Friday March 8th 2002 - Bobfest

I really had my sleep out! I awoke at 10:30 AM, not being the last one! (who came last, I leave as an open question J). Those of us who woke up first, had laid the table for breakfast, but they decided to wait for the others to wake. While waking up, the battle begins who's in the shower first and thus breakfast is delayed a little longer.

The start of the afternoon is just as relaxed as the morning. There's a lot of music coming from the ghettoblaster, mostly black metal (whuha!). Lots of sun and thus fine weather to go for a walk. We go into the evil Swedish woods. Some places are so virgin that you feel like you will never meet anyone else. The spot on the photo above made me think of a sacrificial altar for all sorts of dark, nocturnal rituals. So, don't come near the place between 0:00 and 6:00 AM ;).

At 3:00 PM we go to Linköping, where the Bobfest is held. In a church we have to register. The doors are opening at 4:00 PM. As it's about half an hour from our place, we arrive on time. Looking back we were quite early as 4:00 PM means 4:30 PM in Sweden. No one seems to be in a hurry, so, as they weren't ready with preparations at four, the doors didn't open. It's as simple as that!

The pay desk consists of two rows: One to pay and the other one to get your wristlet. The strange thing is that the people who hand out wristlets don't ask for proof that you paid. So, you could've gotten a wristlet without paying... *evil grin*. The wristlets are a story apart. It's a ribbon encircling your wrist. And a metal cylinder through which both ends of the ribbon are pulled. A girl then pinches the cylinder tight. You see, the Swedish know how to do it. This way you get into the mood for a metal festival J.

And then the funniest thing of all... During the entire festival no one from the organization checked whether I had a wristlet. I have this feeling that there are still quite some people in Sweden who are honest and that honesty is expected. For some reason I feel people have respect for someone else's stuff. Something we don't have in The Netherlands, generally spoken.

After registering there's some time left. Time to see a bit of the city. We haven't eaten yet, so we want to abuse the Burger King for it. Before doing so, we all need to get a hold of money as the barter still happens with Kronen here. Very confusing when you consider that we Dutchmen still think in Guilders while we have euros and then we need to calculate how much a Kroon is.

At the Burger King we order our menu, including mayonnaise for the chips. Immediately they ask us if we are Dutchmen! It seems only Dutchmen want mayonnaise with their chips. Last year the mayonnaise was free as they hardly could get rid of it. Now it costs money. The ketchup is in the centre of the restaurant and can be used unlimitedly.

It's almost 7:00 PM as we split up. The FD people go to Skylten, the music café where the concerts take place. They are going to set up the FD booth. The others go back to the church where the first meeting of the Bobfest takes place. This meeting is sort of a huge revival service with mostly metal people in black clothing. The service is in Swedish and Daniel (organizer of the Bobfest) translates it into English. Then pastor Bob Beeman speaks about the greatness of God. He makes me think of Larry Norman. A sort of person who was bashed by all sorts of Christian organizations/groups but who got closer to God through it. To my idea he seems to be a man with a pastoral heart.

After the service we go to Skylten. It's not yet opened for the public but as we are part of the FD crew we are allowed to get in. That's great as we can check out the other booths already and buy some nice things even. So I am proud to say that I'm the first to buy the videotape “Power from the sky” from Christian Liljegren, the singer for Narnia/Wisdom Call. He congratulates me and even shakes hands with me J. Not that I'm such a Narnia fan, contrary (and I also washed that hand quite some times since...), but it's just fun that the artists from the Bobfest are walking around among the public and you can speak to them in a relaxed atmosphere. But, if you get a hand from me in the future, realize that Christian Liljegren shook that hand as well! *hahahahahahaha* J

Skylten consists of two rooms (for the visitors): One room that has the stage and a table for the artists, and a room that has the bar (without alcohol), corners to sit and CD booths.

This night there will be three bands. I'm not very good at describing their music technically, so I won't try doing that. The first band leaves the biggest impression on me. I don't know their name anymore, but they are a trio and their singer is only fifteen. They throw out a couple of cool guitar riffs and his voice could become a nice grunt after some practising. Great!

The second band is Veni Domine, a band in the vein of Seventh Avenue, but than less interesting, I think. The singer is forcing his throat in a way that can't be considered normal. Even irritating. I don't mind as I'm occupied with making photos. And as you can't hear music on a photograph... Let them play then, those guys! Someone else might think they are definitely okay though.

The third band is Oblivion. A bunch of guys in ugly white shirts that play music of a kind that should be played as tight as possible. They don't do so... Forget it.

As it comes to the crowd, it's quite busy. According to the tickets sales they are expecting 400 people. As it's Saturday tomorrow with more well known bands on stage, I wonder if it's going to be busier than this. Even now the hall is too small. At the stage you can't positively walk around. And as I'm not into the bands I don't even try to. The funny thing is that in between shows the whole crowd moves from hall to the bar and when another show starts it moves back.

A nice incident that I remember of this night is that I met Phil/Nordic Metalhead. A guy from America that I'm in touch with every now and then through the Christian Gothic forum.

At around 1:30AM the first night ends. The FD people decide to cover up their booth and hope that nothing will be stolen. At 2:00 we are back home. As there was no beer in Skylten, we open the fridge to pick up the Grolsch and wine we brought with us. A nice time starts J. Snacks (and even stroopwafels) appear on (and later on even underneath) the table. It's quite a fight to find out who gets what bag but there are no casualties (nothing is weird enough when there's a metal vibe, right?).

Not that we get drunk, but we get loose. Some start to speak Dutch with a Swedish accent. All o's are pronounced as ř’s. It's impossible to explain this in a report like this but fact is that we turned in at 4:00 AM so it must have been a great night, as far as we can remember. ;)

Saturday March 9th 2002 – Bobfest

I really had my sleep out again! I got out of bed around 12:00 AM. I'm among the first. COFFEE! As the dishes are still there from last night, we have to do them first because we don't have that much dinner service.

Slowly the whole house wakes up. There are fights to get to the shower. Prem is doing things a bit smarter. At the park there's a swimming pool that you can use for free. I saw Prem going that way for a dive twice. It appears to be cold, but great. I know enough... I wait till the shower is free. ;)

During breakfast we listen to some demo CD's that the people from FD brought with them last night that they got from all kinds of starting bands. The opinions differ from "nice", "not bad for a starting band", "it's nothing", "TOTALLY CRAP!" to "they play in the wrong kind of band".

After lunch a group visits the city. Another group, including me, go to the supermarket. Quite expensive! Alcohol, snacks and even normal bread are almost impossible to pay for a poor Dutchmen. Whether the Swedish have different habits as consumers I don't know, but we are happy to have so many stuff with us from The Netherlands. Nevertheless, we have to get a couple of cans of "Falcon" beer. Obviously. Mark (from the band Slechtvalk, named after the peregrine falcon) takes care of the cans and this task fits him well.

At home we split up once again. The FD people go to Skylten to "network" with the other labels present, and we stay at home where Mariëlle makes some super nasi (Indonsian dish).

At 6:00 PM we go to Skylten too. Debora and Daniëlle dressed themselves today in clothing that will make Maxima (the wife of the Dutch crown prince) go pale in her wedding dress. But unfortunately, Alex (the crown prince...) is too late to alter his opinion ;). Arrived at Skylten it promises to be a cool event. The FD people heard Immortal Souls' soundcheck and that sounded great (they say).

The first band starts. I don't know the name of this one either, but I'm not ashamed of it. The first song is without singer and it sounds quite well. Sort of a mix of heavy rock with jazz. Great musicians. Then the singer joins. Ouch! Let me say he probably didn't hear himself through the monitor, as it sounds terribly false. It should sound nice, for his face seems to indicate that he's happy with it. Then the guitarist gets rock star manners. Forget it!

The second band: Immortal Souls. Yes, I've been waiting for this. And they don't disappoint! They are guys of the sort: Don't talk, play! They have fun doing it. On CD they sound great and the live show doesn't let down.

The Scandinavian public is a bit cool and reserved. Now I understand why the foreign bands think we're such a great crowd. We don't make a fuss but go crazy! But with IS the rest of the crowd gets loose a bit. Especially the hair and there's even a moshpit for a while. That's something they don't know very well for as Mario (a die hard Mosher) joins while kicking and hitting, the bystanders get frightened a bit. But even then there are no casualties so it isn't that bad at all.

The third band: Sanctifica. According to many this is going to be a disappointing show. Their new material isn't black metal anymore and their new shirts look all quite sweet. But fortunately they still play some old material. It sounds fat with a ruling witch like shriek like we may expect from the singer. Their new material is indeed not as interesting if you're used to the old stuff. Nice for the connoisseur but it doesn't impress me.

The fourth band: Seventh Avenue. Nice band, especially for those of us who saw them on the Fear Dark festival in Ede, Holland, on March 2nd. To me it's almost the same show. Fine show, nice atmosphere and playing with the crowd. Cosy. It's not quite my taste, I mean, I wouldn't invite them to my wedding, but that doesn't take anything away.

Fifth band: Extol! Wow, they rule! On CD they sound tight and that's obvious as you have all means in the studio to make the sound perfect. But live now! Just as tight! I'm very glad I'm here to see them live for the first time. I still don't understand why they aren't the last band on the Bobfest.

Sixth and last band: Selfmindead. Great band. And for the people who like this it's  also fun listening to. It's not my thing but there's no discussion possible: They have quality and do a great and tight show. The reason they are ending the Bobfest seems to be the fact that they are bigger in Sweden than Extol. Weird guys, those Swedish folks ;).

The crowd was interesting this night too. A lot more people than yesterday and even they fit in. Pilgrim, the singer for Crimson Moonlight, walks around in a coat of mail and with a horn. His wife Ronja looks like a princes/fairy. I'm impressed even more when I hear that she made it all by herself. I refer to my photo collection at:   www.xs4all.nl/~andrebor.

When the crowd has left we start dismantling the booth. A lot of hands make the work light and thus it's done in no time at all. We're on our way back to our shelter! We all like a beer now! At home we open the bottle of blood wine and beer and for a while we stay together talking sense and non-sense.

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Read part III of the Bobfest report, click here!

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A whole bunch of photos can be found on the photo page of André J.C. Bor.

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