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UK/Europe Tour '06 Show 4: Cristiania, Denmark
WARMTH AND JOY IN CHRISTIANIA!
Firstly, what a pleasure to be in the home of Mercyful Fate!
Christiania is a communitiy in Copenhagen that is somehow a separate country to Denmark. It is basically a hippy commune, I guess, and so we felt at home right away.
Now, as you probably remember, the Marshall JMP was no more, so we arrived at the venue in dire need of amplification. I just assumed that we'd be able to borrow something from one of the support bands. A good theory, except that there were no support bands. Oh no!
So the sound guy for the evening had to go out on a desperate search for something. In the mean-time, we had glorious showers, ate glorious food, and fell in love with glorious lighting technicians with beautiful eyes, and mad smoke-machine skills called Jo (sorry if I spelled that wrong!). We also met a great guy who had seen Black Sabbath with Dio back in the early 80's. He had some killer stories.
The sound guy managed to find a Marshall head. Unfortunately, it was a solid state cheapy, but it did the job. Actually some guy came up to me after the show and said 'what's up with the crappy head?'. Dang. I thought I'd gotten away with it.
So to set the scene for you, Christiania has a beautiful energy, the venue is all made of wood and has a great atmosphere, there are candles on all the tables, Nils, the promoter is the man, we're hanging out with a guy who has seen Sabbath with Dio, Jo, the lighting/smoke machine girl is a darling, the food is fantastic, I've had a shower, and the sound quality is perfect. A recipe for goodness.
Sourvein were feeling right at home in Christiania, and their set was mammoth. Clyde sounded totally pummelling. It was sweet.
I'd never played with a smoke machine before, but it was really fun. 'Look at me! I am a wizard! My amp/cauldron is bubbling and releasing evil roiling vapours!', was how my mind was going as we were setting up. It was a special show. The candles really made the atmosphere. For me personally, it was the first time I'd really felt totally relaxed on stage. I was just able to 'blow', and the solos just rolled off the frets, so I was happy. I had the unique experience of playing hell-drenched serialkiller-obsessed black psychedelic doom, and then looking up and seeing everyone SMILING at me. Weird and wonderful. No bellowing, grimacing or the usual stuff that happens at COM shows, but smiling...awesome.
All in all, a very memorable experience, so thanks to everyone who was there. We can't wait to go back.
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