PRIMAL FEAR & SINNER IN SOUTH AMERICA:
„No Sleep Till Sao Paulo“ - or:
„The Whole Package… Except Sleep!“....
At the beginning of August, Primal Fear and Special Guest Sinner
traveled to South America to play four shows in four countries in five days.
This meant: Maximum Rock’n’Roll, amazing fans and almost zero sleep. Prepare
for take off!
'Stuttgart Airport, Aug 4th, 9:00 hrs: Let the games begin
Two bands, three techs, that’s a lot of people. And it has been a while
that we started from Stuttgart with six guys. Among us is our latest addition,
drum tech Tommy, who fits very well into the Primal Fear camp. We’re also
especially happy that our long time friend Duce is making his comeback as
guitar tech, now that he is usually travelling with Children Of Bodom all the
time. For a massive trip like this it’s good to know you have good people with
you. This of course includes our master of sound, Achim Köhler (a.k.a. „the guy
called Coca Kohler“), and the legendary Klaus Sperling on drums with Sinner.
After the easiest check-in ever we’re flying to Frankfurt and then without much
further ado to Mexico City - on a 12hr flight! But: Kohler has entered the
Business Class!
Mexiko City, Aug 5th: First show at Circo Valador
Sleeping on the plane? No
way. If
you depart in Germany around noon, you can’t fall asleep right away, regardless
of how much you want to. Or how many red wine you have. And god knows we tried…
The mood is still „up“, however, when we finally arrive in Mexico and at the
hotel and ignore the jetlag to have some steak. On the next morning, we head
over to the club: Circo Valador. The equipment provided doesn’t really match
our expectations, but it’s useable. Fair enough. The same goes for the, frankly
quite adventurous, lighting rigs. The bootleg shirt stands outside are
something else, even worse than those in Mailand a while ago. There’s eight of
them, offering the wildest graphical combinations of motives from all covers of
both bands. That’s something you have to see - even if you’re looking at your
own face staring from a mountain of merch you’re not seeing a dime from. On the
other hand: German labels also sell songs to third parties as they please
without asking the artists…..
After a mexican support band, Sinner start: we didn’t have a rehearsal,
but when the siren is howling, it’s ON. “Crash & Burn”, Baby. The set is
running pretty smoothly, almost as if there hadn’t been four months since the
last show in Moscow. The place is packed, and the fans are with us right from
the get-go: „Connection“, „Born To Rock“, „Kinfe In My Heart“, the people
celebrate them! Very cool. „Germany Rocks“ once again gets a name change, this
time to „Mexico Rocks“, and all hands are in the air - what a terrific start
for the tour! ....
With Primal Fear all bets are off: „Under The Radar“, „Killbound“ and „Six
Times Dead“ from the new album hit like explosions, the fans sing - and loudly.
We finish the regular set with „Riding The Eagle“ and „Final Embrace“, before „Metal
Is Forever“ turns the crowd in one moving mass of humans. Kick ass! Encores now:
“Hands Of Time” gives time to catch a breath, before two classics take it away
again. Wow! No one is complaining about tiredness or jetlag anymore, especially
Henny “I was a little dizzy afterwards” Wolter is taking absolutely no
prisoners at his second show for the night after rocking with Sinner. Post gig
we met up with the fanclub and drive to the hotel for a shower. And sleep? Nope. At 4am, a van awaits us to
take us to the airport. Jetlag? You bet.
Panama City, Airport: Short stopover....
According to THE expert among us regarding all things South American
(who is also well-versed in the cinema culture of Toronto!), there is nothing
at Panama Airport, no shops, no cafés, nothing. When we land here after five
hours or so, however, things look quite differently: We see a very clean and
well-equipped airport. Thanks, Mr. Expert! Good night.
Bogota, Colombia, Aug 6th: Second show..
A couple of hours later we arrvive in Bogota and are picked up by local
promoter Carlos. The overall impression is a lot more positive than all the
things we heard from other people. The air ist noticeably thin, however, since
the city is pretty high (3000m). The venue called “Downtown” isn’t too huge,
but „Coca Kohler“ still starts to loose his temper because of the technical
infrastructure and some difficulties in communication. The good thing however:
The show is sold out! There’s also no support, and this simply means less
stress and more space. ....
The Sinner machine is rolling nicely, and I can hardly believe that a
young Colombian in first row is singing “Knife In My Heart” word for word! He’s
getting a signed pick, of course. Christof and Henny are once again using the
whole of the stage, and the fans are Killer, too! As it seems, everyone of them
has brought a camera. Looking into the crowd, one might think that a crazed
clip directed had some bizarre idea of equipping each and everyone with a
camera. But that of course doesn’t stop Sinner from delivering a great set. ....
For Primal Fear, the Colombians shift to “maniac mode”. It has been said
that fans in South American are especially passionate with their metal, and
hell yes, it’s true. They’re so loud during „Nuclear Fire“ that one could think
they are singing the national anthem… which is actually coming up next: When
Ralf starts with the Colombian anthem, which he had just learned on the day,
the walls seem to cave in. The “Whooooooo” from the audience, when they realize
what he is just doing…unbelievable. Late after midnight we go back to the
hotel, where we have to decide between being tired (we were travelling all
night, after all) and hunger (the hotel re-opened the kitchen and had a bunch
of cold beer ready)…....
Bogota, Colombia, Aug 7: A free day, at least halfway
Our flight to Buenos Aires is in the evening, so we all can use the day
to catch up on some sleep. And to relax. There was even talk of a Happy End somewhere. Our
plane leaves at 8pm, so were in a van again at 5, only to run into some trouble
at the airport: At first we have to get some document to be free of the airport
tax, then we’re asked at check-in to pay a mysterious additional tax of 43 US$
per person PLUS a huge fee for overweight baggage. One thinks twice about
complaining if faced with the guns and evil looks of the policemen, so we say
goodbye to about 1000 US$. Prison Break might have taken place in Panama, but
the Modelo prison of Bogota is probably not much nicer than Sona…....
So off we go to the plane. Which turns out to be an old machine from
Argentina Airlines, which prompts Henny to the immortal words of confusion: “Someone
has puked on my seatbelt!” . What’s worse, the crew is not capable of reducing
the temperature of around 70 degrees Celsius in the cabin. That’s pretty close
to a sauna! Ralf protests - and takes off his shirt, sitting grinning in the
last row. But after a while we all close our eyes. This is were we will spend
the night.....
Lima, Peru, Airport: Stopover
The city of Lima might look OK from above, but we stay aboard and fall
back to sleep regardless of the tropical heat. After a couple more hours we
land in Buenos Aires and happily leave the flying sauna. Nicely rested? No one,
probably.....
Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug 8: Third show
The temperarture is only 18 degrees Celsius here, because the city is
located pretty far in the South, and it’s winter on the Southern hemisphere. Which is a nice change for us. What’s even better,
the very nice local promoter owns a steakhouse, and we’re invited! Some good food is very welcome now. Mr. Sperling immediately
falls in the love with the grilled cheese, while Henny is spicing up his salad
with substances that will show their true effects later… Mountains of ribs,
steaks and chicken, grilled on open fire, are served, along with salads and
snacks galore. Very, very good!....
Now it’s soundcheck time. Mr. Kohler had
been playing here at Teatro Flores with Edguy a while ago, so he has his own
local fanclub now, who promised to show up tonight. The Teatro is a cool place,
the crew know their stuff, so everything is running smoothly. Three bands are
opening up today, and all are surprisingly good, especially Diego from Henker
und Magui from Falcom. When Sinner finally hit the stage, the venue is packed
and the motor starts to roll again. Christof is putting in some extra miles on
the big stage (Air Leimsen anyone?), and the fans rock along with „Judgement
Day“, „The Dog“ and of course „Buenos Aires Rocks“! ...
The noise even intensifies significantly as soon as Primal Fear dive
into „Under The Radar“. The whole place is signing … amazing! The fans are
truly unbelieveably and celebrate the show for 120 minutes straight. Even after
ten years with Primal Fear we will remember this show as a highlight and
awesome experience! Lack of energy
because of sleep depriviation? So what? The only real testing moment
is when I try to sing into the same microphone as Henny during „Killbound“ -
and a garlic stench FROM HELL hits me. Aaaargh.
But the show must go on…....
We get to play three encores, including the almost unplugged,
four-guys-on-chairs number „Hands Of Time“, before we can crash sweating into
the backstage room. Kohlers party team is already in full effect there, so it
takes zero time to turn the whole place into one big party with all bands and
friends. In the hotel, we have only three hours until “Lobby call” and the
shuttle to the next flight, but it was overheard later, that that’s enough to have
some celebration. But off we go: It’s 4am, when we head to the airport to go to
Brasil…
Sao Paulo, Brasil, Aug 9: Fourth and final show
Slow, but surely the lack of sleep is showing. That is not helped by the
fact that things at the Carioca club are running as they always do in Sao
Paulo: There are numerous local technicians, but nothing works. Six pairs of
eyes are watching us from the monitor desk, but not even “thumbs up” or “thumbs
down” works communicationwise. Herr Kohler is pretty relaxed today, however, so
he takes care of the monitors as well as the FOH - and stuff starts to sound
right....
With Sinner, we can keep the intensity level we set in Argentinia, we
might even be able to step it up a notch. Not hard with an audience like this.
We like it! A great show to finish the tour, and all in the crowd were hotter
than the local pizza. Or was that cardboard slices with some random fat stuff
on top? „Sao Paulo Rocks“, „More-More-More“ singalongs during „Rebel Yell“, and
then it’s „Goodbye Brasil!“: For Sinner, this was a great tour, and the
chemistry within the band is brilliant.....
Primal Fear are playing in Sao Paulo for the fifth time today. The last
show was at the beautiful Olympia venue, which had some sound problems however,
so it didn’t work as it should. Things are different tonight: The place is
packed, and the people want to ROCK! The heat, however, can only be compared to
the Sala Jam in Bergara in the middle of the summer. The fans do not care, they
love every note and sing „Under The Radar“ unbelieveably loud. The band is
showing what it’s capable of and plays their best gig of the tour, probably
even their best gig in Brasil ever. After 110 minutes of „Le Rock Totale“, we
finish our last stint in South America. Needless to say, there’s a huge
backstage party happening, including our old friend Hasen-Eric plus harem. All
the guys in the bands and the crew might need a caffeine injection straight to
the heart by now, but everyone’s really happy regardless of fatigue: Be it Dr.
Sperling, Herr Wolter or Mr. Beyrodt, smiling faces all around! There’s also a
huge round of applause in order for Duce, Tommy and Achim for their work. Without
you guys these shows would have not been possible like this. We also thank the
fans for four awesome gigs that will go down in our history as very, very
positive experiences.....
Frankfurt, Germany Aug 12th US Embassy
Now it’s off to more challenges like our first headlining tour in the US
and Canada, followed by a trek through Europe in October and November. Talking
about the USA: We landed back in Germany around noon on Tuesday, after another
12 hour flight from Sao Paulo, kingsize jetlag included. But to stay in the
mood, we had to leave the next morning at 5:30 to go to the US-embassy in
Frankfurt to have our interviews for the working visa at 7:30… nice. But all is
good, we have all the papers we need to come over. And there’s more good news:
Pamela Moore of Queensrÿche fame (remember Sister Mary?) will join us in the US
to sing “Fighting The Darkness” with Ralf in a new version.....
Snina, Slovakia Aug. 15th Rock Pod Open Air..
And since we’re reflecting of the last two weeks here, we must not leave
out the show in Snina at the eastern part of Slowakia, which we played a couple
of days after returning from South America. Since Snina can’t be reached with a
nightliner properly, we decided to fly in. That still meant getting up at 5:30
again - we must not become too comfortable, right? Alex and Randy flew in via
Budapest, only to notice that the part of the travel marked “Airbus” on paper
turned out to be an ordinary travelling bus on the road… more on that later.
But most importantly, the show was great and the fans loud and really into it. We
got up after seven (!) supports to a great stage, great light and a full hour
of mayhem. We also met our buddies from U.D.O., who played a great gig as well and
released their new album „Dominator“ right on this weekend.
After a couple of
drinks and a nice meeting with Matthias and Stani we called it a night … before
things got crazy the next day: .... Randys „bus flight“ to Budapest: cancelled! Fortunately one of the local
promoters offered to take our drummer to Budapest in his car. Hennys flight to Hannover: cancelled! The result: Flying
via Frankfurt after four more hours of waiting. Ralf und Mat: Kosice via Prag to
Stuttgart, but: airplane not working. After some repairs for 20 minutes, we
tried taking off… wow. Did work,
luckily. And Alex: The flight from Madrid to Las Palmas was… wait for it…
cancelled! Well, it’s just five more hours… This should prepare us for the
upcoming US tour, right?....
PRIMAL FEAR in North America
07.09.2009 USA - St. Paul -
Station 4
08.09.2009 USA - Los Angeles
- Key Club
09.09.2009 USA - Springfield - Jaxx
10.09.2009 USA - ProgPower X - Atlanta
12.09.2009 USA - NEW YORK - Blender Theatre
13.09.2009 CAN - Montreal - FouFounes
thx to Tommy, Michelle, Miroslav & Leandro for the photos!