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!).
Myself, 33, AdZ and Buckle @ the Distillers Arms before the showWe 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 offMeet 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.
Will, AdZ, Phil, myself and Graciela outside the Bruxelles in DublinAfter 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.
Arron, Stoned, AdZ, Graciela and anythinggoes misbehaving at the Download Festival
Arron, Stoned, AdZ, myself and anythinggoes behaving at the Download FestivalSit 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 offSpent 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
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