Hi y'all,
a great night yesterday in Bratislava. All I can say, anything is possible, also anything is possible in Slovakia.
So the concert was in our national tennis centre. We wanted to get a signature before the show, so we got there around 4pm to meet Mark. It was just the 3 of us - the most diehard MK Slovak fans. The arena is very close to the street, so when we got there, we could hear the instruments soundcheck. Initially a slight fear got hold of me, because I thought Mark was already there. Strange thing was that the arena doors (which were like 5 meters from the street) were opened. Everything was just getting ready. So I walked in and planted a sure look on my face like I belonged there and knew what I was doing there. Then I saw I guess glen saggers and the other roadies setting up the instruments, so I thought we were ok, MK was probably not there yet.
So we went outside to wait for MK near the entrance to the underground parking. Everything ready, markers, booklets, books, a banner, we waited for 15mintues, 30minutes, 50 minutes,... "Wait a minute, something is not right." said my friend and disappeared into the arena. He came back in a minute and found out MK was already inside! "Dammit!"
But we were determined to get that signature and didn't "holster our weapons" (as we say in Slovakia) yet. So we started to walk around the arena to look for the band members. And sure enough, at the other end of arena (it's a round building) we found them. They were sitting outside and having a coffee, like 10 meters from us. There was barrier between us and them. We spotted Mark, Glen W and couple of other peope we didn't know. I am sure Mark acknowledged our presence, and suddenly he stood up and got off back inside. So we politely "shouted" at him, but to no avail. Soon everybody went inside. No luck again.
We figured they went in for the real soundcheck. Everything was now busier near the arena doors, the security men were patrolling around. No matter, planting the sure looks on our faces, we got inside again. We were able to see the stage from small stairs. Security men literally walk around us twice (!) nobody asked us even a question. Everything was ready for the soundcheck kickoff with the real band when a MK soundtech spotted us and politely told us to go back behind the stands. OK, no problemo sir. But it was that kind of a stand which you could disassemble and see through and hear through.
Ok, a few seconds after, the soundcheck really began! It was a kind of a magical moment for me, thinking about the scarcity of DS soundchecks captured on tapes (Brighton 82 came immediately to my mind). They played pieces of Brothers, What it is, R&J, Tel. Road. Very very cool, and my friend managed to record it!
So the soundcheck ended, and we went to the backside/outside of the arena again. Richard B came right out. He didn't seem to get a notice of us. So I shouted at him "Mr. Richard, can we get a signature please?" and he was very cool. "Of course, no problem". We had a short chat with him about Nashville and Memphis because I was living there for a while some years ago. He signed our Privateering booklets, he was very sincere and very down to earth. Really an honest, great great person. Thank you very much Richard!
Near us there was a glass door where we could see the band members walking around, but still no sign of MK. We had this A4 sized banner saying "Mark could you spare a minute for Slovakian Rudigers? Thank you
" and I was holding it so that it people on the other side of the glass could see it. John McC, Guy, Ian walked by and Mike McG. even waiwed back at us.
Then a strange thing happened, Mr. Paul Cockford saw it and stopped. He took a good look at the banner and decided he wanted to speak to us. He told us that Mark doesn't do autographs before the show (it was still 2 hours to go) and that there's no chance we could get one. That's it, goodbye, enjoy the show. We couldn't believe it, we came for the signature and we were gonna get it. So we sticked around a bit more, hoping that at least Guy would come out.
Then suddenly the assistant manager appeared (I don't know his name), and we almost couldn't believe what he said. Mark was going to sign one item for each person! Yay! So we gave him the booklets and he really did. The assistant manager was really nice, polite of course, but also very friendly (whereas Mr. PC always lets you know that HE is THE manager, but that's the way it should be probably) and down to earth. We had a quick chat with him, he also gave us one MK guitar pick and we couldn't thank him enough! So Thank you mr. assistant manager
So it was pretty unbelievable when I think about it. To be able to walk in out of the venue 2 hours before the show as I see fit, I get the feeling that this would never happend in (more) western part of the world. To hear the soundcheck, to almost privately chat with Richard B and with the managers... Great experience. Although we didn't speak to Mark, at least we saw him and he signed the stuff for us, so we were and are very happy.
One more little thing. I bought a Medium sized MK T-shirt at the Luxembourg gig, but it was more like XL (but it said M). So I asked if they could give me a proper sized M T-shirt and they did, no fuss, everything smooth.
So A big thank you to Richard B and the management for making all these things possible. Thanks also to lethargic Slovak security guys in the arena.
In short, the show itself was very good, MK played very good solos. I'll write more about the songs when I have more time.
