Tagged: greece
Rock’n’roll Travels 2012
2011 is coming to an end, and I’m already planning my rock’n’roll travels for 2012.
The biggest challenge right now is the preparations for my trip to Russia. Or maybe I should say my “possible” trip to Russia, cause I had no idea it would be so complicated to go to a country that’s not that far away and only for a short visit.
I’ve found myself in a paper-mess with visa-applications and special insurance instructions and what have you. To top it all off, they aren’t exactly helpful at the Russian Embassy, so if I can’t figure things out on my own, I’ll have to skip the trip.
But I would love to go for at least two reasons: Because I’ve never travelled in that direction before, I’ve always gone to the west, never to the east (if you don’t count Eastern Europe such as the Czech republic). So, Russia feels a bit exotic. :-)
Second reason being visiting my friend Vera, who I met at Sweden Rock Festival that she’s been visiting a few years because she’s been covering the festival for the Russian edition of Classic Rock Magazine.
It would be very great to visit her and go see a cool show. The band playing (I rarely go anywhere unless there’s a show, as I’m sure you know by now :-)) is Judas Priest.
I saw them in Tallinn, Estonia back in 2006, it was a pretty weird concert. The security guards looked like an army, very intimidating. The opening act was some embarrassing, goddamn awful local band… Just one of those places you never forget.
And now – maybe, St. Petersburg, Russia, if I get my papers in order!
But before that – Athens, Greece in a few weeks. Firewind playing. Check out my Firewind-tour diary from this summer here.
After the past summer, it has become my “house band”, and seeing them from now on is like coming home. I liked the gigs with Mats Levén singing and I liked the US-shows as well with Apollo back as the frontman.
Firewind may not be a Motley Crue-sort of entertaining band, but for a music-nerd like me, they give me kicks just by being amazing at what they do – each musician in his own right.
I love the new drummer Jo, he kicks major ass, unbelievably talented. Nobody cares much for bassplayers unless it’s Billy Sheehan, but only watching Petros‘ fast fingers gets you dizzy, fucking hell that guy can play...! Don’t even get me started on the Virtuoso-Duo Bob Katsionis and Gus G (keyboards, guitar)…!
[Instrumental “SKG” – amazing if you’re into virtuosity…!]
The reason why I even started going to all those shows was Gus G. He is unreal. He’s not just another guitar geek, he’s a true old-school ROCK STAR on stage as well, I could watch him do his thing every week.
Somebody said that “there’s a lot of Gus in your videos” after watching my uploads on Youtube from this summer. Of course there is. There is no reason why there shouldn’t be. The guy rules.
But I’m slightly nervous going to Athens. When I went to Thessaloniki back in July, I got lost after the show at the stadium – and took for granted that there would be buses back to the city after such a big event. Never been anywhere where there haven’t been buses after a sports- or music event at a large stadium.
Well, apparently, it wasn’t self-explanatory in Greece so I ended up wandering the streets in the middle of the night looking for the ONE bus stop where the LAST night bus was supposed to leave. Cause THAT particular day, taxi’s were on strike…..
[Link to the Thessaloniki-adventures…]
It didn’t make things any easier that the signs were all written with Greek letters that I couldn’t understand, so I couldn’t get help from a Greek friend who tried to guide me over the phone. I got back to the hotel eventually, but it has taught me to be WELL prepared when going to Greece next time.
I got a tip from my friends in the JOP-camp, to contact a guy from Athens that they know from the last Oliva-tour. I’m lucky to know people in road crews, as they know the world very well – especially gig-related stuff. MY kind of “stuff”. :-) Let’s see how it goes.
And another thing that keeps me occupied right now is finding a fairly cheap flight to NYC at the end of January, because the coolest “poser-guitarist” ever, STEVE STEVENS is playing – with special guest SEBASTIAN BACH. Two guys I adore seeing live, sharing the stage?! Damn, I don’t want to miss THAT!
I’m out of vacation days until May, so I would have to go just over the weekend, see the show and then head straight back to work. Looks like the tickets aren’t even on sale yet. Guess I could ask Sebastian’s management, but when I’m traveling far, I still feel a lot better having a ticket in my hand, than the stress that always happens when you get to the box office and they go: “Hmmm I can’t see your name here…. what did you say your name was?” The classic. Happens even with bands I know very well, I guess I can always call someone, but sometimes there’s no time for that. So – old-fashioned tickets works fine for me.
Guess I’ll wait for the tickets to go on sale first – and THEN I can start looking for flights.
Started updating my tour-schedule for 2012, check it out, maybe I’ll see you there somewhere out in the world next year! :-)
My tour schedule for 2012….so far.
ROCKIN’ THESSALONIKI (Day 1)
Once we landed in Budapest, I ran like I had rocket fuel up my ass and made it JUST in the nick of time. [Flying into Thessaloniki] Thessaloniki airport was busy, people everywhere, I could barely see where I was going. Also noted that my choice of clothes wasn’t overly smart. BLACK when it was 31 degrees Celsius out there?! I might want to rethink that next time… I knew I was supposed to take bus 78 to a bus stop called Kolomvou, so I got a 0,80 euro ticket from the bus ticket-booth and waited for the bus in the humid Greek heat. A smiling man in his 60’s was waving to me, pointing with a “yes – you“. He said I would have to keep a very close eye on my bag because there were professional pickpockets everywhere. He was very friendly and talkative, asked where I was going, if I knew how to get there and stuff, kept talking about how he had a cousin in Sweden and he had been in Sweden – online. :-)
I told him I was only in Thessaloniki for a few days to see a concert, he smiled, shook his head and went: “You don’t come to Thessaloniki for a day. You stay a LIFETIME.”
After he had reached his destination, I was left alone and kept a very close eye on the information-light-sign-thingie that informed about the next stop. Everything was in Greek, until a few seconds before each stop when it actually said where we were in English as well. :)
I should have known something was wrong after an hour, because the ride to the hotel was only supposed to take 20 minutes. When we pulled up to the Makedonia International Airport (!) I knew that we had just been the whole round and back again. And no “Kolomvou”-stop anywhere.
I walked up to the bus driver with my printed directions, pointed at it and asked if we were stopping there. He smiled (very friendly people) and said: “No speak English”. So I went back to my seat and figured if I only stayed on the bus long enough, I would get to that bus stop sooner or later, maybe I just missed it. Asked some other people on the bus, either they didn’t speak English or they were tourists themselves, so no help there. I spent TWO HOURS on that bus, seeing the airport THREE TIMES… I bet I know Thessaloniki by bus better than anyone else. I texted my friend Mari who called the hotel and then texted me back “Man! They spoke Greeklish, English words in Greek if you know what I mean, I didn’t understand a thing! But I DID understand that you’re supposed to get off the bus somewhere and then walk for 10 minutes….”
Yeah. Somewhere. Interesting concept. :) I got off the bus in an area that looked “touristy” because of all the typical international stores that are there for tourists to spend some extra dough – Sephora and all that. Aristoteles Square. Then I had Mari guiding me by phone, from Sweden, her computer and GOOGLE MAPS! Like my very personal GPS, if you will.
“Are you on the square now? There should be a big street up ahead. Turn right and then….”
I finally found my hotel. I think I’m gonna send the hotel the REAL directions when I get home. Nobody would ever have found it with their description on the website. Gah. [My hotel… That I found after just 2 hours]
I waited til the sun started to set, because it’s a lot more pleasent taking a stroll when you’re not being fried by the sun. When I got out there it was like a Deja Vú experience. I had a hunch it would be like that after having seen pictures of the city online. It looked very much like my second home town, Split in Croatia.
As it turned out, it really was like a COPY of it!! Everything was pretty much the same, to the point where it was almost scary.The square had all these glossy white/grey streetstones, surrounded by cafés and restaurants and people selling kitsch-junk everywhere. The sea right in front, which you walk alongside so to speak. I mean, it was all the same – the location of some houses and the harbor/industries or whatever…. Even the scent of the sea was the same.
I didn’t feel like a tourist at all. I felt like I was home. [Pics I took last night on my walk down the seaside in the heart of Thessaloniki]
The palmtrees are the same, little short, chubby ones. :)
And the flowerbush that I haven’t seen anywhere else but in Croatia until now, the oleander. They are beautiful, pink, yellow, white….
It’s so pretty and it’s a shame I came here alone this time. It’s a city to be experienced in someone’s company.
I took a walk towards the White Tower as the sun was setting. Took some pics of that, then ended up being very much a tourist when I walked into Starbucks because I was REALLY craving a mocha frappucino. I should have went to a real Greek coffeehouse instead, but I will later today.I just sat there, overlooking the sea as the sun went down, hearing the people and the typical sounds of nightlife down the street. That is just like Split as well. Doesn’t matter what weekday it is. It’s like a festival, lots of people, music, laughing, just a city that is very much ALIVE. I loved the atmosphere. And there were Judas Priest/Whitesnake/Firewind posters all over town. From what I understand, there are not that many outdoor rock concerts here, so I guess that every rocker in Greece will make his/her way to Athens or Thessaloniki today and tomorrow. :)
I got a very useful map for my “tourist day” here from a guy I got in touch with because he had uploaded a video of Marty Friedman and Gus G jamming in Thessaloniki about a month ago. I asked what camera he had used because the audio was really good, and then somehow started talking a bit. So he sent me this last night:
A map of Metalloniki. :-) That, and a short description:
I also send you a map you have to see. It is useful. Includes the places every rock-visitor must see.
METALLONIKI MAP !!! :)))Place 1: Your Hotel (El Greco) I
Place 2: Tha stadium (Kaftatzoglio)
Place 3: Ladadika (many bars and some of them Rock & Metal)
Place 4: Valaoritou Street (the new hot joint in the city – some good rock places and many people everywhere).
Place 5: Aristotelous Square. The most famous square in Thessaloniki.
Many places for coffee and beers. Some of them with good music.
Place 6: Navarino Square. The “punk” spot of the city. Some good bars an many places to eat before and afrer a drinking night. There are also lot of other places but these are the basics.
Hope to find you and meet you in person.
Have a good night and get rest.
All those places are near to you and you can go by feet.
Even the stadium is not that far from you. It is almost 3,5 km from your hotel.
Like I said, very kind and helpful people around here. :) I’ll try to check out as much as possible, if I don’t get lost again! Before I went to bed, I checked my Facebook and saw that Firewind had sent out a bulletin that there was supposed to be an interview with Bob and Gus at midnight (a rerun) and for the first time I’d actually be able to see that. So, although I was tired, I decided to check it out. What the hell, I’m here, would be stupid to miss it.
So far, I really like this place. I’m sure that tomorrow, after having seen three bands I really love, I’ll like it even more!
And yes, you guessed it. I’ll be back.
[Went to Starbucks for my beloved Mocha Frappucino]
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 