Romania, Day 3 & 4

Poor Milla and Nik, after the gig in Braşov they had been up for nearly 24 hours! A rest at our Pension Sofie was well deserved. I wasn’t feeling to fresh myself, and I slept like a baby. I kept dreaming about dogs though, maybe that was because all night long dogs kept barking near the Pension!

We went for breakfast at 9 am and the fun started immediately. Nik and Milla are used to stuffing themselves full at breakfasts when they are traveling, so they can skip lunch. I was amazed at what Nik could eat so early in the morning! He downed like 3 or 4 eggs, massive amounts of bread, meat and cheese. Insane! It made me laugh so loud. The people working in the pension were also a little amazed I think, when they asked if he wanted eggs and his answer was ‘yes please, bring it on!’. Well, at least they complied to his wishes! This pension also served decent coffee, unlike the Ibis hotel. Man, the stuff at the Ibis hotel that they dared to call coffee was more like dog shit!

We packed our belongings after breakfast and walked to the train station. We bought tickets for the Rapid train to Bucharest. Well, we all knew what ‘rapid’ meant in this country by now. Mentally we prepared ourselves for a long stay in the train, but first, we went to explore Braşov! The city centre was really lovely, colorful, breathing history. The town hall/historic museum dates from the early 15th century and was very well preserved! Nik wanted to see the Black Church. It was closed but at least we could look at it from the outside. We also saw a building that reminded me a lot of the Efteling (a Dutch themepark with very peculiar architecture).

The townhall in Brasov

The Black Church

Detail of the Black Church


Me standing on the central square


An eldery man walking the streets in Brasov


Blue house!

All in all it was very relaxing to stroll around this nice little town, basking in the sunshine, chatting, laughing. We found a little shop where they sold ice cream. The woman behind the counter let us try all the different kinds before we decided what we actually wanted, so nice! For the first time in my life I had gingerbread ice cream and it was so lovely!

It was about time to head to the train station. The ‘rapid’ train was very clean and comfy and definitely went faster than the day before. I wouldn’t say fast by my own standards, but hey, different country, different standards. With only 10 minutes delay we arrived in Bucharest. The journey was a lot more pleasant for me because of the company. The three of us had so much to talk about that we probably annoyed the hell out of our fellow travelers!

We walked to the Silver Church from Gara de Nord, about 20 minutes walking. There was a hotel 50m from it and Nik and Milla managed to negotiate a price for me. You see, it was an expensive hotel, way above my budget. Nik and Milla hung up a story about me being such a nice and decent girl wahaha! So I ended up in this posh hotel for a decent price. The room was so nice looking!

The Silver Church was so crowded when we finally got there at 7:15 pm. Alcest had already begun playing. It was their first show and they were great! Nik and I really wanted to go up front for Agalloch. Nik, with his scary looks, plowed his way through the masses and I followed him. We got nearly at the front finally and enjoyed 45 minutes more of Alcest. The music is atmospheric, with loads of post-rock, soundscape influences. Sometimes I could sense a hint of Amesoeurs in it, but not often. I’m still sad how Amesoeurs ended, but it’s not for me to judge the personal reasons that were behind it.

Agalloch set up their stuff and around me I could feel the tension rise. People were pressing against each other, the anticipation was there! The show began with the ritual of incense and John holding up the deer hoof again, although it was only visible for those standing at the front. The show started and the crowd went wild. The girl right in front of me started headbanging, and didn’t stop until the show had ended! She had very long, black hair and every other second I would get it smashed in my face. I had to put up with that the whole show and I’m telling ya, if it wasn’t Agalloch playing I would have left haha!

The ritual

However, the headbanging girl became my ticket to stand really up front, because the girl standing next to her couldn’t take the hair in her face anymore and left! I quickly took her place all the way at the front. Even more hair in my face, but whatever. The only remedy was to start headbanging myself, and that’s what I did!

At the beginning there were some problems with the sound, John making agitated gestures to the sound peeps. It made me remember the first shows I saw in 2006, where there was also trouble with the sound! It makes John irritated if it isn’t good enough. I can understand his irritation, but for the atmosphere it didn’t matter at all. People were going crazy during the show, everybody was into it (at least, so it seemed to be at the front). After 30 minutes I looked at Nik and there was blood running over his face. Turned out he hit his head at John’s monitor! He split his eyebrow, but looked bad ass metal now.

The more time passed into the show, the more people were pressing against each other, headbanging. The crowd become one big living organism, apt to move with the music. I myself felt like I was drunk, stoned and in trance at the same time. I experienced this performance as very intense. As encore they played The Lodge (Dismantled) again, ending with the noise. Man man, people around me went insane! I was pressed up all against the stage, because people wanted to see Don and John crawling over the stage, holding their guitar up in the air, letting the audience participate. Nik and I had a great moment with John last year in Den Bosch, when he grabbed our hands and we just stood there for minutes in the noise. This time it was different, because unlike the show in NL (where Nik and I definitely were one of the more enthusiastic people) EVERYBODY wanted to participate here. Crazy!

John engulfed by smoke

John pressed the Bambi hoof in my hand all of a sudden. I held on tight to it, because people were grabbing for it. Later Don pressed his plectrum in my hands, but I just had to give it away to two Romanian girls next to me. They were pleading for it! I had started talking to them during the show and I felt I couldn’t be too greedy and keep all the stuff for myself. I had the Bambi hoof already! Don said goodbye to the audience by shaking hands and hugging people. It was over! Or so we thought.....The most unheard of thing happened. The audience was making so much noise and stampede, that the band played a second encore! Of Stone, Wind and Pillor! A great surprise for the fans that didn’t see the Braşov show.

Now it was really over....Milla had seen the show from the side and looked at Nik’s bloody appearance. It was quite bad looking, because it had bled so much. Nik said he didn’t feel much pain though. We went to look for the band again, because we wanted some pics with them with our newly acquired souvenirs. Nik had managed to get one of Aesop’s broken drumsticks. We told them what a great show it had been and Milla took some pictures. After that we just hung around a bit. We talked mostly to Jason. To my surprise Jason told me he also loved the Netherlands very much and that he and his family were really considering moving there! After Nick and Tyson, Jason also turned out to be a Holland lover. I was surprised and pleased. After seeing Romania my opinion of my own country has risen, I must say. And when people tell you they love your country, well, it’s good to hear! Especially when it’s not just because of the weed and the hookers, you know. After hanging around for some time, talking to the band and other people it was about time to say goodbye.

Tough moment, I hate saying goodbye. Especially when you are with people that you don’t see a lot anyway, and it has been such a great time. Jason and Aesop want us to come to the States and I hope we surely will. I’ll start saving anyway! Hugs for goodbye and off we were....

Jason, Don, John, Aesop, Nick, Tyson, Milla, Nik: I loved seeing you all, thought it was way too short and hope we will meet again soon!



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After a really short nap in the hotel it was time to get going to the airport. My hotel called me a cab (Meridian company ftw, no crooks!) and off I was. For the last time I could marvel at the craziness of Bucharest. My taxidriver managed to avoid all the crazy holes in the road (some were pretty deep and dangerous) and delivered me to the airport for only 27 Lei. I’m converting it to Euro’s just now (I never bothered before) and see that it’s just 6,60, now that’s what I call cheap! Considering that just after that I ordered an espresso at the airport for frikkin’ 15 lei (= 3,70 euro) the taxi is even cheaper! Fuck.

Not much left to tell now. Flew back to NL. Managed to transport the Bambi hoof by checking in my backpack. Thank the gods I wasn’t flying with RyanAir or some other cheap ass air carrier that makes you pay extra if you want to bring more than just hand luggage. I was only carrying a daypack now because it seemed excessive to bring a suitcase for just 4 days. It saved me the trouble to hand in luggage and wait for it in Romania. But now, I just had to save the Bambi hoof! I was afraid that if I wouldn’t check in my bag it would get confiscated at customs. I mean, which normal person walks about with a part of a dead deer in their bags? I certainly would have thought such a person was a little insane. At Schiphol I checked the bag, and Bambi has made it to NL!

Boarding a Dutch train was a bliss after Romania I can tell you. Okay, the train was a little dirty because the cleaners are on strike (still!), but hey, at least it went 140km/h!

End of this epic tale of the journey to Romania. If I ever get to visit the country again, I would surely explore Transylvania more!

Romania, day 1 and 2

It is time to start writing about how awesome the trip to Romania has been. I barely know where to begin though, because in these 4 days so much has happened!

I was excited when I booked this trip at the end of February, because it was a decision I made in a whim, but it felt right you know. I was already very happy with the prospect of meeting Milla and Nik again. The fact that I got to travel to Romania (a country that holds my interest, because I have a Romanian ex-boyfriend), and to see Agalloch only added to the excitement!

I met Milla and Nik in 2007, at the Agalloch gig in Vosselaar, Belgium. I remember it so well, because Nik kind of stands out with his ‘Satanic’ looks (but such kind eyes), and I thought Milla had such a cute Italian accent. I liked them instantly! I offered them a ride back to their hotel in Turnhout, and from that moment on we kept in touch. The next year they came to the Agalloch gig in the Netherlands as well and it was like we had seen each other yesterday. I love them! I went to London last summer with my good friend Misha to visit Milla; alas Nik was working his butt off on a Swedish farm, so I didn’t see him.

I was 19 when I last traveled alone (to Canada), so I was a little nervous to go alone again. I couldn’t help but be kind of skeptical of Romania’s safety level for a woman alone. Milla assured me that I would be okay, as long as I kept using my head. So with that advice, I decided to stop worrying, do my research and go for it! Traveling alone was kind of fun indeed, but I was very happy to finally meet up with Nik and Milla on saturday, just because I could finally talk with people. I have tried to chat with Romanian people, but I found out that most of them are quite reserved or even grumpy. Many of them also don’t speak English, so that didn’t help in this matter. Maybe I had bad luck, I dunno. I met two nice guys at the Ibis hotel I stayed the first night (friday the 19th), the receptionists. They helped me look up time tables for the train, and they even were interested in Agalloch!

The traintable at Gara de Nord

The next day I had some time left before the train departed, and I walked around a little. I was really struck by the amount of rubbish on the streets, how shabby the buildings looked and how many street-dogs were wandering about! Quite a shocking difference with the Netherlands, where everything is so clean and structured. I didn’t like Bucharest that much to be honest, but on the other hand I don’t think its right of me to judge the city. I have only seen the area around the Gara, and mostly those areas aren’t the best looking. I wish I would have had time to explore the city centre, but there just wasn’t any.

Two women at Gara de Nord
Little puppy I found on the street

Train
The train experience amazed me even more. The train was very modern and comfortable (although a little more space for the legs would have been nice), but it went painstakingly slow! I don’t think it ever went faster than 40km/h at best. I swear I won’t curse at the Dutch trains again! The speed and efficiency of the Dutch trains are godlike compared to the Romanian trains. The view was very nice though, I snapped quite a few pictures.

When I finally arrived in Brasov I was really happy to get out. I packed my scarf, gloves and a woolen vest because according to Weather.com it was -3 or even -15 in Brasov. That appeared to be bullshit, the weather was nice! Like Nick (Wusz) later said: "Weather.com lied to you!". I will never trust Weather.com again! Brasov is a nice little city, with a beautiful centre. I walked to the pension Sofie, with some help from the local people it was quite easy to find. The lady at the reception was very nice, and called me a cab when it was time to get to the venue. Nik and Milla were still on the train, theirs was even slower than mine!

At the Reduta Cultural Centre a crowd had already assembled. I had to get in line to get my tickets and saw Don already. It was so nice to see him again, we chatted a little then I got my tickets. Downstairs I saw Jason with two American friends of his. They were Nick and Tyson, I recognized their names from Facebook. They were completely awesome, sometimes you instantly like people and I liked them! It was so good to Jason again too!

The show was about the begin in 30 minutes and I was kind of hungry, since I had only eaten breakfast. Alas, there was no more time to get something to eat and we decided to just go in. This show was a seated one, which is kind of weird. All seats were already taken, so we just stood at the side. The band performed a little ritual, with incense (that reminded me of the Catholic church) they walked through the crowd, it smelled really nice! Accompanied by a sample from the song Pantheist, it was really a good beginning. The stage was completely set up for this performance and looked atmospheric.

The band entered the stage to start playing and the sound quality was amazing! They started the show with ‘Dead Winter Days’, as usual. Milla and Nik came in after one minute and it was all hugs and cheers of happiness! I was so happy to see them! They didn’t miss much of the show, which was lucky for them. They told me that their train was very slow, and had more than one hour delay.

Agalloch was playing really well in this show, they were concentrated and into it. It was such a shame that this was a seated gig. The audience was really silent! Between the songs I could whisper to Milla and she could hear me! Wtf! Normally, you shout out your lungs and your throat is hoarse after a show. That’s the way it is supposed to be! Only the photographers were allowed to stand in front and snap pictures all the time. Nik got tired of it and went up to them and started headbanging. A couple of others joined him, but then one guy of the organization came and said they had to go back! Later that guy turned out to be Doru, the one who had sold us tickets even though the show was sold out. He was a really cool and funny guy, but he said that this was an agreement between the band and the organization, which later Don said it was not. Anyway, no headbanging at the front in this gig...I found it really annoying that photographers got priority above anything else, the music is for the audience! All in all, I enjoyed the show immensely in a musical way, but not in an atmospheric way. Thank the gods we still had the show in Bucharest to go to the next day. That is the subject of my next post, because that show is too magical to describe in just a few words!

After the show of course Nik and I had a bunch of stuff for them to sign. I bought the new album the band had printed just for the two gigs in Romania (just 250 printed). John and Aesop were also happy to see us again. I cannot stress this enough, but it is so nice to see that the band appreciates us coming a long way to see them. We do it with pleasure, personally I do it because apart from their amazing music they are such nice people. Their hearts are true and I love them for making such grand music and being such cool guys! I find it impossible to put these feeling into words, I don't think even in Dutch I would be able to. When I am seeing the show I am truly happy. It is almost the same feeling I have when I am playing in my orchestras or going to a classical concert. Sometimes musical experiences stir something inside me that is dormant most of the time. It puts my mind at ease and it fills my heart with joy and love for everyone around me. Sigh, sometimes I think I should have been born in the 70ies, I sound like a frikkin' hippy!

After we had all of our stuff signed we took a few pictures with the band, chatted some more and waited for them to finish packing. They were going to the Music Cafe to hang out, but I was really starving by now. We went with them to the Music Cafe, but then decided to go back to a pizzeria that was still open. My god, I was so hungry and was really glad to eat something decent. I think I hadn’t eaten a vegetable in two days, somehow they aren't really into that stuff in Romania. My pizza had vegetables though, and I was happy with that. We were really tired and took a cab back to the Pension. Day 3 and 4 will be in my next post.

Nik, John and me

The band, Nik and me

Milla and Aesop
Don signs something for Nik

...

Just got home from Romania, where I went with Nik and Milla to see Agalloch
Quick summary of the trip: WAUW!
A real post will follow shortly, but I'm dead tired right now and my neck is hurting because of the headbanging last evening :D
I'm going to take a nap; later in the evening I'll post some more.

For now, enjoy this picture, taken after the show in Bucharest.

<3 Agalloch

You always hope for these shows that near perfection. 
Agalloch have managed that with their last show in the Netherlands.
This was the fourth time I saw them and their best gig ever imo.
I got in the W2 a little early; Don saw me and still recognised me, how cool!

They started the show after Mely and Dornenreich.
The incense sticks brought the perfect atmosphere right away.
The smell reminded me of catholic church .... John was giving them away and I got one, yay :D

Then the songs....They started of with some of the old work: Dead Winter Days and As Embers Dress the Sky from the album Pale Folklore.
Then they went on to play songs from The Mantle: I Am the Wooden Doors and In The Shadow of Our Pale Compagnion.
The sound was a little bad at first (could barely hear John's vocals)
but that got better and better. It was loud...loud...but good.

I felt in heaven. I was all up front together with a friend (Nik) who
came all the way from London with his wife Milla to see Agalloch here as well.
We consider ourselves to be hardcore fans :D
Agalloch also played Limbs, Not Unlike the Waves and Bloodbirds from Ashes Against the Grain. That was their 'first' last track. Don recognised Nik and me up front and waved at us. The audience yelled for more and got more.
What a suprise, the played The Lodge (dismantled), a 9 minute postrock/postcore track. They ended (as they mostly do) with NOISE. Don ripped strings from his guitar and John even gave me and Nik his guitar-effects-thingie to play with.
That was awesome! I made 'music' with John Haughm. For me, as diehard 
fan that was a wish come true! It even got better when John grabbed my hand and Nik's hand and the three of us shared a minute or so just going into the noise, sharing our energy. It was a spiritual experience for me and I cannot believe how lucky I got to be able to share a moment like that with one of my heroes. This proves once more that music is a binding factor for humans. We can go 'into' music and move beyond the 'real world', into the spiritual world. I felt energetic and insanely happy.

After the gig we saw Don very quickly. John also came out and also recognised me and we talked for quite a bit. We made a pic with the band + Nik and me. There was chatting with John and Don for awhile longer and I bought the last tshirt from merchandise and a poster that everybody signed. 
John told me that Aesop (the drummer) bought lots of weed that he has to smoke in one night so that guy is prolly fucking wasted right now as I write this.

All in all it was an awesome experience from the best band of earth.
I invited them to come and play in Utrecht next year so hopefully they'll listen to me, their hardcore fan :D


PS: Dornenreich was also very cool, but due to me being exhausted now I won't write a review about them.