FIRESTORM Gig Diary
HELL'S GATE - Lanzenkirchen, September 24th 2005
As you may know, I am member of the FIRESTORM Crew and travel with them whenever
possible to look after them when they play gigs.
To the occasion of yesterday's gig I desided to publish here a little tour diary of the gig to give you a insight into the things
happening before and during a gig, backstage and onstage...
Saturday, Sept. 24th. Next Firestorm concert is ahead. This time it's at the Hell's
gate festival in Lanzenkirchen, Lower Austria, were we haven't played before.
It is 5 pm and I am packing my bags. Aside of my stuff for staying overnight,
I prepare my special bag for the stage:
guitar-tuner, spare cable, spare battery, a pocket-knife, ear-protection, digi-cam,
my Firestorm Crew Pass and a very important implement: my torch, essential for
dark places onstage!
This time, Mr. Kub also enforces the Crew. Today, it's going to be my 37th Firestorm gig in all and my 16th being a member
of the Crew, so I am quite experienced.
We usually meet directly on the venue because Firestorm arrive from Laa/Thaya, whereas I come from Vienna. Tonight, we do
the Hell's Gate Festival in Lanzenkirchen, Lower Austria which is about only 45 minute drive.
It is now 6.50 pm, we've just arrived at the venue. Firestorm have been here for
about 2 hours. I am always glad to see them again, we are kinda family who is
goin to spend the next couple of hours in unity together.
I check the venue, get aquainted to the very nice and friendly ladies who organised
this promising festival. The backstage room is very spacious and comfortable,
Catering is perfect. The stage is big, there's place to move and hall is also
ideal for this kind of event.
7.40 pm. We have just learnt that our Headlining gig was postponed from 11 pm
to 0.30 am! It's going to be a long night...
Meanwhile we have placed the amps and the stage bag with all cables and effect
boards to the stage area, the other equipment is still backstage. Since we headline
this night, we do not have a soundcheck, it will be a brief line-check prior to
our gig. The opening band have finished their soundcheck and my first impression
of the P.A. is good. Slowly, the hall is filling with people.
8 pm: Firestorm and Crew are having supper; a very good Chili Con Carne which was cooked by the ladies from the Hell's Gate
Crew. It's a bit cold in the Backstage room, so the hot Chili does very good!
I am having a little chat with Chico about their brand new song "Outsiders" which
will be initially performed live tonight! Chico tells me that it has been only
recently finished, it's short, fast and heavy. I'am really looking forward to
hearing it on stage later on, it's going to be the first encore of the set.
Meanwhile, it's 9.20 pm. I got a special task from David: For their last encore,
Roxette's "She's got the look", the ladies from the Hell's Gate team shall appear
on stage dancing and singing with us. And it's a pleasure for me to ask them for
this favour!
11.49 pm: The last but one band is performing, we shall start in about 50 minutes. Guitars have been tuned by me before,
the guys and girl are undressing, doing their make up (which is quite a time involving matter...).
The "hot" stage is beginning, everybody is concentrated, stage fright is rising.
I am asking Chico about his feelings prior 20 minutes to a gig.
Chico is a bit excited, because they haven't played for 7 weeks, moreover they perform a brand new song and before a new
audience.
David is warming up his voice and his fingers, that's why the guitars always remain
backstage until we walk the stage.
Motz is drumming with his sticks around the backstage room on everything and everybody
while Beate is still busy with doing her make-up. Chico and Django are watching
the audience from the stage-side to get used to the crowd of people in the audience.
Everybody in the band has his own way of preparing. David, for example, is introverted
and quiet, whereas Motz and Django are joking around and having a good laugh.
Once the band playing on stage has finished its last encore and gets off , we
carry the remaining equipment onto stage.
0.40 am: Meanwhile all of our gear is onstage and cabled. These minutes are very
hectic for me, everything needs to be plugged in orderly; the amps to the speakers,
or the D.I. box, adjusting the drum kit with Motz' drums and overheads.
However, this time, things do not run smooth at all:
It all starts with a power failure on stage, while the light engineer looks after the problem, we carry on with our
preparations.
Electricity is back again, but the speaker of David's guitar is MUTE! I change
the cables in all combination to find the cause, cable to speaker? The wireless?
But all checks do not locate the error and so David has to play via stage monitor.
Beate's guitar is also silent, but I find the reason quickly: Defect battery in the wireless, get the spare battery and
exchange it quickly, and off we go!
With some delay, we are ready to start. I give a sign to both the light and sound
engineer, to switch off stage light and start the intro CD. Light goes off...
but no intro! I am waiting for about 10 seconds then I run to the mixing desk
- but no engineer around! A few moments later he appears on his job-site where
he IS supposed to be and only now puts the intro CD into the player!. That's weak!
We are in the middle of the Firestorm gig. Again, we have problems with the keyboard
monitor, Django can't hear himself, despite two visits with the sound engineer.
To improve the sound angle of the monitor box, I put it on a guitar amp, thus it's placed higher and Django hears himself
now a little bit better.
Then, the vocal mike of Chico drops out. The sound engineer doesn't even notice
and I have to make him again aware of this problem. I am wondering if he's ignorant
or just unable...
Returning to the side stage, we have to exchange Beate's guitar. A poti is out of order, so re-plug the wireless to the
spare guitar and the show goes on, without any remarkable delay.
Tonight, I'm very busy which usually does not happen.
The first encore we play is "Outsiders", very rhythmic, a very strong song.
For the second encore "The Look", as announced, the girls from the Hell's Gate
team enter the stage as well as some more Firestorm fans. The stage is quite crowed
now and we all have fun singing and banging around!
Since people chant for another encore, Firestorm play again their opener "Back From Hell" with all the people on stage.
Finally, their gig is over. I take their guitars and put them on the rack, still with the wireless mounted.
Mr. Kub takes over the Merchandise stand, so Beate can relax a bit.
All the equipment is brought to the backstage room, where it is packed into cases
and bags. Since we were the last band tonight, it is not so stressful with getting
the gear offstage. It's around 3 am and the all the equipment is packed into the
bus. We are chilling out in the backstage room, me eating some more (excellent)
Chilli and having a chat with other musicians and the ladies from the team. Firestorm
are going to stay overnight with some of their fans who live nearby; Mr. Kub and
me decide to drive back to Vienna, since it's not a long way to go. At 5 am I
finally fall into my bed.
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