Tagged: vega
MEGADETH, tiny fans and assholes
Had barely had a chance to get enough sleep after the Whitesnake-show in Manchester, before it was time to get on a train to Copenhagen to see Megadeth.
Talk about contrasts. One evening you’re in a huge arena with mostly older, excited but civilised fans. The next, you’re off to see a band that, dispite their many years in the business, have mostly young, teenage dudes as their audience.
When I got to Vega, the venue, there were a few guys sitting there with a beer case and a boom box that was blasting the “Peace sells….But who’s buying?“-album.
They were pretty entertaining though, as they decided to score goals between two empty beer bottles… Given that they were anything but sober, you can imagine how that went. :) I wish I had filmed that. ;)
As it started filling up with people, I realized that I was the only girl there. Must have looked pretty weird. I wasn’t there with a boyfriend as my excuse, I was the only blonde person and definitely the only female in my “age range”.
One guy even asked me if this was “my first time”. THAT was pretty funny! :)) I told him that my first Megadeth concert was probably more than 20 years ago, so, most likely before he was even born. ;) He quickly realized that maybe he had judged a little bit too fast.
Once the doors opened, I thought it was going to be a riot, but it was pretty civilised, much to my surprise. Eventhough people were very impatient to get in, they behaved like normal people. Thank god. I’ve been to Megadeth-shows before and their fans are usually insane. :)
I got my front row spot and was happy. Mission accomplished. The guy next to me started talking and it was nice to kill that waiting-time with a fellow rock fan. He was very young though, hadn’t been to many concerts yet. It was quite a sight to see how enthusiastic he was once the band got onstage! :)
It’s a funny thing with Dave Mustaine – he always looks grumpy. I guess it’s just the face he was born with and it works perfectly within his line of work where you have to look cool. It’s sort of “built-in” in Mustaine’s case.
A few years ago when I took the day off to see Megadeth in Aarhus, Denmark, he looked so pissed off the whole time, and suddenly he goes: “You’ll have to excuse me, I’m having such a good time up here that I forgot to say hello”. He was having a good time? Lol! He wasn’t being sarcastic either. Priceless. :)
Somewhere towards the end of the show, his face did light up and he was smiling as he was pointing at something in the back. Turns out that there was a kid on somebody’s shoulders, with long hair and a leather jacket, that had been headbanging like crazy. Dave wanted to know his name, and the crowd passed on the info so it would reach the stage. I think it was August or something. “That’s a cool name! Makes “Dave” sound so fucking boring. DAVE… I want your name! he laughed.
So the crowd helped the kid get to the stage, where he got Dave’s sweatband and a chat. I don’t know how much he understood English but he liked his present at least. :)) Very cute. You can see all the pics from that HERE. <-Click
In the meantime, there was some idiot up on the balcony in a red t-shirt that was pouring beer at the people on the floor (I was totally marinated in beer…. but I hear it’s good for the hair so what the hell…) and doing F U-gestures at Dave. (why the hell did he pay for a ticket to see the show, I wonder???)
Dave in turn had a few well chosen words for the asshole, something along the lines of “you have a teeny-weeny….” – you get the picture. The guy wouldn’t stop picking a fight, and Dave walked all the way over to the side of the stage, looked up at the idiot, and eventhough I couldn’t hear what he was saying, I could read his lips – “Get down here, I’ll fuck you up you son of a bitch!”
Security finally got something else to do than bugging the front row fans. They were running back and forth telling people not to film the show. I mean, yeah whatever…. It’s so ridiculous to me. It’s 2013 – have they been on Youtube lately? Seriously, what’s the point? Even if people at the front aren’t filming, you can bet your ass that people in the back, WILL….! It’s not 1984 anymore, just sayin’.
I didn’t care, video or no video, I got great stage-footage at Graspop last year so I’m good. I got a few decent photos instead. Once again, go to the Facebook-page for that. :)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.512736135441485.1073741836.170129566368812&type=3
The crowd turned out to be pretty civilised after all. I’m glad, cause I was way too tired to deal with drunk moshers.
Another memorable Megadeth show over, glad I went. Really cool stage this time as well! And it’s a bit entertaining to see Dave’s constant guitar-changes. I think he used different guitars for every song, almost. I’m guessing most of them are made by Dean Guitars custom shop, awesome work.
Now I’ve got about three days “off” (still have to go to work though) before the next show – Whitesnake at Wembley next week! :)
[A FEW OF MY HIGHLY “ILLEGAL” VIDEO CLIPS FROM LAST NIGHT…! ;P]
The last Whitesnake….for a while
There’s been a lot of Whitesnake here lately, so this will be the last WS-post for a while (to spare the non-Whitesnake-fans – if there even ARE any! :P Doesn’t everyone love Whitesnake?)
Here are the last video clips:
I went to Vega Tuesday afternoon and found the ladies from the Kristianstad-show standing outside again. But this time they weren’t the “craziest” fans, there was another girl there who had flown in from England and had been there waiting since noon…!
It was really nice talking to them all, because they were true, dedicated fans, there for all the right reasons. They are traveling all over the world to see bands they like, just like me. I don’t meet people like that often actually, so it’s cool hearing other people’s experiences for a change. :-)
I missed the front row-middle-spot because a security guy took what felt like ages, to “examine” my bag, so in the meantime people just ran straight in. Shit happens. And more shit happened once inside, cause it’s the ONLY place I’ve been to in six months that had a security guy who was very eager to “do his job”.
One of those who had been practicing his “serious intimidating expression” in front of his mirror, and was now trying to make sure nobody was filming. And with him right in front of me, constantly staring, it was hard to be a criminal.
Well…. I’ve been a criminal most of my life when it comes to concerts, it kind of goes with the territory. You learn how… I managed to film most of the show without him noticing that I wasn’t just taking pictures. :-) Just don’t get me started on that whole thing. I have my own theories on the “illegal recordings of live concerts”, might make a whole new blog someday.
As for the show, it was as entertaining and fun as always. Most of all, I think that David is finally 100% cool with who he is and where he is at this point in time.
I remember the interview I did with him back in 2001 when he said that he wasn’t necessarily being himself during the heydays of Whitesnake when he looked like a Christmas-tree.
Then he had that period when he thought he was retiring, cut his hair, went back to the dark color (which I actually think suits him better than the blonde…) and wrote very….easy listening sort of songs. He was being a respectable solo artist, but I’m not sure he was completely satisfied with his career back then either.
Eventhough he’s a professional who always gives his audience what they want, I felt that he was holding back and his performances weren’t quite as energetic as they could have been. It was a temporary identity crisis or whatever you choose to call it.What I see on the stage now, 2011, is a man who has been through everything, he’s done everything, seen everything, experienced everything…. He can finally relax and just enjoy life and what he’s rightfully earned.
When I see him on stage now, I see a man who’s not pretending anymore. He doesn’t have to prove that he’s worthy fronting Deep Purple, he doesn’t have to prove that he can make it on his own fronting his own band, he doesn’t have to be the “christmas tree”, he doesn’t have to prove that he can do “respectable” singer-songrwiter music and he doesn’t need to prove that he can do a successful comeback…. He doesn’t have to do anything other than just…BE.
He has earned his position in the music business once and for all. He is having fun on stage, cracking jokes, sharing laughs with not only the crowd but also the guys in the band. It’s a very down to earth atmosphere and it’s very sincere. I think we can all feel it.
It’s as if he’s finally “home”. David has always been cracking jokes, he’s a funny man, it’s not that it’s anything new, but something is different and it’s different in a very positive way. I’m happy for him and I’m happy to see that Whitesnake is still attracting such a wide audience.
There are all kinds of people there: Really old dudes who have probably been around since the Deep Purple-days, and little kids who are there with their parents. All ages, styles…. Very few bands today have such a wide audience.
Most of all, they have some really cool fans. It was very evident at Sweden Rock Festival. When Judas Priest played, their fans were acting like assholes, being very selfish, ready to hurt other people to get in the front row or just “enjoy the show” at the expense of others.
When Whitesnake played, people were talking, getting to know eachother, offering to help. One guy said he would “protect” me if anyone was giving me a hard time, another one said I could stand next to him, there was room for one more, yet another one offered to hold my camera if I wanted to just enjoy the show and have someone else take over the filming for a while.
Very cool and helpful people that tend to be friendly and respectful most of the time. I’m proud to be a part of that.
Looking forward to Whitesnake’s next visit, whenever that may be!
Whitesnake at Vega, Copenhagen – videos and pics
Another memorable Whitesnake-show in Copenhagen last night. I wish I was fit to actually write a blog today, but I’ll have to postpone it for this weekend. However – some videos from Vega coming up!
There are a few I haven’t uploaded yet, those will be up too in a couple of days.
But for now…… enjoy!
Okay, a few pics too then. :)
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