Sara Hammerzmith

So, minitour. At 4 in the morning I left my place at home in Karlstad and drove all across the country (well…) to the airport. Yes, I know. Me. Driving. Truth is, I couldn’t really find a bus that would allow me to get on the plane in time, hence, this happening. I normally prefer to go by public transit otherwise, because you know, then it ain’t my problem.

Got to the airport in pretty good time, you know, around an hour or so before the plane was gonna leave – my style you know. The ride was quite uneventful, some stupid people refusing to listen to the cabin crew – if you so dearly wanted to sit together, then perhaps you should have pre-booked your seats. Idiots.

Landed in Brussels, took the train toward Antwerpen pretty instantly, because really, what is the point at staying here? Brussels is all nice and cool, but mayhaps another time. Once on the train I felt content, scared, and a bit excited. It’s the normal mixture of emotions you always get when going some place new.

Now, I’ve been in Antwerpen once before, but I was driven here by someone, and we were only here for the show. And well, I was only here for the show as well, but this time I had to you know, find my way to a hotel and everything.

It was quite easy to find, which made me really happy. What I didn’t realize is that I had managed to end up in the highly orhtodox Jew neighbourhood of Antwerpen, which was quite interesting to see. To see the differencies from different part of the city, and to discover their culture a bit.

For this stay, I had chosen Ambassador Suites Antwerp, and since I decided quite last minute, I got a big room. A room to fit four people. The kind of room we’d need for a Lordivacation, to be more exact.

Got ready in the room, and then I awaited Sjorvens arrival to have some dinner, and then head off to the show. I had decided, and yes, you will all hate me for this – to skip out on the supportbands and head straight for Epica, as this gig was really more of a “oh they are playing here so lets just go” kind of thing.

Sjorven was stuck in traffic, but eventually he made it, and we made it to, the ever so usual, McDonalds for some real on tour cuisine. But, you know what they say – time runs fast when you are having fun. So we had to rush back to the hotel, to pick up my phone that I forgot, and then to walk to Trix.

And got a bit lost, or something. So we got delayed. Like, very delayed. When we finally arrived at the venue, I heard “Essance of Silence” echoing from the inside, and not only that, but my favorite part of it. Of course, right? But on the plus side – there was no queue! No line! No waiting time! We got inside just in time for the song to be over, and “Universal Death Squad” starting.

Epica

So, as I said, “Universal Death Squad” was next on the list, which was amazing. I’m still not too big of a fan of this song, but what can you do? “Ascension” followed lead, and then “Dancing in a Hurricane”, which I love so much. That song has come to grown so much on me. And not only that, but the mood it sets in the venue. I saw several people just starting to dance. I love the oriental elements to the song… seriously.

“Victims of Contingency” was next on the list, throwing us right back into “The Quantuum Enigma” era, and my personal favorite “Unchain Utopia” was next on. I still cannot decide if it’s the band that is untight, or if I’ve fallen out of synch with this band. But it’s something that is just not right when they play it, and it has been so lately.

They wrapped up the set with “Cry for the Moon”, which always makes for a huge sing along. The venue is not that big, but it felt like it was thousands of people in there, let me tell you.

The band thanked for the show, and left the stage. Coen very soon came back in, starting off as he usually does with his handheld keyboard – apparently all the other keyboards fell down, and for once, he was left with only this.

“Beyond The Matrix” was on the list, and the whole arena bounced. It’s good to see a show down on the continent, where the audiences are actually good, you know. And pyro! They wrapped up the entire set with “Consign to Oblivion”. Sjorven joined the wall of death, and then he never came out. I sort of panicked for a second. TRIX isn’t THAT big, how the hell does someone vanish like that?

After the song, the band thanked for the evening, took their mandatory picture and left the stage for good this time. I went off toward the front row to try to find Cyril which I knew would be here, and gladly, after finding him I also found Sjorven. Who had gotten me a setlist, what a precious person.

After saying all of our good byes and all, we walked home toward the hotel, which took a lot longer than it should. We were stopped on the road asking if we had cocaine, so we were like, yeah, lets just get out of here.

Eventually we made it back, I got up to my room and Sjorven went home. I packed up my stuff and prepared for the next day, as I was heading off toward Vosselaar.

// Sara

This entry was posted on October 18, 2017 at 11:56 am and is filed under Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags antwerpen, epica, trix. 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.