The Spyro A.K.A. The Seljanka Squad
22.06.2010
Tuesday 15th of June, Helsinki-Tallinn-Pärnu
A Viking Line ferry took us and our beloved Spyrovan over The Gulf of Finland. We had made no precise plans for the first day 'cause the first gig wasn't going to be until the next day. So we just decided to drive along Via Baltica as far as we wanted. We made it as far as to Pärnu (130km from Tallinn) and found a nice hostel there. There was only one room and one suite left, so what the heck, we took the presidential suite.
After setting our luggage to our rooms we headed to the centre on Pärnu to get something to eat and to see the sandy beaches by the sea. Unfortunately it was quite windy and cold on the beach but the view was good.
Night ended in our luxurious suite... For some of us to the soft fitted carpet.
Wednesday 16th of June, Drive to destination one Riga
When we arrived to Riga we had our usual hassle with driving back and forth on one way streets, but finally we found Nabaklab, a cool cellar club. There, while waiting for the local soundman to appear, we had a wicked photo sessions with green chairs. This sessions should later turn into a music video for We're The Libertines.
About 10pm a local band called Screampiece started their set. Their music music was interesting compilation of progressive rock and metal. Second band on the stage was Kongomania from Estonia. Marilin Kongo, talented and beautiful woman fronted this rock group. In august The Spyro is going to do some shows in Finland and in Estonia with these nice people.
Our set started after midnight. In the front row there were some extreme fans who kept our feeling high, paldies! We had also raffled a unique I WAS SPYROFIED in NABAKLAB shirt and two cd´s and so we called two girls who had won these prizes to the stage to claim the items. They also performed We're The Libertines- song with us. The gig was great although there were some technical problems through the whole gig. Where can you find as active listeners as in Riga, we really must come back soon.
The night continued at out hostel bar, where the crazy Irish reception worker (a leprechaun?) wanted to hear us to speak Finnish (mostly Turku dialect). He was willing to oil out motors with Jägermeister-Baileys shots and the next morning truly was not worth remembering. Ouch ;)
Thursday 17th of June, Purple sky as our roof in Vilnius
Gig number two was in Vilnius and we had to drive there quite early, because this was an outdoor gig in the middle of the city and residences. Music club Artistai has it all: food, beverages, terrace, stage and nice staff.
We enjoyed tasty pepper stakes while local helpful soundman prepared the PA-system for the sound check.
First in the fire was Lithuanian band, Flaer from Klaipeda. They call their music Pink Rock and their bass player surely is better looking than ours :) First of all she is a lady. ( A real lady, not like in the TV show Little Britain ;)
When The Spyro started there was about 100-150 people sitting on the terrace and they really enjoyed our music as we enjoyed playing it. On the last songs about 30-40 people danced on the front row and asked for more. And Oh boy, how we played. No technical or other problems this time, all went perfectly and we felt heavenly and sweaty after the gig under the purple sky of Vilmius.
Your friendly musicians continued evening with a local friend Gedas. Isvegata! (cheers)
Friday 18th of June, Kaunas- On the top of our career
Kaunas, a city not spyrofied before, and that is one reason we were eager to get there. Only Simo had visited the city earlier.
Dzem'pub, again a cool looking venue, was located on the fifth floor, over the roof tops of Kaunas. We had to load-in our instruments with an elevator, but that went quite easily. Kaunas surely is a beautiful town. In the city centre there is a mile long pedestrian street where bands played and people enjoyed of warm Friday night and beverages. All of a sudden Olli met an old acquaintance from Helsinki. Of course he had to be invited to the gig. World is after all a tiny wee place.
The show itself went great, the start had to be delayed because of England´s football game but devoted fans waited. No technical problems of what so ever this time either. A big thanks goes to our soundman Zouwi, who is The Man when it comes to mixing the sounds. When the night turned into morning we found ourselves in an underground rock bar which was open until the last customer leaves. Surprise that we're not still there.
Saturday 19th of June, Fontaine Palace, birth place of pure awesome evilness!! Last gig of the tour in Liepaja.
Fontaine Palace, one of the coolest gig venues in Europe, hotel, spa, pizza place and tattoo shop, it´s all there and the people, they are very very nice. It was like we were coming to home on this sunny Saturday afternoon. We were tired but we knew that it would be a hell of a gig ahead.
Place had been burned down since our last visit. Rumour says that local mafia had burned it. But now the stage and facilities were even better than last time. We dragged our luggage to the hotel and after a refreshing shower we went to do the sound check. After that there was lots of time to wait because our set would start about 1or 2 in the morning.
First band of the evening was Age Of Stones, a rocking band from Latvia, we definitely should make more gigs with these guys. They heated the audience almost to the climax.
We started our set with the intro tape as usual and from the beginning the plot was clear, we would explode the audiences brains to the walls and they would dance like demons on burning coals calling us down to the pits of hell. Oh Yeah, sweat was there and magic was in the air. On encore we summoned our partners in crime to the stage with us and about 30 came. With this big band we performed Desert Cube as our last song of the tour. Amen.
Night continued till morning because this place is open 24 hours. In the morning, from the terrace you could find zombies, who reek of Bacardi. Not us! Scouts honor.
Sunday 20th and Monday 21th Back to Riga, then Tallinn and finally Helsinki
We spend the last night in the same hostel in Riga. The Leprechaun was there with his charming jokes. While others went to sleep already, soundman Zouwi had only just started. He spent the last night with some English and Taiwanese blokes and healed the world over some pints. What he found out is that: Firma maksaa (company pays the bills) is the same in Finnish and in Latvian language. Handy.
Quite surprisingly, on Monday the Spyrovan was still working and Viking Line carried us over the Gulf of Finland.
This was a great journey so Thanks, Cheers, Paldies, Aciu, Isvegata, Kiitos and Kippis to all you who participated on this tour !!!! You´re simply the best.
