Sweaty Petersburg
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 11:47 am
Oh boy!
Can't really express myself right. What a night! The show was (once again) AWESOME! No no, I mean PERFECT!
So to clarify, to see the show in St. Petersburg was my original plan all along. The show in Zurich last week was totally spontanious, but this was planned long ago.
I'm too shocked to give you a proper review, but I try to say at least something. In Zurich, I requested them to play Count Your Last Blessings and Billy Spleen, and I got them both! Badass! So great to hear those songs live for the first time! Also, this was the sweatiest and hottest show I've ever been to!
I managed to film the whole show (even though cameras were not allowed at all), not sure about the quality, but I hope it's good enough for me to re-experience the show. One minor bummer though. Just like my two previous shows aswell, they left out Back Where I Belong and Exit.
The set
(videos here eventually)
1. Reason To Believe
2. Mr. Amsterdam
3. Motivation + Slayer ending
4. We're All To Blame
5. In Too Deep
6. Walking Disaster
7. Rhythms
8. Count Your Last Blessings
9. Screaming Bloody Murder
10. Skumfuk
11. No Reason
12. Makes No Difference
13. Holy Image Of Lies
14. Sick Of Everyone
15. Billy Spleen
16. Over My Head (Better Off Dead)
17. The Hell Song
18. Still Waiting
--Encore--
19. We Will Rock You
20. Fat Lip
21. Pain For Pleasure
---
EDIT: When I originally wrote this, I felt that I didn't want to share every detail. But now I've noticed that I'm starting to forget some of the details on that night (I was quite drunk), so I need to write them down before they are totally forgotten.
So yes, show in Zurich last week was totally spontanious, and decided to attend only 22 hours before the show started. St. Petersburg was the original plan all along.
The show was SUPER-hot and sweaty, I didn't have a dry spot on my clothes. Luckily I had extra clothes with me, since we we're planning to check out the local clubs after the show with my gf. We waited till the security cleared the venue, we and few local fans got to the backstage. It was really cool to meet some fans, we had a great time there. The crew guys gave us drinks, but since my gf didn't like beer, Bobbo the tour manager made her some heavy drinks. Little did he know that she's quite a spongebob when it comes to drinking, so they ended up taking a drinking contest. Can't remember who won though.
Finally the band came along, we all chatted with them for a while. Can't remember all the topics, something between the percussion on Holy Image To Lies and why Skumfuk intro isn't played live. The backstage session didn't take too long, 30mins tops. The Russian fans were about to leave and go to some clubs, they invited me and my gf to join them, but before I could say anything, someone (I guess it was Deryck, could've been Cone or Tom aswell) asked me to join the band in their hotel bar instead. Although I had promised to take my girl to dance, I couldn't leave this option behind. So the band, the crew, us and a few local fans were about to leave the venue. When we opened the door outside, dozens of fans started screaming right in front of us. The door was shut quickly, and Deryck gave us instructions: "Guys, here's the plan. We will distract them by giving some autographs, you guys run to that van over there. We'll join you when you're clear. Ready?"
Haha, that was soo awesome! Cone and Deryck gave me their wine bottles to take to the van. Then the door opened, the guys started to sign stuff for the fans while the rest of us ran to the van. The band joined us right after, we were like 17 people on a van capacity of 10. We arrived at their hotel, and we waited at the lobby for the guys to get ready for partying. But then they were told that the entry to the hotel bar would cost 30 euros each, no matter if you were staying at the hotel or not. So Dan Moyse invited us all to his room. Steve was too tired to stay up, but the rest of us kept having fun. Eventually Dan wanted to go to bed, so we moved to another room, and to another and to another every time the host wanted to hit the sack.
Highlight of the night? If it wasn't the escape plan at the venue, it must have been when Deryck wanted to go smoking in the toilet. Some girls were about to join him, but Deryck said "No, not you guys, Tomi will join me". I told him I don't smoke, so I'll pass. Deryck said "I don't care, I want you to join me now!" Um, okay captain!
He sat on the edge of the bathtub, lit the cigarette and started opening up about Dave and the Chuck era. I was so overwhelmed, the stories he told I had never heard of. Plus, the thing that it was just two of us, in a hotel room toilet, me with the rockstar I always looked up to, it was all just beyond overwhelming. But this night proved me, that under the rockstar image, he's just a normal guy. It was more like chatting with an old friend than with a celebrity.
At 7am, it was again time to change the room. At that time I looked at my gf, who looked so tired that I decided to call it a night. Deryck insisted me to stay, "Are you sure? One more shot!", but I really had to turn the offer down this time. To note, it was only me, Deryck, Bobbo and their security guy Mando who were still up. Mando had hinted me to leave a couple of times before, but Deryck always told him to let me stay. But now it was 7am, and our ship back to Finland would leave at 4pm, so I figured we could get some sleep before that. But it was the night I'll never forget!
---
Deryck told that the show is extremely exhausting for him physically. Since he's playing guitar while singing, he really has no time to take breaths as often as needed to. So these extended setlists are very exhausting to him, but he's doing it for fans since he loves them so much. But if he doesn't feel good enough, he needs to cut the set short. About forgetting lyrics, of course the ones played rarely are more difficult to remember, especially on the first shows of the tour. The main problem is, he remembers the words by their order, so if he forgets one single word, it will have a snowball effect on the following word(s). Afterall he has to remember thousands of words during the set.
But, the most important fact of the night is that Deryck really loves the fans very much. Everything he does is planned thinking what fans would want. I've got so much respect for him for being like that. And the reason I say this is because that's how I feel, not because of this next sentence: Deryck really browses the TNS forums to discover what fans think about everything they do. They want to be a band for the fans to love, so they are trying their best to discover what fans want. Then again, it's impossible to please everyone, and the fact is that the "crowd" at shows doesn't mean the same thing as "fans", so they have to compromize.
Anyways, here are some random facts I still remember, in no order.
- The reason Blood In My Eyes acoustic version hasn't been released, Deryck wants to add some cool stuff in it, like strings etc, but haven't had time to arrange those.
- Unlike what I told last time, Skumfuk intro has always been part of the song. The reason it's not played live is that the intro has different chords than the song itself. Plus, it's mainly acoustic guitar, and it has so much special effects, like reverse, so it just wouldn't work live.
- Like I said, they don't play BIME anymore because the crowd freezes during that song because of its stop-and-go pace. Same reason why they don't play Happiness Machine.
- Billy Spleen was never played live because Dave couldn't do the vocals. Now that they have Tom, they decided to try it out. Also, they stopped playing In Too Deep from 2003 to 2007 because Dave didn't want to play it anymore.
- The DTLI demos released with the singles back in the day, all the instruments in them are played by Deryck. But now he can use a software to add drums to his songs, so he doesn't feel like releasing demo versions anymore, since they don't have proper instruments.
- Nothing On My Back is Deryck's favorite from AKNF. Would want to play it live again some time.
- His favorite from HHOP is Another Time Around. Or #2 after Makes No Diff.
- The working title for the infamous "Ignorance No More" B-side was called "Believe". The clip we've heard is a verse, not the chorus.
- Deryck doesn't really want to go back to check for leftovers from previous recording sessions. He prefers to write new ones from scratch, so don't expect them to release any unfinished B-sides any time soon.
- Related, he hasn't written a riff since SBM, so no new material in sight yet.
- Crash was written while partying. Just in the middle of it, he had to leave for 20 minutes to write it down before he would forget it. And that's basically how the whole album was written.
- Chuck the album would've never been released without We're All To Blame. No Reason was supposed to be the lead single, but the label refused to release the album since "it had no hits". Even when it included Pieces! So after one and a half years of writing and recording the album, the label wanted Deryck to write a hit song, otherwise they would not release it.
- The chorus of All To Blame was written in Congo, but the process for rest of the song was quite surprising. Since label was asking for a hit song, Lose Yourself by Eminem was currently one of the top hits at the time. Deryck really liked the riff in it, so he wanted to create a rock version of that song. So basically, without Eminem's Lose Yourself there would have never been All To Blame, and Chuck would've never been released.
- The title Hot Blonde Snooter Sandwich (Chuck's working title) described Deryck's life back then. It was seriously going to be named like that.
- Deryck listens to a lot of different kinds of music, but why did he decide to write punk rock songs? The song that got Deryck into that was Bodies by Sex Pistols.
- Deryck confirmed Jeremy's theory about how Dark Road ressembles his recovering process following the divorce. He's not surprised to hear it was Jeremy's idea, "he's funny and creative guy so he could figure it out".
- The playlist you hear at the shows just before the band hits the stage is compiled by Deryck. He's also the one who does all the hire-and-fire of the crew.
That's all I remember now. Will add things if I remember more.
Can't really express myself right. What a night! The show was (once again) AWESOME! No no, I mean PERFECT!
So to clarify, to see the show in St. Petersburg was my original plan all along. The show in Zurich last week was totally spontanious, but this was planned long ago.
I'm too shocked to give you a proper review, but I try to say at least something. In Zurich, I requested them to play Count Your Last Blessings and Billy Spleen, and I got them both! Badass! So great to hear those songs live for the first time! Also, this was the sweatiest and hottest show I've ever been to!
I managed to film the whole show (even though cameras were not allowed at all), not sure about the quality, but I hope it's good enough for me to re-experience the show. One minor bummer though. Just like my two previous shows aswell, they left out Back Where I Belong and Exit.
The set
(videos here eventually)
1. Reason To Believe
2. Mr. Amsterdam
3. Motivation + Slayer ending
4. We're All To Blame
5. In Too Deep
6. Walking Disaster
7. Rhythms
8. Count Your Last Blessings
9. Screaming Bloody Murder
10. Skumfuk
11. No Reason
12. Makes No Difference
13. Holy Image Of Lies
14. Sick Of Everyone
15. Billy Spleen
16. Over My Head (Better Off Dead)
17. The Hell Song
18. Still Waiting
--Encore--
19. We Will Rock You
20. Fat Lip
21. Pain For Pleasure
---
EDIT: When I originally wrote this, I felt that I didn't want to share every detail. But now I've noticed that I'm starting to forget some of the details on that night (I was quite drunk), so I need to write them down before they are totally forgotten.
So yes, show in Zurich last week was totally spontanious, and decided to attend only 22 hours before the show started. St. Petersburg was the original plan all along.
The show was SUPER-hot and sweaty, I didn't have a dry spot on my clothes. Luckily I had extra clothes with me, since we we're planning to check out the local clubs after the show with my gf. We waited till the security cleared the venue, we and few local fans got to the backstage. It was really cool to meet some fans, we had a great time there. The crew guys gave us drinks, but since my gf didn't like beer, Bobbo the tour manager made her some heavy drinks. Little did he know that she's quite a spongebob when it comes to drinking, so they ended up taking a drinking contest. Can't remember who won though.
Finally the band came along, we all chatted with them for a while. Can't remember all the topics, something between the percussion on Holy Image To Lies and why Skumfuk intro isn't played live. The backstage session didn't take too long, 30mins tops. The Russian fans were about to leave and go to some clubs, they invited me and my gf to join them, but before I could say anything, someone (I guess it was Deryck, could've been Cone or Tom aswell) asked me to join the band in their hotel bar instead. Although I had promised to take my girl to dance, I couldn't leave this option behind. So the band, the crew, us and a few local fans were about to leave the venue. When we opened the door outside, dozens of fans started screaming right in front of us. The door was shut quickly, and Deryck gave us instructions: "Guys, here's the plan. We will distract them by giving some autographs, you guys run to that van over there. We'll join you when you're clear. Ready?"
Haha, that was soo awesome!
Cone and Deryck gave me their wine bottles to take to the van. Then the door opened, the guys started to sign stuff for the fans while the rest of us ran to the van. The band joined us right after, we were like 17 people on a van capacity of 10. We arrived at their hotel, and we waited at the lobby for the guys to get ready for partying. But then they were told that the entry to the hotel bar would cost 30 euros each, no matter if you were staying at the hotel or not. So Dan Moyse invited us all to his room. Steve was too tired to stay up, but the rest of us kept having fun. Eventually Dan wanted to go to bed, so we moved to another room, and to another and to another every time the host wanted to hit the sack.Highlight of the night? If it wasn't the escape plan at the venue, it must have been when Deryck wanted to go smoking in the toilet. Some girls were about to join him, but Deryck said "No, not you guys, Tomi will join me". I told him I don't smoke, so I'll pass. Deryck said "I don't care, I want you to join me now!" Um, okay captain!
He sat on the edge of the bathtub, lit the cigarette and started opening up about Dave and the Chuck era. I was so overwhelmed, the stories he told I had never heard of. Plus, the thing that it was just two of us, in a hotel room toilet, me with the rockstar I always looked up to, it was all just beyond overwhelming. But this night proved me, that under the rockstar image, he's just a normal guy. It was more like chatting with an old friend than with a celebrity.
At 7am, it was again time to change the room. At that time I looked at my gf, who looked so tired that I decided to call it a night. Deryck insisted me to stay, "Are you sure? One more shot!", but I really had to turn the offer down this time. To note, it was only me, Deryck, Bobbo and their security guy Mando who were still up. Mando had hinted me to leave a couple of times before, but Deryck always told him to let me stay. But now it was 7am, and our ship back to Finland would leave at 4pm, so I figured we could get some sleep before that. But it was the night I'll never forget!
---
Deryck told that the show is extremely exhausting for him physically. Since he's playing guitar while singing, he really has no time to take breaths as often as needed to. So these extended setlists are very exhausting to him, but he's doing it for fans since he loves them so much. But if he doesn't feel good enough, he needs to cut the set short. About forgetting lyrics, of course the ones played rarely are more difficult to remember, especially on the first shows of the tour. The main problem is, he remembers the words by their order, so if he forgets one single word, it will have a snowball effect on the following word(s). Afterall he has to remember thousands of words during the set.
But, the most important fact of the night is that Deryck really loves the fans very much. Everything he does is planned thinking what fans would want. I've got so much respect for him for being like that. And the reason I say this is because that's how I feel, not because of this next sentence: Deryck really browses the TNS forums to discover what fans think about everything they do. They want to be a band for the fans to love, so they are trying their best to discover what fans want. Then again, it's impossible to please everyone, and the fact is that the "crowd" at shows doesn't mean the same thing as "fans", so they have to compromize.
Anyways, here are some random facts I still remember, in no order.
- The reason Blood In My Eyes acoustic version hasn't been released, Deryck wants to add some cool stuff in it, like strings etc, but haven't had time to arrange those.
- Unlike what I told last time, Skumfuk intro has always been part of the song. The reason it's not played live is that the intro has different chords than the song itself. Plus, it's mainly acoustic guitar, and it has so much special effects, like reverse, so it just wouldn't work live.
- Like I said, they don't play BIME anymore because the crowd freezes during that song because of its stop-and-go pace. Same reason why they don't play Happiness Machine.
- Billy Spleen was never played live because Dave couldn't do the vocals. Now that they have Tom, they decided to try it out. Also, they stopped playing In Too Deep from 2003 to 2007 because Dave didn't want to play it anymore.
- The DTLI demos released with the singles back in the day, all the instruments in them are played by Deryck. But now he can use a software to add drums to his songs, so he doesn't feel like releasing demo versions anymore, since they don't have proper instruments.
- Nothing On My Back is Deryck's favorite from AKNF. Would want to play it live again some time.
- His favorite from HHOP is Another Time Around. Or #2 after Makes No Diff.
- The working title for the infamous "Ignorance No More" B-side was called "Believe". The clip we've heard is a verse, not the chorus.
- Deryck doesn't really want to go back to check for leftovers from previous recording sessions. He prefers to write new ones from scratch, so don't expect them to release any unfinished B-sides any time soon.
- Related, he hasn't written a riff since SBM, so no new material in sight yet.
- Crash was written while partying. Just in the middle of it, he had to leave for 20 minutes to write it down before he would forget it. And that's basically how the whole album was written.
- Chuck the album would've never been released without We're All To Blame. No Reason was supposed to be the lead single, but the label refused to release the album since "it had no hits". Even when it included Pieces! So after one and a half years of writing and recording the album, the label wanted Deryck to write a hit song, otherwise they would not release it.
- The chorus of All To Blame was written in Congo, but the process for rest of the song was quite surprising. Since label was asking for a hit song, Lose Yourself by Eminem was currently one of the top hits at the time. Deryck really liked the riff in it, so he wanted to create a rock version of that song. So basically, without Eminem's Lose Yourself there would have never been All To Blame, and Chuck would've never been released.
- The title Hot Blonde Snooter Sandwich (Chuck's working title) described Deryck's life back then. It was seriously going to be named like that.
- Deryck listens to a lot of different kinds of music, but why did he decide to write punk rock songs? The song that got Deryck into that was Bodies by Sex Pistols.
- Deryck confirmed Jeremy's theory about how Dark Road ressembles his recovering process following the divorce. He's not surprised to hear it was Jeremy's idea, "he's funny and creative guy so he could figure it out".
- The playlist you hear at the shows just before the band hits the stage is compiled by Deryck. He's also the one who does all the hire-and-fire of the crew.
That's all I remember now. Will add things if I remember more.
