MonthSorrowTour

Male fan following a band on tour: dedicated!
Female fan following a band on tour: groupie!

Go fuck yourself with a nailed stick!

Kilometers: approx. 5,600
Cigarettes: 80
Friends: 12
Beers: unknown...

When I came back from the first gig in Alsace, I met a accointance who asked me if I planned to write about my experience, following Moonsorrow accross France and the British Isles for 10 gigs. He said, some may be interested on reading, I doubt it, but all things considered, it could be a nice thing for me to keep a track of my feelings during this adventure. This is not going to be a day to day diary, because it's totally useless and dull. I took the train, I went to the venue, I loved the gig (or not!), I had a drink with my friends and went to bed. That's pretty much what happened every time. What matters is what happened in my head during that April of 2016, on my 37th* year on planet earth and what it changed (or not) in me.

This is me, and Moonsorrow, and why it was important.


Is Moonsorrow my all time favourite band? Does it matter? Truth is, for reasons out of human control, that band and I have a history. It started like every other time, I heard a song, I liked it, I downloaded all their songs, I went to a gig, I bought a CD, then another one, then I bought a tshirt, then I had all the CDs, I saw them again, in venues, in festivals, in France, in Finland, then I had several Tshirts, I met a guy at one of their gig, I met people who liked them too, I broke up with the guy, I saved up for a 14 LP box, I made more friends online on the sole basis of being a Moonsorrow's fan. I had drinks with these new friends, I travelled with them, they let me sleep on their couch and I provided my japanese mattress to them when they wanted to visit Paris. La vie, quoi !
Moonsorrow isn't in my life everyday, it sometines takes weeks before I play one of their songs. It's not (yet) an obsession. And I hope it never will be. Merci beaucoup.


So that's it, one day I was minding my own business on the world wide web and I saw this:

Of course my first reaction was checking if Paris was on the list, and which day. Then I started to look at the other cities and I thought: "It's funny, I know a lot of people who live in cities where the tour stops."

Sélestat (Déborah and Xavier)
(Paris - Home)
Bordeaux (Thibaut)
Brest (several fellow volunteers of Hellfest and Motocultor's festival)
Rennes (Ben)
Lyon (Sébastien)
London (K.)
Dublin (Flammechant)

Bristol (Caroline)

Two days later and several emails, text messages and a look at my saving account, I was in my boss's office asking for a 4-week sabbatical leave. (Because, you see, I love Moonsorrow to bits, but I need my paid leave days to have a proper holiday, visit my family in the south and attend summer festivals, huhu...).

I decided to kill as many birds with one stone as possible on that tour, that's why I added a stop in Belfast, to go back to the giants causeway, I took flyers of the Fall of Summer festival with me to hand them before the gigs and on top of that I managed to pay a visit to people I miss because they live far away.

I also spent a lot fo time with myself on trains. This is not my favourite company, I can be pretty harsh on myself, and the bitch I have inside made a lot of fun of that whole trip. So if you find yourself in the urge of calling me names, you'd better be pretty original, because I probably already heard them all!


One of the first thing that came to my mind was: "Shall I let the band know about it?"
Yes, that was a real question, please refer to the title of this blog article to understand the problem.
I decided to go public and tweeted about it, BUT, I also decided not to do a fuzz about it. That included being as much quiet as possible during the tour. No tour bus hunting, no waiting for musicians after gigs, still, I didn't refrain myself from attending some gigs on the front row when it was possible, I smiled politely at the musicians when they happened to cross my path on my way to venues (because wearing a Moonsorrow hoodie, I can't really make myself invisible - not forget to mention I'm a fat lady...). I also bought all my tickets, no guest list whatsoever, and not expecting anything from the band except a good performance. Moonsorrow isn't the type of band who talks a lot on stage, and give thanks to special people, and it would had been terribly uncomfortable to recieve a public greeting from them. If they know who I am and what I did, my only hope was they take it as praise and are not freeking out. I had the chance to talk a little to janne after the last gig in Bristol. Because it was the last gig, I allowed myself to wait by the bus. Helped by a few pints and already having disturbed Ville during Korpiklaani's gig to get his signature for my mom's CD, I had nothing to loose. In the end the band didn't showed, well, we left before I mean, it was freezing. BUT, Janne was kind enough to confirm he already noticed me in the crowd several nights and nobody freaked out. Relief!
Now if you're reading this expecting funny stories about backstage or bus parties, you can leave, because that's all.

Back in my head, I had the weirdest moments back at home, in between gigs. I almost regretted it wasn't a 10-day straight adventure, because each time I came back home (happy to enjoy my bed, my bathroom and doing laudry) I was bored. And boredom is the father of self introspection. The worst were cities I was attending gigs alone because my friends weren't interested in the bands. Why on earth going to unknown cities, alone, by night? Of course, once I was there everything went smoothly. But back at home, in what the germans call gemütlichkeit I was terrified of going out of my protective shell for a metal gig that will be the same 10 times!

What if I miss a train because I oversleep? What if I get lost in an unknown city by night?
Of course, all these things happened! And you know what, when it happens it's way less frightening that imagining it! Missing a train? Let's take another one! I'm so worried I always take huge gaps between trains and gigs to be sure I can get at least 2 trains in between. Friend getting a change of schedule and not being able to provide me shelter? OK, there's always a youth hostel somewhere! Getting lost in a city by night? Fine, I'll ask for directions at this kebab booth! Look at me mom, I'm still alive!!!!

If I have the time and the money, why should I refrain myself of seeing a band I love while I can!! You know, people aren't eternal, and musician's life on the road is such a bitch, I won't blame the guys for quitting and staying at home with their kids to plow a vegetable garden!!!

How many bands did I already missed? Sentenced, Death, Sepultura (the actual touring forms of Death and Sepultura are not the musicians who made my teenage years...), of course it's going to drain my bank account, but isn't the purpose of money to be spent? And mine is better spent on trains and planes or merch booth than on food. I'm already overweight! XD

Am I going to get bored?
Of Korpiklaani, yes! And I missed almost all of their shows. Sorry gentlemen, all respect due to you, I don't fancy your music ay all.
Of Moonsorrow? Never! Yes, it was the same setlist and I could have enjoyed changes, but it never was the same gig 2 nights in a row. They say you never bathe twice in the same river, you know.

So, this is the purpose of all this broken english chat, if you want to follow a band on tour, if you have the time and the money, do it! If you're a little insecure like me, fight it! Don't be a bother to the band, keep it cool, plan it, budget it, do it!  It might be the last tour.

Reconnaissance éternelle à tous ceux qui ont aidé pendant ce mois d'avril, Déborah, Xavier, Thibaut, Océaline, Valéry, Steven, Sébastien, Bénédicte, Hervé, Evil Lyne, Kira, Mars et Caroline.
Et un merci spécial à Tangui (AJP), Lorène et Fred (Garmonbozia), j'ai les tickets 00001 collector !!!!
Et Nathalie aussi, qui était fort contrariée que la tournée ne passe pas à Marseille, juste pour le plaisir de me recevoir ;)

*Yes, I'm 36, but there's no year 0, so it's my 37th year. Is that what they call interval?