bands and great atmosphere! Oh, and here's something that sets Tuska apart, you can bring your own alcohol in as long as it's in plastic.
:Smokin: That was certainly a first. So, I highly recommend getting over to Europe for a music festival. They are very different from anything we have over here. I can't wait to go again, but will have to skip this year due to the high flight prices and weak dollar, but I'll be back. No doubt.
PurpleCrayonWriter
Just a Kid at Heart
Back in the early to mid 1990s I started work on what would have been the first book on prog rock legends King Crimson. I interviewed about half of the players who were in the band over the years (Greg Lake, Ian McDonald, Mike Giles, Bill Bruford, John Wetton, Pete Sinfield, Richard Palmer-James, Jamie Muir, Boz Burrell, David Cross, Adrian Belew and many more). In early 1997, I got a call one afternoon from none other than Robert Fripp himself. He invited me to London to the "playback" party for the release Epitaph, a box set of live performances from 1969.
Of course, I booked a flight immediately and flew to London. I believe it was around March or early April of 1997. The weather was gorgeous, about a month ahead of what we were experiencing in the States. I remember walking all over London, just soaking it all in.
The Epitaph playback party was held in a hotel banquet room and all the usual suspects were there. It was the first time all of the original members of King Crimson had gotten together in the same room since the band broke up shortly after their first American tour in 1969.
I sat at a table that included drummer Mike Giles and his daughters, among others. As they played Epitaph through an impressive sound system, I watched Mike's face. He was really groovin' to the music, remembering each cymbal crash and snap of the snare.
Even though this wasn't a "concert" in the strictest sense of the word, it was an international show that was unique, never to be repeated.
Bill
Of course, I booked a flight immediately and flew to London. I believe it was around March or early April of 1997. The weather was gorgeous, about a month ahead of what we were experiencing in the States. I remember walking all over London, just soaking it all in.
The Epitaph playback party was held in a hotel banquet room and all the usual suspects were there. It was the first time all of the original members of King Crimson had gotten together in the same room since the band broke up shortly after their first American tour in 1969.
I sat at a table that included drummer Mike Giles and his daughters, among others. As they played Epitaph through an impressive sound system, I watched Mike's face. He was really groovin' to the music, remembering each cymbal crash and snap of the snare.
Even though this wasn't a "concert" in the strictest sense of the word, it was an international show that was unique, never to be repeated.
Bill
This thread has been a great read. I can't wait to have a similar experience. Hell, I'm even thinking getting lost once or twice in a land where I can't understand anybody or have any idea where I am might be a nice character-building challenge.
One thing I notice in almost every case is that you the traveller have had a contact in your destination - someone in a band, an interview appointment, etc. I'd be flying solo entirely so it might be a little rougher for me. But despite the weak dollar and all that if I can get something worked out even this year I'm going to make every effort to pull it off. Especially after reading all these cool stories.
One thing I notice in almost every case is that you the traveller have had a contact in your destination - someone in a band, an interview appointment, etc. I'd be flying solo entirely so it might be a little rougher for me. But despite the weak dollar and all that if I can get something worked out even this year I'm going to make every effort to pull it off. Especially after reading all these cool stories.
Havermout
Focused
My first 'real' international showgoing experience was PP usa 1 in Chicago (been to DT in Germany before, but since it's only a 3 hour drive by car in a country next to Holland i don't wanna call this international).
It was back in 2000 around the time Glenn announced his plans to do his first PP in Lansing IL. The line-up was really great (PoS - saw them a couple of months before for the first time and was really impressed, Nevermore - never saw them live. to name a few) and at a certain moment a good friends father in law died totally unexpected and way too young. When we were in a bar with some friends that week we ended up talking about the meaning of life and more stuff like that. We found ourselves lucky to be healthy and still young, let's enjoy what's life got to offer......why not do what we like a lot? seeing some good bands, i mentioned Glenns plans and we thought it would be very cool to be at that festival. When i got home i directly started to look for more information about the festival, travelling options, places to stay etc. The next day i took what i found with me and showed it my buddy. We almost inmediatly agreed on making the trip.
Tickets, flight and hotel where arranged in no-time and before we knew we where sitting in the plane to Chicago. The odd part of the trip was the cancellation of Nevermore, one of the bands we never saw and particularly wanted to see.....they played in Holland the same time we where in the plane to the US !
But Symphonhy X as replacement made the trip more than worth while, not to forget the 2,5 hour PoS.
After being to PP usa 1, we made the trip to Atlanta 3 more times and last year we ended up in Copenhagen at PP scandinavia.
Another trip worth mentioning is the DVD recording session 'A night to remember' by Evergrey in Gothenburg. Took a plane to Sweden on a Saturday morning and the first plane back to Holland the next morning. Ended up with some of the Evergrey guys in a local bar to fill up the time till a had to go to the airport at 6 a.m.
Oh....and yes, we still get subtitles with movies and series from abroad while the Germans still overdub whats not German spoken :Smug:.
H.
It was back in 2000 around the time Glenn announced his plans to do his first PP in Lansing IL. The line-up was really great (PoS - saw them a couple of months before for the first time and was really impressed, Nevermore - never saw them live. to name a few) and at a certain moment a good friends father in law died totally unexpected and way too young. When we were in a bar with some friends that week we ended up talking about the meaning of life and more stuff like that. We found ourselves lucky to be healthy and still young, let's enjoy what's life got to offer......why not do what we like a lot? seeing some good bands, i mentioned Glenns plans and we thought it would be very cool to be at that festival. When i got home i directly started to look for more information about the festival, travelling options, places to stay etc. The next day i took what i found with me and showed it my buddy. We almost inmediatly agreed on making the trip.
Tickets, flight and hotel where arranged in no-time and before we knew we where sitting in the plane to Chicago. The odd part of the trip was the cancellation of Nevermore, one of the bands we never saw and particularly wanted to see.....they played in Holland the same time we where in the plane to the US !
But Symphonhy X as replacement made the trip more than worth while, not to forget the 2,5 hour PoS.After being to PP usa 1, we made the trip to Atlanta 3 more times and last year we ended up in Copenhagen at PP scandinavia.
Another trip worth mentioning is the DVD recording session 'A night to remember' by Evergrey in Gothenburg. Took a plane to Sweden on a Saturday morning and the first plane back to Holland the next morning. Ended up with some of the Evergrey guys in a local bar to fill up the time till a had to go to the airport at 6 a.m.
Oh....and yes, we still get subtitles with movies and series from abroad while the Germans still overdub whats not German spoken :Smug:.
H.
Megawozniak
Alex from Canada
I'm going overseas for the first time this summer...I have tickets to Graspop, Metalcamp, Wacken, and I'm looking to also hit up Hellfest and maybe that one in a castle with Haggard. I'm going solo, and am relying on the metal brotherhood to keep me safe.
Pellaz
Tigron of Immanion
Lucky dawg! *envious*
Oh, if anyone overseas accosts you, don't tell them you're from the USA; tell 'em you're from Canada. Overseas, Canadians are cool, while all Americans are evil war-mongerers--
--Oh, wait, you're already from Canada. Nevermind!
AMBR
Metal Grandma
Ha ha ha, I did that once. I just said I was from uh..Canada. "Blame Canada". Amazing how many people knew the song from South Park.Lucky dawg! *envious*
Oh, if anyone overseas accosts you, don't tell them you're from the USA; tell 'em you're from Canada. Overseas, Canadians are cool, while all Americans are evil war-mongerers--
--Oh, wait, you're already from Canada. Nevermind!
I know you're kidding, but I have to say that I had absolutely no problems with declaring myself an American, and I was in Germany right after the war started and the US was talking a lot of shit about both Germany and France for refusing to get involved. A lot of people were interested in my thoughts about the political situation, but not one single person treated me with disrespect for being an American.
Of course, a lot of people didn't *realize* I was an American. I was mistaken for Dutch and British by a couple of people, and a Thunderstone roadie after the show in Nürnberg didn't know where I was from, but was shocked to find out I was an American, and he almost refused to believe it, except Mike Lepond was around to verify that indeed I was.
This might have something to do with the fact that I'm not "stereotypical" - I'm reasonably quiet, polite, and attempt to address people in the language of whatever country I'm in. (Even if you can't hold a conversation, things like "please" and "thank you" in the local language go a LONG way towards public goodwill.)
Mooseknuckle
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
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