(^the venue)
Cynic played at Belgrade's SKC small club(~350 capacity, but only 250 tickets were printed), a venue I've played at least a dozen times. I know the people there so I hoped i'd be able to get in early for a soundcheck and to experience some of the magic before everyone else
. I was there with some friends around 5pm, some 4.5 hours before the show and headed for the concert hall. There was no one from the band there, only technicians and a few club's employees. Boxes with shirts and other merch were all around the place, and I was extremly disappointed to find out they did another printing of shirts for the eastern-European tour - cheap looking shirts with a small print of the Focus cover in blue with no dates on the back... so yes, no classic and no reunion shirt for me
.
The promoter came and politely aksed us to leave, probably because the band wanted it that way - I had no problem with the guy any other time I visited a soundcheck.
I was on my way out and just stopped by the toilets so that I could get ready for all the heavy drinking that was to follow. I opened the door and almost bumped into Paul Masvidal
. We just nodded and he went out. I didn't say one word - I froze!!
Outside it was slowly getting crowded. I've seen many faces I heaven't seen in ages, really cool to finally have a chance to hang out with all those nice people. So many guys from bands we played with sometime, so many old friends...
A couple of us headed for the parking lot, and then to a place behind the venue - which we used as a backstage a few times. BINGO - through the glass door we watched the ending of I'm But A Wave To, and then stayed there for a couple of beers we brought.
(^that should give you an idea, though you won't see much)
Now, I don't know if there's much I could say about the gig - it's hard to put that feeling into words. To the most part of the audience - and it was packed, the show was sold out - it was the best concert they attended ever! Truly THE concert to end all concerts
!
I recorded a few seconds of Paul right after he steps on stage, he appeared as calm as ever and somewhat distant during the first song but as the show progressed - he was becoming more and more open...
The only pic of Grandmaster Reinert
i could find^
They got a flag
They were really suprised by all the attention they got.
Whoa, this^ is me, holding on to the monitors
This must've been the only metal concert with audience smiling like crazy whole time
Mavis is cool... It looks like he has put some extra time in learning the leads this time...
This is the end of How Could I > Paul played on his knees and fell at the end. He kept on playing as if he was in some kind of trance. It must've been a special night for him...
After the usual set, we had no intention of going anywhere so after a few minutes they were back for an encore - a reprisal of Veil Of Maya
!! I think i heard Chris Kringel say they never did that, but I could be mistaken...
so the setlist:
Veil of Maya
Celestial Voyage
The Eagle Nature
Sentiment
I'm But a Wave To...
Evolutionary Sleeper
Textures
Uroboric Forms
Meeting Of The Spirits
Cosmos
How Could I
~~~~~~~
Veil Of Maya
Paul gave me his pick after the encore, and it's the first time i took anyones pick - I'm usually not that much of a fanboy
A few afterthoughts:
-The concert was amazing, and i can't wait to see if there's any of it on the upcoming DVD. I hope we made a good impression on the guys and maybe they decide to pay us another visit.
-I wish I've traveled to Romania or something... i really should've seen Cynic at least twice. The second time I could stay far from the stage and just enjoy the music. I feel like I've sacrifised the audial for the visual experience and closeness...
-Paul Masvidal is heavy metal's Dalai Lama
-I want a Steinberger bad!!
-yes, and my shirts too
More pics:
cynicbelgrade2007 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting moonchild11/Cynic - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
(^with 2 vids here)