November 20, 2009 - Biebob, Vosselaar (B)
Waking up because my iPhone is notifying me that we arrived in Belgium (network change) is not the most relaxed way to start a morning, but despite that it looks like it's going to be a terrific day. The bus is parked several hundred meters from the venue, and at the moment that we're crawling out of our bunks the doors are still closed. A quick dash across the street for a sandwich and then the venue opens their doors. It's time to drag some guitars and personal things in. The Biebob is a well-known and respected venue for us Dutchies and it's an honor to get the opportunity to play our music there again. Rather soon the bar near the entrance has been transformed into a internetcafe with all kinds of laptops on display. Through Skype Seven (Leaves’ Eyes drummer) and I seek contact with the people we left at home. I wave at my wife and daughter through the webcam. A slight sense of being home.

Then the time arrives for our spectacular show. No holds barred we head into battle. Something the audience seems to appreciate clearly. My very first show in Biebob turns out to be a triumph. After lengthy conversations with familiar and unfamiliar faces, some fries from the Chinese snack shop across the street, loading in the gear, and some final chit chat outside of the bus we start our journey to Leipzig in full party mode. A 10 hour drive...

Eric


November 21, 2009 - Hellraiser, Leipzig (D)
Leipzig; I visualized an old town where a.o. one of the biggest goth festivals is held each year. My expectations concerning culture were high. Slight disappointment when the Hellraiser is situated far from the city centre and a walk together with Jeff, Johan, Steve and Martijn only shows the outskirts of the city. The venue itself is situated on the grounds of an old factory, abandoned years ago and reconquered by nature. An industrial ruin. Very interesting. The long wait has started once again, and Marcela’s throat infection is alarming enough to sent her along with Morten and Ailyn (Sirenia) to the local hospital where a doctor can have a look at it. Ailyn has an ear infection, and Marcela's got a throat infection to match. They all return just in time for soundcheck.

We are opening the evening today. The audience is weary, but slowly opens up for the unknown sounds of Stream of Passion. Marcela works her way through the set, but it's clear we need to be very careful. Early bed for our lovely singer

Eric



November 22, 2009 - La Laiterie, Strasbourg (F)
Waking up at the venue is a lot better. Everything's well organized. Breakfast is served when we enter, and for the first time (and probably the last) we have our very own dressing room. The size of the venue is rather good and the city itself also pursuades us to a nice walk. So we did. Steve, Johan, Jeffrey, Marcela and yours truely head for the city centre. Resulting in old buildings with a hint of German heritage, a visit to an old church and a stroll through the crisp fresh air. Always try to do some touristy stuff when you can. Otherwise the cities you visit will just turn into names on a list.

Marcela's voice is in bad shape today. 30 Minutes before the show there's not much coming out. We have a quick talk about our posibilities and head towards the stage. One song is scratched from the set list, namely Passion. Five songs remain. We all walk on stage with the idea that we will cut the set short as soon as Marcela's voice has reached its limit. As a precaution Johan has been promoted to the on-stage spokesperson and explains the situation to the audience. The band starts with the most intense show of the tour. The response from the French audience is enormous. Something we could really use that particular night.

Eric





November 23, 2009 - Le Glaz'Art, Paris (F)
Paris is a huge city with a huge reputation. But when we arrive at the venue for today we haven't seen any of the typical landmarks the city is known for. "Are we far from the city centre?" is the question asked all around. The venue itself is small and the stage is definitely the smallest of the tour. A game of gear tetris to get everything on stage. We rent a room in a nearby hotel so that Marcela can get some rest to let her throat heal. Meanwhile the other band members head towards the metro to travel to the Eiffel tower. After a couple of change-overs and an involuntary piece of accordion music containing several out of tune chords, we arrive at the famous location. Like professional tourists we shoot several photos followed by another metro journey towards the Notre Dame. It's raining, but nothing can bring us down.

At the end of the afternoon we eturn to the venue. Tonight we play second, and pre-sales are doing well. 250 People are awaiting us when we walk on for another blistering show. Again no Passion tonight. We're trying to spare Marcela's voice a bit for the healing process. The French response is incredible once again. A great support and motivator for Marcela. Afterwards she heads back to the hotel to get some more rest before our departure. The rest goes roaming the streets in search of a 'midnight-snack' at the local pizza/shoarma/burger joint. Followed by  a long travel to Cologne in a bus full of noisy and (semi-)drunk musicians.

Eric




November 24, 2009 - Underground, Keulen (D)
Several days ago we were notified that tonight's show was moved from the Live Music Hall to the Underground. A clearly smaller venue. Despite that it looks like it's going to be another great evening full of music. Stream of Passion is on first, but the soundcheck is not until 5, so Marcela heads for her 'day-room' in the LMH (which was offered by the promoter) and the rest (minus a sick Jeffrey) heads for the city centre by metro for the 'mandatory' visit to the Dome and a rather disappointing visit to the MusicStore. Johan was in need of several items but none were in stock. Furthermore I made an appointment to meet up with Sander, the singer of my other band The Saturnine. He's been living in Bonn for several years now, which means I hardly see him anymore. He will hang with me for the rest of the day. Johan, Steve and Martijn already returned to the Underground, when Sander and I make up for lost time at the local coffee house.

Soundcheck was hectic due to the lack of time, but when we hit the stage the response is good. After our 5 song set and a quick 'change-over' we lounge in our dressing room for the rest of the evening. It looks more like a Eastern opium-den than the usual room with some chairs and a table. Matrasses and couches. The bus leaves at 4 in the morning, so a small group of musicians heads for the 24-  McDonalds for McRib's and Flurries. Next stop: Berlin...

Eric




November 25, 2009 - K17, Berlin (D)
Berlijn is huge. Very huge. No surprises when the venue isn't located near the city centre. K17 is nicely sized venue nonetheless. Rather promising. We arrange another day-room for Marcela. Her voice is getting better and tonight we're going to attempt to play Passion again. Another stroll is planned to break to monotony. Fresh air is our friend. Due to the lack of room the catering room has been turned to the designated backstage for all 5 bands. But because of the fact that all bands get along rather good, there's no problem there. Supper is served when we're still working through our soundcheck, and the tight time schedule causes us to head towards the local Subway for some delicious sandwiches after our show.

A good show tonight. There was almost no room on stage, which sort of divided the band into 2 parts. The response was okay. Many people never heard of Stream of Passion before. But no worries, and after a well deserved shower we end up at the bar for some drinks and talks to several new fans.

Eric

November 26, 2009 - Backstage, Munich (D)
New day, new show, new opportunities. Another change of venue, though this one is situated in the same building. Despite the fact that the Werk was of a biger size than the Halle where we are playing now, there's nothing to complain about, as it is still a really good looking hall. The stage is deeper again, which gives all the bands more room to breathe. Well arranged and good facilities today, so today we hang at the venue. I'm putting new strings on my 7 string Setius, as I ended the Berlin show in true Manowar-style by pulling them of the guitar at the end of the show. ;)

Right before we hit the stage it looks like there are only 12 people in the audience. Thankfully this is only an optical illusion. The hall is quite filled and there are more people getting in as we play our set. The response is incredible and again we pleasantly surprised those watching and listening. After a well deserved shower and the last note of Leaves' Eyes' show, we move to the neighbors where a rock disco is held. At 1 AM the party moves to the bus where several members of Elis, Sirenia and Stream of Passion + several members of the hard-working crew continue until late. After a needed stop at a gas station for some snacks the first people head for their bunks. We travel to Budapest tonight, and that's rather far away from Munich. The last few days of the tour gave started...

Eric




November 27, 2009 - Diesel, Budapest (HU)
We have to travel from Munich to Budapest on one evening, this means around 10 hours traveling so everyone has to do their best to make sure we leave on time. Everything goes well and we arrive in Hungary right on schedule; as we drive to the city we take an opportunity to peak out the window and marvel at the unique landscape: the renown Danube splitting the city in two, and the wonderful architecture to be found on both sides.

But we keep driving on and way past the center to find our final destination: the Diesel club, a venue in the middle of a lovely park. It seems it’s been totally refurbished recently, since everything looks incredibly chic and brand new. We like the stage, love the backstage area, and especially love the fact that we can go online again since there’s free WIFI access for us all. The boys are happy to see that the catering is taken care of by a couple of beautiful Hungarian women. And I’m happy too, because after a few days of having a sore throat and not feeling so good I finally feel fully recuperated and am looking forward to giving it all tonight.



We have two local bands opening the festival tonight. We wait for Elis’ soundcheck and do a little keyboard-violin check afterwards. We have one hour before dinner time, and some of us decide to go out and see if we can take a quick peek at the city center. Trevor the drummer of Elis gets a bit of information and local money from the venue promoters; we know which metro line to take to go to the center, so we walk to the nearest metro station. When we get there though, we realize we have no idea were to go and can’t figure out any of the Hungarian signs on the walls… The metro ticket vending machine also has an option to change its language to English, but only then we realize we only have enough money for one retour ticket for the six of us who where there… Frustrated and very aware that this attempt to explore the city could only end in disaster we walk back to the venue with our heads down.

 

Dinner is waiting for us. A couple of Hungarian specialties we don’t fully understand, but are nutritious enough to keep us going. I’m especially fond of some local chocolate candy bars and make them my main dish.

When it’s time to go on stage we’re once again ready to go for it and rock as hard as we can. And tonight we felt like rocking like we never had before:  the audience was so incredibly grateful and enthusiastic, their energy and amazing response filled us with good vibes and we had a great show. Stephan pulled some special tricks on stage that the public also really enjoyed. A night of pure enjoyment thus!

The end is almost near, and we make sure to enjoy every minute of the show and after. I decide to have one beer, since there’s only one show left and the celebration needs to get started…

Marcela





November 28, 2009 – Winter Masters of Rock, Zlin (CZ)
This is it, the last day of the tour… We didn’t think it would end, but after a bunch of different adventures and experiences we’ve reached the day of the final show. And this journey takes us to the Czech Republic, where the Winter Masters of Rock festival takes place.

We get to the venue on time and since we’re opening the festivities today we immediately start figuring everything out. We hear that the other tour bus (where Leaves’ Eyes is traveling) had some problems and will come in more than three hours late. This is bad news for the guys of Elis, because Sandra their lead singer travels on that bus and they’re worrying she won’t be able to make it on time… Luckily at the end everything was alright and the other bus came in just with time enough for them to go on stage!



Since we’re opening we get to do a little soundcheck before we play. We stand on the huge stage, facing the huge empty hall and share a few funny moments. Jeffrey and I do a partial rendition of “The show must go on”, which feels very dramatic on the last day of the tour.

 



We go to the backstage and start getting ready for the show. Silliness level starts getting high as we get ready for our last tour gig; I’m just hoping that the crowd comes in early enough to see us play, since our set starts at 13:35… Luckily by the time we walk up the stairs and on to the stage area we see that there’s a whole bunch of people already waiting for the beginning of the show! A very sweet woman part of the organization gives us introduces us to the public with a long speech in Czech (we try to understand, but fail miserably). And then it’s showtime! And we can feel the audience is ready and hungry for some loud music. As we go through our set we feel them getting energized, and we do our best to savor every moment of this last tour show. We once more got an amazing response, we sweated our asses off and made sure that by the time we play that last note we have spent every single ounce of energy we had. Our hostess introduces the band members personally, and we take a bow as we’re greeted by the amazing Czech audience. A wonderful way to end the tour!

Now everything that is left for us is to enjoy a last day full of fun. We take our time to enjoy the sets of our fellow tour bands for one last time, and I can finally properly have a drinking party with the rest of the band! We go bananas when we find out that Marco Minnemann (the drummer of Kreator) saw us play and really liked what we did, what an honor to hear a compliment from such a wonderful musician! When Kreator is playing we’re standing in the audience, amazed on how freaking metal we are and how all the rest of us who played there today just seem as big wussies in comparison.

We share some last moments with the rest of the bands, take some group pictures and look back on all the great things we’ve experienced. We’re so grateful we could be part of this lovely tour, and would like to thank all the people that were part of it for making it such a beautiful experience: the bands, the crew, and most especially all of you who were there at the shows and filled our nights with energy and enthusiasm. Thanks a TON! We hope to see you really soon again!

Marcela

Johan and Morten (Sirenia)

Marcela and Liv (Leaves’ Eyes)

November 13, 2009 - Stadthalle, Lichtenfels (DE)
It's 2am and we've gathered in Tilburg with the whole band to leave for Stuttgart (our meeting point with the tour-bus and the rest of the bands) in a rented bus. We planned on sleeping before we left but out of excitement and drinks we totally forgot about it! So the bus gets there, we load our stuff and off we go!

The ride is fun and we arrive at the Stuttgart airport a bit later than planned; not a problem, since the tour-bus hasn't arrived. We load out all our stuff and are standing outside the gate waiting... and waiting... and waiting some more... Turns out because of some technical problems the bus was late and scheduled to arrive at 12:30pm instead of the planned 10:00am. In the meantime the guys of Sirenia arrive and join us for the wait; I had no idea Ailyn the band's lead singer actually comes from Spain, just as she didn't know I'm from Mexico; while making conversation we figured out, and were immediately thrilled with the idea of being able to talk some Spanish!



We continue getting to know our fellow musicians, the guys of Elis arrive and finally we see the tour-bus coming away far on the horizon! We say hello to our home for the upcoming weeks, load everything and take off for our first show in Lichtenfels!





--

We were already quite late, and we realize we will arrive with just enough time to line check, change clothes and go for it. So in the middle of the stage panic, and as soon as Leaves' Eyes finishes soundcheck we get in there, plug everything as fast as we can and figure it out with the sound and monitor engineers. We quickly go back to the dressing room, put on our gig clothes and off we go!

It's a great feeling to see some familiar fan faces coming into the venue as soon as they open the doors, and just seconds later after the crowd has come in the show starts and we go on stage. It feels even more great to finally be able to kick it after almost 16 hours of travel! So we get there and go totally crazy on stage just like we love to. The audience was fantastic and responded beautifully, even to my lousy attempt of speaking German. A big thanks to all of you who were there for your warm response and enthusiasm!

Our gig is over and we can finally relax. We enjoy a fantastic dinner at the venue, a well deserved shower and an evening of fun with the rest of the musicians. And exciting and fun start to what it appears will be an amazing adventure!

Marcela

November 14, 2009 - Bolwerk, Sneek (NL)
Our travel schedule isn't the most logical thing in the world. So after going to the southeast of Germany, we go all the way back to the North of Holland to Sneek for our second show. We're a bunch of Internet addicts in the band, by the way, so we are all thrilled to be back in Dutch territory and be able to turn on our phone's Internet! We check our emails, stop at a Dutch gas station for drinks and immediately feel back home!






We get there a bit latter than planed, and while driving through the streets of Sneek we cut right in the middle of Sinterklaas' (the Dutch Santa Clause) parade! We ask one of his helpers for directions, get some advice and a few cookies in return and finally found our way on to the venue. We played as second on this show, so we had absolutely no rush when we got there. So Jeffrey, Eric and I decide to take a little tour around town and do a few shoppings; Sneek looks like a really fun town with all the kids on the street with their little Sinterklaas hats having a good time!








Once again a lovely dinner and a very friendly crew at the venue who took great care of everything. After Elis is done is our turn on stage, and we know in advance we only have 15 minutes for change over, which means getting on stage with your gear and check your sound with almost no time. We were proud though, that we managed to do it in 13 minutes and still had to wait a little bit before we could start playing! The venue was a bit smaller than yesterday, and it was nice and packed. It's warm on the stage and we're more ready than the day before to kick it and do our best for our beloved Dutch crowd.

The gig went really fast again, but we enjoyed every minute of it! We already feel totally in the zone after the first gig and go totally for it. We are once again really happy to see how the people are living the music with us and really enjoying the show; and after a half an hour it's over, we're already off stage and relaxing after an energetic performance. We then go to the venue and enjoy an evening of good music from the rest of our fellow musicians, talk with the crowd and have a great time!

--

After relaxing a bit after the show and hanging around in the crowd we all take our turns to take a shower. And already the first little tour accident takes place: while looking for my hairbrush in my bag I manage to cut the tip of my left index finger with an uncovered razor lying inside my bag... I know already it will give me trouble for playing the violin the upcoming days... But the show must go on, so we pack our bags and head on to Luxembourg for the next one.

Marcela


November 15, 2009 - Rockhal, Esch (LUX)
We arrive at Esch perfectly on time, and are surprised while realizing the landscape is quite different to what we imagined we would see in Luxembourg. The (huge!) venue is located in the middle of a modern office/shopping complex in the making, in the vicinity of an old steel refinery which gives the whole complex a very unusual but cool atmosphere. We had a lot of time to wander around, so the guys and I take a little walk around the complex and learn to know a bit more about it.







When we come back I had to spend some time figuring out the violin parts of the songs without using my left index finger, which took a little bit of creativity and some nonexistent finger positions to make it easier! Luckily I figured out everything on time so we could keep playing the violin songs on the set.

We've been really lucky so far, because until now we've got incredible food everywhere we go! And Luxembourg was no exception; the lovely crew at the Rockhal arranged an amazing catering room with everything you could imagine, and a wonderful dinner including some amazing pies for dessert! We're second on the bill for tonight, so after dinner we go right ahead and start getting ready.




The stage is huge and top of the line. Getting everything done in 15 minutes doesn't always go 100% smoothly, and the second little accident of the tour takes place: while setting up his drums Martijn took a rather too close look to one of his cymbals and smashed it into his right eye, giving it a lovely tint of red (no further consequences, luckily!).

Sound on stage is great, so we can go right ahead and rock it! The place wasn't totally full, but the people who were there were really kind and responsive. It's the third show and the vibes on the stage are getting better and better; it just feels so great to be able to play together every evening. Luckily there are still quite some shows to go! After the show we go hang out in the audience for a while, then go backstage and hang around with the guys of Sirenia who are a lot of fun! Some vodka-Tabasco shots start flowing around, the funny level goes up a notch and we wrap up another incredible evening with a smile!

Marcela


November 16, 2009 - Z7, Pratteln (CH)
It's Switzerland's turn to welcome the Beauty & the Beast tour! The bus left quite in time from Luxembourg, so we actually arrive an hour too early at the venue; which for us means we have some time to wander around! We hear there's an IKEA in the neighbourhood so we go an explore the surroundings to kill some time. The first shop we encounter is not the IKEA though, but an Erotic Mega-store that claims to be even more fun than sex... In spite of my curiosity the guys just keep walking on, so we don't get the chance to find out if it's actually true.




We walk around some more, find the IKEA and explore the Swedish food products at the bistro, amazed at the instant "just-add-water" bread that comes in a milk-like carton. And after a little more eyes dropping in some other stores we decide to head back to the venue.

The moment we set foot in the Z7 we can immediately feel the venue's history. It's been around for 15 years, and the walls are filled with art and pictures of the many bands that have played there as well as people enjoying the shows. To get to the backstage we go up some stairs, into a couple of rooms left to the stage; one of them has a window that points right into the stage, giving a lovely sky-box view of the whole thing.





We go get some food at the venue's kitchen and were amazed at the amount of different lovely things set for us to have lunch: freshly baked loafs of bread, tons of meat and cheese, fruit, vegetables, salads, little baked goods and cookies... And everything was incredibly delicious! I have to force myself away from the lunch area in order not to eat endlessly.

We play as first tonight, so we have the joy to do a soundcheck. We check everything and when we're satisfied we can go back and relax some more, being sure that we'll have no sound surprises when our set starts. I already start getting excited when I look into the huge empty venue and imagining how it will be to play for the crowd later on the day!

There's still quite some time to kill before dinner, but fortunately we have wireless Internet so I take the opportunity to give my parents in Mexico a call and tell them how we've been doing so far. It feels nice, having that homey feeling after being in so many different places in so little time.

Dinner was another incredibly pleasant experience at Z7, and makes us even more excited about playing. So with full stomachs and lots of energy we jump onto the stage and give it everything we've got. The people are happy and getting enthusiastic with us... just perfect! We did have a little accident, though, as Stephan's strap breaks in the middle of a song! Luckily the light engineer and backliner Eelco is close by and rushes to assist him so the incident goes by almost unnoticed.

When we're done we spend some time in the venue, enjoying the rest of the band's playing; it's nice to see how every one's getting more and more into it and improving as the shows go by. Talking with the people from the audience is also a big pleasure, and we're happy to hear from people that didn't know us and were pleasantly surprised with our performance.

After the show is over it's time to have some fun again! We enjoy more and more talking with the rest of the bands and have some drinks together. It's great to share experiences and learn from everyone!

Marcela


November 17, 2009 - Turock, Essen (DE)
When we arrive at Essen the venue is not open to us yet. Which once again means wandering around town! All of us, except for Stephan, who is still lying unconscious in the bus after a full blast party evening the night before. The drinking-party relationship with our Norwegian friends keeps getting better and better (or at least that's what I hear, being I'm sleeping really early every day and only hear the stories the day after).

Anyway, first stop is finding a place where we can use the toilets (you remember the #1 rule of the tour-bus, which is "no number two on the bus"!); after a couple of minutes walking we spot the Burger King that will be our victim! We do what we have to do and move on...

We keep on walking around and end up having some nice coffees at a Starbucks in the center. I used to go ofter to Starbucks with my friends back in Mexico, so it feels a bit like home since it looks and smells exactly the same! We all get a holiday feeling for a moment while sitting there and enjoy our little cup-o-java moment.




We were gone quite some time, but when we come back the venue is still not open. I spot Ailyn from Sirenia getting bored as well, and I suggest we go shopping around town; we had spotted a couple of cool looking stores so we kill some time looking at possible stage outfits! I had no luck, but she was able to find a couple of nice things. We agree though that it's very nice to be able to do girly stuff, both of us being surrounded by men all the time.




Finally we can come into the venue, and our first stop is getting something to eat at their bar area upstairs. After getting some lunch we start taking everything out of the bus, and go looking for our backstage room, which turns out to be two stories higher at another apartment in the building; so through the night we walk up and down about 15-20 times, enough to keep us a bit in shape!

Playing as second this time, so no soundcheck for us; meaning even more time to hang around and do whatever we want. After a while it's already time for dinner, so we go to a local restaurant where we're served a lovely meal. In order to be ready for the show I rush back, walk up those two sets of stairs and put on the make up and stage outfit while the guys change into their gear as well. Sooner than you know it we're already next to the stage, ready to rush through those 15 minutes to set our things up and go!

We haven't had a bad gig so far, and this wasn't the first one either. Great audience, great energy. We just love to play together and share our energy on stage!

Marcela


November 18, 2009 - De Kade, Zaandam (NL)
Back to Holland and hello Internet in our phones! A tweet here, an e-mail check there... anything not to venture outside the bus before the venue in Zaandam opens up. The weather outside looks horrifying: a wind of power level 9, rain, cold... complete madness! I was planning on joining the guys on an expedition through the city, but looking at the grey sky I decide to rather stay inside.




We've been at De Kade before, and it feels kinda nice to step into a familiar place. The big happy tour family sits together and has lunch at one of the backstage rooms, everything is nicely taken care of for us. I go boil some water to make some tea from a lovely recipe I got from Sandra from Elis:

1) grab some ginger root and make a few thin slices
2) put the ginger slices in a cup and add boiling water
3) if desired add some sugar or honey to taste

And voila! You have ginger tea. I didn't know how good it was, but it seriously helps soothe the throat and it tastes really nice! A good tip for the singers out there.

Since I'm utterly bored and the rest of the band is out walking around town I get the idea of stepping into a salon at the corner of the street and get my hair colored, since it already needs it badly. The lovely girls there have time enough to squeeze me into their agendas, so I spend the next hour there getting my hair died and properly washed, a nice head massage included... Lovely break from the smelly bus! (Oh yes, with 16 people in the bus it's already rather smelly... And the worst part is, eventually you don't notice it anymore, so you're probably smelly too!).

While I'm at the salon the guys do some shoppings. Johan got some new socks and a new pair of sturdy shoes to wear on stage, since his feet hurt from all the jumping around. Stephan is a fan of spicy food so he gets a jar of sambal badjak, anticipating to the Chinese food we would be getting later on the evening.

We didn't have all that much time to eat before the show, so I decide to skip dinner. I immediately start getting ready for the show, then spend some time on interviews and the sooner I know it's already time to go on stage! Changeover, plug in and play! And how nice it is to stand in front of the Dutch audience, lots of familiar faces in the audience including a few English men that come to see us from time to time. I do my best to address the audience in my best Dutch possible, and it goes almost flawless. Another great evening goes by, with lots of fun and energy. While talking to the crowd I get nice compliments on my language skills, which is really nice!

Peter our manager is there today to watch the show. He has some great news for Stephan: he's bringing over a brand new guitar for him! Stephan had ordered it from his sponsor company Mayones, but it didn't come on time for him to take him from the first day of the tour on. So Peter came to the rescue and brought the big carton box for him. We were all around to watch at the dressing room while Stephan tore the wrapping and revealed his brand new, shiny white guitar. The look on his face is precious!

Martijn and I didn't have dinner before the show, so we go to a local restaurant together with Peter. We have a wonderful dinner and a couple of drinks, and chat a bit about what's going on in the outside world (you eventually become totally disconnected from current events while on that bus).




Seven the drummer of Leaves' Eyes is a really cool guy. He comes all the way from Dallas, Texas, and is a freaking spectacular drummer and funny as hell. Since the Leaves' Eyes bus is rather quiet he decides to join the rest of the tour bands for the after party. As I understand it he had a total blast with the Dutchies and Norwegians!

Marcela


November 19, 2009 - Bibelot, Dordrecht (NL)
For some reason I couldn't sleep that well last night, so I start the day with a rather low energy level which later on becomes a rather nasty sore throat. I guess it was my turn, since pretty much everyone on the tour is sick. Liv from Leaves' Eyes has spent all the shows so far fighting the side effects of getting a swine flu shot; she's doing way better now thankfully, but such things make the whole experience less enjoyable of course. Lots of respect to her, for being such a warrior and going on with the tour!




But anyway, no wandering around town for me today. I stay at our backstage room at Dordrecht resting in a huge pile of cozy beanbags, while Johan makes an express trip to Tilburg to restock our merch supply of CDs and the rest of the guys take off to wander around the city. They're really sweet and bring me some ginger to make tea and salt to gargle with (nice throat-bacteria-killing trick).

For our own shows we always have our trusty crew with us, but for this tour we work together with a crew that takes care of everything for all the bands. But funny enough, while hanging out at Bibelot the venue for tonight we come across Pieter, our regular sound engineer! He's working at the venue tonight, and we're all happy to see him around and have him to check out the show.

We'd played at Bibelot already with the old Stream of Passion line-up, so it's nice to come back with the new guys. The place used to be a church, so the stage is framed by lovely big pillars and a high ceiling that give it a very special atmosphere. When we're ready to go on stage we peak into the venue and notice it looks nice and packed. When the intro track of Art of Loss starts playing we can hear everyone getting excited, and all through the set the people are enthusiastic and into the music. Thank you so much everyone for your warm response!




Going to bed really early today, trying to get rid of that sore throat soon. Tomorrow we head over to Vosselaar in Belgium!

Marcela

Stream of Passion is very happy to announce the launch of the video for "In The End", now available at the band's MySpace profile. Click here and enjoy!

Bij aankoop van een ticket voor het concert van Stream of Passion op 23 oktober, maak je nu kans op een unieke EAT & GREET met de band! Onder genot van een warme hap kan jij de bandleden alles vragen wat jij ooit al eens hebt willen weten....
Mail je naam, kaartnummer en telefoonnummer naar win@p60.nl en wie weet zit jij straks met Stream Of Passion aan tafel!

Deze actie loopt t/m 19 oktober. De winnaar ontvangt 20 oktober persoonlijk bericht.

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With the purchase of your ticket for Stream of Passion's show October 23 at P60 in Amstelveen (Netherlands), you have the chance to win a unique EAT & GREET with the band! You can ask the band everything you've wanted to know while enjoying a delicious warm meal...
Send your name, ticket number and telephone number to win@p60.nl and who knows, you might be sitting for dinner together with SoP!

Deadline is October 19. The winner will be notified on October 20.

Our friends at GigVideos.nl were there at our last show in Effenaar and made a little visual impresion of the band on stage. Check it out!

Recorded with only 2 camcorders, pitty though we didn't bring a third camera. Initially recorded only to get some footage for evaluation purposes, but we think the footage is simply too great to throw it away. For the audio track I used the CD because our camera mics weren't good enough. Special thanks to the crew at De Effenaar for putting up this great light show. Have fun.
Felix Donkers

It’s always fun playing 2 days in a row, especially when you wake up in the morning, you see the sun is shining nicely and you know you’re gonna be playing on an outside stage.

Wantijpop is a bit more of a mainstream festival, with acts playing hip hop, pop rock and of course we were there to make it all a bit heavier hehe!





Disadvantage of a festival is that you cannot do a full soundcheck, a linecheck is the only thing possible and lasts for 5 minutes. Fortunately Pieter, our soundengineer since 2005, knows what to do with these situations. It’s nice to know that you don’t have to worry about those things because our crew rocks!

During the day everybody was walking around on the field a bit, watching some bands, but when we had to go build up on stage, everybody was getting nicely concentrated. With this line up we hadn’t played on such a big festival, so some tension was noticeable on all of the faces.




But then, when the intro starts, you can see the smiles getting back again. It feels so good to play all the new material with the guys (and girls of course!), it’s just so much fun! Especially when there’s a big stage to run around on, it only increases the fun factor ;)

The gig on its own went really well I think, also because our stand in drummer Andre Borgman (After Forever, Robby Valentine) did prepare the whole set incredibly! Thanks again Andre!

We played for little over an hour, and within that hour, I got more tanned than I ever got on a holiday! The sun was shining right into our faces, basically burning, eventhough some Mexicans still think it’s not a real summer ;)



After the gig we hang around at the merchandise stand and talked with some nice people, faces we see more often and which feels so good, thanks for showing up again!

Our next gig is gonna be on an outside stage again, so let’s hope the weather will be the same and we will give it a full 100% again! See you soon!

Rock!

Johan

Stream of Passion is ready to tweet and bring you tiny updates on their happenings from any time and place! So follow the band and keep close track on everything that the SoPies are onto!

Follow this link: http://twitter.com/StreamOfPassion

After driving for an hour on the highway, car packed to the max with all the gear I need, I arrive at the 013 in Tilburg. Other band members are already scuffling about, and I started unloading all the stuff onto a cart, so it could be easily moved to the hall. Three bands are playing tonight, and after seeing the stage of the small hall at the 013 again, I am happy that we agreed on sharing most of the backline. :) Just Stream of Passion was there at that specific moment and all the gear piled in front of the stage was already massive.

After connecting all the wires, logging all the heavy equipment onto the stage, hanging up the brand-new back-drop, making good use of the little space we have, it was finally time to start the soundcheck. As Martijn started his bass drum thumping, some of us went downstairs to the spacious dressing rooms and opened a drink. At some point Johan announced the glorious news that The Flame Within has entered the Dutch Album Top 100 at #57 and the Dutch Alternative Top 30 at #2!! Great news, and a huge compliment for the 2 years of hard work we have put into making the record.

Soundcheck followed, and during playing Art of Loss, Deceiver and some other tunes, Autumn and Xenobia arrived. They brought some more gear to the party, and after some friendly hello's and shaking of hands we were ready for a good night on stage with friends. After the soundcheck it was time for some of the more-than-decent food of the 013, served near the dressing rooms downstairs. Some potatoes, chicken shoarma, spinach and salad was on the menu. It went in just fine and stayed down just as good. ;)

We hung around downstairs for a bit. Warming up on Steve's mini Line6 amp, fooling around (the pre- and after-show antics). Some photos were taken that will never see the light of day (slight hint: Johan, skirt, cucumber, Bad News). The band was in a good mood and anxious to get back on stage after the great CD release party only a week before. While waiting for our time on stage, we sneaked a peek at Xenobia and Autumn.

They were doing great as well, and the venue was quite filled to the rim. It all was very promising. After watching 2 great songs by Autumn it was time to get our stage clothes on and mentally prepare ourselves for an hour+ show. As soon as the lights dimmed and the spooky intro track started it was on. Hitting the stage full blast with The Art Of Loss. Head-banging and rocking our, and everybody else's really, socks off.

Art of Loss, In the End, Now or Never, My Leader, Run Away, Games we Play... and even a mini drum solo from new-kid Martijn ;) We had a great evening, and judging by the response, so did everybody else. We would like to thank everybody who was there that evening for a splendid time. The same for Xenobia and Autumn.
Afterwards we signed some CD's and took some pictures. It was a shame to hear that the amount of CD's we brought was not enough to supply your demand. We'll make up for it next time :)

After packing up and putting everything back into vans and cars in true Tetris stylee, we headed off to a "secret" location for our private little release party. A week after the official one due to time and storage problems. But we made up for the delay by partying hard! A variety of alcoholic drinks (including jello shots, whiskey, beer, and tequila - not necessarily at the same time) was consumed. Being the only one completely sober I could tell you some funny stories about that night, but I was asked politely to forget everything and not mention it at all. So I won't... ;) Let's see if we can outdo ourselves in Haarlem and at Wantijpop. See you all there!!!  ROCK ON...

Eric