Asafoetida

Oke, dit gaat een post in het Engels worden, omdat het om een internationale band gaat voornamelijk 😛

Eerst even een korte samenvatting, want het is vooral een verslag van de hele dag voor mijzelf geworden (A)

We went to Roadgrill, a festival with seven bands and an all-you-can-eat barbecue. I actually came only for Dawn of Destiny, and just wanted to be suprised by the other bands. We arrived early and were on the terrain before we were actually allowed to. There we went to stay in a tent to be protected from the rain, and DOD stood there! They started a conversation with us because of my ownmade bandshirt. After their show (which was great!) we went to the side where we asked for drumsticks, plectrums and autographs. Later we were hanging around in the sun and they asked if they could take a picture with us for their site, well off course! Later again the German fans came to sit with us, and so did the members of DOD! When two other bands started to play we went to the stage, and after the first band was done DOD unfortunately had to go :(. We kept listening to the rest, and when it all was finished we went home, exhausted and hyperactive at the same time 😛

Saturday the 18th was one of the coolest days I ever had, I think. Fridaynight I went to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with three friends, which was really nice. We slept at the place of one of them, because the next day we would leave quite early by train, heading to Rotterdam for Roadgrill, a festival with seven bands and an all-you-can-eat barbecue. We got up around 8:45. Right before we left, I discovered I had forgotten my ticket, even though I hád put it in my bag a few times, only to take it out again and give it a better spot. Apparently I forgot to put it back in my bag the last time, because when I called my mother, she found it on the floor in my bedroom, oops (A). CC jumped on het bike to get it, and Vera, JR and me walked to the station. We easily arrived on time and took the train of 10 a.m. After switchin trains just once on Schiphol we arrived in Rotterdam round 13:00. After buying a burger we went to the bus, which brought to the stop at De Lugt, from where we walked about 15 minuten to the terrain where Roadgrill was held.

It was raining a bit when we arrived, and the terrain was open, so we slowly walked in, waiting for someone to stop us, which they didn’t. There was a tent with all kinds of bandshirts and other merchandise, so we walked there to escape from the rain. When I walked in, I saw a few people standing there and i just thought ‘wait, isn’t that the singer from DoD? and some others members?’ But being my own self I didn’t talk to them, because I simple didn’t have the guts and because I think artists have their privacy as well, and it isn’t up to me to just go talk to them when they might find it annoying.

But that dillema was quite easily solved when Tanja, the singer, started talking to me because of the Dawn of Destiny t-shirt I made. That was so nice! We talked to them for a bit (one of the others came to the tent as well, I think it was Jens, and immediately made a comment about my shirt as well :D) and then they had to leave. We decided to go looking for the place where we could show our tickets. Apparently we were on the terrain completely illegal, because when we hang around the entrance a bit they asked us to please stand behind the gates (A).

We waited there untill the gates would open, and when they finally did we also got and Promo-CD of Dawn of Destiny’s …Begins. We immediately walked to the stage to be certain of a first row spot when DOD came on, but no-one else did, so we decided to go to the merchandise stand first, because Dirk had told me they had brought ‘a few’ copies of the CD’s, and I really wanted to buy them. When we came there they weren’t quite finished with setting everyhing up, so we waited and helped a bit when the wind blew some things away. While we were waiting Jens came by to ask if he could film my shirt, because they liked it! When they were ready to sell I bought the two CD’s and a girlie shirt with the cover of …Begins on it.

After that we did go to the stage and waited (in the pouring rain) untill it all started. First Conorach played, they sounded nice, though I didn’t know them before the concert. Slowly the sun came as well, which was a good thing because the underside of my pants was totally soaked and my shoes felt like small swimmingpools. After that DOD came on stage! First they did a short (very short) soundcheck and then they started! Just luke with Conorach the microphone wasn’t loud enough, just like one guitar. The drums were a bit too loud, so it sounded a bit weard. It was really really nice nevertheless, I didn’t know the first song very well, because it was from the first album, but I did know the other songs and sang along as much as I could. When they finished we stood in front of the stage a bit longer, and then we went to the side, first to get drinks, but then we saw where the artists were able to come to the festivalterrain (which in fact was a parkinglot :P) and Jens came out so we went there. CC asked for drumsticks, because she also has some of other bands, and Jens went back to ask for it. When he came back I decided to aks for his plectrum, I mean, why not? (A) later some more members came, and I asked them if they wanted to sign my CDcase. Instead they signed the bandphoto in the booklet (Thanks Dirk!) and I also got the autograph of the new drummer. After all that we decided to buy drinks and to go get some meat to put on the BBQ.

The four huge BBQs were placed in two partytents and it was really warm there, when I put my meat on it and turned it felt like my arms were getting grilled as well 😛 We then sat down to eat, and later decided to get another round of meat. The BBQ’s on the left side were almost deserted this time (the first time there actually was a waiting line) and when I arrived I saw two bandmembers of DOD standing there. I really hoped they didn’t think we were like stalking them, but they just helped CC to get the meat on the BBQ and even gave her one of their own hamburgers when they accidentaly dropped one of hers in the coals.

When I finished eating I decided to give the neck of Vera a massage, because her neck hurt after windmilling. Some members of DOD came walking by and they had to laugh because I was giving a massage in the middle of a festivalterrain. they walked by, but later came back and asked if they could take a picture of us, because they wanted a picture of us Dutch fans sitting on the ground there, for their homepage, because they thought it was funny. We didn’t have any problem with it offcourse, so they took pictures with us, I can’t wait to see them! Later some German fans came sitting with us, and after a while DOD itself came sitting there as well.

That time I gave some more people a massage as well, starting with CC, and later Dirk (very shortly) and ending with two of the German fans 😛 later FreedomCall was about to start their show, so we went to the stage again. CC and Vera asked if we could perhaps put our bags backstage with the things of DoD so we woudn’t have to carry it around. That wasn’t a problem, so that was arranged. After two or three songs I decided to walk to the back and sit a bit, because my knees were killing me. Afer a while I decided to buy an icecream (Citron and Apple). Not long after that Freedomcall played their last song, and we decided to go looking for the DOD members because they had told us they had to leave after that show, and we didn’t want to lose our bags 😉 Luckily Jens was standing at the gates with our bags, so we said goodbye and went to listen to the last band, Ross The Boss. Again I left after two songs, because my knees were hurting more than they had done in weeks. I sat down at the side on a bench and watched from there, the sound was even better, and at least my knees got some rest. Two times a member of DoD came walking by, and at the end Dirk came to say goodbye and gave a hug. He wanted to say goodbye to Vera and CC as well, but as they were standing first row, he asked me to say goodbye to them for him, which I did offcourse. After a last wave they were gone! Nooo! 😛 When the gig of Ross The Boss almost ended CC Vera and JR came to the side too, because there was a very irritating pit near them. We waited till the concert was finished and untill the gifts were all thrown into the audience. Then we left to walk to the bus. There were quite a few people waiting for the bus already, and fortunately it came very soon. On the station we decided to buy some food on Schiphol because we had to wait for 30 minutes there. (Yay! for 24hour BurgerKings). We arrived in Lelystad ‘round 2:30 and went to JR’s house immediately. There we decided to go to sleep almost instantly because we were all exhausted.

This really was the nicest concert day I ever had, even nicer than Within Tempation with the Metropole Orchestra (better known as Black Symphony) and Nightwish. Even now I’m still getting overactive when I think about it (A)

I think this all really sounds like I’m a crazy fangirl or something like that, but what I enjoyed the most was just the normal talking with all the people, sharing opinions and talking about so many different things 🙂 They really are nice persons, and unlike some other bands they don’t they they’re more important because they stand on the stage. I hope to go to another DOD concert soon, and I just can’t wait for the new album!