Day Off – Tuesday 29. September

We arrived in a camping site somewhere in Germany at around midday. The sun was shining and the weather was nice. I really wanted to go for a walk and take some photos, but first I had to sort a few things out over the internet for my studies. As I was about to buy some internet access with my other card I noticed it was gone too! Fucking great! I had lost both my cards in Hamburg! I spent the day finding a way to access the internet and then sorting out some of these credit cards problems, like having my cards cancelled, while everyone else was having a good day. When I had finished the sun was already setting, so no nice walk taking photos for me. I went to bed frustrated, not even affording to buy dinner ‘cause I spent my last money on buying the internet access. Not the way I wanted to spend the day.

We also got the news that Köld was totally sold out and out of print everywhere. We had already sold our last copies before the Paris gig, so we were hoping to get some more.

The only good thing that day was that I found my ipod.

Stuttgart – Club Central – Wednesday 30. September

Stuttgart was another good gig for us, despite Addi feeling really ill before the show and not being sure if he was up for the job. The place was fairly packed and the reaction of the audience really good.

Afterwards we even met a girl with a Sólstafir tattoo on her arm. The first fan tattoo we’ve seen.

After the gig we also got the good news that our back drop that we had lost had been found in Oberhausen and will be sent to us later on the tour.

Setlist:

Intro (Náttfari)

Köld

Pale Rider

Ritual of Fire

Berlin – (Don’t remember the name of the club since I don’t have it written down) – Thursday 01. October

As Hannover was cancelled Kai our tour manager quickly booked us another gig in Berlin. As the promoter only had a week to promote the gig and there being two other rather big metal shows in Berlin that night we didn’t expect a huge turn out, but more came than we expected.

Again we had a great night with great friends. Our “mom” in Berlin, Daniela who had taken such great care of us after Party San, her friends Marius and Sizzy, Christian and Cornelius again, Jan, Hoffi from Darkmoon Warrior and many others.

Again, good gig, good crowd, good reaction.

After the gig most band members and crew hung out at the local metal pub, except those living in Berlin who took the oppertunety to sleep in their own beds.

Here we had to say good bye to Johanna (girlfriend of Phil from S.o.t.M.) who had been tagging along since Hamburg, doing a good job at filling in in the merch sales  among other things. But we also welcomed on the bus Paul from Legacy Magazine who will be tagging along for a few shows to write a tour report.

And oh yeh, I found out that I had actually not really lost my cards, I had given them to Christian in Hamburg for some reason, but it’s too late now as I’ve already had them cancelled. Rock’n’bloody roll!

Setlist:

Intro (Náttfari)

Köld

Pale Rider

Ritual of Fire

Bishofswerda – East Club – Friday 02. October

Troubles began even before we reached the venue in Bishofsverda, deep in the former DDR, as our double decker bus could not pass under a couple of bridges. But once we arrived I liked the place immediately. Right next to the venue there were a handful of abandoned buildings where I spent most of the remaining daylight taking some photos.

But the gig proved to be somewhat cursed with technical problems. It was S.o.t.M’s. turn to open up the gig and right in the first or second song they were having problems. Singer/lead guitar player’s Phil’s guitar amp was not working, leaving the song mostly without vocals and lead guitar as he struggled to fix the problem. One of drummer’s Jörg’s cymbal stands crashed right from the drum raiser almost taking out with it second guitar player Mikki. A few more songs down the line and the amp brakes down again.

Code also had their share of trouble. Drummer’s Johnny’s triggers aren’t working properly, not picking up all the bass drum beats. And in the last song he brakes one of his Axis (crap!) pedals.

So I can’t help but wonder what problems we have in store.

Intro and first song done and we’re still ok. We hit “Köld” and everything seems to be going fine, until in the bassdrum/guitar lead part the head falls off of my pedal. I try to make do with the left one, but it isn’t working very well. When the song brakes down to only the Hammong organ and guitar I get a chance to fix the problem, and the rest of the set goes down well with out any further unwanted happenings.

Once again a rather good gig for us and good reaction from the crowd.

Setlist:

Intro (Náttfari)

78 Days in the Desert

Köld

Pale Rider

She Destroys Again

Ritual of Fire

Brno – Faval – Saturday 03. October

I don’t know where exactly we are, but the road tells me we’re already in the Czech Republic. The bus is shaking like hell and I can’t get any more sleep. I look out the window and see that the road looks ok. What is the problem then? I soon figure out that the road is made out of concrete, not asphalt. Concrete roads last much longer than asphalt roads, but concrete tends to crack a lot more than asphalt. So what they do is separating the road into ca 5m long pieces, so if it starts to crack the crack will never reach over to the next piece of concrete. Here the pieces seem to be very unevenly joint together. This is the same was as bridges are constructed, as they tend to actually expand and contract as the heat changes. Why I know so much about road constructions is something I’m not sure of.

The crowd that night was definitely not ours. Although the reaction after each song was good it was obvious that not many people knew our music beforehand. Even as we announced that we were only playing “Til Valhallar” at this gig alone on the tour, because it had originally been released in the Czech Republic, the crowd did not respond.

The night was owned by Code, who headlined that night. It was good to see one of my favourite bands totally slaying the audience, especially after they had struggled a bit on some of the first dates of the tour (understandably – with a new line up that had only rehearsed once).

Budapest – Diesel – Sunday 04. October

What can I say? Budapest was totally fucked up! In a good way though. I had the same feeling as in Brno, that people didn’t really know us beforehand, but if they didn’t we sure did win them over. I haven’t signed this many autographs since the hour long autograph signing session at Party San Open Air.

Again we met some good friends, old and new. The old (but still young and sexy) ones being my friends Bianka and Kriztina. Bianka gave me two bottles of home made Palinka (it’s like kinda a home made Hungarian moonshine made from fruits) and it totally fucked me up (like I knew it would). But probably not as much as it fucked up our new friends Antal the barkeeper and Mic the Austrailian (I know another Aussie called Mic so I’m guessing that’s the right spelling in stead of Mick). We have never gotten such a great treatment at a venue before, the backstage room even having a bartender (Antal) just to serve the bands. All in all a brilliant night. Big hails to Sandra the catering chick (best catering ever!), Daniel megafan and his friend and the guy who used to play in Sear Bliss and all the other fans/friends we met!

Setlist:

Intro (Náttfari)

Köld

Nature Strutter

She Destroys Again

Pale Rider