User:Imagi-King/Dublin
| July 30, 2010—Dublin, Ireland |
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The first of four gigs we were set to attend, Dublin was a fine start. The crowd gave the band the reception they deserved for an excellent set, setlist, and performance. The only indoor venue of our adventure, it was painfully hot but worth every second. The next morning we returned to Cork and prepared for our flight to Stansted, our budget gateway to Germany. |
| August 5, 2010—Wacken, Germany |
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Arriving in a tiny German airport in the disgracefully early hours of the morning, having tried and failed to sleep in Stansted, we spent far longer than we should have finding our way to Wacken. Once there, a combination of fatigue and alcohol saw us separated in the most histrionic way possible. Reunited by the morning, we readied ourselves for gig number two. Alas! The batteries of my camera were rude enough to die and leave me in no position to photograph the concert. No matter, the 75,000 strong crowd presented a difficulty in reaching anywhere near the stage anyway. Fantastic performance as expected, and due to us being unable to get tickets to the sold out Swedish gig we got to spend a few days at the festival before departing for Finland, allowing us to see, amongst others, Anvil and Corvus Corax. |
| August 8, 2010—Pori, Finland |
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Again, no pictures. Our arrival at the Finnish Sonisphere Festival was expected to be quite late, so late in fact that we were not sure of catching Maiden's full set. After leaving Wacken we got a train to Bremen, a flight to Riga (four hours of waiting there, but it was the cheap route), another flight on to Tampere, and then a further train to Pori. The now infamous freak storm that hit took out one of the two stages and cast doubt on whether or not the festival would go on. In the ensuing hullabaloo and panic of maybe not getting to see Maiden again I neglected to take my camera, full of batteries though it was. The show ended up going ahead, albet over two hours later than scheduled (this actually worked to our advantage, though we probably would have made it on time anyway). Determined to make the soaking hours of waiting up to the assembled thousands, the band played what Bruce described as "one of the best shows of my life", and it was believable. Despite a soaking stage, on which he managed to slip at the very start of the very first song, they gave an astounding performance, better even than I had thought them capable of. An early train the next morning took us to Helsinki, from where we ferried to Stockholm and flew to Bergen for the fourth show... |
| August 11, 2010—Bergen, Norway |
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Having arrived in Bergen the night before the gig, we spent the following day seeing the sights. Due to a financial hiccup, we were dismayed to be unable to ascend Ulriken as hoped, and resigned ourselves instead to Fløyen. While there, we spotted a man who looked oddly like Maiden's guitarist Janick Gers, possibly due to the fact that he was. I accept this as the intervention of Fate. Having spent what was essentially my life savings on following the band around Europe, meeting one of them so apparently randomly made my summer, year, and life. The gig featured an excellent crowd and an on-form band, giving a fantastic final show to our adventure, and one I did actually get on camera! Afterwards we met support band Dark Tranquillity's vocalist Mikael Stanne, a pleasure to say the least. Much like the first Cork-Stansted-Lübeck flight spate, we finished with a flurry of flights (Bergen-Gatwick-Cork) and their concomitant exhaustion. Overall, an amazing experience, and one I would gladly go for again. Though next time I intend to see every European show... |
