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Eve of Destiny © Haruhiko Ash 1997-2004.

CASTLE PARTY

July 27, 2003

Castle Bolkow

Bolkow, Poland

Setlist

M1. I.NO.RI (SE)
M2 .Nervous and Innocence
M3 .Logos
M4. Dead or Alive
M5. Garden for a Zealot
M6. You Killed Me First
M7. Eve of Destruction

 

- report by Heilige Hexe -

Saturday, July 25th 2003

On Saturday morning I went with the driver to Wroclaw, to pick EoD from the airport. They arrived around noon that day. I won't get into details, but let's just say they won't forget the trip from Wroclaw to Bolkow for a long time. It wasn't the most comfortable and the easiest one, that's for sure. Finally, at the hotel, we talked for a while and made an appointment to meet the next day at 2 p.m. and I left them so that they had some rest. Later that day I met up with Kazu and her friends (god bless the cell phones and SMS messages LOL) and we spent some time together. It was a lot of fun. I met them a couple of times later that night as well. I wish we could've spent more time together though. Hopefully next time!

Sunday, July 26th 2003

At noon I went to the square to meet up with Case and his friend by the fountain. We went to the castle to stand in the queue and wait for the tickets. Kazu was there also. I stayed with them all until I had to go pick EoD up at the hotel.

I came there at 2 p.m. and after a long and unplanned wait for the car, we went to the Castle. At first I took EoD to a "backstage" room so that they could have something to drink and rest for a while. Since they were the second band to play, soon we had to go back down so that they could get ready for the live. At some point they called me on stage to help with interpreting and Kozi had to take care of plugging some cables so he asked me to hold his guitar for him. Definitely one of the memories to cherish. The audience was almost screaming. After the equipment was all ready, they came onto the stage and the long awaited concert started. I was so excited about it all. And so were the people who gathered in front of the dais. Even though it was so unbearably hot, they were all great and definitely having a lot of fun. Haruhiko and Kozi were both amazing on stage, but when aren't they?! Haruhiko was wearing the cobweb pants and the same overcoat as in Budapest. This time he too had the white make up plus dark blue/grey eyeshadows (he had blue in Budapest/Bratislava). Kozi was wearing a short navy blue skirt and black see through top with red and white threads. (Alice Auaa I think?), a collar and a matching bracelet. I think this was my favourite outfit of those I have seen him wearing until now. He looked really very attractive! When the live started, Kozi was first standing on the left of the stage, and Haruhiko in the middle, sometime as the concert went on, he would move to the right and after a while back to his first place, at Haruhiko's right.

As for Haruhiko, he is definitely one of the best live performers out there and I adore watching him on stage. The live was way too short and no encores :( And it was SO HOT at that time that it was really amazing they did so great! Unfortunately it only lasted total 30 minutes so everyone was really disappointed when they had to finish. The audience enjoyed the live a lot! Let's hope they get a better hour next year.

Haruhiko and Kozi were both really tired after the live and wanted to rest somewhere outside so one of the girls who worked at the castle told me about a cool cafe where they could sit and relax, have something cold to drink etc. So we went there. On the way we met a few people wanting to do interviews or TV programs with our heroes so after a glass of beer and ice-cream they were ready to give the interviews. There was one for a Polish radio station, one for a website, one for Ukrainian tv and the last one for Polish tv.

After that, even though really tired, they went out to the fans. They had pictures taken, they gave autographs and they had time for every person who wanted their moment with EoD. And I have to say, the crowd around them was rather impressive! Even when they turned to go back and actually started going through the gate to the castle, people would still come and Haruhiko and Kozi would stop, turn back and have another fan meeting done. Finally, back in the "backstage" part of the castle they had two other photo sessions done and then, eventually, we went back upstairs to that special 'room' prepared for the bands, where they could have something to drink, sandwiches and such. Later that night, while they were going back to the hotel, people still were asking for pictures, and again, both Haruhiko and Kozi would stop every time someone came up to have a picture taken or to give an autograph.

The next morning we took them to the airport - this time the way was much more comfortable as the car was bigger and better, and eventually, after saying good-bye's I had to go to the train station to catch a train home, already thinking and hoping to see EoD in Poland again soon.

#Heilige Hexe# August 4th 2003
 

- report by Case-

Just two months after the wonderful May Tour, Eve of Destiny was back in Europe and I was getting ready for another long trip to see them, this time together with An, a good friend of mine. She decided after seeing the Budapest gig, that she must come to the Castle Party gig too and fortunately she managed to talk her father into driving us to Poland. However, since her father had to go to work on Monday we knew we won't be able to stay for long, only for EoD's gig and then a bit, but we didn't mind much, since not counting EoD's appearence, the festival's program this year was less than impressive. In earlier years they had quite a few great bands playing there, but now it was only some very very average goth-groups like Diary of Dreams, a lot of local bands that I'd never heard of, plus the shame-of-the-scene Umbra et Imago.

We were to meet after 1AM beside the road that goes from Budapest towards the Northern border. I was a bit dizzy and felt like I was walking in a dream anyways and this dream got a rather surrealistic touch as a strange car stopped beside me... It was a long, shiny silver hearse. A strange looking, middle-aged guy looked out the window and asked me, with terribly accented English which way is Romania. I blinked and replied somewhat numb that I have no idea. As the car drove away I could see the coffin in the back. Was there anyone in that coffin? And if yes, was that person dead.. or alive.. or.. undead? I will never know.

A bit later the car I was waiting for finally showed up and still puzzled by what I just saw, I got in and we started the lengthy trip to the faraway country of Poland. We drove thru Hungary and Slovakia without any trouble, then we reached Poland... and the problems began. That country has the most chaotic road-system ever. The road-maps and very often the road-signs too, are purely fictional and have nothing to do with the actual roads. The whole country is like a huge labyrinth. Too bad we weren't in the mood for that kind of fun. We got lost several times and while originally we thought will arrive at Bolkow around 9AM, we got there after eleven o'clock. Fortunately we were still in time tho, because we were to meet Hexe at noon, so we had time to find the fountain she mentioned and also look around a bit. There were a lot of people in the city who were obviously there for the festival and my first impression about them wasn't very good. I expected a similar audience to what I got used to in Leipzig's WGT festivals, but I saw nothing, but metal fans in torn black shirts and black jeans. There were a few people who looked more like goths, but not many and even them weren't anything special.

Hexe showed up at noon and guided us to the castle. It was so great to see her again and we recapped some of our wonderful memories from the Bratislava and Budapest gigs, then she told us about the day before, when EoD arrived and she, as their local translator went to the airport to pick them up. And she told us about how messed the organization was. Cars stopping in the middle of nowhere, messed up rooming lists and other lovely things. So, the stories got us a bit worried about what's gonna happen that day.. and with a good reason.

The castle was at the top of a hill and when we walked up there, we immediately spotted some familiar faces waiting around the gate. First we met Kazu and her friends from Germany, then the two Japanese girls whom we also met during the May Tour. We were wandering around for a while chatting with Hexe and the others, bought the tickets and so on... When Hexe left a bit before 2PM to pick up the band at the hotel, the gates, which were supposed to open at one o'clock were still closed and stayed closed for a quite a while. Then finally they opened them, so everyone ran there to line up, but then they changed their mind, I think because some band inside had problems with their sound-check and they didn't let anyone in. So we were standing there, at front of the gates for about half an hour and it was quite terrible thanks to the 30+ degrees and the burning sunlight (I was all red a few hours later) When they finally started to let people in, I rushed at front of the stage to get a good place, but as I had to find out soon, there was no need to hurry. Some other band's sound-check was still going on, despite the fact that the day's first concert was already quite a lot delayed. So, since we were obviously facing a long wait and were already drying up, I went to buy some drinks, while An was guarding our first-row place. I also checked out the other side of the castle and picked up a copy of the Castle Party compilation CD and OFF magazine/CD at one of the stands. The venue itself was just amazing. The beautiful, old, ruined castle is an ideal background for a gothic festival and here I spotted quite a few people wearing the extravagant costumes, especially medieval inspired ones of course, that I got used to at WGT, so I started to feel more relaxed at last.

After I got back we started to chat with some of the Polish fans and we found out that there is quite a lot of them. Soon we spotted Hexe arriving with EoD and Yuko-san, so we were starting to get excited and started to believe that the show will eventually start at some point.

At long last the day's first bad, the local Immunology came onstage and due to the delay, they started to play after a very short, rushed sound-check. As a result they had to stop after playing only a half song, due to sound problems. I felt sorry for them, since they got into this rather awkward situation, thanks to the organizer's incompetence. It is pretty sad and somewhat surprising that the organization was so bad, especially since Castle Party is an established festival with a long history.

Finally they could go on with their show and played for about half an hour. Their music didn't really leave an impression in me, so after a while I wasn't paying much attention, especially after we spotted Közi and Haruhiko showing up and getting their equipment ready behind the stage. When Immunology finished Közi came onstage (maaaad screaming from the audience) to plug their stuff and fix some things with the help of the technicians. Hexe was translating for him and at one point she was even holding his guitar for a while (more screaming... :))

Again, basically there was no sound-check... Közi checked if his guitar sounded okey and after a brief stop, the intro began and Haruhiko also showed up, greeted the audience, then they set off the performance with Nervous And Innocence. As always, the pure, raw energy of the song set the atmosphere and the screaming and cheering began. The sound was pretty bad at first, but fortunately it was more-or-less fixed later on. Haruhiko wore more or less his usual costume, except he had even more alice auaa arm-bands on and this time he seemingly put time and effort into doing his make-up, while Közi wore a see-thru shirt, with red and white things hanging from it, blue shorts (everyone thought it was a skirt, but actually it wasn't), the stocking he got from Moca as a present and his usual platform-boots and neck-piece.

It was followed by Logos, a song that I just can't grow to like... it doesn't really have the power of their other songs and its rhythm is kinda falling apart, but maybe I just felt like this, because I don't know that song as much as most of the others and the sound was still anything, but clear. Despite the terrible heat the audience was screaming and jumping around all the time. EoD was probably also suffering from the heat on the stage and Közi's make-up was dripping from his chin all the time (miraculously, despite this, his make-up managed to stay seemingly intact) but as true professionals, they showed no sign of any of it and played with a lot of energy. Közi was walking around, mostly staying on Haruhiko's right side, but going over the other side too once or twice, while Haruhiko stayed in the middle most of the time, grinning, walking up and down and once going down on his knees for a while

Logos were followed by two of the demo CD songs and as always, they sounded a bit different than before. Surprisingly, they did not play Desperado, which is their other 'hit song' beside Nervous And Innocence. I didn't mind it much tho, because this way they had time for the two songs that impressed me so much, during the more recent gigs... You Killed Me First, and then as the closing song, the amazing Eve Of Destruction.

They left the stage and even though we knew there won't be more, the "eveofdestiny- eveofdestiny" chanting just did not want to end. When the next band showed up onstage everyone left and went to the small gate on the side where they left for the backstage, hoping that they will show up again. When a guy went on the stage to announce the next band, he was like "ohh! where is the audience!? there were a lotsa people here a bit ago..! *looks around and spots us* oh! there they are!"

We were standing there for quite a while, together with Moca and Manami, then I went back to the CD stands to show Manami where I bought the two compilation CDs and while I was there looked around a bit on the other stands too and found a pretty rare Psychic TV CD for myself, so that made the day even better. We went back and chatted for a while about stuff, especially about past and upcoming EoD gigs, then unfortunately we had to leave, because we knew our driver is waiting for us down in the city. So we said our farewells to Moca and Manami and left, while the band onstage was playing an old Depeche Mode classic. We walked down, back to the city, still excited from the great gig, got in the car and began our long, long journey home, getting lost a few more times and getting back to Budapest after midnight.

Later we learned they came out after six o'clock giving autographs, posing for pictures. We were a bit sad that we couldn't wait for that, but after all we went for the concert and despite all the troubles it was an excellent one.

By now I know that I will have to skip their next European gig, the one in Rostock early September, but I hope they will be back soon, since no matter how many times you see them live, you always want more and more and more... coz, they are just great like that.

Case - 2003.08.26