Added Monday, May 01, 2006 Cleveland/USA - The Odeon - BW&BK Festival - We started our tour in Cleveland. We were invited to co-headline the Saturday of the 2-day weekend festival. On Friday we flew into Cleveland via Washington, to be one evening earlier in the US, just to have some drinks & metal against our jetlag. We saw Doro & Grave Digger and had some drinks with our new friends from Metal Church. Dismember started their set on Saturday as we arrived at the club. The place was packed. The stage looked good, the sound was o.k. and the fans were really great. The response was overwhelming. All hands in the air of the 800 fans and for us - a great start for the tour! Thanks to the BW&BK guys for putting together the event, even though we couldn't play a second encore!
Los Angeles/USA - Ibiza Theatre - the next day, we flew straight to L.A. – the weather was crystal clear which allowed us an amazing view of the landscape below during our flight. The show in L.A. was a little on the unorganized side. Fans under 21 years of age had to leave the venue at 22h – we’d never heard of this before! We gave our best and met a lot of new friends, plus one good old buddy – Angel Schleifer drove down from Phoenix – cool! Some unexpected things are still to come ..........
A night without sleep, due to driving straight to the airport after the gig to catch the flight to Mexico City so we could be on time for the next show. Sometimes, s**t happens. Tom lost his passport and noticed it at 4am ….. He and our tour manager FD had to stay in L.A. to get a new passport from the German embassy the next morning.
Mexico City - Circo Volador - We were prepared to play Mexico as a four piece, but Tom and FD arrived in time and we could rock the place as planned. We were tired, but kicked ass. The fans were fu**ing great and loud. Nice venue & stage – met the guys from the fan club and then back to the hotel and had a much needed sleep!
Flight to Sao Paulo on the next evening and managed to catch a few more minutes of sleep. In Sao Paulo, we met Miriam, our tour manager & promoter for Brazil, promotion lady Andrea and technician Flavio. The bus was very comfortable and we drove off to Catanduva..
Catanduva - Clube de Tenis - Catanduva is a nice city in the middle of Brazil. Not so many European bands have played there before. Helloween was the last band. The venue is o.k., well prepared. All our skepticism about the PA system and the technique was unfounded. Around 700 fans were there and they were really loud. Great concert! Overnight we drove to Belo Horizonte. This is our 3rd tour through Brazil, but we never played in Belo before - another premiere..
Belo Horizone - Lapa Show - The place looked great – the support band Thalion was already there, our backliners Duce & Charlie were preparing the stage. The sound was good. Around 800 people attended and there was a great connection between band and fans. Fantastic concert!
The road to Sao Paulo. Thank God, it's an off-day! We met Gerard from Nuclear Blast Brazil – our good mate, who has been working with us since the last tour and our long time friend Eric de Haas. Signing session on Friday with 700 people and later a Primal Fear party, organized by the fan club at the Blackmore bar (thanks to Marcel, Luigi & the team), with our friends from the Accept cover band Metal Heart. Mat joined the band with fan club leader Marcel for a rocking version of Balls to the wall on stage. Great party!
Sao Paulo - Olympia - Next day, we played the Olympia – huge venue, very nice, clean and a great backstage area. Great lights, but the sound was a little on the dry side on the huge stage. Close to 2000 people were there which made for a great night of metal! A lot of familiar faces and a lot of friends were in the audience. We love Brazil and the fans love Primal Fear – awesome! The after show party at Eric's new bar "Dynamo" was a blast - well done, guys!
Santos - Mythos - the next morning, we were preparing for a gig, that no other band from Europe has ever done. We played another show in a club, very close to Sao Paulo, 50km away in Santos at the beach. Nice club, we even had a little signing session. Tom lost his passport again, but Miriam found the important paper :-) - around 500 fans and some familiar faces again, like Airton & family! We said goodbye and drove to Rio!
Off day in Rio - first action, we made our way to the Jesus statue overlooking Rio and the surrounding area – Once on top we had an unbelievable view of the entire coast. What a cool day! After the dinner, we spent the evening at the Copacabana with around 40 caipis. Some guys stole Charlie's necklace – too bad, but anyway, It was a great evening!
Rio De Janeiro - Canecão - a nice mega poster over the venue's entrance welcomed us! Overall a great venue with a huge stage and an awesome lightshow! The fans were again amazing - what a loud crowd! Thanks Rio and it's always good, when we expected less but instead saw this crowd exploding!
Curitiba - Moinho - Tough time again – 12 hrs drive to Curitiba – we played the Moinho on the last tour and the fans were great. We heard, that the economy is not that good these days, but we had the same amount of people we did on the last tour and the fans rocked!
Porto Alegre - Opinao - another long drive to Porto Alegre – we remembered, it was Tom’s comeback show after rejoining the band. Again a nice signing session. This time, it runs like a well oiled machine. Maybe the loudest fans in Brazil. A great final show. We added for the first time “Armageddon” to the set-list. Tired, but very satisfied, we had some drinks at the hotel – said goodbye to our fantastic team from Brazil – Miriam, Andrea & Flavio – thanks again for the perfect organization!
We flew to Buenos Aires. Our first show in Argentina ever. We took a little rest and watched the European soccer tournament. Press conference with around 40 journalists, and photo session. We drove to the venue late, because the backstage situation was not the most comfortable. Cool that our tour manager FD knew all the venues and hotels!
Buenos Aires - Hangar - The place is well packed with 2000 crazy metal heads and even if the sound on stage is not the most powerful, we rocked the final show and the fans went ballistic! Check out the avi file Tom made from the stage - nothing more to say - Great!
We want to thank all fans & supporters in Brazil, our crew with FD, Duce & Charlie; Miriam, Andrea, Flavio & Faz Production, plus last but not least AC & All Access. Gerard & his crew at Nuclear Blast Brazil, Eric and all the others who made this tour an unforgettable tour!
The Setlist:
1.Devil's Ground) 2. Angel In Black 3. Chainbreaker 4. Suicide And Mania 5. Running In The Dust 6. Visions Of Fate 7. Nuclear Fire 8. The Healer 9. Battalions Of Hate 10. Drum Solo Randy 11. Under Your Spell 12. Silver And Gold 13. Metal Is Forever 14. Final Emvrace
Encore 1: 17. Tears Of Rage 18. Heart Of A Brave
Encore 2: 20. Colony 13 21. Fear
The Gang Of 2004: Ralf Scheepers - Vocals Stefan Leibing - Guitars Tom Naumann - Guitars & backing Vocals Randy Black - Drums Mat Sinner - Bass & Vocals
Frank FD Dehn - Tourmanager & FoH Duce Faradacco - Backline Charlie Burzler - Backline Miriam Hinds - Tourmanager Andrea Santos - Promotion Flavio - Technician Gerard Werron - Nuclear Blast Brazil Eric De Haas - Good Time Marcel Fereira - Fanclub
Goodbye Mexico, Brazil & Argentina – we had a great time and it is always a pleasure to come back! Keep the metal alive!
Cleveland/USA - The Odeon - BW&BK Festival - We started our tour in Cleveland. We were invited to co-headline the Saturday of the 2-day weekend festival. On Friday we flew into Cleveland via Washington, to be one evening earlier in the US, just to have some drinks & metal against our jetlag. We saw Doro & Grave Digger and had some drinks with our new friends from Metal Church. Dismember started their set on Saturday as we arrived at the club. The place was packed. The stage looked good, the sound was o.k. and the fans were really great. The response was overwhelming. All hands in the air of the 800 fans and for us - a great start for the tour! Thanks to the BW&BK guys for putting together the event, even though we couldn't play a second encore!