The translation goes : "The Night Full of Stars" ...
Given that it goes till c. 3 am and that the Trinec - Borek football stadium is on a kind of hill ... the nights are dark as shit (i.e. there are either spotlights, or nothing ... if there are stars in the sky, then you are fine .... at least some source ofr light if you happen to wander around the stadium ... otherwise you are fucked).
This open air fest runs for 13 years ... so far so good: one would expect the organizers to know couple of practical thingies by now though ... like for instance that it is most useful to have mobile toilets available for the fest goers in decent numbers ... there was one modest line of mobile toilets and the innovation was that there was a lady sitting at the entrance to them and charged those who wished to use them + each paying toilet-visitor was provided with strictly measured allocation of toilet paper ... fucking shit ! The only result was that guys were pissing all around the stadium .....
Camping : the web announcement makes it clear that camping is strictly banned from the stadium. ... This shot was taken around 4 pm on the very first date of the fest :
... now I would guess these campers are in fact regular goers to the NPH... there where they put their tents was perhaps the only place where people actually did NOT piss .... anywhere else around the stadium .... er ... forget it !!! (I didnt have guts to actually go and look for the "camp site" ... I am absolutely sure that the one line of mobile toilets was actually meant also for the camp ... whether the lady stayed there overnight to charge the poor buggers I dunno ... )
V.I.P. ... now this is a very special thing for NPH. They had a special entry place ... fine ... in front of the main stage there was a huge space and then the barrier ... guess what : the unusually large space between the barrier and stage was filled with VIP ... which means, if you were front-line you still had huge crowd in front of you .... apparently friends of friends of friends ... simply: hell lot of motherfuckers who took off both view and breathing space (some of those in front of me / beyond the barrier were actually drunk and behaved accordingly).
So at night you got this view from the front line :
The fest is a regional festival ... it is close to Polish and Slovak borders so people coming to it are primarily from these 3 countries ... one would expect the bands-division to follow this tri-partite pattern but no ... most bands were from the Czech Rep.
If the fest followed the logic of CR - Poland - Slovakia when it comes to music / bands representation, the fest would at least have some kind of policy or philosophy, if you like ... As it is though this fest follows a no-fucking-orientation whatsoever ... we have couple of fests here that were designed along the lines "what the fuck lets get drunk we love every shit you play ... it is summer after all" ... so that you have rock, "metal", pop, folk, ethno, anything goes ... Trutnov Open Air has this as explicit programme (mix of all possible genres, bands playing in no specific order) ... In case of Trinec I would suspect that they take any bands which are actually willing to play there.
Why Soulfly agreed to play this thing I dunno - it seems to me that a) Max loves playing weird places, b) the closeness of 3 regions / countries contribuited to their consent.
To give you some better idea, here is a map for ya .... to provide you with even a better idea / appreciation of the region and its accessibility ... to get there from Prague it took me exactly the same amount of time as to get from Prague to Morecambe for the Wasted punk fest (flight to Manchester plus 3 train changes in the uK ... ):
Overall fact of the region : that part is one of the Czech / Moravian regions worst struck with extremely high unemployment ... the main industry there used to be steel production, mines ... most steel works and mines are closed or about to be closed down ... Given the industrial landscape, there is no real tourism, and given the twisted infrastructure (like to get to Trinec in 6 hours from Prague) it is perhaps not going to change in the nearest future ... so festival like this is a kind of event that may promote / support local "businesses" ... if they learn how to do it, that is.
Btw. I was planning to go camping there but somehow I suddenly thought it may not be the best idea (given the pissing around I was actually right) and booked a room in the only hotel in the town (there is supposed to be some hostel + perhaps some B and B ...) ... in the morning at breakfast - sure enough - the breakfast room was full of those VIP motherfuckers obstructing my view the night before .... This is the thing :
And I thought you might appreciate a closer look at its base :
Yeah, right ... it is being demolished ... only some columns plus the middle part is holding that thing up ... ... But the interior was OK (suprisingly OK) plus the structure didnt collapse so far ...
All in all : it was an interesting journey to obtain some cultural shock in one's own country .... it was extremely hot ... I did not enjoy the fest at all (I felt like that deppressive robot, Marvin, from the Hitchhikers guide ) ... I liked Soulfly though the setlist was more similar to what they played a year ago rather than now during German / club gigs. And they actually sounded a bit differently ... in German clubs they appeared to me more HC, also given that I was at side, the sound was kind of "split" there ...
What other bands I enjoyed at that day ? NONE ... ... Boring content-less shit for most of the time ... even if it was rock, it was more mainstream kind of stuff ... oh well .... (yeah, one note : folk hero Jarek Nohavica : he is very popular here and many people claim to live with the help of his lyrics and music ... with all due respect to this guy, if I lived with the help of ... etc ... I would be long dead having committed suicide !!!! )
So here are couple of shots to at least illustrate the thing. Oh yes - the fest is for 2 days but I left on Saturday noon .... nothing that would hold me there really.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me. Hunter S. Thompson
Re: Noc plna hvezd / Trinec open air « Reply #1 on Jun 26, 2005, 12:37am »
Playlist taken from EYEL_E_SS (Soulboards):
01 - Prophecy 02 - Downstroy 03 - Seek'n'Strike 04 - Spit 05 - Jumpdafuckup / Bring It 06 - Bleed / Tree Of Pain ( with Ritchie ) 07 - Roots Bloody Roots ( Marc doubleneck guitar ) 08 - Defeat U ( with Danny M, Marc doubleneck guitar) 09 - Mars ( Marc doubleneck guitar, and big flames on the stage!! ) 10 - Territory 11 - Execution Style 12 - Sum Of Your Achievements 13 - Porrada ( Max with guitar!! ) 14 - Drum Jam 15 - Back To The Primitive ------- 16 - Head Up / Innerself 17 - Eye For An Eye ( Max without guitar )
__________________________________________
And now some illustrative shots ...
main stage
B-stage
Dont ask me who they were ...
Jarek Nohavica mentioned above
DOGA ... local stamp / honky tonk kind of rock band ... they are apparently big overe here
Preparing for Soulfly (the flag fell off a bit later) while preparing for Doga ...
Doga ... see what I mean by VIP space and motherfuckers ?
And here we go .... before midnight plus from a distance ... you can tell, cant you ?
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me. Hunter S. Thompson
Smart-ass, tongue planted firmly in cheek, foot perpetually in mouth, but with a heart of gold
Joined: Oct 2002 Gender: Female Posts: 2,422 Karma: 25
Re: Noc plna hvezd / Trinec open air « Reply #2 on Jun 26, 2005, 3:52am »
Great report, Jana. In fact, by looking at the pics, I was wondering where the bogs were... now I understand, there were hardly any. That "lady-at-the-toilet" thing reminded me of Portugal. It's like that everywhere. One time, I didn't have change so I gave the lady more money than usual, and she gave me a huge amount of toilet paper. She probably thought I had the runs or something!
About the hotel... hilarious name (Hotel Steel)! It sounds so lovely, warm, inviting and comfy... *sarcasm intended!* As a matter of fact, I'm sure a certain Construction Health & Safety expert would have a few things to say about those pics!
That whole VIP thing stinks! I laughed really hard when I read that those same annoying people took up all the space at the hotel!!
Loved the map!! I can't believe it took you less time to get to northern UK!!
P.S. Did you get your bar code scanned at least? Then it wouldn't have been a complete waste of time!
"All in all it's been a rocky road, twists and turns along the way, but I still pray for tomorrow, all my hopes, my dreams don't fade away." (David Coverdale)
Re: Noc plna hvezd / Trinec open air « Reply #3 on Jun 26, 2005, 2:50pm »
Pina ... yep, the bar code was scanned .. as a matter of fact, they scanned the BCs on the tickets while coming in as well as coming out ... you know ... EU is all about innovations !
Well, to give you some more taste of the Steel thing ... Trinec is a town of steel industry you know ... although the biggest hugest thing is for most part closed down ... which perhaps you can tell from more shots .... here we go : as you can see, I really made most of my time there (sad, isnt it ? )
view from my hotel room ... see, one more holiday in the sun !!! I shall write a tourist guide at some point ... it would be sick, twisted and hilarious, lmao.
And now ... enjoy .... Trinec steel works integrated into the railway station / or vice versa ...
Behind the rotunda-shaped thing is actually the Borek stadium ...
Oh yes : the sign above the bridge says : Trinec Steel-works : Quality proved by time !
Sure it is (the bridge) :
lost in time and space
fast drink bar under the bridge ...
Btw. the only sign to NPH I noticed ...
shuttle train between Trinec and Cesky Tesin
waiting for the IC train Cesky Tesin - Prague .... btw. see tha platform numbers ? ... forget about Harry Potter and his platform 9 3/4 ... go to Cesky Tesin for the real thing !
Oh btw. Pina . I forgot to stress that actually majority of the journey was made on EC / IC trains !!!!!! Sad, isnt it ?
The bumpy journey however provided for some entertainment : for instance, when sitting on the train we had a contest with my neighbour cross the isle : who would spil more coffee + in more hilarious / creative way .... I was still doing better for I had good storage of paper napkins to share !
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me. Hunter S. Thompson
Joined: Feb 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 63 Location: USA Karma: 0
Re: Noc plna hvezd / Trinec open air « Reply #4 on Jun 27, 2005, 11:18am »
Quite the photo essay, Jana! Trinec does strike one as a "surprise", considering it's in one's own "back yard"..... There are comparable experiences here in the States; just outside of Chicago, there is a steel-producing town named Gary (birthplace of Michael Jackson, ugh......) that is also in an unnerving state of disrepair and one generally would avoid in their travels, leaving the town that much more without opportunity to improve.... The Trinec festival looks like it's one of the few opportunities for that region to make a name for itself. I can image that is why things seem so haphazardly thrown together..... Perhaps the show would have improved drastically with an appearance by the Anti Nowhere League? Imagine "Woman" echoing off the rusted girders of the town? Well, nevertheless, your pilgrimage made for an excellent photo essay.....perhaps you should publish a photojournal of all your travels! I would certainly purchase it and enjoy!
Joined: Nov 2002 Gender: Female Posts: 220 Karma: 10
Re: Noc plna hvezd / Trinec open air « Reply #5 on Jun 28, 2005, 4:52pm »
Thanks for the complete informations! It was nice to see a Brazilian flag! It was nice to read a positive review about Soulfy! And better, to see that you're ready to go where rock is, always in the name of rock!