I... don't know.
I went to Vienna and Munich for about a week. A 5 concerts in 6 days trip. Well, that was the plan at least...
I left on Saturday afternoon and arrived in Vienna on Sunday morning. The bus ride was long, but uneventful. Then I had almost 4 hours until the bus to Munich. Sadly, it wasn't easy going around with the backpack, the park nearby I had counted on spending my time in on a bench was closed for improvements until September, nothing was open on a Sunday morning, not even ice cream shops or the nearby tram museum. Oh, well... The ride to Munich was mostly uneventful as well, save for a bizarre over an hour long stop at the border. There are normally no border checks between Austria and Germany and also, it's not like we were even asked for IDs or anything. The bus was just stopped there on the side of the road for over an hour. Did this have anything to do with the G7 summit in Munich? No idea.
I was drained when I arrived at the hotel. At least it was super close to the central bus/ train station, only about a 5 minutes walk. So there was nothing else on the menu for Sunday other than sleep.
The next morning, I wanted to go back to
this statue, which I had spotted from the bus when arriving the day before. And also to check out the park around. And then also had an ice cream. And went shopping for baking supplies (stuff like ground almonds, which I use for making
ricciarelli/ soft amaretti, is cheaper in Germany) and some food. And a pack of garbage bags because I had forgot to take one with me from home and the forecast was threatening a thunderstorm and spending 0.55€ on a pack of 25 garbage bags sure beats spending 7.50€ on an ugly "I ❤️ Berlin" raincoat which was what I ended up doing before the Aerosmith show in 2017 so I wouldn't get soaked by the pouring rain. I do love Berlin, but that raincoat was ugly, poor quality and way, way overpriced.
Shopping without my brain apparently because, one, I grabbed a nice looking tiny ice cream cup from a freezer, even though I didn't see a price for it, but thought "eh, how much can it be at this size?" - well, almost 4€! and two, I also grabbed a can of tuna which was on sale and while this thing did indeed only cost the 1.49€ seen on the label, the surprise came a few days later when I opened it and was greeted by a nasty smell. Now I know some people say fish smells nasty in general, but fish has never smelled nasty
to me before. Well, it wasn't the fish. Instead of grabbing the plain tuna variety, I had accidentally grabbed the one with vegetables... yuck! I ended up leaving it in a sealed bag somewhere where people who dumpster dive can find it. Maybe some like vegetables.
Then went to the Priest show. Wearing a Saxon t-shirt because my one Priest t-shirt was too big to carry to Germany. It's easier to keep your backpack compact when your clothes are a bit more fitted and not massive nightgowns.
It was a nice atmosphere at the entrance. A few of the people who had been in Berlin were at this show too. A couple of them are massive Priest fans and try to follow them everywhere they can... within the limits of their pocket and those of their confidence when going abroad.
The thunderstorm didn't hit before we went in. It was sunny and the temperature was a bit above 30°C, though it didn't really feel hot because it was also windy. At some point, I overheard someone talk about how he was also supposed to go to the Whitesnake show in Vienna and I got a nasty feeling, so I asked my friend to check oeticket, but oeticket stil listed that show, as well as all other shows I had a ticket for in Vienna as still taking place, so okay.
I did have some pretty high expectations from a supergroup like The Dead Daisies and they didn't disappoint. They put on a short, but good show. Would go see them again.
It was cool to also see the full big Priest show, with the huge cross hanging above,
the giant inflatable bull and all the other Birmingham-style decorations. Also,
Rob's outfit...
I will confess I spent a lot of time checking out the patches. Obviously he has some Priest ones on that long vest? (don't know what else to call it), but there are also Motörhead, Alice Cooper ones... The fact that they opened with One Shot at Glory remains a real highlight for me - they've never played this before this 50th anniversary tour!
Kinda sad the set was a bit shorter this time - they took out Rocka Rolla, which was a fun and different one in Berlin.
And them petting the bull was a basket full of puppies level of adorable. I got a photo with the bull after the show too.
The thunderstorm the forecast had warned about did happen. After the show.
Heaven can wait.
No rest for the wicked, so get up at 4-something in the morning after less than 3 hours of sleep, pack, go to the train station, get on the train to Vienna. It's a very pretty route and I saw lots of deer on the way. The train was (almost) on time, so, after dropping off stuff at the hotel and going around the city centre a bit (which included seeing the busiest airport in Europe, with lots of pigeons landing and taking off every minute)... it was go to Stadthalle, to be there at least 4 hours before doors would open. Well, 4 hours before doors would open still turned out to be late, as there were already about ten people there before me and the number of people in front of me tripled once their friends showed up too.
The Stadthalle entrance is on the east side, so we were in the shade for a while. For quite a while. Tommy showed up on the way to the soundcheck. I didn't feel like going to him, he was quickly surrounded by too many other people, but I took it as a sign that the show would happen. If it's soundcheck time, then we're past the point when it can still be cancelled, right? Then they put the fences up for the entrance corridor and we had to move into the sun. I sat down to be in the shade of other people, but then I couldn't move from there with the shade because the dude showed up with his cart and his toys and kinda surrounded me with all his stuff.
What dude, you may be wondering? Well, the exact same scruffy dude who was there in 2019, blasting (fortunately good) music and making quite a spectacle of himself trying to get people to notice him and buy his Augustinus publication (which gave me the impression of being a religious thing?) so he could buy a ticket and see the show. At one point, pissed he wasn't making enough money, he said this isn't working, so he'll switch to techno, maybe that makes people more willing to contribute to his ticket. He did make enough to get in, by the way, I saw him inside before I left, collecting empty cups from people. He already had two impressive towers of cups. Drinks were from 5 to 9€ plus a 2€ deposit for the plastic cups. You'd get back those 2€ for bringing back your cup and not just throwing it wherever. He made more money that night out of selling his publication and collecting cups than I spent for this entire one week trip excluding tickets. I don't know how I feel about that. On the one hand, I'm ewww... on the other hand, I kinda envy it because I know I couldn't do it. It feels yucky and degrading and I couldn't bring myself to do it.
That wouldn't be the last time I would see him. He would also show up the next day at the Helloween and Hammerfall show and do the exact same thing. Be as loud and obnoxious as possible, getting in the way of people trying to enter so he could get their attention and get money for a ticket. Fortunately, in spite of the Motörhead stickers on his cart, I guess he's not into punk because I didn't see him at the Die Toten Hosen show.
Anyway. The fact that I couldn't move with the shade because of his dumping his stuff all around me meant I needed to put my scarf on my head to protect myself from the sun. Vampire jokes aside, I am extremely pale and I should really be careful. This also meant I didn't notice when another entrance corridor was created. When going in, I also happened to be right behind a girl who had a million things in her bag and it took forever to check, so I just stood there looking at all the people going in left and right while waiting for her bag to get checked. I somehow still got a spot at the barrier, even though way to the side.
At this show, I also found out that
Whitesnake had indeed cancelled their Vienna show. I overheard a guy talk about it, so I asked if he's sure and he showed me the email from oeticket. They
would later cancel their entire remaining European dates, so not only my one chance to see them headlining had gone out the window, but also the chance of seeing them open for KISS... at 3x the price. No, I don't have a ticket and I don't think I'll choose to spend money on KISS, even though I've never seen them. During better times from a financial point of view, I would have done it, just to tick them off some sort of mental list, maybe they even play one of the few songs I like. But not now, not when my income has gone down to 60% of what it was half a year ago while all costs have gone up.
I had thought Michael Monroe would open. That was the info I had found online anyway.
But it was a local group called Eazy. Somehow I couldn't really get into it, but I still think they were a good fit to open for Alice and I'm sure their fans were very happy with their performance. They did sound good. I'll say Stadthalle had the best sound out of all the venues on this run.
Alice... uh, oh... On the one hand, I can say the show was great. As usual, he sounded excellent and his band did a great job too. And the set was full of songs I really enjoy. FFS, Billion Dollar Babies, Escape, Teenage Frankenstein, are you kidding me, that's a fantastic selection of songs! And yet... somehow, I don't know what was wrong with my brain. I mean... I was grateful to at least get to see his show once this year when so many other shows are getting cancelled at the last moment. But it was like a part of me didn't really want to be there.
I don't know. I do know I was tired after being on buses and trains for almost half of the past 80 hours and jumping almost straight into going to shows after. I do know I was stressed out about cancellations and really doubting if I should keep on doing this, traveling for shows. What's the point of spending so much of what I make if shows don't happen. And I do know I felt like I had no business being there. Same thing as at my last Vampires show. There are rich people around and I just want to get away. It's their show, not mine, I don't need to be there and have it shoved in my face.
I don't even know how I caught this pick in the air. The security guy in front of me was "wow, the skill!". I was "wow, the dumb luck!".
Leaving the venue, I passed by an ice cream place an thought their display looked amazing, but I didn't feel up for it at the time. Made a metal note, try it before leaving.
I saw this at the tram station. Sometimes I actually get jokes in German.
Went to Stadtpark and Karlspark again early in the day. Lots of memories there.
I was as low as it gets in terms of expectations for the Helloween and Hammerfall show. I didn't even want to count on it happening. Went there early more out of inertia than really being able to care about the show. Though there was a sigh of relief after seeing the tour buses and then accidentally bumping into Pontus and Frederik from Hammerfall. I couldn't say anything other than a stupid "hi, guys!" but I was relieved to have a sure confirmation that they're there.
Out of inertia was also why I went for the spot right in front of Kai's microphone. Huge fangirl ever since I first saw him with Gamma Ray in 2013 and their show brought me from dizzy carpet state to energetic bunny state in just one hour. Then I ended up feeling kinda bad for my initial lack of enthusiasm. For pretty much giving upon this night before it even started. For not believing it could be a good one.
I've drifted away from Hammerfall years ago, but I have to admit I was very impressed with Joacim. Other singers his age have started to lose their voice, he got better. And the rest of the band sounded great too.
And damn, Renegade and Glory to the Brave still get to me after all this time...
Helloween were immensely fun even though even though I'd pass on seeing them if I only knew their latest album. Which some people absolutely love, others absolutely hate... feels like I'm the only one who has no real strong feelings about it. Some lyrics I find funny, a couple of songs I find nice, but most of it leaves me indifferent. I don't hate it, but most of it does nothing for me.
Oh, well, the live show included plenty of older stuff I can sink my teeth into, including the super early thrashy era stuff, all sung by Kai as a very intense part in the middle of the show. Yes, yes, yes, something that can really make me go crazy. Sorry, I like thrash, have I mentioned that before? Only about a hundred times, I know... The rest was split between the Andi and Michi, with Kai only singing little bits here and there, as usual. And as usual, they were super goofy, miming out songs in hilarious ways. They did cut the very long in between song speeches from the previous tour, which I personally liked. How Many Tears is a fantastic song, but it didn't need a long introduction.
there's so much misery on the screen,
with commercials in betweenI loved that Power came towards the end, at a point when I wasn't expecting it anymore.
The very end I'm mixed about. I absolutely love I Want Out, but I'm really not into the "oooooh" singalongs, I feel like they dilute what would otherwise be a kickass song.
And for the less pleasant part (for me) about that night. A while after we got in, a dude came with his kid and asked the guy to the right to make a bit of room for the kid. The guy initially refused, but the dad was very insistent and eventually got his way. Well, what this generally means is you're not leaving home with a material memory from the show. Everything gets thrown to the kid, everything that lands in the pit is given by the security people to the kid, you can't reach out for anything because all is meant for the kid. Must be nice to be that spot as a kid. I wouldn't know, I had to take mandatory religion classes when I was that age. Where I got told, among others, about how rock music is the root of all evil. I wouldn't get to see my first concert until I was over 24.
Yeah, it bothered me this time, even though I didn't care other times before when there were kids next to me. And what bothered me the most was that both Kai and Weiki did throw me picks and security pushed me up when I dived for them after they landed right in front of me on the other side of the barrier. I know they were with the back to the stage and they couldn't see those two picks were thrown for me, but it's such a bummer because it's the second time Weiki throws me that exact same white pick (after 2017, when that asshole at Romexpo asked for 700 lei to give it to me) and I still don't have it. I found a random pick from Kai at my feet at the very end, but I wanted the one that got thrown to me. The one I could have grabbed if I didn't get pushed up when I dived for it.
Also... Whitesnake aren't the only band to have cancelled shows these days.
Saxon did it too.
Multiple festivals. And
Insomnium. And
Phil Campbell... again. After they cancelled the Rock Hard appearance, someone suggested Wolf Fest in Bulgaria as a cheap alternative. Well, now I'm glad I decided against it since they cancelled that too. Pretty sure lots of other bands I care less about have cancelled shows too. Why am I still doing this travel for shows thing if the risk of them getting cancelled is so high nowadays? What's the point when it makes me so stressed out that everything and everyone around gets on my nerves so easily and I'm finding it at times so hard to get in the mood for concerts I would have otherwise loved before?
On the day that was supposed to be the day of the Whitesnake concert, I went out for a walk in the morning and at Hofer finally found an ice-cream that didn't fall into one of the only two categories seen before: things that are too big to consume at once or things I'm not touching anymore for ethical reasons (brands owned by big companies like Nestlé or Unilever).
Later on, explored the huge park south of Prater. The stadium is there too, so I wanted to see the surroundings. At first, when the oeticket e-mail about the DTH concert first arrived, I think my heart stopped. But it was only moved from Krieau to a stadium nearby. Officially, the reason was Krieau undergoing work that hadn't progressed as expected, so it was not fit for such a concert. I can't help but be cynical and think it was more likely the promoter way oversold it and then there was no choice left but to move it to
a big stadium.
The entrance gates were already in place and you could see the field from there, which gave me hope that going in wouldn't involve going up and down the stairs, but directly onto the field.
The next day was, as planned initially, the zoo day. A lot of cool sightings -
the baby giraffe, elephant shower, bathing rhino, lazing lions and cheetahs and, coolest of all, the diving and swimming
polar bear, which was absolutely incredible to see from up close. Also got to pet the goats... and this time nothing got stolen out of my pockets!
But some of my favourite places were closed. The big cats house, where both Amur tigers and leopards often come to the windows inside was once again closed - it was also closed last August. So I didn't get to see any striped kitty at all, though I am sure I heard one. There was madness outside during the feeding and I didn't feel like being a sardine when not at concerts. And later... no stripes to be seen. I did get to see the Amur leopards, but only from a few good m away - inside, they come right at the glass wall, that's the only thing that separates you from them... I really miss that. Haven't seen them that close in almost 3 years. The ground floor of the Rainforest house was also closed - could only go up, but not downstairs as well. And I didn't see the friendly white pigeons I came across there last time.
Stupidly only got there a bit after 10am, so rushed the end of the visit a bit because it was closing. Seriously, if you ever go there, go there right when it opens at 9am. You might think 9.5 hours is a lot of time to spend in a zoo, but it really isn't when the place is so big and there's just so much to see.
Then the big day. My first ever stadium concert. To see a band where I know things get really intense in front of the stage. Now to be honest, that's why I wanted to see them again.
The first time I saw them was at Artmania in 2012. I didn't buy the ticket for them, but their show ended up being THE reason why I can have fond memories about that festival. Artmania is a festival held in Sibiu. It was the first time ever that I had to book a hotel, arrange travel, be a responsible adult. The being a responsible adult and sorting out those things part sucked huge donkey dicks. But their show was the most insanely wonderful surprise.
I had listened to them before. This was the song that introduced me to them.
I thought they were okay. But just okay. I also got early on the first day and got to sit in front of the stage for their soundcheck. I thought okay, this should be fun. And relaxing. I was right about fun. But boy, was I wrong about relaxing! A guy from their crew was checking the barrier and was very dissatisfied with how it was secured. Made the people working there fix a hundred little things he didn't like. I thought he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. During the show, I would thank him for it. He knew what he was doing. The barrier didn't budge that night.
The amount of crowdsurfing that night was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. And they all got caught safely and put back on their feet. It was incredibly intense in front. Especially when Campino came there. He usually still stagedived at the time (which he doesn't do these days because he says he became afraid of fucking up and not being there for his family anymore), but the stage was too far at that show, so he just jumped on the shoulders of his security guy... who brought him right to me. In those moments when he was above me, spraying the heated crowd with water... there were so many hands reaching out for him, trying to touch him, get a piece of him. I got grabbed by mistake too - you really understand why he crowdsurfs shirtless, he wouldn't get to keep that shirt anyway (there are videos of him losing shoes and socks, getting unzipped and all while crowdsurfing). Really gets your heart rate up to experience that. And yet it was immensely fun. I loved it. I loved that excitement. I've been craving it ever since.
After the knee and back issues was probably not the best moment. And I definitely didn't intend it to be at such a big show. But if not now, when? My body won't get younger again. So deep breath and...
I got there at nine (after a bit of running because for some reason I had no 77A bus going to the stadium on that weekend, it was rerouted). At the nearest of the two entrances, no other fans there, I was the first. Oops... I asked the security people if all the entrance gates were the same/ for the same area. Yes, but it depends on what ticket I have, the entrance for the standing area was the other one. Oh... and after they told me that, I also noticed there was a banner with a big arrow towards the entrance for the standing area. Great, how did I not see that thing? It wasn't like it was tiny or hidden. Go to other entrance, just me there and one other guy. One hour later, a couple shows up. I would later find out they had seen them in lots of places, including in South America... wow! They were super nice and, in general, it was a very nice atmosphere at the entrance. As it was at the Priest show too. What do you know, precisely the shows where the dude asking others to pay for his entrance wasn't present.
At noon, soundcheck. And just like randomly seeing band members outside the venue, it's one of those things you hang on to. If it got to that point, it's past the point of getting cancelled. It won't get taken away anymore. It was a very good selection of songs at the soundcheck, unfortunately, not all of them ended up being played. Maybe Campino could have talked less in between songs and then there would have been room at least for Alles wird vorübergehen - one of their slow songs, which I absolutely love (it's about all being ephemeral, the good and the difficult times... and us, in the end).
A couple of hours later, someone showed up with an orange wristband and said they were being distributed at the other entrance, the one for the sitting area... wait, what? So... what's the deal with the wristbands? I didn't know either before this tour because I only saw them at a small festival. All standing tickets have the same price at their show. However, the standing area is split into multiple sectors at big shows for accident prevention reasons. The different areas get different wristbands. Orange was for front of stage at this show. So quick, run to the other entrance, get a wristband (not easy to get noticed when asking for one among other people when you're my size), then run back. And fortunately still managed to retain my spot at the very front of one of the gates. Then found out the wristbands were actually supposed to get distributed at our entrance. Which came to happen soon after, but by that point, we all had them already.
We were first supposed to go in at 3:30pm, but then that got delayed by one hour. Nobody ran fast, security wouldn't allow it anyway, so I could be lazy (I ran way faster to get that wristband) and still get my desired spot, pretty central, right in front of Kuddel, yay! That was way easier than I thought it would be.
The show however was as intense as expected, which is why I was happy their own security people were in the pit in the central area. You never know how competent the venue security people are. But their crew I know I can trust. And they were awesome on Saturday. It's really cool when it can feel that intense, yet safe. There was a lot of pressure from the back and they did fish out lots of people who told them they can't handle it anymore. And at Unter den Wolken, I did wonder whether my rib cage would make it in one piece because I was getting so compressed from all parts. I decided against asking to be fished out and for pushing back with my elbows to give myself room to breathe. Sorry, but I wanted to make it to the end in that spot. Which was a great spot.
The stage was on two levels and the lower level had an area in the middle which came really close to the barrier. I was at one of the corners of that area, where they all often came. Holy cow, they're still insanely fit! Especially Campino, after all he's put his body through... damn! If I can be as fit at 40 as he is at 60, I'll say thanks!
I was amused by the change of lyrics in Paradies insinuating nobody wants to see their show... to be saying that from a massive stage on a stadium, in front of tens of thousands of people.
I heard someone behind yell something about losing a shoe. And someone gave Campino a wedding invitation on one of the occasions when he came and climbed on the barrier. Come to think about it, it would be insanely funny if he actually showed up at the wedding and the families turned out to be uptight and completely horrified to see someone like him there.
Someone also threw a red bra with a huge cup size towards the stage.
I do wonder... It must have been brought especially for this. You cannot throw it from half a stadium field away and in front it was so crammed, it would have been impossible to take off a bra. Maybe it was his wife who threw it as a joke. Or maybe it was a dude...
Draußen vor der Tür was dedicated to his dad. Really cool to get to hear this one live.
As it was to get Alles mit nach Hause, one song that they have very rarely played. It's about traveling all around the world and taking the memories of those times, the good and the bad, back home with you. The end was what I like the least. Both because there were still other songs they had played on this tour that I would have liked to hear too and because the last two songs they played aren't really my thing.
But oh, well... it's been a good show when it has just finished and you already crave the next.
My train was leaving in the evening on the next day, so I went through the city a bit more. And got an ice cream from that place I had seen after the Alice show. I had intended it to be on Friday after the Zoo visit, but it was really windy then and it was raising a lot of dust. And dust isn't among my preferred ice cream toppings.