Day 46 - Spain/Sweden, end of part two
THANK YOU ALL PAINHEADS OF Germany, France, Spain, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, we love you all! It has been a hell of a tour, with loads of crazy stuff going on (as always…), and many new great experiences. I have seen many new places and met many new friends.
One part of me feels a bit sad that it’s over, but the biggest parts of me just wanna go home. It has been a very long tour and I miss everything at home. My children, my girlfriend, my friends, my colleagues, Swedish food, my apartment, my bed, my car, proper sleep, proper breakfast, Stockholm… and the list can go on and on… Touring wears you down a bit, and you need time to recover afterwards, but it doesn’t take long until you miss being on the road again, it is so strange. I guess it’s the adrenaline and energy that being on stage gives you, and even though it might be 22 tough hours every day, it’s the last 2 hours on stage that really matters and makes up for the rest. Not to mention the guys I am touring with! We have such good atmosphere in this gang, and everybody is always nice and happy, with loads of laughs and respect for each other. Being 16 people in a nightliner tourbus for four weeks really puts a high demand of respect to be able to cope with the situation. That’s exactly what this bunch of guys did.
Emanuel, our backline tech who was touring with us already back in 2007, but as the drummer of Zonaria. Great guy, with the sense for details, but with a terrible underwear account :-)
Macke, our guitar tech who’s always happy and will always meet you with a smile on his face, no matter what. He makes sure my guitars are clean and perfectly set up every night, with new strings when needed. Always new sets of picks on my mic stand. I have gotten very spoiled having him around!
Kimmo, our sound engineer, is doing both FOH and monitor sound every night from his Venue SC48 with brilliant result. I’d say it’s a privilege for us to work with such talented man! I have seen so many shows when he’s been doing Nightwish, and as someone wrote in our Pain Facebook lately: “it sounds like a CD!” But most of all, Kimmo is such a funny Finnish guy!
Hede, probably the best light and stage designer that you can find in Sweden! Hede will do wonders with small resources, he will make anything look big and professional, and he will make the big picture of a concert a much more enjoyable experience.
Björn, our merchandise guy, has been one of my best friends for over 15 years. If you ask me, he is the most positive and happy man on this planet. Honestly nice to the bone. Nothing is impossible. Nothing! Having him on this tour was just a big happiness-injection! Together with Patrik (Engel’s merch and backline guy), they were a great team together.
Engel, a great band with such a great spirit! Professional guys with the right attitude. It has been very nice to get to know these guys and I really hope we can work with them again. If you haven’t checked them out yet, do so! When we will do our show in Gothenburg we will meet them all again as they all live there - looking forward to that!
Turmion Kätilöt, our crazy friends from Finland, really gave us even more laughs than we are used to. It was impossible to do anything else than laugh when they were around. This band is more dedicated to what they do than most other bands i know about.
Pain, no need for any further explanations about my bandmates…
From all of me to all of you, I love you all!
Pain, Engel, Turmion Kätilöt and all crew. A big happy family :-)
One part of me feels a bit sad that it’s over, but the biggest parts of me just wanna go home. It has been a very long tour and I miss everything at home. My children, my girlfriend, my friends, my colleagues, Swedish food, my apartment, my bed, my car, proper sleep, proper breakfast, Stockholm… and the list can go on and on… Touring wears you down a bit, and you need time to recover afterwards, but it doesn’t take long until you miss being on the road again, it is so strange. I guess it’s the adrenaline and energy that being on stage gives you, and even though it might be 22 tough hours every day, it’s the last 2 hours on stage that really matters and makes up for the rest. Not to mention the guys I am touring with! We have such good atmosphere in this gang, and everybody is always nice and happy, with loads of laughs and respect for each other. Being 16 people in a nightliner tourbus for four weeks really puts a high demand of respect to be able to cope with the situation. That’s exactly what this bunch of guys did.
Emanuel, our backline tech who was touring with us already back in 2007, but as the drummer of Zonaria. Great guy, with the sense for details, but with a terrible underwear account :-)
Macke, our guitar tech who’s always happy and will always meet you with a smile on his face, no matter what. He makes sure my guitars are clean and perfectly set up every night, with new strings when needed. Always new sets of picks on my mic stand. I have gotten very spoiled having him around!
Kimmo, our sound engineer, is doing both FOH and monitor sound every night from his Venue SC48 with brilliant result. I’d say it’s a privilege for us to work with such talented man! I have seen so many shows when he’s been doing Nightwish, and as someone wrote in our Pain Facebook lately: “it sounds like a CD!” But most of all, Kimmo is such a funny Finnish guy!
Hede, probably the best light and stage designer that you can find in Sweden! Hede will do wonders with small resources, he will make anything look big and professional, and he will make the big picture of a concert a much more enjoyable experience.
Björn, our merchandise guy, has been one of my best friends for over 15 years. If you ask me, he is the most positive and happy man on this planet. Honestly nice to the bone. Nothing is impossible. Nothing! Having him on this tour was just a big happiness-injection! Together with Patrik (Engel’s merch and backline guy), they were a great team together.
Engel, a great band with such a great spirit! Professional guys with the right attitude. It has been very nice to get to know these guys and I really hope we can work with them again. If you haven’t checked them out yet, do so! When we will do our show in Gothenburg we will meet them all again as they all live there - looking forward to that!
Turmion Kätilöt, our crazy friends from Finland, really gave us even more laughs than we are used to. It was impossible to do anything else than laugh when they were around. This band is more dedicated to what they do than most other bands i know about.
Pain, no need for any further explanations about my bandmates…
From all of me to all of you, I love you all!
Pain, Engel, Turmion Kätilöt and all crew. A big happy family :-)
Day 45 - Madrid, Spain
It's the last day of the european part of the tour, and you just want everything to be smooth and easy so you can go home with a smile on your face. Now let me remind you one more time - this is a Pain tour...
So, where shall i start? Hmm.. Woke up in the morning and we were just about to enter Madrid. Clear blue sky and it felt like this is gonna be a good last day of the european tour. A bit over 20 degrees and i was in a very good mood. We arrived at the venue and immediately realized that it is impossible to park our tourbus with trailer outside. Hoooorayyy. What to do now? We drove through the whole city to a parking garage for buses and trucks. We parked there and called the promotor to give him the options, transfer all gear manually (crossloading), or cancel the show. Several hours passed by while he tried to fix the problem, so we went out in the city of Madrid to have breakfast.
After a couple of hours, a tow truck came to the garage, to pick up our 3 ton trailer. The rest of the stuff had to go in cars and all 16 people as well (back and forth a couple of times). The bus had to stay in this garage for the rest of the day. At this point, the feeling i had in the beginning of the day was completely gone. At 6pm we hadn't even started our soundcheck yet, and i just reminded myself "nothing comes easy". Seems like we just need to squeeze the last strength out of everybody on the last day, to make sure we all come home again like total wrecks. These last three shows in Spain hasn't really been easy at all, for any of us. There's no need to go into details, but a quick sum-up is that it hasn't been a walk in the park.
Now, don't get me wrong, the Painheads in Span has been great, and there's always something special with the last show. You have high expectations, but you're also happy to go home. Suddenly you gain new strength and energy just because you know it's the last one and you don't need to save up until tomorrow. And, as always when it's the last show, the funny pranks between crew and bands are more a rule than surprise... So even this time. We pranked Engel by coming up on stage and teared down the drumkit, piece by piece. Also, David came up on one song wearing only a towel, hanging laundry.. Then of course, what you give is what you get. When we played "Have a drink on me" Engel came up on stage, drowning us in balloons, funny hats and other party tricks.. Then it was the last prank, made by the crew. After our last song we used to play a song in the speakers when we say goodbye to the audience, and of course they had changed this. Instead of "My way" that we used to have, it was "Stayin alive" at the same time as our screens had disco movies... Really funny, hehe.. The audience also screamed too much of a song we haven't played since 2009 (On and On), so we just had to do it, not planned at all! Thank you all Painheads of Madrid.
Next stop is the airport of Madrid, to take our bags from the tourbus and fly back home to Sweden. I'll wrap up this part of the tourblog when i get home tomorrow.
This is what happens to your tourbus in Murcia
Not so happy guys in Madrid
Breakfast in Madrid
Pay attention to our names: Pion (Björn), Maiko (Michael), Matias (Mattias)
In the parking garage in Madrid, what else can you do than laugh?
Trailer pickup by the tow truck in the parking garage
As we say in Sweden "Fredagsmys" :-)
Playtime in the tourbus - Hede bought me a Spongebob partykit!
So, where shall i start? Hmm.. Woke up in the morning and we were just about to enter Madrid. Clear blue sky and it felt like this is gonna be a good last day of the european tour. A bit over 20 degrees and i was in a very good mood. We arrived at the venue and immediately realized that it is impossible to park our tourbus with trailer outside. Hoooorayyy. What to do now? We drove through the whole city to a parking garage for buses and trucks. We parked there and called the promotor to give him the options, transfer all gear manually (crossloading), or cancel the show. Several hours passed by while he tried to fix the problem, so we went out in the city of Madrid to have breakfast.
After a couple of hours, a tow truck came to the garage, to pick up our 3 ton trailer. The rest of the stuff had to go in cars and all 16 people as well (back and forth a couple of times). The bus had to stay in this garage for the rest of the day. At this point, the feeling i had in the beginning of the day was completely gone. At 6pm we hadn't even started our soundcheck yet, and i just reminded myself "nothing comes easy". Seems like we just need to squeeze the last strength out of everybody on the last day, to make sure we all come home again like total wrecks. These last three shows in Spain hasn't really been easy at all, for any of us. There's no need to go into details, but a quick sum-up is that it hasn't been a walk in the park.
Now, don't get me wrong, the Painheads in Span has been great, and there's always something special with the last show. You have high expectations, but you're also happy to go home. Suddenly you gain new strength and energy just because you know it's the last one and you don't need to save up until tomorrow. And, as always when it's the last show, the funny pranks between crew and bands are more a rule than surprise... So even this time. We pranked Engel by coming up on stage and teared down the drumkit, piece by piece. Also, David came up on one song wearing only a towel, hanging laundry.. Then of course, what you give is what you get. When we played "Have a drink on me" Engel came up on stage, drowning us in balloons, funny hats and other party tricks.. Then it was the last prank, made by the crew. After our last song we used to play a song in the speakers when we say goodbye to the audience, and of course they had changed this. Instead of "My way" that we used to have, it was "Stayin alive" at the same time as our screens had disco movies... Really funny, hehe.. The audience also screamed too much of a song we haven't played since 2009 (On and On), so we just had to do it, not planned at all! Thank you all Painheads of Madrid.
Next stop is the airport of Madrid, to take our bags from the tourbus and fly back home to Sweden. I'll wrap up this part of the tourblog when i get home tomorrow.
This is what happens to your tourbus in Murcia
Not so happy guys in Madrid
Breakfast in Madrid
Pay attention to our names: Pion (Björn), Maiko (Michael), Matias (Mattias)
In the parking garage in Madrid, what else can you do than laugh?
Trailer pickup by the tow truck in the parking garage
As we say in Sweden "Fredagsmys" :-)
Playtime in the tourbus - Hede bought me a Spongebob partykit!
Day 44 - Murcia, Spain
Woke up and stepped out of the bus, immediately got struck by the heat and moist familiar to Spain. For me as a Swede, this is a hot summer day. For Spanish people, this is probably cold J
Me and David took a long walk in Murcia, enjoying the 25 degrees in the shadow, just wearing t-shirt. We walked along the long roads covered by palm trees, just enjoying the environment. I mean, in just a couple of days we will be back in the autumn of a grey, cold, windy and rainy Stockholm again. So this is something like, seize the moment.
On our way back to the bus/venue we found a big shopping mall where we spent some time. A few surprises struck us as Swedes, just because we are not used to it. Like the enormous wall of dry meat (nowhere to be seen in Sweden) or puppies in cages in the pet store (you never see that in Sweden either).
The show was okay, even though the stage was way too small and lots of things didn’t work out as planned. To make things even worse, some stupid people had painted graffiti on our tourbus after the show, thank you… ***
Next stop is Madrid, which is also the last stop on the European part of this tour.
David in Murcia, Spain
Murcia, Spain
David in a shopping mall with loads of dry meat..
Me and David took a long walk in Murcia, enjoying the 25 degrees in the shadow, just wearing t-shirt. We walked along the long roads covered by palm trees, just enjoying the environment. I mean, in just a couple of days we will be back in the autumn of a grey, cold, windy and rainy Stockholm again. So this is something like, seize the moment.
On our way back to the bus/venue we found a big shopping mall where we spent some time. A few surprises struck us as Swedes, just because we are not used to it. Like the enormous wall of dry meat (nowhere to be seen in Sweden) or puppies in cages in the pet store (you never see that in Sweden either).
The show was okay, even though the stage was way too small and lots of things didn’t work out as planned. To make things even worse, some stupid people had painted graffiti on our tourbus after the show, thank you… ***
Next stop is Madrid, which is also the last stop on the European part of this tour.
David in Murcia, Spain
Murcia, Spain
David in a shopping mall with loads of dry meat..
Day 43 - Barcelona, Spain
Bad luck. I was actually looking forward to Barcelona, as everytime i have been there it has been fantastic weather. This morning we arrived in Barcelona and it was raining like hell. Too bad. Okay, i got all the palmtrees and stuff but no heat and only rain.
Next bad luck, when we arrived and were about to park outside the venue (at the designated area for tourbus) it was a car parked there, exactly in our way. Of course. So our driver called the police who eventually came to remove the car so we could park. Nice :-)
Third bad luck, it turned out that the venue didn't have enough buspower for us, and also no breakfast. So we left the bus and took a walk to have something to eat. Anyone who knows me also knows that i am not functional without breakfast! :-)
Outside the venue i found an Italian Pain-fan, who visited all three shows in Italy, and now she was here as well, all alone. Sitting on the ground, in the rain, under an umbrella, 6 hours before our show. Respect. It hurts to see things like this so we let her inside the venue instead.
There's one really good thing about Salamandra - they have Venue Profile mixing consoles. As we have Venue SC48 on this tour (same system), Kimmo didn't even bring the desk from the trailer at this show. He only brought his USB stick with the show file, loaded the file into the current Venue Profile, and was ready to go in a few minutes. Great!
This is the same venue as we had our final show on our headline tour in 2009 with Brother Firetribe. I have very good and funny memories from that show so the vibes from this place had high expectations. This time was no exception and we had a really good time on stage!
A car was in our way...
...so our driver called the Police and had it removed :-)
A rainy Barcelona
Venue Profile in Salamandra - Kimmo was happy :-)
The Italian Painhead, waiting in the rain to see the 4th Pain-show on this tour
A Pain Metalplate - a present from a Painhead in Barcelona!
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Next bad luck, when we arrived and were about to park outside the venue (at the designated area for tourbus) it was a car parked there, exactly in our way. Of course. So our driver called the police who eventually came to remove the car so we could park. Nice :-)
Third bad luck, it turned out that the venue didn't have enough buspower for us, and also no breakfast. So we left the bus and took a walk to have something to eat. Anyone who knows me also knows that i am not functional without breakfast! :-)
Outside the venue i found an Italian Pain-fan, who visited all three shows in Italy, and now she was here as well, all alone. Sitting on the ground, in the rain, under an umbrella, 6 hours before our show. Respect. It hurts to see things like this so we let her inside the venue instead.
There's one really good thing about Salamandra - they have Venue Profile mixing consoles. As we have Venue SC48 on this tour (same system), Kimmo didn't even bring the desk from the trailer at this show. He only brought his USB stick with the show file, loaded the file into the current Venue Profile, and was ready to go in a few minutes. Great!
This is the same venue as we had our final show on our headline tour in 2009 with Brother Firetribe. I have very good and funny memories from that show so the vibes from this place had high expectations. This time was no exception and we had a really good time on stage!
A car was in our way...
...so our driver called the Police and had it removed :-)
A rainy Barcelona
Venue Profile in Salamandra - Kimmo was happy :-)
The Italian Painhead, waiting in the rain to see the 4th Pain-show on this tour
A Pain Metalplate - a present from a Painhead in Barcelona!
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Live in Heerlen, the Netherlands
Day 42 - Toulouse, France
Didn't sleep that well tonight. Woke up several times by the sound of someone coughing and puking on the floor, right next to my bunk. Then woke up by the sound of other people yelling "what the f**k is going on!" and then by the sound of puking over and over again. We have a journalist travelling with us doing a tour report during the French part of the tour, and it seems like he has no clue how to handle alcohol and certainly not how to behave in a tourbus. He had puked in the whole bus, throughout the entire corridor! This is our home! I'm wanna kick his ass!
Whats wrong with journalists and alcohol anyway? Same thing happened a couple of weeks back when we had a guy from Metal Hammer travelling with us for a few days - he got so drunk he had no idea where he was, got war paint all over his face, and i doubt he has anything to write about as he has no memory at all from that trip... No more journalists in our tourbus!
Anyway, Denis is back with us again (the crazy French Photographer) and today he had another of his crazy photosession-ideas.. He came to the venue and told us to bring our guitars and come out on the backside. So we did. There he had an old Jeep from WW2, weapons, clothes, helmets, everything that should turn us all into some soldier-maniacs. We had a really good time with lots of laughs (and also anyone passing by..), but i have not seen the pictures yet. I am sure it will turn out totally mad.
Le Phare Club is a really nice venue, i like it a lot. New, fresh, and with lots of space. The show went really great, thank you France, hope to see 'ya soon again!
Now we leave for Spain. Three shows to do there before we are heading back home again.
Live in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Live in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Live in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Live in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Björn and Patrik in the merch-shop in Heerlen, with a happy Pain-fan
Björn in the merch-shop in Utrecht, with Pain-fans
Whats wrong with journalists and alcohol anyway? Same thing happened a couple of weeks back when we had a guy from Metal Hammer travelling with us for a few days - he got so drunk he had no idea where he was, got war paint all over his face, and i doubt he has anything to write about as he has no memory at all from that trip... No more journalists in our tourbus!
Anyway, Denis is back with us again (the crazy French Photographer) and today he had another of his crazy photosession-ideas.. He came to the venue and told us to bring our guitars and come out on the backside. So we did. There he had an old Jeep from WW2, weapons, clothes, helmets, everything that should turn us all into some soldier-maniacs. We had a really good time with lots of laughs (and also anyone passing by..), but i have not seen the pictures yet. I am sure it will turn out totally mad.
Le Phare Club is a really nice venue, i like it a lot. New, fresh, and with lots of space. The show went really great, thank you France, hope to see 'ya soon again!
Now we leave for Spain. Three shows to do there before we are heading back home again.
Live in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Live in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Live in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Live in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Björn and Patrik in the merch-shop in Heerlen, with a happy Pain-fan
Björn in the merch-shop in Utrecht, with Pain-fans
Day 41 - Lyon, France
Totally crazy show! Crazy French Painheads! Loud! Wild! Hot!
We had to come back and do an encore-encore again - wow!
And on top of all this, we threw Andre out in the audience so he could crowdsurf all the way to the mixing desk and back again, hahaha...
Thank you Lyon, we love you all.
France, now you have one more chance, Toulouse will be the last French show this year.
Painheads in Lyon, waiting to get in. You can't see the end of the line, hahaha
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Denis Goria
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Olivier Gestin
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Olivier Gestin
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Olivier Gestin
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Olivier Gestin
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Olivier Gestin
We had to come back and do an encore-encore again - wow!
And on top of all this, we threw Andre out in the audience so he could crowdsurf all the way to the mixing desk and back again, hahaha...
Thank you Lyon, we love you all.
France, now you have one more chance, Toulouse will be the last French show this year.
Painheads in Lyon, waiting to get in. You can't see the end of the line, hahaha
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Denis Goria
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Olivier Gestin
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Olivier Gestin
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Olivier Gestin
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Olivier Gestin
Live in Paris, France. Photo: Olivier Gestin
Day 40 - Paris, France
Woke up early in Denis livingroom. Nice and sunny day, we left by car to the venue Divan Du Monde around lunchtime (and once again experienced some French traffic-chaos on our way there). I came in and realised this place was way too small for the French Painheads! I know it's sold out, but anyway, next time i hope we will end up in a bigger place than this. Our crew arrived shortly after me and Denis, and did their best as usual and managed to squeeze in most parts of our stage-set on this small stage. But it wasn't much room left for us :-)
After a couple of hours during the day I felt pain creeping up my upper left back, near my neck/shoulder. I have no idea what this came from, if it’s too much headbanging, if I slept in a weird position on Denis couch, or if it’s just a knot in the muscle system. Anyhow, it hurts like hell when I turn my head backwards to the left, and I feel a bit stiff. Andre helped me with some massage and I also used loads of Tiger Balm before the show to ease the pain. Eventually it will go away.
The show was totally crazy and overall fantastic. A sold out Divan du Monde, packed with crazy and loud French Painheads, is just simply awesome. It seems like we can always count on France! When we played “Dirty woman”, one woman in the audience jumped up on her friends shoulders, pulled down her blouse, and showed her t**s. What a crazy evening in Paris. I met with my friends Anders and Ulrika backstage afterwards and also the Pain contest winners, as well as our friend “Sean The Painhead”.
Outside the venue I met a bunch of crazy Painheads that had been driving all the way from London to see our show (as UK was not part of the tour this time), and we got the coolest drawing of Pain that I’ve ever seen! Thanks guys, this one made me proud over our fans!
Two more French shows to do, next one is Lyon. I hope my pain will go away soon.
Live in Paris! Photo: Denis Goria
The Pain-drawing!!
Divan du Monde, Paris - SOLD OUT! Photo: Patrik Douglas
David is checking out the merch-shop in Paris
Light-check at Divan du Monde, Paris
Divan du Monde, Paris
Divan du Monde, Paris
After a couple of hours during the day I felt pain creeping up my upper left back, near my neck/shoulder. I have no idea what this came from, if it’s too much headbanging, if I slept in a weird position on Denis couch, or if it’s just a knot in the muscle system. Anyhow, it hurts like hell when I turn my head backwards to the left, and I feel a bit stiff. Andre helped me with some massage and I also used loads of Tiger Balm before the show to ease the pain. Eventually it will go away.
The show was totally crazy and overall fantastic. A sold out Divan du Monde, packed with crazy and loud French Painheads, is just simply awesome. It seems like we can always count on France! When we played “Dirty woman”, one woman in the audience jumped up on her friends shoulders, pulled down her blouse, and showed her t**s. What a crazy evening in Paris. I met with my friends Anders and Ulrika backstage afterwards and also the Pain contest winners, as well as our friend “Sean The Painhead”.
Outside the venue I met a bunch of crazy Painheads that had been driving all the way from London to see our show (as UK was not part of the tour this time), and we got the coolest drawing of Pain that I’ve ever seen! Thanks guys, this one made me proud over our fans!
Two more French shows to do, next one is Lyon. I hope my pain will go away soon.
Live in Paris! Photo: Denis Goria
The Pain-drawing!!
Divan du Monde, Paris - SOLD OUT! Photo: Patrik Douglas
David is checking out the merch-shop in Paris
Light-check at Divan du Monde, Paris
Divan du Monde, Paris
Divan du Monde, Paris
Day 39 - Paris, France
We arrived in Paris early this morning, and parked the bus at a camping/caravan place. Today is no show, so we need to park the bus somewhere. Most people probably went away in different directions and endeavours in Paris, but i was picked up by my friend Denis Goria who drove me to his apartment nearby. There i stayed for the whole day, working, with the exception when we went for lunch in a nice english pub.
In the evening we drove downtown and i could experience the horrible traffic in Paris.. Then we met David and Emanuel at the Thai restaurant "Asia". Fantastic food and really cool interior!
Then back to Denis place again, where i am spending the night. Tomorrow it's time to do the sold out show here in Paris. I am a little bit worried when i heard the stage might be too small for our big set-up, but let's see tomorrow.
Tomorrow we will also have visits from friends, journalists, and winners in the Pain contest. Also, my friend Anders Olsson from Sennheiser in Stockholm will show up. Nice to meet a friend who's almost my neighbour in Stockholm, to show up in Paris. Small world :-)
At the "Asia" restaurant in Paris
David at the "Asia" restaurant in Paris
Denis at the "Asia" restaurant in Paris
The "Asia" restaurant in Paris
French traffic-chaos
Live in Heerlen. Photo: Roger Op Den Camp
Live in Heerlen. Photo: Roger Op Den Camp
In the evening we drove downtown and i could experience the horrible traffic in Paris.. Then we met David and Emanuel at the Thai restaurant "Asia". Fantastic food and really cool interior!
Then back to Denis place again, where i am spending the night. Tomorrow it's time to do the sold out show here in Paris. I am a little bit worried when i heard the stage might be too small for our big set-up, but let's see tomorrow.
Tomorrow we will also have visits from friends, journalists, and winners in the Pain contest. Also, my friend Anders Olsson from Sennheiser in Stockholm will show up. Nice to meet a friend who's almost my neighbour in Stockholm, to show up in Paris. Small world :-)
At the "Asia" restaurant in Paris
David at the "Asia" restaurant in Paris
Denis at the "Asia" restaurant in Paris
The "Asia" restaurant in Paris
French traffic-chaos
Live in Heerlen. Photo: Roger Op Den Camp
Live in Heerlen. Photo: Roger Op Den Camp
Day 38 - Heerlen, Netherlands
Last night, before we left Antwerpen, we went to a couple of bars to play some pool. In the first bar there was a guy who had fallen asleep/passed out of too much drinking. We made a nice painting on his back and included the text "insert coin" with an arrow poiting down... The funny part here is that every time anyone passed this guy (he was in the center of the bar), they actually dropped a coin there, and so did we every time we passed him. He must've been very surprised when he woke up today and found lots of euros in his underwear! :-)
When we woke up today we took a walk in Heerlen. We walked through the city centre and had breakfast. When i arrived backstage i went extremely happy when i found out that we got a SuperNintendo TV game there! Whoohooo! So i layed down on the couch and played Super Mario with a big smile on my face. The other guys were just shaking their heads, mumbling something about me being totally nuts.. Anyway, right before soundcheck, Kimmo dropped a big and heavy case right on his foot, and almost smashed his toes to pieces - aouch!
The show was fine. Very small place, but also very intimate and somewhat special. I like it!
Next stop is Paris, and 4 days in France. I am really looking forward to this as i know the French Painheads are totally crazy, that Paris is sold out, and we will meet many friends. See 'ya!
Kimmo is tweaking the monitor system, by using the iPad remote for Venue SC48
Kimmos toes after dropping the case...
Stage set-up in Antwerpen
Our guitartech Macke with my guitar in Antwerpen. My guitars loves him!
Backline-tech Emanuel in a bar in Antwerpen
Some artwork on some passed out dude in Antwerpen
German precision parking with our german busdriver, in Heerlen
They seems to like wallpaitings in Heerlen as well
"Smulbar" in Heerlen. In Swedish, this is really funny...
Playing SuperNintendo backstage in Heerlen
When we woke up today we took a walk in Heerlen. We walked through the city centre and had breakfast. When i arrived backstage i went extremely happy when i found out that we got a SuperNintendo TV game there! Whoohooo! So i layed down on the couch and played Super Mario with a big smile on my face. The other guys were just shaking their heads, mumbling something about me being totally nuts.. Anyway, right before soundcheck, Kimmo dropped a big and heavy case right on his foot, and almost smashed his toes to pieces - aouch!
The show was fine. Very small place, but also very intimate and somewhat special. I like it!
Next stop is Paris, and 4 days in France. I am really looking forward to this as i know the French Painheads are totally crazy, that Paris is sold out, and we will meet many friends. See 'ya!
Kimmo is tweaking the monitor system, by using the iPad remote for Venue SC48
Kimmos toes after dropping the case...
Stage set-up in Antwerpen
Our guitartech Macke with my guitar in Antwerpen. My guitars loves him!
Backline-tech Emanuel in a bar in Antwerpen
Some artwork on some passed out dude in Antwerpen
German precision parking with our german busdriver, in Heerlen
They seems to like wallpaitings in Heerlen as well
"Smulbar" in Heerlen. In Swedish, this is really funny...
Playing SuperNintendo backstage in Heerlen
Day 37 - Antwerpen, Belgium
It was a nice day in Antwerpen today, but i didn't do much at all. Me and Björn had plans to take a walk but everytime we tried something was in our way. Dinner, soundcheck, load-in and so on. I really like the venue Trix though, perfect size and very well planned in every way. One of the better places this size in Europe i must say. The only thing that could use some improvement is the hot water part...
The show was good and i just love this stage size, which give us the opportunity to run around like maniacs! I was paying David a visit a couple of times up on his drum-throne, and also ran around and kept the heat up during the whole show :-)
Next stop is another show in the Netherlands again, before we enter France.
By the way: Great concert review from the show in Cologne:
http://www.reflectionsofdarkness.com/artists-p-t-cdreviews-134/10232-live-review-pain-cologne-2011.html
Me, Marco, Peter and David in Utrecht yesterday
Hede and me in Utrecht yesterday
Björn and someone after the show in Cologne, Germany
Live in Cologne, Germany
Live in Cologne, Germany
Live in Cologne, Germany
Live in Cologne, Germany
Live in Brunico, Italy
Live in Brunico, Italy
The show was good and i just love this stage size, which give us the opportunity to run around like maniacs! I was paying David a visit a couple of times up on his drum-throne, and also ran around and kept the heat up during the whole show :-)
Next stop is another show in the Netherlands again, before we enter France.
By the way: Great concert review from the show in Cologne:
http://www.reflectionsofdarkness.com/artists-p-t-cdreviews-134/10232-live-review-pain-cologne-2011.html
Me, Marco, Peter and David in Utrecht yesterday
Hede and me in Utrecht yesterday
Björn and someone after the show in Cologne, Germany
Live in Cologne, Germany
Live in Cologne, Germany
Live in Cologne, Germany
Live in Cologne, Germany
Live in Brunico, Italy
Live in Brunico, Italy
Day 36 - Utrecht, Netherlands
S O L D O U T ! ! !
This sunny and nice morning we arrived in Netherlands and Utrecht. I like the Netherlands a lot, even though i almost got hit by bicycles several times today (what's the thing about bicycles in this country anyway?). Björn, Macke and me took a walk in Utrecht and went to a square where we went to a place to get breakfast. I had a real Dutch breakfast with dark bread with goat cheese, apples and walnuts, with tea. Fantastic!
At the venue we could see the sign "sold out" already at the door, which always give me a warm feeling and high hopes for the upcoming show.
The show went great, and afterwards we got visit backstage from two old friends: Ewo Pohjola (our ex-manager) and Marco Hietala (Nightwish) who joined in our afterparty in Utrecht.
Now off to Belgium, and then back to the Netherlands again on Sunday!
Utrecht, the Netherlands
Björn and Macke in Utrecht
Me and Björn by the canal in Utrecht
Dutch breakfast in Utrecht
Live in Strasbourg, France. Photo: Amelie Vaure
Live in Strasbourg, France. Photo: Amelie Vaure
Live in Strasbourg, France. Photo: Amelie Vaure
Live in Strasbourg, France (stage visit by TK). Photo: Amelie Vaure
Live in Strasbourg, France (stage visit by TK). Photo: Amelie Vaure
This sunny and nice morning we arrived in Netherlands and Utrecht. I like the Netherlands a lot, even though i almost got hit by bicycles several times today (what's the thing about bicycles in this country anyway?). Björn, Macke and me took a walk in Utrecht and went to a square where we went to a place to get breakfast. I had a real Dutch breakfast with dark bread with goat cheese, apples and walnuts, with tea. Fantastic!
At the venue we could see the sign "sold out" already at the door, which always give me a warm feeling and high hopes for the upcoming show.
The show went great, and afterwards we got visit backstage from two old friends: Ewo Pohjola (our ex-manager) and Marco Hietala (Nightwish) who joined in our afterparty in Utrecht.
Now off to Belgium, and then back to the Netherlands again on Sunday!
Utrecht, the Netherlands
Björn and Macke in Utrecht
Me and Björn by the canal in Utrecht
Dutch breakfast in Utrecht
Live in Strasbourg, France. Photo: Amelie Vaure
Live in Strasbourg, France. Photo: Amelie Vaure
Live in Strasbourg, France. Photo: Amelie Vaure
Live in Strasbourg, France (stage visit by TK). Photo: Amelie Vaure
Live in Strasbourg, France (stage visit by TK). Photo: Amelie Vaure
Day 35 - Cologne, Germany
S O L D O U T ! ! !
Thank you Cologne, another sold out show tonight and man you were crazy tonight! What a finale in Germany!
During the day we had a visit from the bus repair-man who came to fix the front door that suddenly stopped to work yesterday, and it was a bit difficult to get out... haha.. We also had visits from our previous tourmanager Sarah and Pains previous guitarist Andrea.
Now this is the end of the German part of this tour. Next stop is the Netherlands and i'd like to thank all German Painheads for their support!
Underground in Cologne, Germany
Beer delivery at Underground in Cologne
Day 34 - Aschaffenburg, Germany
So, back in Germany for the fourth time during this tour now, but also the last. The first thing i see when i look out the window is a magnificant view over the valley and surrounding monutains that covers the landscape outside Aschaffenburg. As the city of Aschaffenburg is small and has very narrow streets, it is impssible for us to go there with our big Nightliner. So we had parked outside the city, up in the mountains by the hotel of Klingerhof. This kind of view is a bit breathtaking for me, and i got out of the bus and was just standing still, staring at the landscape and said to myself "sometimes nature is so beautiful".
We left the bus in Klingerhof and transported all gear, band and crew in shuttles back and forth to the city until we had everything in place. We stayed at the venue Colos-Saal for the whole day until showtime. It was a cold autumn day and i didn't feel like taking a walk today. Maybe i should've brought more warm clothes, and some gloves and a hat..
The show went fine, i almost slipped on this very slippery stage floor a couple of times but it went ok. I am getting better now from my flu but now Andre is getting the same shit as i had and Peter wasn't in his best shape either. Let's all recover a bit.
My view when i woke up this morning! Priceless!
Kimmo Ahola is the guardian of the truss when Pain is touring! :-)
I got a nice present from David today, to keep me busy and quiet...
Colos-Saal in Aschaffenburg. Pain at a Jazz club? ;-)
Welcome to Aschaffenburg
We left the bus in Klingerhof and transported all gear, band and crew in shuttles back and forth to the city until we had everything in place. We stayed at the venue Colos-Saal for the whole day until showtime. It was a cold autumn day and i didn't feel like taking a walk today. Maybe i should've brought more warm clothes, and some gloves and a hat..
The show went fine, i almost slipped on this very slippery stage floor a couple of times but it went ok. I am getting better now from my flu but now Andre is getting the same shit as i had and Peter wasn't in his best shape either. Let's all recover a bit.
My view when i woke up this morning! Priceless!
Kimmo Ahola is the guardian of the truss when Pain is touring! :-)
I got a nice present from David today, to keep me busy and quiet...
Colos-Saal in Aschaffenburg. Pain at a Jazz club? ;-)
Welcome to Aschaffenburg
Day 33 - Strasbourg, France
I checked out from the hotel and went straight to the venue, got in and got some breakfast and continued to work for the rest of the day backstage. As the hours passed by, and all the othe guys showed up one by one. Some of them had no idea of what happened last night, and some of them looked like a trashcan that had just been hit by a train... Anyway, i really like this venue and remember we had a very good show here in 2009. After soundcheck and dinner we all took a "goodbye" picture with all three bands and all crew, as this is the last show with Turmion Kätylöt. They will leave this tour after the show tonight. The guys in TK got us a nice goodbye-present, which was a 3-CD box with "Disco Dance Party". Right... They also sang some disco songs and danced for us. Right...
The show became something really special overall. Of course we had to do some prank to the TK guys as it was the last show, and so we did! We ran out on stage during their show and changed their water bottles to Vodka bottles. Then Peter came up on stage in one song, dressed like a bankrobber with bad clothing taste... in pantyhose both on his legs and head.. Priceless.. We did some other stuff as well, like put flour on the drums etc.. Of course we got payback when we did our show as well, Tuomas from TK came in on stage on "Dancing with the dead" dressed like... dead.. kind of.. He was naked and only wrapped up in toiletpaper.. priceless again. The French fans didn't let us down (as always) and we had a killer show with a loud and crazy audience, even with moshpit and several stagedives. Once again we had to come back to play Bye/Die and we also brought up two people from the audience on stage to sing with us :-)
We are leaving France for a couple of days now, and next stop is Germany again (for the 4th time). Thanks to Turmion Kätylöt for bringing the next level of humor to the tour!
"Goodbye present" from Turmion Kätylöt
Stage entry at La Laiterie
Soundcheck in La Laiterie
Björn is preparing the merchandise shop in La Laiterie
Peters guest appearance with Turmion Kätylöt...
The show became something really special overall. Of course we had to do some prank to the TK guys as it was the last show, and so we did! We ran out on stage during their show and changed their water bottles to Vodka bottles. Then Peter came up on stage in one song, dressed like a bankrobber with bad clothing taste... in pantyhose both on his legs and head.. Priceless.. We did some other stuff as well, like put flour on the drums etc.. Of course we got payback when we did our show as well, Tuomas from TK came in on stage on "Dancing with the dead" dressed like... dead.. kind of.. He was naked and only wrapped up in toiletpaper.. priceless again. The French fans didn't let us down (as always) and we had a killer show with a loud and crazy audience, even with moshpit and several stagedives. Once again we had to come back to play Bye/Die and we also brought up two people from the audience on stage to sing with us :-)
We are leaving France for a couple of days now, and next stop is Germany again (for the 4th time). Thanks to Turmion Kätylöt for bringing the next level of humor to the tour!
"Goodbye present" from Turmion Kätylöt
Stage entry at La Laiterie
Soundcheck in La Laiterie
Björn is preparing the merchandise shop in La Laiterie
Peters guest appearance with Turmion Kätylöt...
Day 32 - Strasbourg, France
Woke up early as usual. But this morning i had almost no breakfast, no internet connection, and didn't get enough sleep so i packed my bag and left the bus. Walked down the street where the bus were located, and came to a bigger street, walked a couple of blocks, turned a couple of times, and just walked around until i found the nearest hotel. I asked in the reception if they had intenet and a bathtub, which they did, so i checked in. I spent most of my day here at this hotel, working, and just left for a short while to get some dinner. Today is one of those rare "off-days" so most people tend to split up in various directions with different plans. I am just working. In a hotel with internet connection. And of course, i took a bath :-)
I hope my cold will get better soon, it feels like it's fading away slowly.
Tomorrow we are playing here in Strasbourg, and that will also be the last show with one of our supportbands, Turmion Kätilöt. The rest of this tour we will continue with Engel only as TK will go back home again. These guys in TK are just amazing, really funny guys and i just love them all. Some people might think they are crazy, and they probably are in some sense, but you have to dig really deep to find a band with such energy and dedication to what they are doing. I have total respect for them!
Strasbourg, France
Turmion Kätylät's tour-camper
German specialties lined up backstage at Rockfabrik
Live in Ludwigsburg, Germany
Live in Ludwigsburg, Germany
Live in Ludwigsburg, Germany
I hope my cold will get better soon, it feels like it's fading away slowly.
Tomorrow we are playing here in Strasbourg, and that will also be the last show with one of our supportbands, Turmion Kätilöt. The rest of this tour we will continue with Engel only as TK will go back home again. These guys in TK are just amazing, really funny guys and i just love them all. Some people might think they are crazy, and they probably are in some sense, but you have to dig really deep to find a band with such energy and dedication to what they are doing. I have total respect for them!
Strasbourg, France
Turmion Kätylät's tour-camper
German specialties lined up backstage at Rockfabrik
Live in Ludwigsburg, Germany
Live in Ludwigsburg, Germany
Live in Ludwigsburg, Germany
Day 31 - Ludwigsburg, Germany
I am getting a bit pissed off about having a cold. Coughing and sneezing on stage, and headbanging when having a fever is a bit exhausting. I am trying my best to get better now with all sorts of medicine and treatment.
According to my health condition at the moment, i have been very tired and just taking it very easy. When we arrived in Ludwigsburg this sunny morning me and Björn took a walk in the nearby surroundings just to realise that it was nothing to see and/or everything was closed. Reality check: Sunday.
The show was great, and it was great to be back in Germany again - the second time on this tour where we were not allowed to get off stage and had to improvise a bit... Thanks to you Painheads of Ludwigsburg! :-)
Next stop is Strasbourg, and we leave Germany again, for now.
My best friend right now, Benagol from Italy
My second best friend right now, Spongebob-PEZ!
The entrance to Rockfabrik in Lundwigsburg, through the containers
Really nice painting of our friends Volbeat at Rockfabrik, Ludwigsburg
Cool interiour at Rockfabrik, Ludwigsburg
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
According to my health condition at the moment, i have been very tired and just taking it very easy. When we arrived in Ludwigsburg this sunny morning me and Björn took a walk in the nearby surroundings just to realise that it was nothing to see and/or everything was closed. Reality check: Sunday.
The show was great, and it was great to be back in Germany again - the second time on this tour where we were not allowed to get off stage and had to improvise a bit... Thanks to you Painheads of Ludwigsburg! :-)
Next stop is Strasbourg, and we leave Germany again, for now.
My best friend right now, Benagol from Italy
My second best friend right now, Spongebob-PEZ!
The entrance to Rockfabrik in Lundwigsburg, through the containers
Really nice painting of our friends Volbeat at Rockfabrik, Ludwigsburg
Cool interiour at Rockfabrik, Ludwigsburg
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Day 30 - Brunico, Italy
Come on, how is this possible? Two days ago i woke up on a farm in Italy, with 26 degrees. Today i wake up, still in Italy, but in 2 degrees only! A bit disappointed over the cold morning, i got up and had breakfast in the bus, and stepped outside for a walk. The first thing i see is the white frost on the grass in front of the venue, brrr...
I took a walk in the small community of Brunico, and it only took me a couple of minutes to sheer up and get a smile on my face again. I realised that we were in the alps, and everywhere i looked around me it was alps and mountains. Beautiful, just like a postcard! After a while i felt lonely in the streets of Brunico, so i went back to the bus, completely determined that someone, SOMEONE, must be up and wants to join me! If not i will wake them up!
Back in the bus again, a few people had just woke up and i dragged them out of the bus and convinced them to go for a walk in these beautiful surroundings. They were not that enthusiastic in the beginning but i persuaded them to come along anyway. Same thing happened to them after just a few minutes. Now we walked through the whole main street, had a coffee in a small coffeeshop, continued and after a couple of blocks turned right when we found an old church, and there it was right in front of us: a huge steep mountain with an old castle on top of it. Wow, another postcard!
Without hesitate, we all walked up that mountain. Up, and up, and up... and up.. Finally we got to the top and the castle. Majestic! I found out that "Castel Brunico" was built by Bishop Bruno von Kirchberg in 1251-1288, and this is also when i realised that we are in south Tyrolean part of Italy. After this adventure and loads of "wow" moments from all of us, we had the long walk down again and went back to the UFO club.
The show was okay, not one of the best but on the other hand i am still sick so it might be my own feeling only. I had to leave the stage a couple of times coughing and drinking water. I hope i get better soon.
Now we are leaving Italy and are heading for Germany for the third time on this tour.
Backstage in Roncade
Morning with frost in Brunico
Coffeebreak in Brunico
"Castel Brunico"
At the entrance of "Castel Brunico"
At "Castel Brunico" with the alps in the background
The south tyrolean alps, surrounding Brunico
Welcome to UFO club in Brunico
So, we have to be silent after 10pm? ehum.. our show starts at 10:30pm...
Live in Mezzago, Italy. Photo: Fausto Zuppa
Live in Mezzago, Italy. Photo: Fausto Zuppa
Live in Mezzago, Italy. Photo: Fausto Zuppa
I took a walk in the small community of Brunico, and it only took me a couple of minutes to sheer up and get a smile on my face again. I realised that we were in the alps, and everywhere i looked around me it was alps and mountains. Beautiful, just like a postcard! After a while i felt lonely in the streets of Brunico, so i went back to the bus, completely determined that someone, SOMEONE, must be up and wants to join me! If not i will wake them up!
Back in the bus again, a few people had just woke up and i dragged them out of the bus and convinced them to go for a walk in these beautiful surroundings. They were not that enthusiastic in the beginning but i persuaded them to come along anyway. Same thing happened to them after just a few minutes. Now we walked through the whole main street, had a coffee in a small coffeeshop, continued and after a couple of blocks turned right when we found an old church, and there it was right in front of us: a huge steep mountain with an old castle on top of it. Wow, another postcard!
Without hesitate, we all walked up that mountain. Up, and up, and up... and up.. Finally we got to the top and the castle. Majestic! I found out that "Castel Brunico" was built by Bishop Bruno von Kirchberg in 1251-1288, and this is also when i realised that we are in south Tyrolean part of Italy. After this adventure and loads of "wow" moments from all of us, we had the long walk down again and went back to the UFO club.
The show was okay, not one of the best but on the other hand i am still sick so it might be my own feeling only. I had to leave the stage a couple of times coughing and drinking water. I hope i get better soon.
Now we are leaving Italy and are heading for Germany for the third time on this tour.
Backstage in Roncade
Morning with frost in Brunico
Coffeebreak in Brunico
"Castel Brunico"
At the entrance of "Castel Brunico"
At "Castel Brunico" with the alps in the background
The south tyrolean alps, surrounding Brunico
Welcome to UFO club in Brunico
So, we have to be silent after 10pm? ehum.. our show starts at 10:30pm...
Live in Mezzago, Italy. Photo: Fausto Zuppa
Live in Mezzago, Italy. Photo: Fausto Zuppa
Live in Mezzago, Italy. Photo: Fausto Zuppa
Day 29 - Roncade, Italy
Not feeling well at all today. Too many nights in the tourbus with freezing cold aircondition blowing in my face during my sleep is now talking its toll. I think i have a cold, and it feels like fever as well. I went to sleep 3 hours beofre the show, and woke up 50 mins before showtime. The show went good, even though it was a very tough one for me, not being in top condition. But the Italian audience was, so i guess we're even.
Next stop is Brunico. I will try to get better until tomorrow.
New Age Club, Roncade, Italy
Dinner coming up for Pain, supportbands, and crew in Roncade, Italy
Andre and David is chocked over what they found in Italy
Live in Zürich, Switzerland. Photo: Jonny Gauer
Next stop is Brunico. I will try to get better until tomorrow.
New Age Club, Roncade, Italy
Dinner coming up for Pain, supportbands, and crew in Roncade, Italy
Andre and David is chocked over what they found in Italy
Live in Zürich, Switzerland. Photo: Jonny Gauer
Day 28 - Mezzago, Italy
When i woke up this morning and looked out the bus window i didn't believe my eyes. Our tourbus was squeezed in between horses and donkeys, in a small farm outside Bloom in Italy. I believe the place was called Agriturismo Fondo Brugarolo in Sulbiate. What? eehhh... It turned out that the venue we will play in Bloom, didn't had any place for our bus this day as it was also a circus in town, so we were placed in the countryside with animals all over the place. Normally, there's few things than can surprise me. But now i was really surprised... We called the place "the funny farm" and except for all loud animals there, i also found a green Ferrari. But not the kind of Ferrari you are used to...
It was a sunny and great day in Italy, almost 26 degrees, and we enjoyed the weather a lot in shorts and t-shirts. The venue was even smaller than yesterday in Zürich, which meant even less of our stage-set could fit. Anyway, the show went okay except when Andre threw his white Gibson bass over the stage towards Macke, and missed him so it hit the floor - hard. Of course it broke. The only reaction from Andre was "we need to find some glue tomorrow". Crazy bastard.
The green Ferrari at "the funny farm"
This guy was a loud bastard, and i wonder how he got his head through the fence?
This guy woke most people up this morning... Damn, he was loud!
Having a break in the sun before soundcheck in Mezzago
One fancy toilet in Bloom, Mezzago
A bit different kind of backstage, but who cares when it's about 26 degrees?
The venue Bloom, and the circus tent next to it, on the parking lot..
Andre's broken bass..
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
It was a sunny and great day in Italy, almost 26 degrees, and we enjoyed the weather a lot in shorts and t-shirts. The venue was even smaller than yesterday in Zürich, which meant even less of our stage-set could fit. Anyway, the show went okay except when Andre threw his white Gibson bass over the stage towards Macke, and missed him so it hit the floor - hard. Of course it broke. The only reaction from Andre was "we need to find some glue tomorrow". Crazy bastard.
The green Ferrari at "the funny farm"
This guy was a loud bastard, and i wonder how he got his head through the fence?
This guy woke most people up this morning... Damn, he was loud!
Having a break in the sun before soundcheck in Mezzago
One fancy toilet in Bloom, Mezzago
A bit different kind of backstage, but who cares when it's about 26 degrees?
The venue Bloom, and the circus tent next to it, on the parking lot..
Andre's broken bass..
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Milan Jurkas
Day 27 - Zürich, Switzerland
I love this city. Me and Björn took a long walk around Zürich today, on both sides of the canal, went in to a church, and just felt the nice 20 degrees Swiss breeze this sunny day.
Today we also got the good news that the show in Paris is sold out - wow! That's good news for sure, looking forward to that!
One of my favourite photographers, Caroline Traitler, took some awesome pics when we were in Vienna a couple of days ago. So i have filled this blog with loads of Carolines pics. Hope you like 'em.
Tonights show at Dynamo in Zürich was great, but a bit difficult. The venue had very strict rules about soundlevels, and it's never a good thing to be told to hold back, especially for David.. Also, we couldn't fit our whole stage-set as the stage was too small.
Next stop is 3 days in Italy.
Zürich, Switzerland
Björn in Zürich, Switzerland
The big clocktower in Zürich, Switzerland
Zürich, Switzerland
Live in Vienna. Photo: Caroline Traitler
Live in Vienna. Photo: Caroline Traitler
Live in Vienna. Photo: Caroline Traitler
Live in Vienna. Photo: Caroline Traitler
Live in Vienna. Photo: Caroline Traitler
Live in Vienna. Photo: Caroline Traitler
Live in Vienna. Photo: Caroline Traitler
Live in Vienna. Photo: Caroline Traitler
Live in Vienna. Photo: Caroline Traitler
Day 26 - Munich, Germany
Today we had to make an official announcement about the shows in Portugal. We have been forced to cancel our shows on November 1st in Porto, and November 2nd in Lisboa. It has been been difficult to find out when, where and how to get tickets for the shows and many fans have been contacting us about this. The local promotor has been difficult to reach, and now we found out that he has cancelled one of the shows without even talking to us first or letting us know afterwards. Under these conditions there is no other way for us than to cancel the Portugese part of the European tour. It is very sad that we cannot come to Portugal this time, and i am very sorry for the Painheads from Protugal that wanted to join our shows, we will try to come back at some other point. But i am very happy that so many Painheads from Portugal have brought this issue to our attention, so we could take action. Thank you.
Last time we played the "Backstage" venue in Munich, we had the smallest of the three available stages. That was a really small place with a stage in a corner, almost impossible for any band to fit and we also had a support act.. This time we had the second biggest stage, so we could almost fit our whole stage-set. Improvement for sure.
Anyway, let's talk about the show itself. Munich, what the f**k happened here??? For the first time on this whole tour, we had to come back and play an encore-after-the-encore-song! You crazy Painheads wouldn't let us leave the stage, and you all just refused to go home. God damn... i am so amazed. Andre did his famous stage dive from a balcony into the crowd, and we had to play an un-rehearsed song, without monitors. Jeez...! Thank you so much for showing us how german Painheads rules! Respect!
Now we are leaving Germany again for a while, off to Switzerland!
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Zuzana Bugáňová
Bun thit ga nuong va cha gio? Bun tom hum nuong? In Munich..
Soundcheck with Kimmo and the Venue SC48 at Backstage in Munich
Last time we played the "Backstage" venue in Munich, we had the smallest of the three available stages. That was a really small place with a stage in a corner, almost impossible for any band to fit and we also had a support act.. This time we had the second biggest stage, so we could almost fit our whole stage-set. Improvement for sure.
Anyway, let's talk about the show itself. Munich, what the f**k happened here??? For the first time on this whole tour, we had to come back and play an encore-after-the-encore-song! You crazy Painheads wouldn't let us leave the stage, and you all just refused to go home. God damn... i am so amazed. Andre did his famous stage dive from a balcony into the crowd, and we had to play an un-rehearsed song, without monitors. Jeez...! Thank you so much for showing us how german Painheads rules! Respect!
Now we are leaving Germany again for a while, off to Switzerland!
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Zuzana Bugáňová
Bun thit ga nuong va cha gio? Bun tom hum nuong? In Munich..
Soundcheck with Kimmo and the Venue SC48 at Backstage in Munich
Day 25 - Munich, Germany
Day off in a rainy Munich. We arrived in the morning from Vienna, and have been here all day. I have been relaxing and watching movies. Walked over the railway bridge and had some Vietnamese dinner with Björn and Hede (spicy as hell!), and then back for another movie again. Early relaxed evening today, tomorrow is showtime again, this time here in Munich. The bus is almost empty as most people have left to hotels, bars, or other activities.
See 'ya tomorrow here in Munich!
Vietnamese dinner in Munich
View from the bus window at Backstage in Munich
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
See 'ya tomorrow here in Munich!
Vietnamese dinner in Munich
View from the bus window at Backstage in Munich
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Day 24 - Vienna, Austria
Austria. I am actually 50% Austrian and most people don't know that. My father was born in Austria and lived in Krems before he moved to Sweden with his parents. So in my blood, this place is a bit special to me. The venue "Arena" is a really cool place, looks like an old factory, and big enough to keep our tourbus inside!
Me and David took a walk in the nearby surroundings, and found out that the venue "Arena" were pretty close to the "Gasometer" shopping mall complex. Inside we found the Gasometer Walk of Fame where we studied loads of famous artists marks, like our Finnish friends in Nightwish.
When we were about to soundcheck, i went down from backstage to the stage. On my way down, i heard a pain song beeing played from the stage. When i came to the stage i realised that the crew was doing the soundcheck for us... Our lightguy Hede played guitar, our FOH engineer Kimmo played bass, backlineguys Macke and Emanuel played guitar and drums. That was a funny and different experience for sure, but also good to know that we don't have to be there if we don't want to :-)
The show was good, and i felt soooo proud of Austria!!
Now it's time to go back to Germany again, and visit Munich.
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Mattias Hedberg
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Zuzana Buganova
Gasometer walk of fame in Vienna
Gasometer shopping complex in Vienna
David outside Arena in Vienna
Our big nightliner with trailer could easily fit into the venue for easy loading
The crew-band doing our soundcheck: Macke, Hede, Kimmo, Emanuel...
Me and David took a walk in the nearby surroundings, and found out that the venue "Arena" were pretty close to the "Gasometer" shopping mall complex. Inside we found the Gasometer Walk of Fame where we studied loads of famous artists marks, like our Finnish friends in Nightwish.
When we were about to soundcheck, i went down from backstage to the stage. On my way down, i heard a pain song beeing played from the stage. When i came to the stage i realised that the crew was doing the soundcheck for us... Our lightguy Hede played guitar, our FOH engineer Kimmo played bass, backlineguys Macke and Emanuel played guitar and drums. That was a funny and different experience for sure, but also good to know that we don't have to be there if we don't want to :-)
The show was good, and i felt soooo proud of Austria!!
Now it's time to go back to Germany again, and visit Munich.
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Mattias Hedberg
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic
Live in Zlin, Czech Republic. Photo: Zuzana Buganova
Gasometer walk of fame in Vienna
Gasometer shopping complex in Vienna
David outside Arena in Vienna
Our big nightliner with trailer could easily fit into the venue for easy loading
The crew-band doing our soundcheck: Macke, Hede, Kimmo, Emanuel...
Day 23 - Zlin, Czech Republic
We arrived in a rainy Zlin and i walked into the venue "Masters Of Rock". I really like this place, and must say it's a bit different from many other european venues/clubs i've been to. It is located right next to a shopping mall in Zlin, which is a kind location we're not used to :-)
I spent most of the day watching movies on my PSP in the bus, just relaxing. The show was fantastic (even though it was the hottest one so far, i almost passed out), probably the best one on this tour so far if you ask me. Czech Painheads rules! But we have never been disappointed in Czech Republic in the past either. Thank you so much!
Next stop is Austria, partly like "home" for me as i am 50% Austrian :-)
Andres son did this piece of art, that hangs in our tourbus
I was laughing my ass off when i found this 11 year old picture in Leipzig! :-)
Building the stage again, as every day..
Masters of Rock, Zlin
Welcome to Zlin
Shopping with Björn in Zlin, right next to the venue
I spent most of the day watching movies on my PSP in the bus, just relaxing. The show was fantastic (even though it was the hottest one so far, i almost passed out), probably the best one on this tour so far if you ask me. Czech Painheads rules! But we have never been disappointed in Czech Republic in the past either. Thank you so much!
Next stop is Austria, partly like "home" for me as i am 50% Austrian :-)
Andres son did this piece of art, that hangs in our tourbus
I was laughing my ass off when i found this 11 year old picture in Leipzig! :-)
Building the stage again, as every day..
Masters of Rock, Zlin
Welcome to Zlin
Shopping with Björn in Zlin, right next to the venue
Day 22 - Leipzig, Germany
It's interesting to hear the stories of what have happened when i have been alseep in the night... I am a hard sleeper, and doesn't really wake up because of noises around me. So, i got up as usual at 8am this morning (like i always do) and said good morning to the driver. He didn't think it was a good morning though. First of all he had been awake in the night because of a hard party in the bus, and when he finally drove off, he blew one tire on the trailer... No day is like any other day...
The good thing about lack of space and the need of sharing gear, is that you might end up using some new stuff that you haven't tried before. Both me and Peter uses the Avid Eleven Rack, which is a fantastic product for touring. It is completely silent, small (whole guitar backline in a 2HE rack unit), sounds fantastic and you can create almost any sound of your choice with loads of amps, stomp boxes, cabinets and effects included. We have created the Pain sound with a Mesa Boogie Mark II, and the result is just amazing. Sorry, i think it got a bit carried away here... Anyway, as Engel couldn't fit their amps into the bus, we let them use our Eleven Racks, and it fits their sound perfectly! I will be surprised if Engel doesn't end up using the Eleven Rack themselves in the future :-)
Anyway, during the day when we were in Leipzig, we went to XtraX again (just like we did in Berlin) for a signingsession and more serious shopping. We also had a real german Currywürst on our way there. Then, back in Hellraiser again. This is where we started the European Tour 2009 together with Brother Firetribe, and i had good memories from this place. This time was no exception and the show was really great. We had a really good time and it was really fun show.
Now we leave Germany for Czech Republic.
Prepared for showtime (it says "Dad is the best" in Swedish)
Live in Berlin. Photo: Denny Gellerer
Live in Berlin. Photo: Denny Gellerer
Live in Berlin. Photo: Denny Gellerer
Leipzig. They're really up for decorating walls in Germany
Signingsession at XtraX in Leipzig
The good thing about lack of space and the need of sharing gear, is that you might end up using some new stuff that you haven't tried before. Both me and Peter uses the Avid Eleven Rack, which is a fantastic product for touring. It is completely silent, small (whole guitar backline in a 2HE rack unit), sounds fantastic and you can create almost any sound of your choice with loads of amps, stomp boxes, cabinets and effects included. We have created the Pain sound with a Mesa Boogie Mark II, and the result is just amazing. Sorry, i think it got a bit carried away here... Anyway, as Engel couldn't fit their amps into the bus, we let them use our Eleven Racks, and it fits their sound perfectly! I will be surprised if Engel doesn't end up using the Eleven Rack themselves in the future :-)
Anyway, during the day when we were in Leipzig, we went to XtraX again (just like we did in Berlin) for a signingsession and more serious shopping. We also had a real german Currywürst on our way there. Then, back in Hellraiser again. This is where we started the European Tour 2009 together with Brother Firetribe, and i had good memories from this place. This time was no exception and the show was really great. We had a really good time and it was really fun show.
Now we leave Germany for Czech Republic.
Prepared for showtime (it says "Dad is the best" in Swedish)
Live in Berlin. Photo: Denny Gellerer
Live in Berlin. Photo: Denny Gellerer
Live in Berlin. Photo: Denny Gellerer
Leipzig. They're really up for decorating walls in Germany
Signingsession at XtraX in Leipzig
Day 21 - Berlin, Germany
We have a lot of gear on this tour, actually more than we ever had before. Mainly it's our new stage set that requires extra space. It's getting to a point where our Nightliner-bus with trailer is getting too small, but still two veichles will be too big. Caught in the middle. When packing up after the first show in Hamburg, it was obvious that we have reached our limits. With the whole bus and trailer completely filled up with stuff, it was still shitloads of stuff that didn't fit. Bare in mind, that we have taken action to keep things as small and easy as possible, like sharing gear between some of the bands, it's still not enough. We ended up filling all kinds of places in the bus with cases and boxes. When i woke up the morning after Hamburg, i couldn't see the floor besides my bed as it was filled with stuff...
In the afternoon in Berlin we were invited to a kind of a goth-clothing store for a signing session (the store name is XtraX, www.x-tra-x.de). That was a bit different, but even more different that after the session we were free to pick what ever we'd like in the store, at significant amount.. So here we were, the whole band running around in the store picking free stuff. It was pretty funny though, and i don't think we even hit the significant amount we were given, but we had a good time and we got some really cool stuff for sure. I think we might end up in the Leipzig store as well!
The show in Berlin was good as well (not as good as the Hamburg show, but pretty damn close), i hope the good feeling stays for the rest of the trip!
Lido in Berlin
Berlin
Björn Bengtsson, our merch-dude on this part of the tour
This is out home right now
Andre in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Arne Kowalewski
Me and Peter in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Arne Kowalewski
David in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Arne Kowalewski
Painheads in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Arne Kowalewski
Serious shopping at XtraX in Berlin
Andre is posing at XtraX in Berlin
In the afternoon in Berlin we were invited to a kind of a goth-clothing store for a signing session (the store name is XtraX, www.x-tra-x.de). That was a bit different, but even more different that after the session we were free to pick what ever we'd like in the store, at significant amount.. So here we were, the whole band running around in the store picking free stuff. It was pretty funny though, and i don't think we even hit the significant amount we were given, but we had a good time and we got some really cool stuff for sure. I think we might end up in the Leipzig store as well!
The show in Berlin was good as well (not as good as the Hamburg show, but pretty damn close), i hope the good feeling stays for the rest of the trip!
Lido in Berlin
Berlin
Björn Bengtsson, our merch-dude on this part of the tour
This is out home right now
Andre in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Arne Kowalewski
Me and Peter in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Arne Kowalewski
David in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Arne Kowalewski
Painheads in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Arne Kowalewski
Serious shopping at XtraX in Berlin
Andre is posing at XtraX in Berlin
Day 20 - Hamburg, Germany
We arrived at the venue in Hamburg around lunchtime, together with our support act Engel. Later on, also our second support act Turmion Kätilöt arrived. We went all the way to Hamburg with a temporary bus that just took us and the gear there. In Hamburg our "real" Nightliner bus waited, that will be our home for the next 4 weeks.
All gear from the temporary bus were loaded into the venue, and all personal stuff to the new bus. Now, this is a Pain tour, don't forget that. So when we were about to soundcheck we realised that two fatal items were missing and were still left in the other bus, who was now on his way back from Hamburg approaching Puttgarden... Are you surprised? I am not. One of the items was my special Ovation guitar that i use in "Have a drink on me". Next phase was total panic, phonecalls and upset people running around like headless chickens..
It's impossle to be surprised when it's a Pain tour, but it's totally okay to be upset. Finally soneone in the crew got hold of the driver who was on his way north again and told him to stop. A car went there and picked up the missing gear and we had it back on stage before our showtime. We didn't have it at soundcheck though.
Oh well, shit happens, and it went ok in the end anyway. The show went good and Hamburg treated us very well. As Johan is not joining us on this part of the tour, Andre Skaug is filling in. It feels like a 2007 backflash when he was touring with Pain, and it's pretty obvious that he still remembers the songs! :-)
Next stop is Berlin, see 'ya!
European part of the tour
My tourkit for this trip
Our Nightliner for this trip
Peter doing a interview in Hamburg
Day 19 - Stockholm, Malmö, Copenhagen, Rödby, Puttgarden...
Tomorrow we will start the european part of the tour, in Hamburg. So today is travelling day. Whole crew, band (except me) and support band, all left this morning with the bus from various places heading towards Hamburg. I had other appointments during the day so i will fly to Malmö to catch the bus on their way tonight instead. I believe we have something like 25 shows in 29 days ahead of us now. As it's more than 2,5 years ago since our last european tour, i am really eager to see how we are doing this time. While i am writing this i am just about to leave to the airport. See 'ya!
After the show in Umeå, Sweden. Photo: Mats Söderholm
Live in Umeå, Sweden. Photo: Mats Söderholm
After the show in Umeå, Sweden. Photo: Mats Söderholm
Live in Umeå, Sweden. Photo: Mats Söderholm
