JEBO
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9/22/2007 9:48:10 AM
---- Updated 9/22/2007 9:53:29 AM
JEBO Tour Blog Day 7
Day 7 – Saturday July 21st – Loreley Festival Gig
JEBO Daily Blog for Kevin @ Bristol Rock www.bristolrock.co.uk
by Charlie Presburg (www.pollstar.com)
It's an early start for us today, we've about a three hour drive down to Loreley. Jeff is once again behind the wheel, I don't know how he does it but he's damned good at this, cheers Jeff, you really are the man but then all these guys, James, Rob, Lawrie, Jeff and Nick and Spider are all total pro's. We sit outside 'Deni's Backerei' across the street and have a quick coffee and snack before we leave. Peter turns up in his 1937 Jag, always a sight to behold, you've seen the photographs so you know exactly what I mean.
It's around 9.15am and time to leave, this is the JEBO tour machine firing on all 4 cylinders and we're ready to go, Loreley here we come! We watch various funnies on the 'in house' DVD player, among which is The League of Gentleman, dark, brooding but very funny. As we get closer the traffic gets heavier and there's a fair amount of road works but the scenery is stunning, this is once again picture postcard country, check out the photos with this blog. We arrive on site and drive the van backstage, collect our passes and Jeff manoeuvres the van behind the stage to unload. There's just one stage at this event and it's pretty famous on the festival circuit, it's called the 'Freilichtbuehne' and rises above a natural amphitheatre made up of stone seats, it kinda reminds me of the Pompeii amphitheatre that Pink Floyd played their famous set in almost 30 years ago now, it's very impressive.
There's a huge round screen at the back of the stage where Echoes, the Pink Floyd tribute act headlining later on will project their images. Also on the bill are Sylvan, a German rock act, Asia, yes Asia featuring Steve Howe, John Wetton, Geoff Downes and Carl Palmer (the original lineup) and Echoes, the aforemantioned German Pink Floyd tribute act who are topping the bill later on. What happens next directly before our soundcheck is somewhat surreal .We've unloaded the van and the boys are ready to load onto the stage to soundcheck when suddenly all hell breaks loose. I won't name names here it's as definitely not in our best interest so I shall leave those involved nameless, years of working for the live music media has taught me this. Turns out that one of the techs starts moving one of the other bands' instruments off the stage and somehow one of the band gets wind of this, next thing we know, a member of the band is stomping around throwing an absolute fit. He's shouting and screaming, our jaws hit the floor. If I hadn't been so in shock, I'd have grabbed the movie cam and filmed it, second thoughts, if he had seen me, I'd probably have ended up in casualty having it surgically removed from the nearest orifice, man, it was fierce. Rob and Lawrie walked off in shock, the stage manager who was a total gent to us the entire time asked him to keep it down by saying 'Enough shouting, you're on stage and there are people watching', enough said. Although the audience were not yet admitted, there were plenty of folks milling around the arena and stage area.
We're still talking about this 48 hours later to be honest, luckily, it didn't phase the boys at all, they just ignored it and took the stage for their soundcheck, all good and they sounded awesome in this environment. Those of you who know JEBO's music will know that it totally lends itself to this type of open air experience. The men of JEBO go off and get changed, the dressing rooms are situated spectacularly behind the main stage and overlook a beautiful Rhein valley with various villages nestled in the surrounding forest.
Dry ice is now blowing across this huge stage, it's covered by the most amazing looking canopy to keep off the rain and it is sadly drizzling (again) but no matter. The boys are ready to play the biggest gig to date in front on their target audience. People are now entering the arena
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