Crüxies

So… now I’m going to satisfy all your needs and write a complete review of Saturday… with or without pictures (never, never ever let others take your pictures, you will never get a copy of them!).

We were supposed to get to the venue by 6 pm. The place was fully crowded by then, so I didn’t manage to find the girls (Niniel, Miriel and Panka who made a short performance for the Katatonia show). I was soon informed that the Crüxshadows were still in Vienna due to some mess (one of their technicians lost their passport and was sent to Düsseldorf – poor guy). I’d been convinced that every other girl would look like me, but seemed like only the metal-heads came this time. Weird… but on the other hand it’s not such a big surprise, considering that 90% of the people who came to see the Crüxies two years ago are either techno-freaks by now or moved abroad in the meanwhile. The latter is self-explanatory, but the former is the obvious result of what Damage refers to as the “electronic education of the mass” (goths call this “the ld50-phenomenon”). Metal-heads, on the other hand, seem to be much more loyal and faithful to their favourite bands, so the metal scene is blooming, Katatonia visits us two times a year and their shows are always fully packed… whereas the so-called darkwave-goth and electro-industrial scene loses itself in superficially childish cliques and externalities. All in all, the idea of organizing a gig with some bands that are so entirely different from Crüxshadows (now I’m talking about this Klimt 1918 and the Hungarian band Variola) was quite courageous, knowing that the scene is not yet open to such versatile happenings. I admire some works of Katatonia, but I don’t know their music to such an extent that I could call myself a fan. Nice band, but not quite my style anyway… So, there we were, waiting for something to happen; the guys from Variola who are Árpi’s buddies, Dalma (a penpal of mine, met her for the first time) Árpi, Niniel, Miriel, Panka and I. All of a sudden I see Rogue and Jessica chit-chatting with Zero and Sárkányfog, approximately five meters from our table. How happy I was that the guys arrived safe and sound, finally! Then Rogue came up to me to ask me when I’d like to do the interview because they are quite tired and stuff at the moment, so we should do it later if possible. I said I would be around all night, so he should just let me know whenever he feels ready… it was sweet. Then we had a few more drink with the girls and began to work on a half-slam with Dalma. Jess and the merch girl put the t-shirts out in the meanwhile, so we checked out the new stuff… I’m so happy to be a working woman now because instead of buying a t-shirt and then not eating-drinking for the rest of the week, this time I managed to buy myself a fancy CXS cardigan and still some drinks. Dalma got herself a tank-top… but other than that, I wonder how many things they have sold in Eastern-Europe… ehm. Like Rogue said during the show: “Buy our CD; it’s over-priced but worth it…” XDDD

Soon the Katatonia gig started and I watched most of it from the backstage area with the Art Macabre colony. Miriel and Panka were in proper make-up already, they made a small performance during the song “My Twin”. I got myself a deciliter of pure vodka in the meanwhile as it was getting late and I was developing a head-ache. The girls were really beautiful and I was very happy for them… it was sweet how they were afraid of disturbing the guys for a common picture, so I had to be the groupie and get the Swedes for them. Nice band, but I don’t think I’ll turn into an avid fan of distorted guitars from now on. :)We took some funny pictures though.

And then the Crüxshadows gig came… and yeah, I was totally overjoyed to see them again. There were so few people (see reasons above) that I could easily get myself a front row, a few meters from the band… And then Rogue jumped around so much again, and danced with the people in the crowd, as always. I was so sorry for them all the way through, how they had to play for so few people… at least WE had fun for sure. Árpi tried to take some pictures but none of them came out too well… even Atis, the professional photographer-guy complained how hard it was to take pix of dear hyper-hyper Rogue and Co. They played all their beautiful songs (of course the biggest hits are still Deception, Marilyn my Bitterness and Tears… and perhaps Foreverlast) and many new songs as well. I sang my heart out… Well, the sound was not as perfect as it should have been… I’ve never been to this venue before, it’s not a common location for gigs, so I have no idea if it always sounds like this, but the guys must be used to all sort of crappy venues by now, so they played well and gave all their heart and soul, as always. :) Then they came out to sign stuff and let people take pictures. I had a nice conversation with Sarah and took some pictures with the band… here is one (in fact the only one I’ve seen so far):

Then Rogue came up to me and asked if I feel like doing the interview now, while he goes back to the dressing room to help pack their stuff. So I followed him. It was sweet. I recorded the whole thing (and have not dared to listen to the whole thing yet, haha, you never know how much bullshit you tend to say in the heat of the moment, lol). Jess joined us in the meanwhile and Jen (a.k.a. Pyromantic on myspace) came in as well. She was so sweet, immediately said: “Oh, let me hug her, she is my myspace friend…” and then Sarah: “Yeah, she is MY myspace friend as well…”. XDD Well, that was just too sweet. (Of course I’m everybody’s myspace friend from the band, but have added Pyro long before her joining the Crüxies. :)) She even asked Jess to take a picture of us, so I decided to use my camera as well (the only picture I took that night):

We had a really nice, thought-provoking conversation, it will take ages to transcipt it of course, haha. You will see it in print soon(especially if you speak Hungarian. :)). I even reminded Rogue and Jess of our conversation from last year and two years ago… when they told us that “love is never hot; it’s always warm”. I thought of these things quite often since then… And obviously, I gave them Sárka’s greetings, of course. “Oh, the tall girl you always come with… What a shame she couldn’t make it to our Holland-show” – hope you are pleased, Sárkózer. :) It is a shame they couldn’t stay much longer either; although the previously announced afterparty was cancelled, too… which screwed-up all our plans. I was waiting for it to start so that we could discuss where to go and what to do comfortably, with a drink in our hands, but eventually it was a mess. On top of this, Dalma was left behind on her own, not knowing anybody or the way to the railway station… so everything turned out pretty messy in the end with all these complications, so we ended up commuting with the night buses for an hour and a half because it would have been too cold to stay outside this time of the year. Brrr, how I hate it when parties end like this… all of a sudden the security guard asks you to pack your stuff and leave and you still have three hours until your bus comes… Anyway, I learned the lesson and will be more careful and thoughtful next time when making plans. In spite of all the mess and th lack of many people, it was a mrvellous night and I was incredibly happy to see everybody (again)!! :)