TICKETS & MEMORIES

Yesterday I went to visit my mom and in my old bedroom I found all these old concert tickets! Wowww; did they bring back a lot of memories! Like snapshots from a certain period, a certain album, things that happened before, during or after these concerts. Here are some things that I remember about these concerts:

Dweezil Zappa: That was a special evening! Dweezil was in Holland with his younger brother Achmed. I saw them play a month earlier on Dynamo Open Air. Before the gig I was fortunate to talk with both of them..I guess Achmed was still around 17 or 18 years old during that time. The thing that stands out in my mind is that they played a medley of around 120 songs in 45 minutes!! They played a small part of it on Dynamo, but in Tivoli they played the whole thing..amazing!! Everytime you recognized a song they switched to the next one..virtuoso, just like their father!

Faith No More/L7: I was totally into Faith No More at that time (and still am!!). They just released Angel Dust and this was the first gig in support of that album, just before they really hit it big! The grunge girls from L7 were supposed to support them that tour and just had a "hit" with Pretend we're Dead. So..when the lights went off we heard a male voice say: "Cheers..we are Napalm Death from Birmingham" and instead of grunge we got some grindcore hahaha.

Soundgarden: Right time..right place. They just released Badmotorfinger and were on the verge of their breakthrough. Outside the venue, tickets were on sale for about 200 guilders.

Candlemass/King Diamond: What else can a headbanger wish for?! I was fan of both bands, so that was an awesome evening! Candlemass was awesome with Messiah doomdancing, a lot of candles onstage. Speaking of the stage; imagine looking at a complete graveyard with a castle behind it! Spectacular show from the King, reaching all the high notes. What I remember most is that at the end of the gig he was lying in a coffin...and dissapeared completely!

Anthrax/Iron Maiden: Great double bill also..don't remember much from that evening, except that Maiden was supporting the not so great No Prayer For The Dying album..but maybe somebody can help me out here?

Heathen/Sacred Reich/Sepultura: The only thing I remember is the huge dissapointment when we arrived at Noorderligt that Sacred Reich cancelled the show due to Phil Rind being ill..damn!!

Acid Reign/Dark Angel/Nuclear Assault: What I remember: drummer Gene Hoglan of Dark Angel sitting on 2 chairs downstairs in the foyer and their great gig. Acid Reign being a crap band. And of course; Nuclear Assault playing a very bad show like they always do live!

Mind Over Four/M.O.D.: I found this ticket and thought: Holy cow!! Did I see this gig?! I most certainly did..and remember nothing of it hahaha.

Suicidal Tendencies/Anthrax: I remember this day quite well. There were a lot of Suicidal fans, dressed in these typical Venice-style pants and with bandanas and caps with Suicidal on it. Suicidal played for 45 minutes and after the gig..they all left! That's hardcore right there for ya! Anthrax was touring their State of Euphoria album and that was the last time they drew 5,000 people on their own.

Monsters of Rock 1991 (Black Crowes/Queensryche/Metallica/AC/DC): Yeah..this was a great day. It was the 2nd time we had the Monsters of Rock tour in Holland. Together with 35.000 headbangers at Goffert Park, Nijmegen. I didn't like the Black Crowes (years later I did) but we were there for Queensryche. They just released Empire and were at their peak at that time. Metallica were great also supporting the Black Album. The thing was: we didn't know what to make of that album..yet. We were hardcore Metallica fans and it felt a bit like betrayal. Great show though! I think we only saw half of AC/DC because we had to catch the train.

Aardschokdag 1989 (Wolfsbane/Leatherwolf/House of Lords/Vengeance/Flotsam & Jetsam/Queensryche): One of the greatest days of my life concerning concerts! Leatherwolf was awesome..watching in awe at their "three axe attack". Very proud of course at watching our very own Vengeance who had just released the awesome Arabia album. I remember singer Leon Goewie falling so hard on stage that he made a flipover. Flotsam & Jetsam were skullcrushing..supporting No Place for Disgrace and I remember I was headbanging for 50 minutes straight! The best was yet to come..Queensrche conquered Holland once again. We loved them! Playing Operation Mindcrime back to back (except for Suite Sister Mary) and a perfect sound it was a party I will never forget!