Roadburn versus the Volcano Or how I tried to beat Eyjafjallajökull and almost lost my mind PT. II

Friday, April 16th 2010

04:33: After singing along to lots of rock classics at Orange Goblin’s Metal Disco, I decide to check my email one last time before finally falling into bed.

Well, no rest for the wicked as they say. A message from Vince from Evoken is waiting. He is devastated: the band can’t make it to Roadburn. I feel terrible for them. They paid for their airfare out of pocket with band funds. This feels so bad!

I try to relax but I can’t fall asleep. There is way too much going on in my head, realizing that I will have to tell our loyal Roadburn attendees some bad news. Plus, I’m realizing that I am a fool to think that I will be the one to triumph over a volcano.

06:33: Yakuza has being trying to catch a flight but it’s simply not going to work. This is such a mess! With their European tour canceled at the very last minute, the band was supposed to go ahead and use their flights to play Roadburn as a one-off, and now they won’t be able to do this, either.

More e-mails piling up in the inbox, mostly about how it’s all but impossible to find alternate modes of transportation (i.e. tour buses) anywhere in Scandinavia. I am crossing my fingers that Candlemass can make it. They should be on the road by now, just like Trinacria and Sarke.

No sleep for me. It’s so tough to get focused, and while rationally I know that the best thing right now would be to lie down for another hour, the maelstrom of emotions keeps me from getting a proper rest.

8:46: Dave, Shrinebuilder’s tour manager, checks in. He has been trying to get over to Europe and make it in time for Roadburn. By now the Melvins’ travel agent is doing everything possible to get flights, too, but it doesn’t look good.

From this point on we are in touch by phone every two hours. It’s so weird, flights seem to be opening and closing every hour. There is a glimmer of hope that Frankfurt might still be a possibility, and maybe Madrid or Rome, too. At some point during the night we even discussed perhaps being able to pick up the band in one of these cities, but the likelihood of pulling that off is quickly fading.

As the day wears on, all signs point to Shrinebuilder ending up stuck in New York. It’s a major disappointment for the band, and for all of us at Roadburn, too, staff and ‘burners alike.

11:07: No! Candlemass has to cancel Roadburn. The band isn’t on their way to Tilburg after all! Instead, their tour manager has been trying for hours on end to arrange proper transportation for the band only to face the fact that there are no decent vans available to rent. Too much demand and not enough supply. What is the alternative? Load the band into an old beat-up VW bus, deal with an 18 to 24 hour drive – no idea what the roads will be like – and have them arrive here only an hour before show time? No way. Insanity. It’s not rock & roll; it’s a recipe for ruining their set.

Plus, Candlemass would also have to leave the festival an hour after the show. What a mess! Everything is so fucked up! I get an e-mail from Leif Edling. He’s devastated, just like me. We have all been trying so hard to get the band to Roadburn, only to have to admit defeat. I think about Roadburn’s Richard, too, who has spent months working on a customized video show for Epicus, Doomicus, Metallicus in collaboration with Leif. This would have been the first time ever that Candlemass would have performed with an accompanying work of video art.

I track down Richard to tell him the bad news first. Then I decide to give another speech after Church of Misery.

11:15: Now we have to arrange hotel accommodation for some of the bands stuck in Tilburg with no way to get home. It’s all very confusing, but in the end Eagle Twin and all of Goatsnake and Thorr’s Hammer have rooms until Sunday. Phew!

12:00: I’m hearing that the flights for Black Math Horseman, Dixie Witch, Sourvein, House of Broken Promises and Paul Web from Outlaw Order haven’t been canceled. Is the airspace opening up?

12:15: I call James from Altar of Plagues and ask him to play the Green Room instead of the Bat Cave, and perform White Tomb at 18:00. James is barely awake when I tell him all this. Luckily the band agrees.  To be honest I have no recollection whether we managed to properly communicate this change.

12:30: Eagle Twin will do a second set at Roadburn and replace Altar of Plagues up in the Bat Cave. Tom G Warrior doesn’t know the band, but he is very understanding and wants the entire festival to be a success. It’s amazing to collaborate with Tom, and his manager Antje. Both of them are trying to help out as much as possible, just like Enslaved’s manage, Tonje.

13:00: The good news is that Sarke and Trinacria are on their way. Unfortunately, they won’t be here until 17:00 or even 17:30 at the earliest. Stress!!! Once again, we have to change the running order.
Maybe Thorr’s Hammer will have to switch with Trinacria? Or maybe we should have Dream of An Opium Eater as the second band? Thorr’s Hammer on second? Help! What to do? We call an impromptu meeting with all of the bands involved. Man, this is so nerve-wracking. I’ve been up for almost 36 hours. I’m trying to keep it together but I have to admit it’s getting harder by the minute. It’s getting harder to focus. It’s hard remembering exactly what happened as I sit here trying to write about it. “Only Death is Real,” but this whole volcano thing is positively surreal!

Ultimately, we decide to have Church of Misery start at 16:30 and see where it goes since it’s impossible to know exactly when Trinacria and Sarke will arrive. The running order for the Main Stage is now pretty chaotic. Looking back, it was the best that we could do. We try to communicate the changes in the timetable as quickly and effectively as possible, relying on Twitter and quickly printing up inserts for the festival booklet.

The entire afternoon is spent working in the production office. After the umpteenth meeting in an attempt to keep an overview of the events, we learn that The Gates of Slumber, too, have been sidelined. Will Palmer from Rise Above Records kindly informs me that Witchcraft would be happy to replace The Gates of Slumber in the Green Room, but they would need to rehearse. They haven’t played with Jens, their former drummer (now in Troubled Horse) for ages. A rehearsal room is sorted within minutes. Later on Saturday, we even manage to get guitars and fx for Magnus. It’s the little victories that count!

Now I’m asking Holland’s very own Mother Unit (think 35007 meets Motorpsycho) to replace Yakuza. This is a new band that includes Bertus, former guitarist for 35007. They agree and even though it is only their second ever gig they do a good job.

17:30: Time to give another speech. I’m positively dreading getting up on that stage. I have to tell everyone that Candlemass, Shrinebuilder, The Gates of Slumber and Yakuza won’t make it, and that we have no news at the moment about Black Math Horseman. Shit!!! The looks on so many faces speak volumes. It’s a virtual sea of disappointment. I leave the stage in tears. This is not how I had imagined Roadburn 2010.

17:40: Actually I’m only guessing what time it was when Trinacria arrives. I’m a zombie. But they are here just in time for their performance. They started getting ready on the bus while Enslaved prepared their dressing room. Unfortunately, due to all of the scheduling chaos there are not many people in the hall when they start, but it doesn’t prevent the band from delivering a stellar performance from beginning to end.

23:00: I abandon my production duties and watch the entire Triptykon set. Tom G Warrior’s new band is massive and deliver BIG TIME!!!!

02:00: Time to crash in my hotel room, knowing that I still have to find replacements for Shrinebuilder and Candlemass…

Continue reading: Roadburn-versus-the-volcano-or-how-i-tried-to-beat-eyjafjallajokull-and-almost-lost-my-mind-pt-III

Tags: Roadburn, roadburn 2010, Roadburn Festival, Roadburn Festival 2010

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 2:37 pm and is filed under 2010, Festival News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.