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| Mexican router station |
Oh, where to start. This weekend trip to Mexico has brought us so many stories for the future so it´s enough to write a novel about it... Alright, lets take it from the beginning shall we.
Attempt No.1!
Grave was booked for two shows in Mexico last weekend, on the 3rd of December in Monterrey and on the 4th in Mexico City.
We were booked on a flight together with our fellow Swedes in General Surgery who we were suppose to do these two gigs with.
Our flight was at 6 am on Thursday the 2nd, we all stayed up all night because we had to be at the airport at 4 am.
Just before we left for the airport Ola had got a mail that said that we our booking had been changed and that
we had a flight at 10 am instead, but since we got that information so late we went out to the airport anyway.
The General Surgery guys went as planned with the flight that left at 6 am, so we just hanged out at the only café that were open at that early hour.
When it was time to go and check in we were informed by the staff that our tickets were not payed for. What the hell to do! We asked the staff if they could help us but all they said was that since the tickets were not payed they could not do anything about it. Ola tried to phone up the guys who booked us down in Mexico, it was in the middle of the night there so it took a few phone calls before he answered.
Ola explained the situation for him. After a few phone calls back and forth we understood that something had gone wrong when he was booking our tickets and somehow
the money had not been transfered, so there was nothing we could do.
We saw our flight leave from Arlanda airport and we could do nothing about it. We did not know what the hell to do but we hung around to try to sort it out and book new tickets but there were no more flights that day. After 7 horrible hours at the airport and without any sleep that night you feel kinda mushy in your brain so we decided to just go back home again, the situation was totally surreal.
So we went home again to get some much needed sleep.
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| Tobias having a really massive breakfast for a TRVE winner at Arlanda |
Attempt No.2!
Late Thursday evening Ola got the news that new tickets had been booked for us on Friday morning 6 am, so once again we stayed up all night, took a taxi to the airport at the same hour as the day before, it was just like living the same day for a second time. This time we were lucky and the tickets were payed for. Though this time we would have a very tight schedule to get to the gig in Monterrey gig in time, since we left from Sweden on the same day as the gig were suppose to be.
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| Get a room!!! |
Well, we flew to Frankfurt, Germany, stayed there for 5 hours and then took a flight to Mexico City, there we had to transfer and fly to Monterrey. We should be in Monterrey at 10.30 pm and we had no idea about when we were suppose to be on stage that evening. When we got to Mexico City we had to go through the immigration and that took a hell of a long time and the connecting flight was at another terminal. Luckily we had some Mexican metal dudes that came to meet us and they drove us to the other terminal, but we were very, very late, we ran to the check-in desk with our instruments, but we were so late that we could not check in our equipment. So what to do? All we could do was to run to the gate and leave our gear to our Mexican friends, they were working for the festival we should do the day after so they took care of our stuff for us. We ran to the gate and luckily we made it on to the plane. We were the last persons to board it, and we were the only gringos on the whole plane. It was a short flight of 1 and a half hour. Ola and Tobias decided to have a beer and a shot of tequila on the plane. Well, this was not the same small shots we were used to, the steward poured up two big glasses filled with tequila to the max, so after drinking those big glasses they ended up kinda drunk, not really planned but what the hell.
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| Ola and Tobias ones again partying like hell at Arlanda |
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| Gott D! |
Once in Monterrey we were picked up by some guys working at the Ibex Club were we should play, the guys at tons of cassette tapes and Tobias ordered them to put on Judas Priest "Unleashed in the east" very nice album indeed. We went straight to the club and when we got there General Surgery was midway through their set and we were supposed to go on after them. We were so happy that we finally made it after all the shit we had to through to get there. We had a beer and then General Surgery was done with their set so it was just for us to, well not really plug in and play because all was already set up since we had to borrow their equipment. So we just did a qick linecheck and then we started to play. The gig went really good, as usual in Mexico you get a great crazy crowd. After the gig we had an equal great crazy afterparty at the club that ended very late. We went to the hotel and had like 1 hour of sleep before it was time to leave for the airport again.
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| Ronnie is having a shot of vodka/grape juice |
Once again it was something wrong with the booking of the tickets, but luckily this time we got on the planned flight but this time General Surgery had to wait at the airport to take the next flight to Mexico City a few hours after us. Once in Mexico City we went straight to the hotel to get some sleep. We slept until Friday evening and then it was apparently time to go to the festival area with the shuttle bus. This was from what we heard the first outdoor metal festival ever in Mexico City. Also on the bill was Monstrosity, Vader, Evil Dead, Impaled, General Surgery etc. The festival was called Metal In The Forest, and this was completely true. It was located in the middle of nowhere deep in a forest a bit outside of Mexico City, we had to drive in pitch black darkness on small "roads" not build for cars. Then suddenly there was a festival there, it was very weird sight. When we got out of the bus it was freezing cold, we went behind the stage and found Joakim and Adde from G.S sitting there and we asked; where is the backstage? And they said; "it´s here, outdoors." There were no place what so ever for the bands to go and get some heat or even a roof over your head, we just had to stay out in the cold and wait, and wait is just what we did. For hours and hours. The festival was delayed with 3 hours. We found our gear that we had left in Mexico City the day before, they were in the grass behind the stage. We should also mention that there were no security so the crowd could easily walk behind the stage were the bands had their gear and bags. When we got there Monstrosity had just started their set, and after them it was time for General Surgery. We thought that we could go on after GS, but apparently then it was time for some local bands to play. We didn't get any information about a running order for the evening so we did not know when we were supposed to play. Tobias went to the stage manager (a cool guy called Adrian) and asked when we should play, and he said that there was another 4 local bands before Grave. No way!, Tobias replied, we shall go on after this band, end of discussion! We had at that point been waiting out in the cold (circa 2 minus degrees) for over 3 hours, after some talking back and forth they gave in and let us go on. The festival was running so late so we went on stage at 3am, dressed in long sleeve shirts and leather jackets (Ronnie had to wear gloves on his hands the whole gig plus a hoodie during the first 3 songs) to try to stay warm, our finger were numb for the first 3-4 songs. It was easily the coldest gig we have ever done. Much respect to the people in the crowd who stayed there the whole night out in the cold. After we got a bit warm the gig was really fun, the crowd was really great, with lots of crazy Mexicans running up on stage to headbang. It felt great that the actual gig was so good since we had to go through so much to do it. After the gig we stayed around for an hour or so to take photos with fans and write autographs,(while the rest of the local bands started to play) everybody was so happy even though it was freezing cold. Then we took the shuttle bus back into the dark forest to go back to our hotel. We didn´t get any food at the festival so we were really hungry at that time, luckily our favorite restaurant at the corner of the hotel was open, and this was at 5am. So we went there for some well deserved Alambre pollio con queso, the best food ever. At the hotel we crashed into bed. Ronnie slept for 3 hour and Tobias for 4 hours, guess it was the jet lag that made them sleep so short amount of hours.
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| Ola,, Tobias, Adde and Jocke rippin' it up in the "backstage room" |
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| Adde from General Surgery blasting in the cold |
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| Mexican die hard death metal fans |
The day after Tobias and Ronnie went together with the General Surgery guys to downtown Mexico City for some sightseeing, we went to an old church, saw dancing indians on the streets and a belly-dancing girl. The streets were crowded with people selling all kinds of different stuff. After a few hours in town we headed back to the hotel, then we were picked up to go to the airport. It was time to go home to good old Sweden again. Even though our stay in Mexico was short the story became really long, but this was one of the most crazy trips ever in our lives. Well, of course we would love to come back to Mexico to play, 'cause the crowd there is fukken awesome! But next time we would hope for a journey less adventurous, at least not adventurous in the way it was this time. This was all for now! Rip it up Mexican style!
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| Belly dancing senorita |
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| Tobias getting interviewed like the trve rock star he is... just look at his choice of sun-glasses, Yngwie-style |
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| Dimmu Borgir's organ, or is it another Mexican router station..? |
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| Jocke from General Surgey thinking of getting a new back-pack. Size, X-small |
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| Some of the lod's gathered for the last supper |
