Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Here's my little story about the three shows and pre-show meetings I had the privilege to be part of in the UK and Ireland a while ago. Thanks to everybody who made this a great five days!



June 7 > GN'R @ Hammersmith Apollo, London:

Wake up, have coffee and slowly start realising this is the day.

Head out to Hammersmith and meet up with ESTRANGED at the Apollo. We go for lunch before going to the Distillers Arms pub.

We get there around 3PM and I order beers. I get asked for ID when I order them. Apparently I don't look 18....

We sit around and after a while other people start arriving.

IanLei, Greg, cyllan, Kiki, Gunnershome and the rest of the Dutch group, Graciela, AdZ, Buckle, BA, fieldsy, Festah_GT, 33, axl_voorhees, BD888 and everybody else I forgot (sorry!).



(http://hem.bredband.net/jarmo/yabb/temp/jarmo_33_adz_buckle_hammersmith.jpg)

Myself, 33, AdZ and Buckle @ the Distillers Arms before the show



We hang around there for a few hours before heading to the Hammersmith Apollo.

When we got in, Avenged Sevenfold was just finishing their set.

We stand there and wait while they're playing records. Pearl Jam's "Alive" gets a big response from the crowd. Which is nice since I'm a PJ fan too....

About two hours later than the scheduled show time, GN'R start their set.

It was so cool to see GN'R play this venue. I never imagined it would actually happen, but after the Hammerstein Ballroom shows I thought there might be a microscopic chance of them playing a similar place in London. Very cool.

After seeing them in Lisbon and thinking it was great, I knew this one would be amazing.

After the show we walk out and I bump into Greg and ESTRANGED again. We both agree that the show was amazing.

Then AdZ, Graciela and myself go outside to see if something's happening by the stage entrance.

We hang around while the security guys are moving barricades around.

After a while Bumblefoot comes out. He poses for photos, signs autographs and dares fans to taste his spicy curry dish.

Later on we head to Soho to have some after show drinks and arrive back home at around 6am.

June 8 > day off

Meet up with the Dutchies in the morning and rest the rest of the day.

June 9 -? GN'R @ RDS Arena, Dublin:

Our plane to Dublin leaves at 6:30AM which means we leave London in the middle of the night to head to Stansted airport.

Meet up with anythinggoes at the gate. Luckily I manage to get some sleep on the flight over to Dublin.

We arrive in Dublin and head out to have some breakfast before going to the Guinness Storehouse.

One thing I noticed is that the taxi drivers are very nice, but it's not easy to understand what they're saying!

Have a Guinness at bar at the top floor of the Storehouse. Nice views.

We get a taxi back to the city centre and head to the Bruxelles where the first meeting is.

After a while people start arriving. Will and a friend of his arrives as well as IrishFecker.

AdZ arrives later after he's been giving better instructions than "look for the church on Dawson Street and walk along the other street". Let's just say there's more than one church in that area....

They're playing the GN'R Tokyo DVDs on the screen at the Bruxelles, but the sound is turned off and instead we get the music from the jukebox.



(http://hem.bredband.net/jarmo/yabb/temp/HTGTH_crew_dublin.jpg)

Will, AdZ, Phil, myself and Graciela outside the Bruxelles in Dublin



After having a few drinks all of us get a taxi to Bellamy's where the second meeting is.

Nightfall and Rockin' Rose arrive there at the same time.

A few drinks later we head out for pizza and then off to the RDS Arena.

Some of the group want to get as close to the stage as possible while the rest of us are happy to stay on the grass.

The show starts in the sunlight at around 8:15. Very interesting to see them play in daylight.

Another great show which was made special due to all the natural light.


June 10 > travel & day off:

Spend the night at Dublin airport. Get no sleep at all. Meet anythingoes at the check in desk.

When we finally we get to board the plane I fall asleep almost immediately.

We arrive back in London around 10am.


June 11 > GN'R @ Download Festival, Donington Park:

We take the morning train to Derby which means we arrive at Donington Park around 12.

Watch some football on the big screen. Seems like a better option than watching some of those bands.

Meet Greg and winter_rose from the board.

Anselmo/Arron/the gimp has set up a board meeting at 5pm so we head to the spot we think is the meeting place.

Turns out we're on the wrong side of the stage.

We walk across the crowd and meet up with Arron and Stoned.



(http://hem.bredband.net/jarmo/yabb/temp/giving_the_admin_the_finger_at_download.jpg)

Arron, Stoned, AdZ, Graciela and anythinggoes misbehaving at the Download Festival



(http://hem.bredband.net/jarmo/yabb/temp/not_exactly_emo_fans_at_download.jpg)

Arron, Stoned, AdZ, myself and anythinggoes behaving at the Download Festival



Sit around and have a beer when all of a sudden Robin walks by. We go and say hello.

We see fieldsy again. He must be stalking me!

ESTRANGED shows up later.

We split up, some go to try to get closer to the stage.

I stay on the hill with AdZ and Graciela.

We're kinda far away from the stage, but the view is pretty good up there.

We all notice there's something wrong with the sound. Then we notice the band being annoyed as well.

Some people around us have no idea about GN'R and what they're playing (the new stuff).

Nobody's booing though, they seem curious about the band and are into the show.

Another amazing show which started in sunlight and ends after the sun has set.

Izzy being there was a nice surprise and I'm happy to see the band overcome the technical difficulties.

June 12: travel & day off

Spent the night walking around in Derby. I think I fell asleep while sitting on a bench by the bus station.

Not exactly the highlight of the weekend.

Our bus back to London left at 5:40am which means I was tired but happy on Monday.

---

Hopefully we can do something similar next month.....




/jarmo

Thanks Jarmo, I enjoyed the read  :-*

ha ha, jarmo got ID'd.

sounds like you had a good time.

 : ok: cool one... it will be even BETTER next month ?;)

A great read  : ok:

You'll have to get yourself a tourbus  :hihi:

yup. great read. 8)

though you forgot to mention what you thought of the 'lovely' Dublin airport.

i know other than the show it was my favorite part of my trip.

not. :P

You got ID'ed too? Least you had some on you  ;D


Great read!

I'm 46 and got carded buying a case of beer this morning Jarmo, don't feel bad!

Damm right! Sleeping in airports and in park benches is not fun.... but we didn't care anymore really ?;D

Hey thats a great read Jarmo! It was good to meet you at last, and all the other people who use the board! I'm still miffed that I look so pissed in that photo with you guys! Looking forward to meeting up at Wembley Arena on the 30th! Take it easy! Mike

Great read!

I thought you were meant to photoshop the pics from Download and put the Gimp Mask on Arron :yes:

Thanks for the writeup.

Jarmo - which show(s) did you think were the best and why?

Ahhh memories all to far away

Hang on a moment

Its all happening again in a month Well 2 weeks sort of for me

Doing the Happy Dance, Doing the Happy Dance

It wasnt so expensive being a Gnr Fan a few years ago  :hihi:

making up for it now Jesus my barcley card walked out on me the other day and ive had there head office ringing me seeing if it was me on this mad spending spree

I don't know. All three were different from each other.

I liked Hammersmith simply because of the size of the venue.

Dublin was in daylight which made it memorable.

Donington started of with problems and ended as a great gig. Some surprises in the set and Izzy as a guest.


The band was awesome at all of the shows.



/jarmo

It should'nt make you feel bad. It should make you feel good!

thanks for the review of your trip Jarmo and thoughts on the shows : ok:

looks like you lucky bastards had a great time :beer:


edited cuz i suck :rofl:

i love a great time i dont know about the rest of them  :hihi:

No wonder you guys got carded, you guys look like highschoolers ditching class.

This might be a tad off topic? But Jarmo, how many of the band members have you met so far?

hahaha...i mean HAD!!!   oops :-[

Tell me about it.

I almost lost my Master's degree cause of GN'R and it seems like I'll be in jail after this tour...

But who cares?  :hihi: :beer:

sounds like you had a great time, very cool pics too.... I notice the couple behind you getting closer with each shot ;) ... Glad you guys had a great time :beer:

shouldnt this review be in the gnr on tour section with all the other reviews?  :hihi:

 :peace:

If not Jail then Hospital for you eh

Jarmo you list this as Leg 1 so what was Rock in Rio Leg 0

Your sorry ass will be... hmmmm... sorry for this... [Austin Powers Moment here...]  ;D

We're fucking seasoned travellers!

Next time, a bus, and a helicopter, hell a plane.

I'll throw in the beers...

Awesome.


I'll bring the hair.

Great. All we need now is gas for the plane...

Sorted  ;)...

ill bring the camera and update phone  ???

Cool if I drive?

We'll get Bruce Dickinson to do that... He's a British Airways pilot...

Truly an epic tale of revelry and song. The prose doth remind of both Dylan and Kerouac. Have fun on the second leg. Oh by the way guys and girls while everyone is bringing something different. Dont forget the most important thing (besides alcohol)...the TICKETS.

Oh, we're going to the gigs as well?

Damn, I can't afford the tickets...

Talking of which the 2006 tour tickets edited a bit just in case

(http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/6522/gnr0067yu.jpg)

Haha...special guests.

Everybody had a great  time out there in europe cant wait to see an annoucement about some south america tour probably 2k7 ...   :beer:

awesome read..thanks for shareing Jarmo  : ok:
And thanks for the updates during some of the shows.. :beer:

Good read Jarmo. Thanks for sharing your trip and pictures with us.

Glad you had a good time. :)

Thanks for sharing Jarmo.  Looks like you guys had an awesome time.  Lucky bastards.  You guys get GNR before Canada does.  Oh well, I hope I'll get a story or two in before the year is out!   :peace:

Sure fieldsy is a stalker.....sure.  I was minding my own business at Download until I was accosted by these bunch of weirdos.

Anyway, at least I wasnt the one who fell asleep on a bench like some tramp.....

Haha!  ;D

It's not easy being on tour....



/jarmo

thanks for sharing jarmo, It's good to now you had a great time  :peace: