We flew from Belgium (Charleroi) to Girona, a city about 50 miles from Barcelona, and a one hr busride took us there. Then we had to find the bus to Lleida, what worked out fine,(even though "Lleida" is Catalan, and called Lérida in Spanish, a bit confusing) it was only 2 hrs from Barcelona. Between the two rides we had even time to see the Sagrada Familia (the big Gaudi church) from close!
The busride to Lleida was special. First, when we left Barcelona, more Gaudi alert, we passed the brilliant Casa Battlo. Ow. I allmost forgot we were on our way to the Bottle Rockets. Later the busdriver nearly crashed on a car, hit the breaks just in time, what resulted in airborn bags, laptops, books and clothes, no one got hurt though.
Just outside Barcelona it was a bit deserty and dry, and we saw half dried up rivers, lots of yellow rocks and such. To Lleida it first changed into the freakiest landscapes you can imagine, then hills, mountains, green hills that looked a bit like Ireland,(with bits of snow everywhere!) and then green "flat" landscape with a few hills in the middle.
Just outside Lleida there was a fantastic view on a big old church on a hill with a big bell tower.
First we were a bit scared that the bus would maybe drop us on a parking place outside the city, but it took us all the way to the downtown busstation and we got out.
We made it!!
Now, how to get to the venue. The busstation looked a bit creepy and when we walked out, we noticed that there was almost no-one on the street, and all the shops and buildings were closed and had big iron fences down. It was not love at first sight!!
It was also cold, I had a big headache and was very tired, and we couldn’t find any streetplans, so we were forced to show the address of the place to the first person we saw.
That was a friendly woman that didn’t speak English, but she was able to point out exactly where we had to go!
It wasn’t far, and we walked through the empty town, I swear we expected tumble weeds come rolling down the streets!
We didn’t feel comfortable at all, but found the theatre, inspected it, it was closed, it had SEATS, AAAARGHH!!!!! inspected it another time, and wondered what to do.
If this would have been Fogerty, we would just sit there to be the first in, and do a nap, but it wasn’t, and we walked away, towards the big church on the hill and/or restaurants/shops/anything!
By then, we slowly started to worry about the hotel we booked. We always book F1, they are very cheap, very good if you only want to sleep, but they are always located outside the city, mostly along the highway. Like this one, that was 5 miles away from the town. We had to take a cab there tonight, and back to the busstation tomorrow. Point was, that you get in there with using your creditcard, there is no one there at night, and sometimes not even in the morning. So what if the creditcard didnt work? We had that happen before, but then we could sleep in the car. What if there was no one to call a cab for us in the morning? It was quietly worrying me.
Robert was annoyed by the money we had to spend to get to a “cheap” hotel, by cab, and by the fact that we couldn’t go no where until the show, that we had to change clothes in the bathroom of the club and that we had to “drag” our backpacks with us.
We clearly didn’t think about it, but everything had to go so quickly when we booked the trip, we didn’t think about anything actually
We found the shoppingstreet, and we went there cos there were some people walking around. To my surprise, shops were being OPENED, and then Roberts coin dropped: everyone had been holding siesta!!! That’s why no one was on the streets and everything looked so creepy!
We even found some posters for the concert!
We found the tourist office and went in for a map and the very friendly girl started chatting with us, and in the end asked why we were there. Robert told it was to see a concert, and instead of going “ehhh, ok” she smiled and said “Bottle Rockets?”
Yeah! It was the only thing going on in the town that day.
Then we walked to the church on the hill, that was really quite a climb!! A bit too much for my exhausted body, but at least we had something to do.
On top of the mountain there was a view on the city and the surrounding area. It looked like Lleida was located in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and we couldn’t help singing “Oh lord, Stuck in Lleida again!” Especially the fog made it look like the world was going to end there.
We spent quite some time there and went back to the theatre, cos we hoped to bump into the band, cos we wanted to ask if they would let us see the soundcheck. Down the hill in the shoppingstreet again, we couldn’t believe our eyes!
The streets were filled with people, so were the shops, and the little cafes and bars, and everywhere you looked, there were people!!
Back at the theatre the first thing we saw was… the bandbus, in front of the door. We missed them!!!
We were bummed, and peeked in, and yeah, there they were, doing stuff on and in front of the stage.
Then, we tried the door, and it was open, so we walked in, stood in the hallway and looked at the band.
Robert tried to convince me to try the next door and walk in, but I really didn’t dare too!!!
Last thing I wanted was being kicked out!
So, Robert tried the door, and it was opened, so, well, we walked in and watched what they were doing.
John and Mark were onstage and Brian and Keith were sitting, and Keith, who was facing the door, was the first who saw us, and he had to laugh. Then Brian looked over his shoulder, and laughed too.
Keith said “come in!” but we felt a bit uncomfy, so Brian stood up and walked to us with a big grin on his face and said “so, I guess you missed the plane in Madrid, and then decided to walk here?”
Then Keith came to us too and said hi and I saw John onstage bending over so much he almost tipped over, to see what was going on, and his face just said
“HUH?!”
Mark and he came to us too and everyone thought it was really funny and we had to explain and I told what happened, that this was my b-day present from Robert, they went “ahh, that’s nice” and then I said “But my b-day is in june” and they almost lost it!! Then when I added that it all started when Robert woke up singing Love Like a Truck on Thursday, esp Brian almost went down laughing.
They asked about his kidneys and Robert told the doctor said everything was fine, and I was happy that they were so happy to see us!
We were chatting with them until Inigo (sp?) chased them onstage, and I carefully asked if we had to go, but they said we had to take a seat, so we did.
Wow, Bottle Rockets soundcheck!!
I kept pen and paper ready, left all my cameras in my bag (I am drilled by Fogerty) but before we knew it, it was over!
They played a bit, Brian went “Perfecto!” played another bit, a bit here, a bit there, and within 15 mins it was done!
We just had to smile and give them thumbs up!
The band came to tell us they went to the hotel, and we went to eat somewhere.
There were several restaurants, we almost took the first one, because it had a menu with pictures, so we could point out what we wanted, but decided to walk a bit further, saw some more restaurants, and then Robert spotted one that said “Pizzeria” and the menu in the window said they had salads, so we went in.
It was a typical local restaurant, no one spoke one word English, no English menus, but the people were very friendly and for some reason, we were able to understand eachother, and got exactly what we wanted.
Slowly the restaurant filled up with locals, we were sitting near the door, enjoyed the food and took it really easy, cos we had no where to go until 10 anyway.
Only thing that went wrong was our order for coffee, they gave us two tiny and superstrong espressos!!!
We just finished them, when I saw another group of people on the street coming to the door, and then my jaw hit the floor.
Robert later said my face was worth a million pictures, because who came in? The band!!!!
Of ALL the restaurants, we had picked out the one where they had a reservation made!!!
Both them and us couldn’t believe it and we made jokes and laughed while they waited to be seated (well, they did, I was just stunned)
I went to change clothes, do my hair and whatever, at the bathroom of the restaurant, and when I came back, Robert told me he about his plan to look for a hotel downtown, forget about our far away F1, and forget about all the hassle!
On the map we got at the tourist info, there were two hotels near the venue, and we decided to try them first.
The first one we saw looked very posh, and it said “4 stars” and I thought “no way” but we went in anyway.
We were extremely surprised when the man offered us a room for way less then what we wanted to pay maximum!!
Still cant believe it!
Superhappy we went to our room, and got more happy when we saw it, we’re not used to such posh rooms! It was nothing with golden ornaments or anything, but it was just reaaaaaly far away from our standard hotels. (and that’s why we are able to go everywhere to see bands, because we always take the cheapest hotels)
The bathroom was made in green marble with a lot of glass, had extra bathroom goodies (very handy cos I forgot my toothbrush) and towels that fitted twice around both Robert and me
It was everything that the F1 is NOT, with their yucky showers that everyone has to share!So, we emptied our bags, cleaned ourselves up, and relaxed and enjoyed the room for awhile. I think the only things we said were
“honey, this is the best idea you’ve had in ages”
“honey, this is the best idea I’ve had in ages”
Completely happy we went to the club.
We walked out of the hotel and bumped in to, you guessed it, THE BAND!!!
Everyone started laughing and we couldn’t believe it!!!!
Brian said we were the lousiest spies he ever saw hahahaha.
I think they were waiting for Inigo who went in, and we stood there chatting for a while, first thing I said was
“so tomorrow you will go back to Bilboa?”
I think they said “yeah” but Robert said
“you said BILBOA. Its Bilbao. BILBOA is a snake”
And THANK YOU!!!!
Again everyone started laughing and Mark said “Bilboa-constructor!”
From that moment, till we said goodbye the next day, they kept on reminding me to it with all kinds of variations like Billy-Boa and Bolbilla and whatever what. If a band has to make fun of me, then let it at least be the Bottle Rockets LOL
We went to the venue, had a nice chat and half the band tried to kill themselves with a try to jaywalk, but we were able to convince themselves to use the zebracrossing.
Mark asked if it wasn’t about time now I got a BRox tattoo on my left arm (cos I have a Fogerty tattoo on my right arm) and I said I had been thinking about it and “if you had a really cool logo…”
Inside the club, there were already people, who sat down at the table and hung at the bar. Uh oh!
John stayed talking to us and when I went to get a drink, it took me quite a while to convince the barman that *I* was not in the band (he saw us with John), and that I wanted to pay for my drinks! In the end, I only had to pay for the beer. Thanks!
We talked to Inigo for a while, I don’t think the band could have been more lucky to have him!!
There were only Zoysia cds left and shirts, we hoped to buy another Lean Forward and we later told Mark that we absolutely didn’t want to buy “more Zoysias” cos we already had two, no matter how he kept on pushing us to buy a bunch
and then we started making up things you can do with 10 Zoysia discs. You can use them as xmas tree ornaments for example! Or coasters!And no, we don’t need one to play in every room
We discussed where to stand, as there was a big empty space in front of the stage.
I wanted to stand in front of Johns or Brians amp, and Robert didn’t.
We creeped up a bit and when the band came onstage, we just stepped right in front of them, and the people at the bar followed us, so that was good, though they stayed behind us.
First part of the show was directly different than the atmosphere in Burgos and Madrid. The sound wasn’t as good, and there were not as much people, and they were a bit quiet too.
Band was a bit quiet too, in a way. Not that strange after 8 gigs in a row!
We just watched and sang along and took the time to take pictures, there was enough space to walk around so everyone was on it this time, and we thought “well, its just going to be one of those shows” Nothing bad, but just relaxed.
I was very pleasantly surprised about Better than Broken!!! My favourite Zoysia song!
I tried to film it, I had bought a little tripod shortly before we left, and I didn’t know how to work with that yet, so it didn’t work, and it looked very silly. Also I had to point it up completely to be able to film Brian, and it looked like I was shooting the ceiling with it. (actually the whole thing looked like an alien from War of the worlds or something)
There was also a local filmcrew there, from the local news I believe, with a real camera, that taped at least the first 3 songs!!!
Would be very nice to have that!!
Somewhere in the first part of the show, Brian all of a sudden went “Happy Birthday Petra!” in the mike with the biggest smile ever.
I said “um, thanks” and wondered if they didn’t get that I was NOT having my b-day, until he said something about Xmas in july.
In the soundcheck they already did Happy Anniversary… one of the songs I hoped they wouldn’t do, but again I liked it better when I heard it.
Allthough the audience wasn’t going crazy, it was clear they were fans, I could hear everyone behind me sing along.
Slowly I was getting more and more into the show. Just stood there swinging and enjoying and singing, and being happy that it all worked out and we ended up where we wanted to be!
Roberts favourite song is Gimme Room, and he forced me to listen to Keith during it, and got annoyed when I didn’t LOL
Then, Gravity Fails, still my favourite I think, couldn’t stand still longer and started dancing, no matter what people might think of my dancing (I cant dance)
THEN, just before Love like a Truck, Brian started with the happy b-day wishes again, told a story we couldn’t hear (we couldn’t hear him very well) but said something about how it all started with this song (because Robert woke up singing it) and after they played it, they went “happy b-day!!” again!
By then I was shouting back “knock it off!!!!” cos all the people around me were looking at me going “awww!”
Anyway, I just did my dance on LLT, completely happy, and there I started noticing that the other fans around me were getting more into it too. Next to us were a boy and a girl going crazy all the time, behind me two guys, on the other side several people….!!
Radar Gun was maybe the moment I picked up my airguitar. Robert had to laugh but I just had to.
During Indy, the boy and the girl standing next to us asked a paper from my notebook and my pen. I thought they wanted to give their email adres for the pictures, but she wrote something down, folded up the paper and threw it onstage! Towards Mark, that looked a bit weird!!
She asked another paper, wrote something down, and showed that one to John I think or just put it in front of Brian.
I looked what was on it: a request for Alone in Bad company!!!
I almost felt down on my knees for them, that was one of the songs I wanted to shout for during the encore, but I never ever thought about writing it down!
How smart!
Then things went really fast. They picked up the papers, read it, Brian went like “hm, I wanna do this one, and Keith wants to do that one, lets see what will happen if we play them together at the same time!” and launched in to Bad Company!!!
Just like that!! That was the spark that made the show ignite. Everyone went crazy!!!!!
I couldn’t do more than join the others and dance my ass off, play airguitar (I usually don’t do that
and go bazurk!!!The two men behind us were discussing something and I could only understand “She’s about a mover?” but then after Bad Company in a quiet moment, they went “tres, dos, uno… SHES ABOUT A MOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I think the band just went “okidoki!” and there it was. I had never ever seen something like that!!
Everyone was dancing and going crazy, fists in the air, airguitars!!
Then a moment to calm down with Welfare music, and another attempt to try my out-of-space film camera. Failed! But what the heck.
They left the stage after Long Way, with me going crazy, and we yelled them back for the encore.
Oh, no guitarwhipping after LW, and I stood there with my camera ready, I even pushed people away to get the best position, but nothing happened.
First song was Mendocino!! I thought I just couldn’t get more happy then that. WOW!! Second song from Songs of Sahm!
Robert tried to yell for Nitty Gritty, but I am glad they didn’t hear that, that would have been too much of a party.
Then, in a silent moment I screamed “TRAILER MAMA!!!!!!!!” and, after yelling for sooooo many songs for soooo many times, that never worked, I almost fainted when Brian went “ok! Happy Birthday, Petra!” and there it was!
The whole room was on its feet going nuts and I was leading them, jumping up and down and in circles and other things that could cause me an heartattack.
Straight after that, a blazing Take me to the bank was there, and we got Call me the Breeze to finish with.
This must be my favorite one!!!!
I dont know what these white bubbles around Marks head are, nor who's butt that is on the right, but I just love this picture
We tried to yell them back after that, but no use. The fans were looking at eachother going “WOW!” and we waited for the band to get in the crowd.
They didn’t really do that, (cleaning up the stage first) and a lot of people went to buy a shirt and left, but there were still a lot of people walking around with a sharpie and multiple cd or record covers.
We had the superfab “ghost” picture to sign, and one for Cristina too, and that worked out just extremely funny!!
We stuck around for a while, watching the band with fans, I just love that, and ALL THE TIME, people came to me to wish me a happy b-day!!!!
The first time I went “ehm, thanks but that was a joke” but they kept on coming, so I just went “thanks!” some people even asked how old I was etc
, it was WEIRD!!!!
Me and Mark, I have a picture with the whole band too, from Burgos, but Brian made me laugh so hard I look superidiot. Still a very good pic, but not for sharing. Its my desktop picture and I start laughing everytime I start my computer. Note to self: keep your mouth shut if you have your picture taken with Mark.
The band also kept going on with “but as its your birthday” etc and I got Marks setlist and he went “there you go, Happy Birthday!”
Much later I finally realized that I could turn it against them and went “And as its my Birthday, I can ask for anything I want!” but I forgot what that was about.
It was about 12, we were tired, and half the band was gone, and we went to say goodbye to Keith and Mark. I got on my coat and backpack, we went to them to say goodbye and the next moment we were having the silliest conversation ever, and the next moment it was 2 o clock. And then, the next moment, 3 o clock.
Goodness, I really cant remember the last time I laughed so much, acted like a 12 year old so much, or had such long conversations about…. Well, I don’t mind telling you, but I am not sure about Keith and Mark
I never expected that THEY could do so silly either!!!
It all started when they asked me “so, what does Voegele mean?” yeah right…. MEN!!!!
Well we weren’t being silly all the time. And although THEY started, I sure made things worse when I gave a good example about Roberts pokerface.
At one point I had to laugh so loud I had to hold my cheeks cos they were hurting!!
Ofcourse we were not only talking about silly things, in fact we had some very nice conversations too, we talked a lot about music and bands.
Keith is very good in showing where he talks about, and that made even unfunny stories very funny. I had to apologize several times for laughing!
I don’t know how we got to that, but he told about one time they played the Borderline in London and it was so hot, they all took their shirts off!
He kept on asking “are you sure you weren’t there?”
As if I would forget something like that!!!! Omg, hahahaha.
He said it all seemed like a good idea until they saw the pictures later. Hm!
Mark told Keith I didn’t like their new logo, what is not true!!! I just don’t want it tattooed on my arm! They ignored what I said and went “design a girly shirt yourself then!” and after talking with Keith about a certain very hot show of them at the Borderline in London, I have a good idea LOL.
(oh, and what about “the second best band on the planet” ??)
I had a little poster of the evening, and when Mark went to get one he was really bummed that they were all gone, and I wanted to give him mine, but he didn’t wanna take it, no matter how I insisted. Then Keith asked it and he got it!
Anyway, it was getting later and later and I was getting more and more silly, I didn’t know that only looking at booze drinking people has an effect on you too. No, I was just very tired and very high on rocknroll. At the end I couldn’t even talk straight anymore! Sorry for spitting in your ears, guys.
They kept on showing their appreciation and that was very cool and sweet. Oh yeah, we love you too!
At 3 in the night we decided it was about time to go “home” and we walked to the hotel together.
We got two more hugs, said goodbye and went to our room.
I passed out as soon as my head touched my pillow!
Woke up really early though, and spend time about wondering what to do, as they told us they were leaving at nine.
I wanted to wave them goodbye, but on the other hand, I didn’t wanna ruin the memory of the funny night. You never know what they’ll look like early in the morning!!
Just when I decided I would stay in bed, I noticed it was 08.55 and I got up, dressed and got downstairs with my just out of bed-head.
I found John and Inigo at breakfast, had a short talk and they said the others would be there in a moment, so I went back up again to look in the mirror, aaargh!! Sprayed some deodorant on me and went back. I just saw Brian walking out, I was just in time!!
I said goodbye to them, more hugs, (the best hugging band on the planet for sure!) and went back upstairs.
When I opened the window to look down, they were gone.
Robert asked how I felt, and I felt surprisingly good!
Still! There is a little empty spot in my heart, but I am glad I went downstairs to wave them goodbye, it was a good closure.
It was two completely crazy weekends, I wouldn’t mind going back to see them next weekend too if they would be in Europe, but they’re not, and its ok, I am pretty sure they will come back.
Every goodbye is the birth of a memory!!
