HELSTAR TOUR ENTRY #3

HELSTAR TOUR ENTRY #3

Ah, the joys of touring... So, just when we thought everything was running rather smoothly, we woke up Tuesday morning in Hamburg to learn that our support band, Loch Vostok, had broken down in Sweden and would not be able to make the tour with us!!!! In a single phone call, all of our plans were up-ended and we spent the entire day scrambling to find a way to continue this tour! You might wonder why this was such a huge deal to us; well, we were going to use that band's backline for the remainder of the tour, plus we were sharing the bus with them as a way to help both bands out financially. Without them or their bus, we were stuck in Hamburg! I suppose the upside to this was the fact that at least were in Hamburg, where our flights back home originate, so if we had to change our flights, we could have rather easily...

However, this was not our intention; we've waited a long time to tour this CD and we weren't about to give up without a fight! So, let's see, we had to find a band for the gig that evening at Markthalle and then find a large enough sprinter to carry our luggage, gear, and merch - not an easy task if you know how much crap we have with us! Anyway, the promoter found us an appropriate support band and the show went on! We owe a huge THANK YOU to the band 'Gods of Hate' so please check them out here: http://www.godsofhate.de/

Next, we found a large enough Mercedes Sprinter to carry us around in, so the tour marches on my friends! Anyway, back to Hamburg, once all of the headaches had begun to reside, we had a great time at the gig! We met some old and again, new, friends. The crowd, though small, was VERY INTENSE and loud. It was a hot, sweaty, night of metal and all had a great time.

So, yesterday found us driving for 9 freaking hours as we got turned around on our way to Pratteln... We made the mistake of choosing to stay in Freiburg, which is some 60Km's from Pratteln, which would have been okay had we mapped it out! We had directions to the etap hotel in Pratteln, but decided it would be best to stay in Freiburg for the way out to the next show in Slovenia, but we made this decision in the van on the way... We had no internet access or directions, so well, you can imagine how that went! Anyway, we managed to get here around 11:30 at night, just in time for a quick bite to eat, and a couple of whisky colas...

Okay, so today we leave for Pratteln and the Z7 and then on to Kranj... We'll update again in a day or two!

Cheers!

Rob

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HELSTAR TOUR ENTRY #3

Οι χαρές της περιοδείας…εκεί που νομίζαμε ότι όλα πήγαιναν καλά, ξυπνήσαμε την Τρίτη στο Αμβούργο όπου διαπιστώσαμε ότι η μπάντα άνοιγε τις συναυλίες μας (Loch Vostok) διαλύθηκαν την προηγούμενη μέρα στη Σουηδία και έτσι θα έπρεπε να κάνουμε κάτι πολύ γρήγορα αφού για τις επόμενες συναυλίες είχαμε κανονίσει να παίζουμε με τον δικό τους εξοπλισμό. Έπρεπε να βρούμε ένα support group, εξοπλισμό, tour bus και τη δύναμη να συνεχίσουμε. Δεν θα τα παρατούσαμε με τίποτα…είχαμε περάσει άλλωστε πολλά για να πραγματοποιήσουμε αυτή τν Ευρωπαϊκή περιοδεία. Ευτυχώς για εμάς, βρέθηκαν οι Gods of Hate (τσεκάρετε τους στο www.godsofhate.de) και με τη βοήθεια τους συνεχίζουμε την περιοδεία.

Η συναυλία στο Αμβούργο ήταν πολύ έντονη, αν και δεν μαζεύτηκε τελικά πολύς κόσμος.
Η επόμενη στάση ήταν το Pratteln, όπου χρειάστηκαν 9 ώρες οδήγησης για να φτάσουμε εκεί (μιας και είχαμε αποφασίσει να μένουμε στο Freiburg για να είμαστε πιο κοντά στη Σλοβενία…ο επόμενος σταθμός μας)….

Rob (μετάφραση Σάκης Νίκας)