Category: Gigs

Terremoto Festival ,Guano Apes, Limp Bizkit, Placebo, Foo Fighters, Deftones, Muse, @ Trabrennbahn, Hamburg,Germany. 20-8-00

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After the Highfields Festival we traveled onwards through the night to the Terremoto Festival in Hamburg. Waking up next morning, the first thing i see is Sandra looking out of the bus at something…that something was Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit , she’s quite a fan….& even rock stars can get star struck 😉 I think it might have been his birthday as i recall someone giving him a video camera as i walked past to catering. I’m also pretty sure that this festival was Limp Bizkits only show in Germany this year, so, no doubt that would have brought in some of the crowd. Actually, it’s a fantastic line up here today ! Henning had given me an advance copy of the DVD & later in the day Sandra & her sister watched it on the bus. I was lucky to be able to meet Dave Grohl & Brian Molko & have a nice chat with Dom (Muse) about how they were doing in the States etc. I was already a  fan of Muse after seeing them open for Skunk Anansie in ’99. My friend Fanny arrived later in the day so we both got to have some photos with the stars. We watched some of Guanos set from on the side stage then some from the photo pit. When everything was over, Fanny gave Henning a lift to the hotel he was staying at (The others took the bus back home). Next day i flew back to the UK. Driving home, my car exhaust partially came off ! I used the pass band to tie it up to get me back home haha

Click here for lots of photos from backstage etc

Highfield festival, Guano Apes, Placebo, Beck, Muse, Rollins Band , @ Erfurt Germany. 19-8-00

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Met the GA crew previous night in Gottingen & traveled with them.Stopped off at some club in Dortmund & i was introduced to Jagermeister-on an empty stomach! Some stayed & traveled next day (sore heads!) but i got back on bus as already messed up enough! One stand out memory of the gig was Matt Bellamy (Muse) just going mental trashing his amps.Backstage, Dom (Muse drums) said he wasn’t stir crazy/burnt out,but i had my doubts! Muse were great!

Skunk Anansie ,Machine Head, Rollins Band, Therapy? @ Docklands arena, London 2-7-00

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Shit! How the hell could this be the last UK Skunk gig ? I still think they should have “finished” in the UK & not in Portugal…but maybe they didn’t know it was “over” at the time ? Still, at least they got back together in 2009 🙂

All my photos from the gig are here…

Edit 2017 ; Another memory has come back to me. There were a few American knuckleheads down the front….or rather, pushing their way down there. Absolute idiots who had no respect for anyone who’d queued for hours to get that spot. Can’t remember if they were there for Rollins or Machine Head, but they were absolute dicks. Talking of M.H. i wasn’t impressed at all. Yet a couple of years later i got into them! Go figure. But whatever, that night, Skunk were bloody fantastic !

Guano Apes, Uncle Ho, @ Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen , Germany, 5-6-00

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Strange venue in that it was in like a factory.Also,the concert room was a few floors off the ground. Very industrial…turbinenhalle 😉 The film crew were still around for this one. Interestingly, on the clip i posted, where Stude is after his beer , that’s from Oberhausen, after the gig. Then the next shot is in Hamburg 🙂 There was also a record signing session in the “Centro” shopping centre. I didn’t realise it at the time, but, Jagermeister had a shop in there! I coulda got some cool merchandise 😉 After this one there was a group photo of band crew etc getting some kind of award. Henning said i should join the photo ,but i just didn’t feel right if i’m honest.

Guano Apes, Uncle Ho, @ Gross Freiheit, Hamburg, Germany, 4-6-00

There was a day off between Berlin & Hamburg gigs. We all traveled to Hamburg & stayed in a very swish hotel (once again, pinch me!”) Carlos Santana was in town, so a few went to see his show. 196303_1625882682345_5351431_n

The show was filmed for a mini documentary on Guano Apes. I asked the film crew what station it would be broadcast on. Upon hearing i’d traveled over from the UK, the director asked if he could do a short interview with me! It was so funny as i’d never in my wildest dreams expected anything like this could happen. I mean, i’m already living life well what with travelling on the tour bus, having a AAA tour pass & now this ?!!

Guano Apes, Uncle Ho, @ Columbiahalle, Berlin , Germany 2-6-00

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Well this was a dream come true, thanks to Henning ! My first AAA laminate & i get to travel on the tour bus! Pinch me! Is this really real?!! When the band arrived, i was took to the tour bus where i met Axel. Apparently, this was the first tour where the band traveled separately to the road crew. It was all so different & exciting. I felt truly honored to be allowed into this small circle & i’ll never forget this & all the other amazing times i had with the band & crew.

Guano Apes, @ Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 17-4-00

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I’d bought my ticket some time back. Henning said he’d put me on the guest list,but, i still had the ticket in case it fell through. When the band arrived at the venue i was greeted by Henning & then Sandra saw me ” Simon!?!! You’re Crazy Simon, for coming all this way ! Do you have a ticket? I’ll put you on the guest list” Me : ” Actually, yeah i do, but, Henning has already arranged guest list thank you “. Man, i love this rock n roll church called Paradiso! (I’ll go there many times over the coming years) When we went in, Henning showed me some awards for PLAG sales. Didn’t realise, but the show was being filmed for a DVD. Hows that for a bonus ? Anyway, after dropping stuff off, we all went round the corner to Hard Rock Cafe. Ooops, i forgot, i met a couple of cool GA fans outside the venue, Dennis V.P & Jill . I must say, it all felt a little surreal hanging with GA for me! But of course, i was loving every minute of it 🙂 The gig was great. I was in the photo pit for quite a while. When it was over, i went backstage & we had a “Spinal Tap” moment trying to get out the place ! We all then went to Hard rock Cafe again. During the course of the evening i told Henning how much i loved the gig & really wished i could get to more…but of course, the UK was not their highest priority & travel abroad was not cheap etc. Then he just smiled 🙂 ” I think we can help you out ” Huh? ” I think you could travel with us on the tour bus. I need to ask the other guys, but, it shouldn’t be a problem” . Man,my jaw pretty much hit the floor ! Dennis & Jill looked at me in astonishment. So yeah, i was pretty damn high right there. Well, eventually everyone left the party & myself , Dennis V.P. & Jill were the last ones there. Basically, we stayed untill they kicked us out in the early hours. I hadn’t booked a hotel as planned to just go through the night with no sleep ! So we all went to main train station. The others left eventually & i had a VERY tiring journey home. Confession time : It all could have ended before it started on the way home. About an hour into my drive home, at Peterborough, i had a “micro sleep” at a roundabout. It was a very close thing for me to have an accident. Thing is, i didn’t really feel so tired, but, somehow i just dropped off at the wheel for a second or so. I learnt from that mistake to ALWAYS book a hotel or something in future. And so my amazing “Guano Apes journey” was starting off…