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Friday 7/14 – Arrival into Frankfurt – The Beginning………………
After a 2 hour delay due to some part in the cockpit that broke leaving the pilot unable to steer the plane we take off at 9pm on route to Frankfurt! 2 terrible meals and 2 movies later with some bad sleep in between we arrive. Germany is the best place to fly in as a band. The Customs Officers are usually pretty young and they love bands so you walk up show your passport and they can sense you may be in a band. After you say yes the next question is where are you playing and then they proceed to tell the other agents armed with AK 47’s who tell you what cool bar you should go to in town! As we sit outside in the rain under a tent at a bar we ponder the road ahead. 30 Days and 24 Shows in which we will have traveled by Planes, Trains, Ferries, Vans and the Chunnel. This tour reminds Rafa of the adventures his Great Grandfather Rafael Martinez had as he traveled from Colombia to Spain in the 1920’s.
(Story by Rafa Martinez)
My great grandfather Rafael Martinez ran a transportation agency called
Martinez & Duque back in the 1920’s in Colombia. He planned and saved up for months in hopes to somehow make it to Europe to explore different cultures and to learn more about international commerce and bring new insights . Traveling long distances in those days was very dangerous and he also wasn’t sure if he was going to make it back so he wrote his will just in case.
He began his journey by taking a ten hour ride on a train from the city of Medellin to a small town called Puerto Berrio. He got on a boat there that travelled up the Magdalena river for two days to the city of Barranquilla. He then hopped on a transatlantic steam freighter for four weeks that took him to Spain and he eventually traveled inland into the continent.
Back then everyone counted on getting robbed at some point because of the lawlessness and corruption going on. Fortunately everything went alright and he was able to explore new lands and make it home safely a few months later bringing back with him nomadic tales of enigmatic enchantment. They did however run out of whiskey half way through the trek on the big boat on the way there.
Let the Acid King Tour Begin!
Acid King Beer Consumption – 7
Next Stop – 1st show – Stoned from the Underground Erfurt, Germany
Saturday 7/15 Show 1 – Stoned from the underground – Erfurt, Germany
Deja vu in 2013 we took the same nonstop flight from SFO to Frankfurt and played this same festival in 2013! 4 hour drive from Frankfurt to Erfurt (lots of Furts in Germany). 1st show under our belts. You know you’ve made it when you get your own storage container at a festival show as your backstage. After the set we walked around and were met with a fan in tears, a couple that are going to name their baby Lori and a girl that was only into techno and reggae until she heard us so I guess you can say show #1 was a success.
Total Band Beers – 13
Next Stop – Red Smoke Festival – Pleszew, Poland
Sunday 7/16 – Show 2 Red Smoke Festival – Pleszew, Poland
You know you’ve arrived in Poland when the street signs look like your cat walked on your keyboard. After 5 hours on the freeway we turn off for another 1 hour drive into the country in which you say you yourself “where the hell are we going”? We land in what appears to be a really nice suburb of Poland. The festival is on this property next to some community center with a track a waterslide and a small stone amphitheater. They had camping in the back and a huge Teepee where a DJ set up for an after party. You realize how small the world is when you travel. When I lived in Chicago I had another band and the drummer was also named Lori she was dating a guy from the UK for a bit while he was in Chicago and 30 years later I connected with him on Facebook. Coincidently his new wifes daughter happens to be a big Acid King fan and lives nearby so she came up to introduce herself. After the show we partied in the Teepee ( I know Not PC) but when the Teepee is rocking some Deep Purple and Thin Lizzy what can ya do?
Next stop back to Germany Hamburg Germany!
Acid King Beer Consumption – 8 or 9!
Monday 7/17 Show 3 Hafenklang – Hamburg, Germany
All shows lead back to Germany on this tour so back we go to Hamburg. We’ve played this venue at least 3-4 times already so we feel very at home here. We had low expectations for a Monday night show but 130 people showed up with his 100 more then we expected! We had a very warm reception from the locals and we went back in the Acid King vault for an encore of Teen Dusthead and Silent Circle. They have a band apartment in the back which is fairly common in Europe and I always sleep in “my room”which is the front more private one! After the show we had to prepare for the tomorrow’s journey which proved to be no easy task when branching off for 3 days.
Total Band Beers (Mostly drank by Bil!) 8
Epilogue By Rafa……..
We set our sails north thrusting our sonic caravan into the majestic seas of the Baltic region. Just five years ago Acid King had ventured into Finish lands for the first time, but our nordic friends summon the riff once again for nocturnal celebration in electric ceremony. We will then continue our trek east into Russian territory for the first time. Seven years ago I had the opportunity to speak with a woman in Latvia after a Black Cobra show. In her excitement and gratitude for our presence she continued to explain how before the fall of the Soviet Union it was illegal for Russian citizens to own, let alone listen to music that came from outside their land. In an effort to preserve their culture, not to mention their waning economy, it was a way for the state to regulate commerce and subversively censor and and control the public. But thankfully those days are now gone and we are fortunate to be able to bring our style of music to the Russian people. As Leonard Nimoy once said in the Boston Museum of Science, it is important to honor tradition, but we must also welcome change and progress for the betterment of humanity.
Tuesday 7/18 Show 4 Kuudes Linja – Helsinki, Finland
It was good to be back to the sauna capital of the world! Here we are 5 years later playing the same club with the same promoter and the same sound man. The club was a madhouse about 200-250 people in attendance. Usually the Acid King audience is about 80% men and 20% ladies but today it was more like 60%/40% so the ladies are rocking in Helsinki! A shout out to Woodrue and Albino Rhino for opening the show and sharing gear as well as Esa for asking us back! Back at the hotel we had to partake in the Finnish Sauna ritual so the trip is complete!
Total Band Beers – 10
Next Stop – Train to St Petersburg Russia
From Russia with Love
Where to even begin……. Admittedly I was a little nervous for whatever reason at the thought of taking the train to Russia with all our gear I had this make believe story in my head that it would be super sketchy and all our stuff would be stolen. Well, of course everything I thought was totally wrong the train was nice the ride was easy and our very accommodating hosts Andrey and Vadim were there to meet us right when we got off the train. Politics aside Russia from a band tour perspective was awesome.
Wednesday 7/19 Show 5 MOD – Saint Petersburg, Russia
The club was right next to the Church of the Savior on Blood! Nope not making this up! The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is one of the main sights of St. Petersburg. Other names are the Church on Spilled Blood, the Temple of the Savior on Spilled Blood.
Had no idea what to expect at this show there was about 200-250 attendance at the show and the crowd knew the words to the songs.
We usually have a bottle of tequila on the rider but it was mandatory we had to have Vodka. The locals tell us this whole Russia and vodka thing is a myth and there is no connection to Russians and vodka but as tourists they humored us with a bottle. There was no way we were going to drink this all. After playing our 1 hour set the crowd shouted for an encore so we brought the bottle on to the stage and poured shots for as many fans as we could!
Thursday 7/20 Show 6 Volta – Moscow, Russia
There are 1sts for everything 1st time in Russia and 1st time I ever got my picture in what is the equivalent to the Hemispheres magazine on a the plane the one that sits in the back of the seat that you begrudgingly read after you’ve exhausted all other things to do on the plane but this was on the Moscow Train!
Hello from the Red Square………. for those in a touring a band you know it’s a rarity if ever get to see anything in town besides the club, the van and the hotel and if you’re not sleeping perhaps some scenery on the road. After a 4 hour train ride from Saint Petersburg to Moscow we were whisked off to really our only request which was to go to the Red Square. Most of the square was closed due some event they were having but I saw Stalin and Lenin’s graves from across the gate at least!
Back into the van and to Club Volta. We were met by another host in Moscow Evg below who blew my mind by making us some Acid King vodka!
Much bigger city there was almost 400 in attendance in Moscow. We again shared our backstage bottle of vodka with the fans and then…………. Mind totally blown and brain explodes while I see this guy get hoisted up in his wheelchair by his friends to rock out to Teendusthead.
We say our goodbyes to Andrey at Mad Stream Booking. He is one of the main promoters bringing our kind of music to Russia. Big thanks for sending us over and showing me that no matter what your politics are in your country like minded people are brought together by music .
Thanks to Andrey Vadim and Evg!
Total Band Beers – ?? Don’t remember
Total Band Vodka Shots – 6
7/21 Day Off – Travel Day from Moscow to Oslo
Layover in Latvia where luggage handlers also star in porn movies
Saturday 7/22 Show 7 John Dee – Oslo, Norway – RAFA’S BIRTHDAY!
We pulled into Oslo the night before and had the luxury of staying in the same hotel for 2 nights. Wondered around looking for food at 10pm and the sky was still pretty bright almost like sunset. After circling around we settled on some really shitty kebab place!. Freaking Olso is expensive! Woke up to do some much needed laundry. We cruised over to the laundromat which apparently there aren’t too many may be 2 in the entire town! It’s always a struggle to figure out how to do your laundry in Europe. We thought about doing a drop off wash and fold. The nice lady/shyster at the laundry mat told us how cheap it was for wash and fold only 823kr which when converted to USD came to $104! No thanks we’ll do our own for the cheap price of $35! We met another American who is working in town and he told us that Edward Munch’s (The Scream) grave was across the street so a trip to visit was in order.
We never played in Oslo before. We had planned on going on a Euro tour in 2016 decided to just stay at home that year after the Eagles of Death Metal Terrorist attack in Paris. I noticed a show announcement and ticket sales for a show in Oslo that we were not playing. Here we are 2017 finally making it up North to Viking territory. I always have low expectations therefore no disappointments! Based on the Facebook event it showed about 70 people going so when over 200 showed up we were like hell yea! Some of the fans came up to ask me what happened last year why we cxld so it was pretty cool to see so many fans.
This day also happened to be Rafa’s Bday so a birthday celebration was in order! We took him out to a local fish market for dinner which happened to cost less money than getting our laundry washed and folded! I had asked the club if it was possible to pick up a cake for him. When we go to the club and headed to the backstage they had a card and a gift wrapped package for him which included a blow up guitar and an inflatable shark suit! Rafa decided if we got an encore he would wear it on stage. We did a little dry run to make sure he could play with it at sound check. After our last song the audience wanted to hear more so I had to stall while Rafa put on the shark suit. I asked the audience to sing Happy Birthday to him in Norwegian and we brought out the cake and he played the rest of the set in the inflatable shark suit! A Birthday to remember! Happy Birthday RAFA!
After the show one of the members of the local opener were dj’ing at a bar so Bil and I cruised out to hit a few bars before calling it a night. The 1st one was called Åpner misfornøyelsesbar the place was decorated by local artist Christopher Nielsens. It’s place where you are to not come happy. We walked up to he bar and the bartender knew who we were and offered to buy us a beer. We got their beer on tap the Unhoppy. Very weird cool place. On to the Kneven for one more for the road. Lots of people from the show at the bar = lots of conversations with tall blond dudes!
Total Band Beers – 16
Sunday 7/23 Travel from Oslo to the Netherlands
Monday 7/24 Show 8 DB’s Utrecht, Holland
1st time playing in Utrecht and excited to meet up with some old friends Walter and Eva!
Back stage with the Spinal Tap Cucumber
Original artwork passed along to me from a fan that couldn’t make it
Sold out show at DB’s on a Monday day night! Was great to have Toner low open the show. So far best beer taps of the tour!
Total Band Beers – 11
Tuesday 7/25 Show 9 The Louisiana Bristol, UK
Sold out show on a Tuesday Night. This says it all!
Total Band Beers – 7
Wednesday 7/26 Show 10 Audio Glasgow, Scotland
We pulled into Scotland and had some time to kill before the show so we headed to Sloans a Pub opened in 1797 to partake in some pre show local beer drinking.
Audio is located in a viaduct under the train tracks. This old musty moldy club is cool! Great sound and awesome Wednesday night crowd. I was going to the little back room next to the stage while the last band was playing I was pulling on the door handle didn’t realize it was push not pull and pulled of the door handle and landed on my ass in front of the fans. Nice. The set started off rough my guitar became untuned on the 2nd song so I had to play Busse Woods completely untuned. Finally the song finished felt like I was playing it forever before I got to tune my guitar! After that we cruised at 37,000 feet to smooth set. A fan came over and gave me 2 bottles for local wine which I cannot wait to drink!
Total Band Beers – 8-10?
Thursday 7/27 Show 11 Our Black Heart – London – SOLD OUT
Always looking forward to playing in London. Lots going on this evening. After a pre load in beer at Brew Dog down the street I met Leo from The Breathless Sleep to do an interview for his youtube channel
THE BREATHLESS SLEEP
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjjHybLhnTvzs5VIXd7BxMw
After that we met up with Terrorizer for a Bar Rant Interview and Photo shoot followed by beers with our favorite twins Jay and Paul Housden from South End by the Sea. We met these guys in 2005 on the Tour of Doom they saved our asses and took care of us and we’ve been friends ever since.
The show was packed small room only 150 Capacity. Def up there with one of the top shows of the tour so far!
Photo by Paul Housden
Number of Band Beers – 13
Friday 7/28 Show 12 Little Devil Lounge – Tilburg, Holland
Cool little bar in the center of town with a great beer selection! A great crowd of locals came out to the show and many came up to me to tell me about their beloved local booking agent Bidi who recently passed away. He had booked this show and his friends and wife came in honor of him.
It’s always dangerous when your sleeping place is close to your drinking place! It was our duty to try as many local beers as we could until closing time! My pal Ludo always brings us some nice beer as a gift whenever we are in town and today was no exception!
Half way through the tour! 12 more shows to go!
Total band beers – 12??
Saturday 7/29 Show 13 Le Hangar- Liege, Belgium
Short drive from Tilburg to Liege
Le Hangar is in a small building in the middle of a neighborhood with neighbors and backyards with BBQ’s. They only have 2 loud rock shows a year and they have to flyer the entire neighborhood regarding the show and the potential noise for that evening. A lot of work goes into having these shows!
Blood was spilled in Liege!
Number of band Beers – Lori was on the wagon today so it’s all Bil!
Sunday 7/30 Show 14 Glazart, Paris, France
I think this may be the 4th time playing here 3rd or 4th. The venue is on the outskirts of Paris so no where near the center of town. It was a big show today 6 bands Acid King, Elder. Toner Low, Child, Joe Buck and King Buffalo. The place was sold out at 650 people. A sweatbox full of fans. The saving grace was a big outdoor patio complete with a sandbox to make you feel like you’re at the beach while wearing your black tshirt and long pants.
Total Band Waters ! 15
Monday 7/31 Show 15 Free and Easy , Munich, Germany
We’ve played twice in Munich both times on a Sunday and Monday and both times the shows were a turd. Low attendance leaving the best part of playing there the beer and bavarian pretzels. We had a long drive from Paris to Munich so I was less then thrilled to go back on a Monday night. This time we were playing a yearly festival called free and easy. The entry is free and there are 3 stages of music. Good times and Good Beers with King Buffalo, Child and Elder! Another hot and sweaty show and now my faith has been restored in Munich.
Total Band Beers – 8
Tuesday 8/1 Show 16 Circolo Magnolia , Milan, Italy
Presented to you today by Rafa Martinez
Circolo Mganolia has been a platform for artists from various disciplines to perform on for ages. Like Giuseppe Verdi with La Scala just up the street in central Milano, our underground music community has built a great place for artists and musicians alike to share their talents and skills in this small corner of the city. Although the summer heat beats upon us like a fire whip we are happy to meet our friends Elder,
Child, King Buffalo, and Sasquatch for the festival. Always weary of attendance on early weekdays, clocking in on Wednesday morning didn’t stop a few hundred concert goers to come and show their appreciation and support for our sonic caravan on our only show in Italy.
Photo by Giovanni
Total Band Beers 10
Total Band Waters – 10,000
Wednesday 8/2 Show 17 (10th show in a row) L’Usine Geneva, Switzerland
Last time Acid King played L’usine was in 2011 with Carlton Melton. It’s a big building right next to the Jet D’eau. A bit of a communal art vibe space with 2 stages a record store and loft beds for the bands to sleep in upstairs. The Sound Engineer is also the chef! The venue was actual closed for the summer but they were nice enough to let the promoter Bruno host our last minute show. It was the last show with Child from Australia and definitely worth the trek to play Geneva again. We love the L’Usine!
Number of Band Beers – Back soon with that answer!
Thursday 8/3 DAY OFF -Gruyeres, Switzerland – HR GIGER MUSEUM!
Friday 8/4 Show 18 Roadkill Festival – Zomergem, Belgium
Day 1 Roadkill Festival! A big tent in the middle of some cow fields in Waarschoot, Belgium
Silent Pictures Ray of Light shining on the back stage tent!
Ironically this is close to the same town where our very 1st European show was in 2005! We played at this venue and Jan the promoter came up to say hello! 12 years later!
2005
Friends from Belgium, Ludo with Sarah and Benny of Orange Factory who we also met back in 2005. They booked us an awesome show with Hypnos 69 and took us in to their home as we soldiered thru the tour!
2005
1st show playing in the cow fields of Belgium!
Nice local festival and good to be reunited 12 years later and look back into the Acid King time machine!
We have a show in Austria the next day and 12 hour drive leaving after the show so no beer for me today!
Hello from the Merch Booth
Saturday 8/5 Show 19 Lake on Fire Festival Waldhausen, Austria
Written today by Rafa Martinez……….
Having finished playing Roadkill festival in Waarshoot, we leave immediately after the show as we take on the twelve hour overnight drive to Waldhausen. We arrive at the festival grounds only to find a floating stage on a lake teaming with fans in swimming gear and beer in fist. One can’t help but to think the amount of permits and insurance this would need if anyone in America would ever make an attempt at making something like this fly back home. It is also great meeting up with Brant Bjork and our long time friend and bass master Dave Dinsmore.
Located deep within the breathtaking forests of northern Austria, Lake on Fire festival has been providing concert goers with a truly unique music experience since 2012 and keeps growing more and more each year. From blues, to classic rock, to doom, to psych and beyond the festival carries a vast array of music styles to delight the crowd for hours on end.
Extremely well organized and coordinated, it is a pleasure for us to take the stage and play what we all agree is in the top shows of the tour performance wise. Although there is a small gap of moat like separation between the stage and the fans, we can still feel their warm embrace and appreciation for our set song after song. Our compliments to the catering force for providing high quality gourmet not just for the bands but for the raging crowd as well. Thank you Austria for a one of a kind experience. We will remember and talk about this sweet ceremony for ages to come.
Monday 8/7 Show 20 The Arena Vienna, Austria
This is the 4th time in Vienna the 3rd time at The Arena. This venue is a unique compound that consists of several stages in various sizes indoor and outdoor that can have several different bands playing at the same time in the different places. It’s appearance is one of an art/squat style place but the venue is top notch and I love playing here. Many memories of past acid king shows! I found an old poster in the office from the 2009 tour we did with Suma!
Monday nights are always an unknown, In the U.S. it’s safe to say your show is going to have pretty low attendance. In Europe it’s not the case! A quality crowd last night with fans driving 200km to see us from Croatia! I’m not so sure about this beer getting a “Gold” award but that’s what the can says.
We were lucky enough to have a day off before the show to re-energize and make a pilgrimage to visit the resting place of Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss and Schubert!
Show 21 – Lido Berlin, Germany With BORIS!
This is the 5th time Acid King has played in Berlin. This time the bar was raised as we played with our long time avant doom friends from Japan, BORIS! I met Boris back in 1997 and we played together in Japan in the Winter of 2006. Both bands have had parallel paths Boris celebrating 25 years together and Acid King 24. Both have female guitar players that play Les Pauls and both take beer photos! It was a magical night as the ladies with Les Pauls ruled the stage.
Show 22 – Bastard Club Osnabruck, Germany
This stop was what I call the “collection stop” our booking agent and merch person live near by so they came to collect! 2nd time at The Bastard Club and a small but quality crowd gathered to see us and Alligator Rodeo a local band who opened the show and the guitar player who is also a big american sports fan with big guns became my personal assistant handed me a beer and helped me as we frantically packed all our merch. This is also our last show with our van and driver Zednek who took over for Ozak! Yes, men with the letter Z in their name all from Prague! Thanks to our beloved Ozak who is our usual driver whenever we come to Europe and Zednek who took over for the last leg.
Show 23 – Barby Club Tel Aviv, Israel
Show 24 – SonicBlast Moldeo, Portugal
Written by Mr Rafa Martinez
We awake at the complimentary apartment provided by the club in Germany at 1:30 A.M. As we get ready for the two and a half hour drive from Osnabruck to Amsterdam to catch a 7am flight, we prepare mentally for the monumental trek that lies ahead of us the next couple of days. It is time to say goodbye to our new friend and trusty driver Zed and hello to sleep deprivation encounters across the Mediterranean shores to and from the holy land of Israel.
Being able to get some sleep time on the plane, we get a small recharge landing at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. Long immigration lines and broken computers hold us back for a good hour. The last words you want to hear from a foreign officer at an airport are ‘you, come with me.’ No please, no sir, no excuse me, just a stoic frozen command barked with unnecessary authority. So I am lead into the detention center to wait further instructions. Detention centers aren’t fun. Once I was in detention after school and I missed an episode of the people’s court. When confronted with situations like these it is important to stay calm, but after one too many episodes of the show Locked Up Abroad, combined with the thought of Terry Gilliam’s masterpiece Brazil, where a man is sentenced to a gruesome execution as a result of a clerical error, there is still a bit of panic left in one’s psyche but the fact that snacks were provided in the way of cheese sandwiches helped ease the restless mental anguish! After a thorough background check I am finally released. Was it my distant Lebanese heritage that raised a red flag? My common name with lack of a middle name ? My affiliation with the now defunct Serra Bowling Center in Daly city ? We’ll never know, but at least we are set free onto the streets of Tel Aviv en route to club Barby.
Never before had any of us stepped foot in Israel, making this journey as exciting as it is discovering. Unbeknownst to us , Acid King had been developing a cult following in Israel for quite some time now, and the anticipation for the show had been building up fiercely since it’s first announcing.
What we all now realize is the largest attendance of any of the headlining shows on the tour (over five hundred tickets at the door) it will surely become a milestone event in the band’s history. As we go through the set, it is apparent that these fans have been studying the lyrics for years as they sing along in unison with Lori phrase after phrase. The excitement and appreciation of the crowd is unlike anything we’ve encountered in the previous weeks. No disrespect to the fans in any of the other great gigs we’ve done, we are forever grateful to you all, but Tel Aviv got the show they never thought they’d ever see.
We have the good fortune of a day off in Israel before we fly out to Portugal. Our two hosts, Aviram and Tal, plan the whole day for our trip to the ancient city of Jerusalem. We are all still very much in awe of the fact that we are stepping foot in a land that has been written about for literally thousands of years. And of course we can’t help ourselves but to listen to Sleep on our way. We contemplate on their epic masterpiece Jerusalem, an allegorical tale of the Sabbathian riff child embarking on a pilgrimage within to a sacred garden ripe with eternal sonic bounty ready for harvest providing the aspiring tunesmith with timeless hymns. All with the help of cannabis of course.
Placing aside all religious and political inclinations, we embrace the monumental significance of the city. The sight of all the temples, roads, and statues leaves one thinking even more of what life must have been like here in the old days. But the one specific landmark that leaves us all in amazement without a doubt is the mausoleum which houses the remains of the one and only Jesus Christ. Having been raised Catholic myself, one cannot ignore the impact this man’s story has had on civilization. Entire empires have been built and destroyed in his name. Men and women have lived, died, and killed for him. Standing in line to enter this sacred tomb one can’t help but to think, was any of it true ? Was he truly a holy messenger sent by the divine to save us from ourselves ? Or was the story of him a tall tale construction to quench our thirst in our need to believe in something higher. No one will ever know, and no matter what anyone’s view on this is, this story is a turning point for the human race, with the power of superstition changing the course of social evolution for ever.
Although strictly prohibited, we manage to sneak in a few selfies inside the structure. The agitated voice of the guarding priest propels our haste outward as more people continue to douse the temple in flash. We wouldn’t want to upset the clergy now, would we ? After enjoying an afternoon meal of traditional Israeli cuisine, we had back to Tel Aviv and enjoy the sunset on the beach with a bottle of wine provided by the hotel staff as we prepare for tomorrow’s trek to the occidental edge of the continent.
We take the 5 am flight to Prague out of Tel Aviv. A four hour lay over finds us with enough time to catch up on admin work at the airport. With no significant delays, we make in time to Porto only to find a piece of luggage missing. After waiting a while in hopes it will turn up, we decide to leave a notice at lost and found and leave for Moledo. The driver that is sent to pick us up advises us to wait at the curb as he goes to get the van. Interestingly enough, another band is right next to us waiting as well and as our driver pulls up they try to get in our vehicle but they are turned away and are told hat they have the wrong van. Turns out it was the bounce metal group Soulfly. As we drive away we can see Max Cavalera and his uncanny dreaded bleached mane walking away. Bloody roots indeed.
We get to the festival just in time to do a sound check, but not quite enough time to set up the merch completely with fans mobbing the tables as we are still setting up the t shirts. Over three thousand Portuguese fans gather for the Sonic Blast festival making our final show of the tour as memorable as it can get. With the stage facing west, we begin the set just after 9 P.M. watching the sun sink into the soft Atlantean horizon. The warm embrace of the crowd gives us a great felling of accomplishment having traveled over five thousand three hundred miles back and forth Europe in the last three days.
We rest now for a few days on the relaxing shores of Portugal contemplating the herculean trek behind us before we head back home. After having wholeheartedly embraced the wandering paths of the traveling gypsies before us, we gather our bags along with our memories and reflect on the tales of our journey as we dust the sweat from off our boots. The troubadour now retreats.
15 Countries
24 shows in 29 Days
6 Sold Out Shows
150 + Beers
Endless amount of Cheese Sandwiches
1 Inflatable Shark Suit
Until Next Europe!
