Metal Camp, Slovenia

A short stop in Düsseldorf and we finally landed in Venice at 35 degrees celsius. While we were waiting at Venice airport for Johan to arrive, we were laughing about the memories of what happened at this very same airport back in 2007 when we were on our way to the very same festival, hehe...
A 3 hour ride in a van took us from Venice and over the border to Slovenia and the city of Tolmin where Metal Camp is beng held every year. The environment of the Slovenian mountains are just stunning and i took hundreds of pictures! The green water, the moutains and alps, the narrow roads and the steep walls of rock is just fantasic view from the van window. When we arrived at Metal Camp i was a bit disappointed about the fact the "Paradise Hotel" (Hotel Paradiso) was not open this year. This was a part of the great memories i had of Metal Camp - the old whorehouse hotel from WW2, where all artists lived, and the fact that it was only 50 metres from the main stage. This was the pace where we all ate, met other musicians and had a party last time we were here. Now it was closed for refurbishment :-(
We had a very "easy" travel this time as Sabaton was playing the same festival and took all our gear in their tourbus from Sweden to Slovenia. Unfortunately their tourbus broke down (again), and they had to leave it in the mountains of Slovenia. So we had to bring our gear back to Sweden by ourselves. I feel really sorry for them, especially as they had 1100km to the next show.
 
Anyway, we started our endeavours at Metal Camp this time with a signing session. Then we headed back to our backstage, found a message from Steelwing, and checked out the alcohol stash and found out that the festival had given us a Vodka called "Skandal". In Swedish, this word means scandal and it felt like a joke that they gave this Vodka to this band. But we also got a whole box of fine PAIN wine bottles!
 
After Sodom had finished their show we finally enetered the stage around 21:15. The show was stunning. about 15.000-20.000 loud fans giving us their very best, perfect weather, best conditions and everything just worked perfectly. We had a very good time laughing ourselves throughout the whole show. Maybe it was also the feeling of the last festival this year, but i'd say it was also Slovenia itself who gave us this warm and great feeling! Up until this point, it had been a great day, but now the problems where kicking in. The second last song was "On and On", and i got this crazy idea to jump off the stage and run around in front of the security barrier during this song after the second chorus. I have no idea why i did this, but at the time it happened it felt like a good idea. Sometimes i have this feeling when i play bigger festivals that it is a bit "too big" and the audience is too far away from us. By doing this i came closer to the audience. In front of the stage, between the stage and the security barriers, it was platforms where some photographers had been during the first three songs. When i jumped down from the stage to this platform it didn't look that high, but when i landed i heard a crack in my left foot (actually in a toe) and it felt a bit strange, like the toe was poiting in the wrong direction. I didn't take any more notice right then, but when we got coser to the last chorus i realised that i need to get back up there and saw that the stage was about 2-3 meatres high and impossible to climb up again. That was also when i realise i had made a jump too high... So i ran around the stage to the backside, up on the ramp, through the crew that was standing right on the side of the stage and managed to get back to my microphone to sing the last line of the last chorus. It felt like i had saved the situation and thought everything was fine. It was only one song left and now i started to think about the fact that the toe on my left foot were feeling more and more strange while we kicked off the last song "Shut your mouth". After the show when i took off my shoes backstage i saw that i had a toe on my left foot that was not okay. I had probably landed wrong when i jumped down 2-3 metres from the stage, and broke a toe. Smart guy... NOT!!!
 
We saw a few songs of Sabaton and then started a party backstage. Then we left to our hotel somehwre up in the mountains, and now i started to feel the pain in my toe. I got more and more angry at myself, being so clumsy and stupid! You cam imagine the other guys teasing me all night long for my lameness, comparing me to what Toby in Exodus did when he fell off the stage... At the hotel David came up with the stupid idea to start a wrestling game in the hotel corridor in the middle of the night... David invited Emanuel for a MMA game. Me and Johan were laughing so much our tears were falling down our cheeks.
 
Next day when i woke up at the hotel the pain in my toe was significant and started to get frustrating. A 2 hour van drive took us back to Venice again where we flew back home to Stockholm. Back in Stockholm my toe had now reached a level of being swollen so i could barely walk! The Pain was just too much so i went to the hospital nearby where i live. I got painkillers and they taped my toes in the right position to heal. I felt stupid again when they asked what i have done...
 
The festivals of 2012 is now over. The final was great even though it didn't really end that well for me, but i have only myself to blame as usual. After all, this time i didn't have to remind myself what band i am in...
 
Departure to Düsseldorf. David, Macke, Hede, Emanuel & Peter
 
Airplane breakfast
 
 
Arriving in Venice at 35 degrees! Peter, Macke & Emanuel
 
Roulette-style luggage belt in Venice!
 
Arrived in Venice. Peter, Emanuel, Macke, David and myself
 
Stopping at the Slovenian border for some shopping...
 
...the store was called HIP HOP. Very funny.
 
Lunch = a 50cm sandwich for me, burger for David
 
Stunning surroundings in the Slovenian mountains!
 
Scandal-Vodka! :-)
 
The que to the signing session
 
Backstage at Metal Camp with the nice mountains in the background
 
Message found in our backstage from Steelwing
 
Just recieved the PAIN wine! Proud band :-)
 
Get the party started backstage with Nuclear Blast!
 
MMA wrestling in the hotel corridor with Emanuel, David & Johan...
 

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