03/11/2006 Show Review – Campus, Kempen

Hiya, Kempen was our latest gig on Friday the 3^rd of Nov in Kempen. Kempen is about 30 mins drive away from home base so nothing too complicated. Tonight’s we were once again supported by ‘Dawson’s Crack’ and ‘Innocence’ (The band we played with in Kleve 4 weeks prior).Peeth and Lars were driving tonight, so with Horti not drinking and David not available that evening (probably still hung-over from last weeks show), that just left me and Hannes to represent. We set off on the road at about 5 and arrived in good time with no bad directions. Sweet. Rare. Me and Hannes also discovered how to make journeys seem twice as fast and much more entertaining if you translate ‘No Doubt’ songs (Kopp zu weil et burnt – Don’t Speak). The venue was a place called ‘Campus’ and was more or less a youth centre type building with various large rooms and a main concert hall. The stage was ready so we began setting up. All went up quite fast and we weren’t under much pressure rush or anything which is also rare. Sound check followed and the sound that Dave managed to carve was apparently the best we’d had so far at the recent shows. We were soon finished and took to the backstage area. Only 3 free beers each tonight which obviously wasn’t enough. So me and Hannes found a local super market and purchased a crate of the famous local beer, Landfürst. 8 euros a pop and goes down a bloody treat. Everyone then became hungry so we searched the local town for food. A chip shop was found and after the feasting we eventually returned to the Campus. After about an hour of mindless activity (we’re getting better and better at this) including me trying to learn the trumpet, dice games and shouting at each others band members, Innocence began. I only saw about 2 songs but they seemed pretty good and the audience was reasonably sized. After about 40 mins, DC were up next. I always write the same thing about them so not this time. They were good. Blahblahblahblah. The funniest part about their set was at the start when they began to play their intro music but their vocalist Jakob was nowhere to be seen. I went for a piss only to find him standing next to me. After explaining that the rest of his band was on stage (which he highly doubted at first), he zipped up and ran. All night I had been incredibly hyperactive for no apparent reason and this was obvious as I played cheerleader/motivator/holy mentor to the band from the side of the stage. Ok, I really just showed them my arse and screamed abuse. After about a 20 minute interval it was our turn to take to the stage. We played more or less the same set as last week and from what I could see (smoke machine/bright lights/sweaty eyeballs) the crowd seemed to enjoy the show with moshes breaking out for every other song or so. I dropped a stick but I didn’t need it for that part of the song and Peeth threw it back to me just in time. But for all of Peeth’s goodwill he paid dearly during the last/second to last song. I didn’t actually see it but he had jumped onto my drum riser, jumped of again but lost his footing and ended up falling off the stage, landing on his guitar, breaking a string and probably being in immense pain. But somehow managed to carry on playing. I’m so glad I’m stuck behind a drum kit sometimes as this sort of thing would most certainly happen to me otherwise. But I still wish I had seen it happen. After 10 musical massacres we moved into the backstage area for about 10 minutes, only then learning that the venue had to close then. So we quickly packed up and shoved it all in the van and drove off into the night. Well, it was only about eleven really so me and a few of Dawson’s met up back in Waldniel, found a pub that was still open and sat and reflected for a couple o hours. Everyone eventually parted ways and I made way for bed at around 2ish. Another very, very funny evening. One not to be forgotten. Thanks to the guys at campus, the other bands, Dave for engineering type crap and everyone in the whole wide world. Except you. Byeee

Drew