Oh man ! The Clawz play Belgium ! At one of the biggest festival in the country: DOUR FESTIVAL. Tommy got back from his vacation so he travelled along with Maike and we had two special guests: Wesley (Tommy's brother) joined us for his very first Clawfinger concert and we had to pick up Susie at the Central Station in Brussels: a fun day !
When we arrived in Dour, the Clawz just got there and Bård (the new tour manager) had to arrange some things in order to get the guestlist done. We met at the press entrance, but we weren't allowed 'coz we didn't have the passes yet. Bård told us we had to go to the main entrance, go to the ticket stand and ask for the backstage passes. He also told us that he specifically asked for VIP passes, that we should not take anything less then that. Oh man... VIP ! Cool ! Free beer and food and fun with the guys: PARADISE AWAITS US ! Yay !
First negative point:
The main entrance was a few kilometres down the road. OK, no problem. We get VIP passes later, so what the heck... This was a good time to catch up with Alexx, who came from Cologne to see the Claws. It was a long time since we saw him ! Finally we arrive at the main entrance and we are so happy to go get our VIP passes. At this point we meet up with Melantrys, Ruud and his girlfriend. They're also very excited to get backstage.
Second Negative point:
NO VIP PASSES FOR US ! They considered us GROUPIES. And when we called Bård, he said: "Well, Yves... you are groupies !" Aaaargh ! And I was wondering why they served us from behind an iron fence. I guess this was to prevent them from getting their faces smashed in by frustrated groupies when they denied backstage access. Man I was pissed... and also without a passport which they needed to let me in... I needed a beer... I needed 10 beers !! This is not happening ! Maike joined me to get some beers, but since we weren't at the festival ground yet, they couldn't serve us... GREAT ! At that time the whole situation seemed to have turned around at the ticket stand, so we got tickets to get in, but that was all. Bård assured us that he would work something out to get us backstage.
We walked to the stage were Clawfinger was going to play and there we met up with the whole gang. The weather was nice, the beer was cold (if you were lucky to find one) and the company was great, so... no worries !
The Clawz played a great gig ! The crowd went totally crazy and we enjoyed every second ! There was little problem though... it seems that the playlist was a bit too long, so the organizers were yelling at the side of the stage to stop the set. And then what happened was completely absurd ! They pulled the plug during the last song: "Do what I say" !!! So everybody was looking at eachother with an expression like "What the fuck !??" The crowd didn't know what was going on... Talking about an anti climax ! The Clawz were really pissed, as you can imagine ! But Ruud stated it perfectly afterwards: "When I grow up, they will pull the plug !"
We managed to get some press passes afterwards so we could join the Clawz in the press room where we had some beers and talked for a long time. It seemed that we were a bit too loud 'coz the people started complaining about the fact that they were unable to take interviews with our noises in the back, haha.
After all it turned out to be a fun day... we went back onto the festival ground and checked out some bands like Biohazard where Zak managed to surprise us with his "pulled up pants dance"... haha. Make sure you check out the pics for this one !
We followed the Clawz back to the hotel, near the airport in Brussels. We chatted some more and had some beers in the lobby. This is where Jocke told us the most amazing story about a support he invented together with the guys from Meshuggah when the actual support band did not show up. They call themselves "Le The Le The The" and pretend to be a french speed metal band, with hits like "Le Tour Eifel" and "Jeu de Pomme Noire". Make sure you check'em out while in a town near you, haha !
Zak was talking with his eyes closed all the time, so we knew he was completely shitfaced and so we left, 'coz the Clawz had an early flight the next morning. Everything considered, it was a pretty bizarre day... or as Jocke would say: "Fucked up... like a BEYBAH!"