07.11.2012 - Bucarest, Romania
I woke up between 7 and 8 am and went to the appartment to piss and get something to eat for breakfast. I had bread and some home made fruit jelly while the other guys were slowly getting up and ready. We took one of Alec's friends to drop him in Sibiu and just when we had left Cluj Alec called him that the package we were waiting for has arrived at her appartment. We made a U turn and went back to her appartment to pick it up and lost almost an hour before we were back on the road to Bucarest. We had to pass through the mountains again and it was very beautiful. Good times I once again spent in appreciating the landscape or watching a film on my laptop. If I wasn't that lazy I could've written the tour report then... We arrived at the venue around 6.30 pm and went for a walk around as the promoter wasn't there yet. The show was in the Underworld, a cool venue in a basement and a bar and hostel on top of it. We slept in the hostel and had an awesome dinner there when the promoter arrived. We then set up the backline and the opening band made a sound check. It was very long and boring for me. At one point the show started and they showed us no mercy with their metalcore assault. There were even two vocalists and one of them seemed to enjoy their performance a lot and jumped around all the time. Nine Eleven played next and the 40 to 50 people in the venue seemed to really like them. It was a nice show and some of the guys stayed to party with the promoter and some random guys and girls. I went to take a shower, check up some news on the internet and sleep. I was not alone in the struggle hehe The party guys arrived very early in the morning, it seems the party went strong for awhile...
08.11.2012 - Sofia, Bulgaria
We left Bucarest around noon. As usual we needed almost 2 hours to wake up and leave the hostel. We arrived fairly early at the border and lost an hour there because we didn't have a vignette. The border agent wanted to make us pay a fine but V. went to the nearby gaz station and bought a vignette. The agent let us go with the words "banditu, banditu"... We laughed hard of course but bought a vignette for Bulgaria straight after the border. Of course there was a traffic jam at 5 pm in Sofia and we arrived kinda late for the get in. Luckily the bands were not using Nine Eleven's backline so the sound check was done and they were waiting for the doors to open. I helped the dudes unload the backline from the van and went to have a tea with my mom as we had some business questions to discuss. During that time there was some issue with the food that the promoter resolved by buying falafels for the dudes. The band was invited in a local radio and I showed them how to get there and went back to the venue. Unfortunately I missed Noviot Pochetok from Macedonia during this time. I stayed on the merch and spent some time with my girlfriend. It's good to be at home! Expectations were good and the people were into them. Rising stars of the Bulgarian hardcore scene. Nine Eleven played and didn't get a lot of reactions from the audience. A lot of people went out and didn't stay until the end of their set. I enjoyed the show and helped them clean the stage for the headliners: local heroes Melekh. Their set was one huge sing along stage diving mayhem from beginning till end. We loaded the van and went to my appartment. I showed the guys where the food was and left them to spend the night at my girlfriend's place.
09.11.2012 - Thessaloniki, Greece
I went back home at noon and the guys were just getting up. They were ready at 2 pm and we went to the city center to take a walk. I showed them the basic sights of Sofia, some of them who were hungry again had a falafel and we started the trip to Thessaloniki at 5 pm. Just another 5 hours trip, we were so used to them at that point... We arrived in the university where the show should take place and just searched for the venue. It was a nice squat/bar in a building and we were lucky some punks showed us where it was. We unloaded the backline and I spent some time catching up with Nikos, a bassist of My Turn and a good friend of mine. The other MxT guys arrived later and it was great to see them again. We talked a lot and around midnight someone brought us a very delicious dinner. I ate all of it while the first band was playing their kind of cypress hill influenced hip hop. Not my cup of tea but I guess because I didn't understand a thing they were saying. I have to admit I didn't witness any of the next events as I went shamelessly to take a rest in the van and the guys woke me up when they had finished their set. Apparently the PA was not good enough and Nine Eleven played only 4 songs and quit the stage. There were at least 250 people at that moment and a lot of them were there to check them out so they were really frustratred. We went to the promoter's appartment and some of us had a second dinner while the others took a shower. I went to bed while the guys were discussing the show. Simon slept in the van and woke us up early the next morning...
10.11.2012 - Kavala, Greece
Simon woke me up early as he came in from the van. I spent some time on the balcony, some more time inside on my laptop and then the guys started waking up one by one. We just took it easy, had a breakfast and went to the city center in the early afternoon. The weather was perfect for the autumn: sunny and hot (17 to 20 degrees celsius). It was also perfect for hanging out. This is exactly what we did: we went to the city center, parked the van and walked around. It was very nice and a well deserved break. We met a French couple and they showed us where to buy delicious falafels which we did immediately. Jeff found a "boracha" and was a happy man for the next few days. Vince and Simon bought a balloon as a present for Richard's birthday. We spent some time at the sea side near the White Tower and left Thessaloniki for Kavala. The road took us only two hours but then we needed more than 20 minutes just to find the university and the venue. When we were parking we met the promoter of the show arriving with some friends. Maybe 10 minutes later the My Turn dudes showed up too. We loaded the backline in the venue and waited for the sound check to begin. At one point Apostolis told us we will have to pay for our dinner and we decided it would be better to go eat downtown. We walked a little bit, had a very nice pizza of our choice and admired the view of the port and the fortress. We then went up on the hill to the university and were surprised to find only 20 to 30 people there. The show started with a good street punk band. It was getting late and we were all sleepy. I think I felt asleep when My Turn were preparing to start their set. Aurelien slept under the distro table before Nine Eleven were to prepare their gear. They started the show and played 4 or 5 songs to a dead crowd. I was still half sleeping half awake. We then loaded the van and left straight to Athens.
11.11.2012 - Athens, Greece
A very long drive, a lot of toll passages and some good sights from the van windows later, we arrived in Athens around noon. We asked one or two people and found our way to the Acropolis. We left the van in a paid parking and went on our sightseeing tour. We managed to enter the Acropolis and went straight to the Parthenon as it was closing in less than 2 hours. It was awesome! A lot of sun, very nice weather (almost 20 degrees), a lot of jokes and some very good places/monuments in front of us. Perfect afternoon! After our visit to the Acropolis we just walked around in downtown Athens, found a place to eat and even bought some pastries (I have to admin I bought 3!!!). At one point we divided in different groups and me and Jeff went to see the Acropolis at night while the others were taking a rest in the van or nearby. We then had some trouble to get out of the parking and the nearby very narrow streets but Vince managed to do it like a real rally driver :) We went to the venue and chilled. The My Turn dudes showed up and we laughed and talked a little bit. I even watched an Athens football derby on the tv in the nearby bar. The show started and the venue was slowly but surely filling up. AN club is a very big place but it didn't look empty at all. The people were into the bands and we did our best selling music at this show: more than 10 LPs and 5 CDs!! It was a nice change from all the other places where people were more into the shirts... The show was very good. We
went to sleep in one of Apostolis' friend somewhere near the venue. Someone slept in the van. I took a shower and went to sleep as we had to leave early the next morning.
12.11.2012 - Skopje, Macedonia
We left Athens early in the morning as we had a long drive and a border to pass to go to Skopje. We had a lot of trouble trying to avoid the toll motorway, very unsuccessfully I have to admit. We reached the border in the afternoon and passed it in 20 minutes. We were surprised by that as it is known to be a tough border to pass and a few friends of ours had had troubles there in the past. We were in Macedonia and enjoyed the beauty of the mountains around us during a short period of time before it was dark. We arrived in Skopje and got lost as the gps was fucked up and just made us drive to the same place again and again. We stoped at a mall in the city center and the promoter of the show came to take us. It turned out the venue is just behind the corner of the street. We parked the van near the back entrance of a local theater and once again loaded the gear on stage. We then went to eat the delicious cooked our hosts had prepared for us. During our dinner the first two bands did their sound check. We set up the distro with Jerome and sold some merch to the locals while the first band was attacking us with their metal/crust/punk hardcore. Nine Eleven played second and while the people were into them it was a strange show with almost no moshing/pogoing. Last played an emo hardcore band. They were cool and managed to pull out a decent performance for the thinning crowd. We loaded everything in a hurry as the theater was closing and we went to Kumanovo to our sleeping place. It was a very strange house with very strange "rules". I slept in the cold room and some of us slept in the warm room with our host. Touring is cool!
13.11.2012 - Novi Sad, Serbia
I woke up at maybe 9 am and we got ready to leave in an hour or so. We passed through the city center of Kumanovo, bought some food in a supermarket (I helped identifying the vegan stuff as the macedonian is very similar to the bulgarian language) and exchanged the money in euros. We arrived at the border around noon and passed it in less than 20 minutes. I took the driver's place later in the afternoon and drove almost until Novi Sad. We arrived in Novi Sad at 6 pm and asked a taxi driver for the way to CK13 (our gps was not working... again), it appeared we were just around the corner from the venue. We unloaded our stuff and met some of the guys from Reflections Of Internal Rain who were cooking the dinner while waiting for us to show up. We had some very delicious pasta with tomato sauce for dinner that I ate with my Serbian friends as the 9/11 guys were discussing something about their next tour. The show started and we spent some time at the distro table with Jerome. I enjoyed talking with Boyan from the Rebuild collective who had a distro on our right side. Furtive Forest played a surprise set and they were very good. I see why my Bulgarian friends like them so much: they are full of passion and managed to communicate it from the stage. Next were our hosts from ROIR and it's always a pleasure to see them live. They didn't dissapoint anyone in their home town and played a cool set that we all enjoyed. Nine Eleven headlined and I was to enjoy their music for the last time during this tour. Nice show that ended up at the Crna Ovca (black sheep) community center/bar downtown. I was one of the first people to go back to CK13 where we slept (there is enough space for matresses at the 2nd floor, above the venue). Stoja woke us the next morning at 9.30 am and we went downstairs for breakfast. Nine Eleven left for Vienna around 11 am and we said our goodbuys. They had 4 more shows to play before going back home in Tours/Le Mans. I spent a few hours with Stoja who helped me catch a bus to Belgrade. Here Djordje, a friend of Boyan from Novi Sad, showed me some sights in the city center and bought me a falafel. A perfect host! I had a lot of fun talking with him and walking around. Unfortunately he had to go to work at 6 pm and my train was at 9.50 pm. Almost 4 hours to spend in one of the worst train stations I've ever seen in my life. It was long but at around 9 pm the train arrived and I went inside. At least it was hot as outside it was getting colder and colder. I had one companion from Belgrade and we tried to understand each other then I slept for a little bit. I arrived in Sofia at 9 am the next morning and was happy to finally be back home!
I woke up between 7 and 8 am and went to the appartment to piss and get something to eat for breakfast. I had bread and some home made fruit jelly while the other guys were slowly getting up and ready. We took one of Alec's friends to drop him in Sibiu and just when we had left Cluj Alec called him that the package we were waiting for has arrived at her appartment. We made a U turn and went back to her appartment to pick it up and lost almost an hour before we were back on the road to Bucarest. We had to pass through the mountains again and it was very beautiful. Good times I once again spent in appreciating the landscape or watching a film on my laptop. If I wasn't that lazy I could've written the tour report then... We arrived at the venue around 6.30 pm and went for a walk around as the promoter wasn't there yet. The show was in the Underworld, a cool venue in a basement and a bar and hostel on top of it. We slept in the hostel and had an awesome dinner there when the promoter arrived. We then set up the backline and the opening band made a sound check. It was very long and boring for me. At one point the show started and they showed us no mercy with their metalcore assault. There were even two vocalists and one of them seemed to enjoy their performance a lot and jumped around all the time. Nine Eleven played next and the 40 to 50 people in the venue seemed to really like them. It was a nice show and some of the guys stayed to party with the promoter and some random guys and girls. I went to take a shower, check up some news on the internet and sleep. I was not alone in the struggle hehe The party guys arrived very early in the morning, it seems the party went strong for awhile...
08.11.2012 - Sofia, Bulgaria
We left Bucarest around noon. As usual we needed almost 2 hours to wake up and leave the hostel. We arrived fairly early at the border and lost an hour there because we didn't have a vignette. The border agent wanted to make us pay a fine but V. went to the nearby gaz station and bought a vignette. The agent let us go with the words "banditu, banditu"... We laughed hard of course but bought a vignette for Bulgaria straight after the border. Of course there was a traffic jam at 5 pm in Sofia and we arrived kinda late for the get in. Luckily the bands were not using Nine Eleven's backline so the sound check was done and they were waiting for the doors to open. I helped the dudes unload the backline from the van and went to have a tea with my mom as we had some business questions to discuss. During that time there was some issue with the food that the promoter resolved by buying falafels for the dudes. The band was invited in a local radio and I showed them how to get there and went back to the venue. Unfortunately I missed Noviot Pochetok from Macedonia during this time. I stayed on the merch and spent some time with my girlfriend. It's good to be at home! Expectations were good and the people were into them. Rising stars of the Bulgarian hardcore scene. Nine Eleven played and didn't get a lot of reactions from the audience. A lot of people went out and didn't stay until the end of their set. I enjoyed the show and helped them clean the stage for the headliners: local heroes Melekh. Their set was one huge sing along stage diving mayhem from beginning till end. We loaded the van and went to my appartment. I showed the guys where the food was and left them to spend the night at my girlfriend's place.
09.11.2012 - Thessaloniki, Greece
I went back home at noon and the guys were just getting up. They were ready at 2 pm and we went to the city center to take a walk. I showed them the basic sights of Sofia, some of them who were hungry again had a falafel and we started the trip to Thessaloniki at 5 pm. Just another 5 hours trip, we were so used to them at that point... We arrived in the university where the show should take place and just searched for the venue. It was a nice squat/bar in a building and we were lucky some punks showed us where it was. We unloaded the backline and I spent some time catching up with Nikos, a bassist of My Turn and a good friend of mine. The other MxT guys arrived later and it was great to see them again. We talked a lot and around midnight someone brought us a very delicious dinner. I ate all of it while the first band was playing their kind of cypress hill influenced hip hop. Not my cup of tea but I guess because I didn't understand a thing they were saying. I have to admit I didn't witness any of the next events as I went shamelessly to take a rest in the van and the guys woke me up when they had finished their set. Apparently the PA was not good enough and Nine Eleven played only 4 songs and quit the stage. There were at least 250 people at that moment and a lot of them were there to check them out so they were really frustratred. We went to the promoter's appartment and some of us had a second dinner while the others took a shower. I went to bed while the guys were discussing the show. Simon slept in the van and woke us up early the next morning...
10.11.2012 - Kavala, Greece
Simon woke me up early as he came in from the van. I spent some time on the balcony, some more time inside on my laptop and then the guys started waking up one by one. We just took it easy, had a breakfast and went to the city center in the early afternoon. The weather was perfect for the autumn: sunny and hot (17 to 20 degrees celsius). It was also perfect for hanging out. This is exactly what we did: we went to the city center, parked the van and walked around. It was very nice and a well deserved break. We met a French couple and they showed us where to buy delicious falafels which we did immediately. Jeff found a "boracha" and was a happy man for the next few days. Vince and Simon bought a balloon as a present for Richard's birthday. We spent some time at the sea side near the White Tower and left Thessaloniki for Kavala. The road took us only two hours but then we needed more than 20 minutes just to find the university and the venue. When we were parking we met the promoter of the show arriving with some friends. Maybe 10 minutes later the My Turn dudes showed up too. We loaded the backline in the venue and waited for the sound check to begin. At one point Apostolis told us we will have to pay for our dinner and we decided it would be better to go eat downtown. We walked a little bit, had a very nice pizza of our choice and admired the view of the port and the fortress. We then went up on the hill to the university and were surprised to find only 20 to 30 people there. The show started with a good street punk band. It was getting late and we were all sleepy. I think I felt asleep when My Turn were preparing to start their set. Aurelien slept under the distro table before Nine Eleven were to prepare their gear. They started the show and played 4 or 5 songs to a dead crowd. I was still half sleeping half awake. We then loaded the van and left straight to Athens.
11.11.2012 - Athens, Greece
A very long drive, a lot of toll passages and some good sights from the van windows later, we arrived in Athens around noon. We asked one or two people and found our way to the Acropolis. We left the van in a paid parking and went on our sightseeing tour. We managed to enter the Acropolis and went straight to the Parthenon as it was closing in less than 2 hours. It was awesome! A lot of sun, very nice weather (almost 20 degrees), a lot of jokes and some very good places/monuments in front of us. Perfect afternoon! After our visit to the Acropolis we just walked around in downtown Athens, found a place to eat and even bought some pastries (I have to admin I bought 3!!!). At one point we divided in different groups and me and Jeff went to see the Acropolis at night while the others were taking a rest in the van or nearby. We then had some trouble to get out of the parking and the nearby very narrow streets but Vince managed to do it like a real rally driver :) We went to the venue and chilled. The My Turn dudes showed up and we laughed and talked a little bit. I even watched an Athens football derby on the tv in the nearby bar. The show started and the venue was slowly but surely filling up. AN club is a very big place but it didn't look empty at all. The people were into the bands and we did our best selling music at this show: more than 10 LPs and 5 CDs!! It was a nice change from all the other places where people were more into the shirts... The show was very good. We
went to sleep in one of Apostolis' friend somewhere near the venue. Someone slept in the van. I took a shower and went to sleep as we had to leave early the next morning.
12.11.2012 - Skopje, Macedonia
We left Athens early in the morning as we had a long drive and a border to pass to go to Skopje. We had a lot of trouble trying to avoid the toll motorway, very unsuccessfully I have to admit. We reached the border in the afternoon and passed it in 20 minutes. We were surprised by that as it is known to be a tough border to pass and a few friends of ours had had troubles there in the past. We were in Macedonia and enjoyed the beauty of the mountains around us during a short period of time before it was dark. We arrived in Skopje and got lost as the gps was fucked up and just made us drive to the same place again and again. We stoped at a mall in the city center and the promoter of the show came to take us. It turned out the venue is just behind the corner of the street. We parked the van near the back entrance of a local theater and once again loaded the gear on stage. We then went to eat the delicious cooked our hosts had prepared for us. During our dinner the first two bands did their sound check. We set up the distro with Jerome and sold some merch to the locals while the first band was attacking us with their metal/crust/punk hardcore. Nine Eleven played second and while the people were into them it was a strange show with almost no moshing/pogoing. Last played an emo hardcore band. They were cool and managed to pull out a decent performance for the thinning crowd. We loaded everything in a hurry as the theater was closing and we went to Kumanovo to our sleeping place. It was a very strange house with very strange "rules". I slept in the cold room and some of us slept in the warm room with our host. Touring is cool!
13.11.2012 - Novi Sad, Serbia
I woke up at maybe 9 am and we got ready to leave in an hour or so. We passed through the city center of Kumanovo, bought some food in a supermarket (I helped identifying the vegan stuff as the macedonian is very similar to the bulgarian language) and exchanged the money in euros. We arrived at the border around noon and passed it in less than 20 minutes. I took the driver's place later in the afternoon and drove almost until Novi Sad. We arrived in Novi Sad at 6 pm and asked a taxi driver for the way to CK13 (our gps was not working... again), it appeared we were just around the corner from the venue. We unloaded our stuff and met some of the guys from Reflections Of Internal Rain who were cooking the dinner while waiting for us to show up. We had some very delicious pasta with tomato sauce for dinner that I ate with my Serbian friends as the 9/11 guys were discussing something about their next tour. The show started and we spent some time at the distro table with Jerome. I enjoyed talking with Boyan from the Rebuild collective who had a distro on our right side. Furtive Forest played a surprise set and they were very good. I see why my Bulgarian friends like them so much: they are full of passion and managed to communicate it from the stage. Next were our hosts from ROIR and it's always a pleasure to see them live. They didn't dissapoint anyone in their home town and played a cool set that we all enjoyed. Nine Eleven headlined and I was to enjoy their music for the last time during this tour. Nice show that ended up at the Crna Ovca (black sheep) community center/bar downtown. I was one of the first people to go back to CK13 where we slept (there is enough space for matresses at the 2nd floor, above the venue). Stoja woke us the next morning at 9.30 am and we went downstairs for breakfast. Nine Eleven left for Vienna around 11 am and we said our goodbuys. They had 4 more shows to play before going back home in Tours/Le Mans. I spent a few hours with Stoja who helped me catch a bus to Belgrade. Here Djordje, a friend of Boyan from Novi Sad, showed me some sights in the city center and bought me a falafel. A perfect host! I had a lot of fun talking with him and walking around. Unfortunately he had to go to work at 6 pm and my train was at 9.50 pm. Almost 4 hours to spend in one of the worst train stations I've ever seen in my life. It was long but at around 9 pm the train arrived and I went inside. At least it was hot as outside it was getting colder and colder. I had one companion from Belgrade and we tried to understand each other then I slept for a little bit. I arrived in Sofia at 9 am the next morning and was happy to finally be back home!
