TOUR DIARY
TOUR DIARY 2018 by Ala
Part 1: Azkena Rock Festival & Hellfest
22./23.06. Bilbao / Vitoria / Azkena Rock Festival
Finally! It's the 22nd of June! I'm flying to Spain today where Gluecifer will play at the Azkena Rock Festival. I decided to travel one day earlier because the flight connections were better on Friday and so I would have more time to do some sightseeing. I arrived in Bilbao at 1 pm and stayed there for the rest of the day. The Guggenheim museum is pretty impressive, and the old town is quite nice. In the evening I took the bus to Vitoria where the Azkena Festival is taking place.
The next day I get up early and have the chance to walk around in Vitoria while the rest of the city is still asleep. Right after sunrise is the best time to go sightseeing! Vitoria is a very nice city, especially the old town. Afterwards I go back to my hotel and try to get some more sleep because I won't have a bed for the next two nights. Of course, that doesn't work out well, but I stay in bed for the rest of the day. It's a looong day because Gluecifer will play at 2 am in the night. At about 10 pm I check out and walk to the festival area where Gluecifer will play on the big "God" Stage. When I arrive, Joan Jett is starting her show. She's not my favourite artist, but it is getting cold and so I go a little bit closer to the stage where it is more crowded and therefore warmer. At about 0.30 am her show is over and the big waiting begins. Unfortunately, I’m freezing like hell... Even in Spain it can get cold during the night and so I am waiting and freezing together with a couple of other people who also want to be in the first row. It's no question that it will be worth it! One and a half hour can be very long when you're just waiting. And did I say that I am freezing?? But I’ve been waiting for this day for seven months. One and a half hour should be nothing! I never thought that Gluecifer will ever be back on stage and now it is coming true! They will be on this stage in less than 90 minutes. It still seems unreal.
Finally, it's 2 am! Danny is the first on stage and starts to play "I got a war". Shortly after the rest of the band appear. Raldo Useless, Captain Poon and Biff Malibu are back! Accompanied by the new bass player Peter Larsson. The crowd is freaking out when Biff starts singing "I got a war baby..." It's still unreal, but cool as hell. It's Gluecifer!!! They really are back on stage and I'm very thankful that I'm in the crowd. They are as good and powerful as they have always been. The setlist is fantastic. They play a lot of songs from "Automatic Thrill": the title track, “Take it”, “A car full of stash”, “A call from the other side”, “Here come the pigs” and “Shaking so bad”. Of course, they play the last song they wrote as a band; "Desolate City" as well as “Rockthrone”, “Evil Matcher”, “Ducktail Heat”, “The year of manly living”, “Go away man”, “Bossheaded”, “Reversed”, “Black book lodge” and “Easy Living”. Biff, who is wearing a white jacket, is doing a great job. Unbelievable that he hasn’t done this for almost 13 years! He has such a powerful voice and is such a present on stage. It's great to see that the band is having as much fun as the audience. It's an unforgettable night. The Kings of Rock are back!
They play almost one and a half hour and I enjoy every second of it! It's almost half past three when they leave the stage. After the show I meet Frode who travelled to the festival from Norway. Unfortunately, there is not much time left for small talk because I have to walk straight to the bus station.
Setlist Azkena Rock Festival:
1. I got a war
2. Automatic Thrill
3. Take it
4. Go away man
5. A call from the other side
6. Car full of stash
7. Reversed
8. Shotgun Seat
9. The year of manly living
10. Shaking so bad
11. Evil matcher
12. Get the horn
13. Ducktail Heat
14. Here come the pigs
15. Bossheaded
16. Desolate city
17. Black book lodge
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18. Easy living
19. Rockthrone
24.06.2018 Hellfest
The only way to get to Hellfest in time is to take two busses and two planes. I hope that neither the bus or the plane will be delayed, otherwise I won't make it. The first bus is supposed to leave at 5am. I am getting nervous at 5.10 because the bus still isn't here. Shortly after the bus arrives and I'm on my way to San Sebastian. When I arrive there I've only got 5 minutes to get to the bus to Biarritz! Fortunately, it's works out fine and I arrive at Biarritz Airport at about 8 am. Now it's time to get on the plane! Next stop: Paris. The plane is on time and it's no problem to catch the connecting flight to Nantes. I finally arrive there after 10 hours travelling at 3 pm.
Outside the airport I'm looking for the shuttle taxi to the festival. I ask some people who look like they are also heading in that direction. Coincidently they’re actually part of a Finish metal band and had played the day before and luckily there is at free seat in their taxi and I can travel with them! The festival is huge. There are about 100,000 people and several stages. Gluecifer will play on the "Warzone" stage. I'm very lucky today because right before Gluecifer the Backyard Babies are playing. It couldn't get any better! The Backyard Babies played for 50 minutes and I'm having a lot of fun. But it will get even better afterwards! Again, I have to wait for over an hour but at least it's not as late as yesterday and I don't have to freeze. At 20.25 it's once again Danny who arrives on stage first. The rest of the band quickly follow him and start again with "I got a war". The set is a little bit shorter than the day before, but I don't care as long as they are back on stage! One hour packed with hits like “Automatic Thrill”, “Take it”, “Car full of stash”, “Reversed”, “Evil Matcher”, “Black book lodge” and “Easy Living”. I really could not have wished for more. I'm in heaven at Hellfest!
But all good things must come to an end and I'm getting really tired. I walk around and listen to some songs from Iron Maiden, Marilyn Manson and Turbonegro before I end up at the big campfire because it's getting cold again. At about 3am I take a shuttle taxi to Clisson station where the train for Nantes is leaving. There I must wait again for the FlixBus which is leaving for Paris at 6.45 am. Normally I'm not able to sleep in busses but this time I do and wake up when the bus arrives at Paris at 11.30 am. I've three hours until my train is leaving so I decide to do some speed-sightseeing: Notre-Dame, Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc the Triomphe and Champs-Élysées. The weather is perfect, and I spend a nice afternoon in Paris before my train leavs. At 7pm I'm back home. My bed is my best friend for the next few hours, but I'm already looking forward to the festivals in Norway! The distance between the festivals there is even bigger, and it will be a challenge again to make it from one festival to the other! I hope it will all work out because I don't want to miss one of the greatest shows this year!
Setlist Hellfest:
1. I got a war
2. Automatic Thrill
3. Take it
4. Go away man
5. A call from the other side
6. Car full of stash
7. Reversed
8. The year of manly living
9. Shaking so bad
10. Evil matcher
11. Get the horn
12. Here come the pigs
13. Desolate city
14. Black book lodge
15. Easy living
FAREWELL TOUR 2005 by Ala & Nora
SPAIN
28.09.2005 Madrid, Sala Copernico
Today is the day we have been waiting for! Gluecifer will do their first show of the Farewell tour. But first of all we had to get to Madrid. That’s why we met at the airport in Frankfurt and waited together for our flight to Spain. Somehow it’s unbelievable that we will be in Spain in a few hours and that we will see Gluecifer live on stage again!
We took off at 3.10 pm. It was our first (resp. second) flight ever so it was pretty exciting for us. The flight was good and the weather got better and better the closer we got to Spain.
After all we arrived at 5.30 pm in Madrid and the first problem was finding the exit and the subway. Fortunately at least some people at the airport spoke english so we finally made it. Finding the hotel was no problem and the club was just around the corner. At that time we began to realize that we would really see Gluecifer that evening! In Spain! How crazy is that!? But just great...!
All the shows in Spain started pretty late. That’s why we decided to look for something to eat first. On our way back we had to wait at the traffic lights. And guess who was standing across the street!? Right - Stu, Captain Poon, Biff and Danny! The traffic lights turned from red to green and we said hello to them. Our anticipation grew and we were impatiently waiting for the doors to open.
We got into the “Sala Copernico“ at about 9 pm and secured our places in front of the stage.
Afterwards we had to wait again...
At 10.35 pm Gluecifer entered the stage and started with “Car full of stash“!! Yeah!! This song really kicks ass and is a great opener! That’s how a concert has to begin! The Spanish are a really crazy people and they definitely know how to rock! They are a great audience and got our respect! Without a break Gluecifer went on with “Take it“ followed by “Automatic Thrill“.
The setlist was great and probably came up to everybody’s expectations. One and a half hour later the first show of the Farewell tour was history. Wow! What a great show! We were really very happy that it wasn’t our last Gluecifer show. It was just the beginning of a great tour!
After the show Stu asked us if we would also come to New York. Of course we said “no“. At that time we thought that even we aren’t that crazy. Well, later it turned out that we really are...
29.09.2005 Burgos, Quinta Avenida
The next day we traveled from Madrid to Burgos where the second show in Spain took place. Our train went off at 1.30 pm and we arrived in Burgos at 5.30 pm.
It wasn’t too difficult to find the hotel although it wasn’t near the station. We got there at about 6.30 pm. At 7 pm we decided to search the club. According to the map the club couldn’t be that far away. It seemed like we just had to walk down a few streets. But we didn’t find anything except trees! So we went back to our hotel and asked the guy at the reception.
He gave us a map and marked the position of the club. It was farther away than we thought... So we set off once again. It got darker and darker and the street became a dirt track... Finally we arrived in the middle of nowhere! Great!
The only building we found was the “Villa Marina“ but we couldn’t find the “Quinta Avenida“ where the show should take place. So we decided to go back to the city and look for a taxi. On our way back we once again asked somebody where the “Quinta Avenida“ is. They didn’t speak english at all but we went in the direction they showed us. We got to a restaurant and asked there again where the club is. Finally the woman there showed us the right way! At 10 pm we arrived at the “Quinta Avenida“. It took three hours to get there!!
It was a pretty small club with a very small stage but the crowd was even more crazy than the evening before. The show began at 0.35 am and they started again with „Car full of stash“. The setlist was almost the same as the one in Madrid. The only difference was that they also played „A call from the other side“. From that evening on it was on the setlist every night. It was really a very funny evening: Biff dropped down dead, Captain Poon resurrected him, Raldo played something he wasn’t supposed to and in consequence of this he was attacked by one of Stu’s plectrums. One and a half hours later the show was over and we went back to our hotel. At least we knew then where we had to go!
30.09.2005 Durango, Kafe Antzokia
Our train left for Bilbao at 1 pm and we arrived there at 4.30 pm. Afterwards we had to travel to an EuskoTren station by Metro.
When we got there we had to notice that we just missed a train and had to wait for nearly one hour until the next one came. Great! At least it was no problem to find the hotel when we finally arrived in Durango. At 8 pm we started searching for the club once again. And again it seemed to be pretty easy but it wasn’t. For some reason there aren’t street signs in this city there are only lots of maps. So we went from one map to the next but never got in the right street.
But after we had asked a few people we finally made it. We reached the “Kafe Antzokia“ at 9.30 pm and doors opened at 10 pm. When we saw the stage we first where a bit shocked: The barrier was a staircase! Well, we would see if the Spanish storm the stage...
On that day there was a support act for the first time. Don’t ask for their name, we have no idea! We didn’t understand a single word!
At 11.50 pm Gluecifer entered the stage! And the Spanish went totally mad! They went upstairs and downstairs again all the time! It was just crazy and also big fun! Although the club turned into a sauna within a few minutes. Biff talked a bit of Spanish (a Spanish guy whispered the right words in his ear) and the Spanish were enthused about it! They played the same setlist as the evening before and after one and a half hours a crazy but great show was over.
01.10.2005 Barcelona, Sala Mephisto