Saturday was the day we'd all been waiting for. Our booking agent for this tour got us a spot on the main stage at Ieper Fest in Ieper, Belgium. This was to be the pinnacle of our tour and a tremendous opportunity for the band. We had to drive through the night so HBK could load in and do their soundcheck before the show opened. The place was covered in mud and crews worked like madmen all morning cleaning up the grounds and putting down fresh hay and some sort of mulch to cover the mud and suprisingly it worked for the most part. Our new german brothers opened the show and even though it was just shy of noon there was already a huge crowd and people continued to pour in through the gate all day. Over the course of the day it became really apparent to us just how huge this production was. We were playing the oldest and possibly largest hardcore festival in Europe, it has been going on every summer in Ieper since 1992.
Bands traded off for thirteen hours, one outside on the main stage while the other set up in the tent on a smaller stage and so the day went off without a hitch as bands traded off and the crowded migrated from stage to stage and filled the merch tent all day. Bands from all over Europe and the US set up merchandise and everyone was kept busy, various distros also set up their wares, it was a really interesting site. Fests have been going on in the states for years but i never made my way down to any of them. The most popular were in Wilkes Barre, PA and Syracuse, NY but now the biggest is out in California and I doubt we'll be asked to play anytime soon.
We hit the main stage at about 3 o clock. As the guys set up their instruments on stage i warmed up my voice behind, upon walking up the stairs to the stage and looking out at the sea of people waiting to hear this unknown band from Boston play my nerves churned my stomach relentlessly. I gracefully made my way back behind the stage and almost lost my lunch. As soon as the sound check began and the set was under way everything clicked. We played great, the crowd was extremely attentive and interested and really gave us a great feeling. The stage was huge, the sound system - massive, it was really intimidating but when it came time to perform we did to the fullest of our abilities and it was great. Right up front I saw one of the promoters from our first show in Belgium, it was really great to see a familiar face and to feel supported in that way. This was our second show on a large stage with a really professional impressive PA system, and i loved every second of it. Having room to move about and a sound system that actually allows you to hear yourself is vital. Its really easy to overwork your vocal chords to compensate for the fact that you cant hear yourself, but with every instrument mic'd and your own voice booming back at you through stage monitors it really facilitates a great performance. Its taken long enough but i feel really comfortable with my voice now, Ive found its range and limitations and what feels most natural and never lost it once on this tour, I was really worried that we'd get to this huge fest and all the crowd would hear was hoarse whimpers but my voice was in tip top shape.
It was an honor to have kids from the fest all day saying how intense and passionate our set was and how impressed they were by a band they'd never even heard of. We sold an obscene amount of merchandise almost doubling that which was sold over the course of the entire tour. We now have next to nothing to carry home and expenses to made our own records and shirts covered. This is a tremendous relief. Ieper fest was one of the greatest days i can recall but it was brutally long, the last set ended about midnight and after thirteen hours everyone there was ready for it to end. We made our way to a hostel that was rented specifically for the fest in order to house all the bands. We shared a frigid room of lousy bunk beds with probably three other bands. One of the highlights of the day though was when our friends from back home who are also on tour came. Their show that day was cancelled so they drove to the fest even though they were playing the following day. They missed our set but it was really nice just to get to see them. I had talked to many of them before tour about their experiences in Europe and frankly they were all suprised to hear how positive our experience was. In spite of getting sick, having shows cancelled, and missing certain little faces back home this tour was amazing. We connected so quickly and intensely with our tourmates that three weeks went by like nothing. Now we just need to get home...
We've now been sitting in the airport at Hamburg, Germany for 17 hours with another 17 to go before our flight leaves. Our last show fell through in the booking process however after we booked our tickets. Heartbreak kid had to go back to Munich 8 hours away and so we've become temporary residences of the first terminal arrivals area, the only area open 24 hours. There are arm rests in between all the seats leaving no space to lay down and airport security keeping an eye so we dont sprawl out in to unsightly a fashion. Suprisingly and fortunately nobody has hassled us, we've managed to avoid looking like a gypsy encampment for the most part. It appears as though we've attracted flies, I'd like to think the flies are bothering everyone, but I think they've taken a particularly strong liking to us. My prediction is that by dawn buzzards begin circling overhead. There is however a shower here, which i plan on utilizing before checking in to our flight tomorrow morning until the bar of soap is no more. Having nothing but time I was able to sit for a second and look in the mirror, between the mess of hair, beard, and spectacles I feel like i've gone incognito. Amongst who I dont know, maybe grizzly bears? Wolves? I might have to change my last name to Ferile.
bye.
-Sean
