Barcelona (E) @ Punk Or Latex Fest

We're leaving at 8 o'clock this morning, today's gonna be a long day, we 're supposed to be at Barcelona at like 6 in the afternoon and play our set right away.
Ten hours, 700 kilometers and 6 "pit stops" later, we park the van, more punctual than ever, in front of the Apolo 2 (the venue). First news of the day, due to BRIDGE TO SOLACE cancelling the show, we turn up to be headlining the fest, consequently we're playing at 10 pm. We're going to have much more time to kill. And apparently, the cathering isn't going to help us out in killing time, there's nothing left to eat ... we'd rather go for a hike in the center city.
Back at the venue, we're told that the fest must stop a 10:45pm, knowing that there's already some delay in the schedule; it seems like an underhand trick is going on there!! Remi is taking advantage of this time to set up the details with Manu, the promoter of the fest. The bands are playing one after another, some are better than the others, but there were too many for me to remember all their names and the style of music they're playing.
"Suddently here we are. Like a thunderclap a firedamp explosion"... Anyway, It's our turn to go up on stage, and as I foreseen it's already 10:30 ... We start in a rush, angry about this bad schedule thing, but most of all we're excited by the 200 youngsters in front of us that are overexcited since the first chords. We run through the songs one after the other without a break, the athmosphere is fucking great, and for a second I'd almost forget that all the lights are on in the venue and that the sound engineer wants to stop the show after 5 songs... Fuck no!! we can't stop like this, everybody wants more songs!!! Ok ... We'll keep on playing!!
The break will only last while we're playing "she tries to be someone" because when we start to play "the crowd", the sound in front is turned down... Whatever, Arnaud and Remi help the audience to climb up on stage, we'll make noise with our amplifiers and for the voices... well the audience is already singing!! We end up the show in a total mess, with more people on stage than in the pit... I love Barcelona !!!
After such a good show, we don't really feel like going to bed. Noe, our host for tonight, is getting us to a rather punk-rock bar to knock back some beers. We meet Josan ( the co-promoter of the fest) there and quite a few yougsters that were at the show. Some liters of alcohol later, I think we lost the 5/7th of the crew, it's about time to leave! And it's going to be more difficult than what it was meant to be, Noe doesn't really remember where's she's living. We get lost twice and it takes about 1 hour and a half to find the right track. And as all the great evening must end in a climax... Toto pukes the absynthe he drank in the van!! We very nearly avoid a chain reaction and we finally go to bed at around 5:00/5:30.

Draguignan (F) @ Back 2 School Fest

"Alone on the sand, my eyes in the water, my dream was too beautiful to be true. When summer is over you'll go miles away from me"... Yup, summer is over, just between you and me, it can go back to the caribou hunting I couldn't care less, what I care for is that tonight I 'll meet my garden side again!! We're leaving at 2:00 pm, we only have 1 hour and a half, not that much... idealistic for a renewal.
If I were Belzu I should say the "théâtre de verdure" ( the venue) of Draguignan is extraordinary, fairy-like, fantastic... but I am not Belzu. I'll just say that with the bar proudly showing a notice that reads "Beer: 1 euro", and this sweet smell of BBQ, the theatrelooks like a school fête. Get me an Aunt Sally and a fishing game and I'm really back to primary school.
We meet Toto the "(almost) volunteer sound-engineer-manager" of the place, that get us out of our nostalgic daydream to soundcheck.
The afternoon goes by very fast, drinking with Beru and the Maskes Feuillus crew, playing football and meeting the UNCO guys, It's already the time for WALEGUEN AGAINST to open the fest. We' ve already played with them before, they're style playing their old school punk-rock sang in French. We're getting on stage, I don't know wether it's due to anxiety because we haven't play in a long time but we're overexcited. Belzu was right, there's something magical about this place. We perform a great show and leave the 200 people in the audience warmed just right to watch UNCO. We're going to spend the rest of the evening celebrating Belzu's 26 birthday up until very late night.That's what I call a new school year!!!