Sonisphere and the awesomeness of Prague..

Tuesday I was pretty tired but got up and took the bus to work for a relaxing trip. It wasn’t so relaxing though as the traffic was awful and I was late =( Operation salad and healthy eating got into full effect (after being cooked bacon, eggs and pancakes for breakfast!) and then it was a quiet night at home. Wednesday after work I had time for a quick dinner before biking out to Amager Bio to meet with Julie for the Crowded House concert. Her sister and sister’s husband joined and it was an enjoyable night. At first they played a lot of new songs that were good but we really wanted to hear the oldies. They played these towards the end of the concert thankfully.

Thursday I was getting very excited. It did not take me long to pack a small bag and Friday morning I was off to the airport again, this time to just meet Morten. Though as soon as I arrived I bumped into Martin and his friends whom were also on the same plane as us. We got a couple of beers and waited then it was a very short flight and we were in Prague! We met with the other Danish guys and got a taxi with them dropping them off first and then onto our hotel. After dumping our bags we headed out to find some food and found an authentic looking Czech place to eat. The food was very rich and filling and we really needed to do some walking after the meal. We walked down the hill and soon ended up at the river and were greeted to a beautiful site of the bank on the other side with Prague castle. Walking down the road we hit Charles Bridge and after a little shopping in one of the many souvenir shops underneath we joined all the other tourists walking to the other side. After a little look around we headed back to the Old Town and took a rest and a beer in a square near Hard Rock Cafe. Then after a little more sightseeing our feet were sore so we headed back to the hotel and jumped in the spa for an hour downing redbull vodkas and thoroughly enjoying the warm water and jets. Feeling very refreshed we got a taxi to Hells Bells to meet with the guys and had a very fun evening in this iconic unique rock bar.

Sightseeing in Prague.

Hells Bells Rock Pub!!

Enjoying the cheap beers.

Creepiest toilet ever!

Kiss art on the walls =)

Saturday I awoke just in time to head downstairs in my pjs to grab breakfast. Then we got ready and waited for Kevin (friend of Martin's who lives in Prague) and his colleague Ann.They arrived with a taxi and we headed out to the Sonisphere venue. It was very hard to find! We ended up stuck behind a queue of cars waiting to park. After our taxi driver talking to about 5 different policemen we turned around and he dropped us at a point we could walk to the festival. The area was visually amazing with many abandoned wrecks of buildings. Then we came to a big field where you could camp and the disused army airport that was the venue for the festival. We got our wristbands and entered just as Devil Driver started playing the main stage and once in we headed for the second stage to watch another awesome concert from Volbeat. Then it was time to source some food and we waited ages in a queue for burgers. Soon we had burgers and more beer though and were all happy. A bit of t-shirt shopping and then over to the main stage for Megadeth. At this point I lost my little crew but luckily bumped into Martin and the guys at a redbull tent. Megadeth were not that great so instead I got stuck into the vodka redbulls and soon the others joined and we were all together for a short time. But then Slayer came on and the group split up. Morten and I luckily ended up in the crowd next to Lars and Andreas and Slayer were very good. Then it was time for the mighty Metallica!! What a great end to an awesome festival. I managed to meet up with Martin and Morten and the 3 of us tried to find a way home. This proved be even harder than getting there!

Abandoned buildings on the way to the festival.

Camping next to the festival.

Volbeat rocked!

With Kevin and Ann.

The boys making friends.

Vodka redbull makes you happy.. Martin and Mort.

Slayer!

Metal heads..

Metellica!! Thanks to Morten for the pics, I had had too much vodka redbull :P

We were definitely not up in time for breakfast Sunday but being really smart, Morten and I had booked a table at Hooters for lunch and once there got stuck into the yummy cocktails. We were soon feeling better, no thanks to the not very good food and the other guys turned up looking worse than us. Morten and I went to watch the NZ soccer game at an Australian bar we had seen on Friday and I was very happy at the outcome against Italy. After the game we walked around a bit waiting for our dinner reservation. We then headed to where we were about to be provided with a fabulous medieval fantasy dinner show! We headed down to the basement and the decorations were great. Lots of dark wood with candles and skins thrown over the chairs. Soon a band came round playing energetic music and lovely belly dancers. They came round with baskets of food and it was a very enjoyable evening. The highlight for me was when one of the girls draped one of her snakes around my neck and left it there for awhile. Everyone in the room gasped but I loved the feeling. It maybe got a little scary when its head came around to snake around my neck =) After dinner we walked to find the guy’s hotel and had a few beers with them before heading back to our hotel very happy.

Hooters!!

teehee

Hangover food.

Little bit of sightseeing before dinner..

This looks interesting..

In the dungeon.

The belly dancers were lovely.

The band was cool.

Especially their shoes!

yum!

I like pirates.

oooh snakes! yes please!

=)

Creeeepy.

The next morning we packed up and went for breakfast before calling a taxi to the hotel. A guy turned up with a very nice car and it was a pleasant cheap ride on our last day. At the airport we bumped into Kevin and Ann, Ann was on the same flight with us back to Copenhagen. After checking in we did some shopping and boarded the plane back home. I was very tired but we were soon back and once home I dumped my bag and crawled into bed to try to catch up on some sleep. It was a really great weekend, I have a very good impression of Prague and Czech people but I was very exhausted! Martin turned up later also very exhausted and we vegged out on the couch watching movies.

Download!!

After another couple of late shifts it was soon Wednesday and time to head to the airport to meet with Morten and Maart. We were soon checked in and boarding the airplane and it was a short flight to London. We had our first taste of English food with lunch in an airport pub before catching a train first into London, then connecting to a train to Derby. By the time we arrived it was after 5pm but it was easy to catch a taxi with 2 other festival goers outside the Derby station and we were soon dropped off near the festival. We had loaded Morten’s bag up with beer as he had one with wheel but this soon proved tricky when we had to navigate through mud getting into and inside the festival. Once inside I phoned Martin that I met at Roskilde last year from Sheffield (another Martin.. how confusing!!). He had saved us a spot and it was really close to the village, choice as! So soon we were a happy camp of five including his friend Robbo and once we had all the tents up relaxed and cracked open the beers. We went shopping for a gazebo and chairs, checked out the village, ate yummy Chinese noodles and sausages with chips and then went looking for the parties. We ended up in a tent with Rock karaoke, it was not what I expected. People were getting up and singing with a full band behind them. The tent was packed and was a good little party. Afterwards we never really found anything interesting so we headed back to the guys big tent and played drinking games until the sun started coming up.

We are on our way..!

Happy boys =)

We're here!!

Puurdy..

This shop did not contain what I hoped ;-)

Steak pies with mashed potato and baked beans.. yes please!!

The first night in my little tent was very cold so I welcomed the morning when it was a bit warmer and slept in. We then went looking for breakfast and I was very happy to find a little stall called Strumpets with Crumpets. The ladies were dressed in frilly saloon girl outfits and made yummy crumpets for me with crème fraich and plum jam and strawberry jam with clotted cream, mmmmmmm! After a slow start to the day we drank vodka red bulls and headed into the village to watch some comedy in the cinema tent. Then we went back to camp and met with Martin and Robbo and walked around visiting other camps. We first headed to where we saw a Danish flag but were disappointed as they were English guys and just randomly had picked that flag. But further on was an Aussie and a silver fern flag. This little party had kiwis and aussies and we spent the rest of the night hamging out, talking and drinking beers with them.

Inside the Turborg bar was going off.

Outside it was even crazier.

Maart looking tough?

Giant yorkshire pudding stuffed with sausages, mash and onion.. yes please!!

There were lots of sparkly rides.

They played rock music =)

Woooah, Ghost Train.

Some of them looked pretty damn scary!

Me with the Carlsberg man.

Morten wanted some hugs.

The ghost train looked pretty scary.

Robbo and Martin were looking forward, pity it was the crappest ghost train ever.

The next day the sun came out, yay! It was a nice relaxing morning but soon time to head to the festival arena!! We were surprised at how long it took us to walk to the arena as it did not look that far away on the map. We felt like sheep joining the thousands of other people pouring into the site. But once in we were soon rewarded with the fantastic view down the sloping hill of the main stage and the massively impressive AC/DC stage. After sorting out drinks we headed to the main stage to watch 36 Crazy Fists followed by Killswitch Engage. Both bands were good although the sound was affected a little from the wind. We had some time after that to get some food and I thoroughly enjoyed the chips with cheese and gravy. Then it was time to head to the front for Them Crooked Vultures. This was another amazing performance. What an awesome day already and followed off by AC/DC. They sounded amazing, the stage was awesome, the effects, Angus, the girls flashing there boobs on the big screens and then all topped off by fireworks.. very impressed!

Morten's mancave.

Brushing your teeth festival style.

First view of the Main stage and ACDC stage.

Second stage.

Morten had a big night..

36 Crazy Fists.

The crowd for Killswitch Engage.

The awesome AD/DC stage.

Dave Grohl in Them Crooked Vultures.

John Paul Jones.

AC/DC!!

Saturday was again another sunny day. It started off slow with the three of us getting breakfast and some shopping around the village but once back at camp we got stuck into the beers with the boys. We soon joined some Norwegian girls that had turned up across from us and were having so much fun I could not convince anyone to head to the festival to hear Volbeat. So by the time we got there Megadeth were well into their set. This was followed by Deftones and then we were all very excited for the main event Rage Against the Machine. They were very good and it was a highly energetic and fun concert. We all walked back to camp very satisfied.

It's getting messy around camp..

??

We made some friends.

Rage Against the Machine!

Massive crowd for Rage.

Frontman Zach de la Rocha.

Sunday we didn’t hang around camp long as this was going to be another epic day of concerts. Cinderella were playing when we got there and we relaxed in the sun a little before making our way up front for Slash. His show was really good and his guest singer performed the songs really well. What a legend! Then there was not much space before Billy Idol played. I chose not to go up the front and was quite happy about that because it soon started pouring down. What a pity! I spent most of his performance huddled under a clothing rack in front of a stall. I was supposed to meet the guys at our meeting spot after but they were not there and I shopped for a rain poncho. I then got the call that they had run back to camp as some of them were just wearing t-shirts and they brought back our wet weather gear. It was a relief to put on my gumboots as the ground had soon turned to a sea of mud. Thankfully it stopped raining though and we enjoyed listening to Motorhead before heading to the second stage to see Airbourne. I did not know who these guys were but Martin was enthusiastic and we were glad we went as we were treated to a fun, energetic rock show. This was highlighted by the singer climbing up the rigging at the side and playing his guitar at the top of the stage before security pulled the plug on him. We headed back to the main stage and caught the end of the Stone Temple Pilots set and headed in to the front for Aerosmith. It was a joy seeing the legends that are Steve Tyler and Joe Perry play and an awesome way to end the festival. After that we headed back to camp exhausted for an early night.

Crumpets!! Mega yum!

Breakfast time in the village.

Cinderella, nice way to start a Sunday.

Followed by Slash, second time I'd seen him play in 2 weeks.. sweet!

The legend.

Airbourne rocked!



Singer Joel O'Keefe is a legend.

!!

Aerosmith.

Steven Tyler.

It was an awful night to try to sleep. The campground was very rowdy with people packing up to leave all night and stupid drunk guys running around whacking tents. I was sure some guys were going to fall on me and therefore did not get much sleep. It also rained but had thankfully stopped when we got up to pack up. We then walked to where we could get taxis and had a little wait until we were thankfully picked up and took back to Derby. We picked up our train tickets and headed to a takeaway bar for a yum brunch of mince pie with a cheesy baked spud. Then it was back on the train to London and then Gatwick. We had some time at the airport to shop and got some sausages and cheese from M & S and stuff from Boots. It was around 8:30pm when we landed back in CPH. My bags were much heavier than when I left and I trudged back from Kongens Nytorv to dump my stuff and eagerly hit the shower.

Leaving in the mud.

A picture says a thousand words but most importantly.. yum!