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Post by Barrow-wight aka MELLON on Jun 10, 2003 20:33:05 GMT
Just preparing this for uploading images Paulo Anaia has sent to me. Since those I currently have are huge files I only tried to compress them a bit without the proper compressing utility ... let's see the results. Here we go ..... ;D    Pina's note: We don't know these guys, they just popped in front of us and took their own pic!  
Oh s**t ... they are are still huge. Sorry about that ... I cant resize them properly on this machine. ;D ...Oops ... I managed to resize them, lmao. ;D .... sorry for playing around and speaking to myself, lol |
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Post by Pina on Jun 11, 2003 0:27:51 GMT
I posted my review in the Daily Blah but Poor Albert limits submissions to 1000 characters so I had to condense it. Here is my full report!What a memorable show… more than a show, it was an EXPERIENCE! It was worth the flight from Canada! The first band was a Czech band called Votchi (http://www.votchi.cz) and I enjoyed them very much. They had quite a unique sound. When I first saw them come onstage and I noticed a flutist, I thought “uh oh”… but they really rocked. In my opinion, I enjoyed their set even more than Bonfire (http://www.bonfire.de). This German band was also good. All I can say is it is surreal to hear a German band play Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” in Prague! It was great! And of course WHITESNAKE!!! What a veritable pleasure it was for me to hear my favourite songs "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" and "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues" LIVE for the very first time, in spite of having seen them twice before. I truly felt part of the Whitesnake Choir! I had the distinct pleasure of attending a concert in Europe where they are known for other stuff besides 1987 and Slip of the Tongue. And I have to say, this European concert was more enjoyable for me, as WS was the headliner and they had a longer set and David had more freedom to converse with the audience and ask for requests. You can imagine my pleasure when David asked me, "Pina, do you have a request?" (He had noticed me and Mellon and Paulo in the audience prior to that, thanks to our t-shirts!) I yelled out "Child of Babylon" as loud as I could but got drowned out by a flood of requests for "Blindman", so how could he refuse?  The "a cappella" version of Soldier of Fortune was a real treat and brought tears to many people's eyes! David had so much energy, passion and he really connected with the audience. Doug's solo for "Crying in the Rain" was mindblowing, even better than I remember from the Montreal show in March. Perhaps it was because I was positioned right in front of him and not only could I see him clearly, I could also feel his passion! Tommy’s drum solo was pure energy! After he threw his drumsticks into the audience, he surprised us by banging on the drums with his fists! I also tremendously enjoyed listening to Marco’s solo, with his funky, jazz take on WS, using his guitar and voice. And Timothy and Reb were also great! This band really clicks! I did not want the show to end! Even when the band went off stage and the lights came on, the crowd was still dancing to Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”! ;D And as if David noticing me in the audience, asking me for a request and singing “Gimme All Your Love Tonight” to me wasn’t enough… I had the absolute honour of meeting him after the show!!! It was also wonderful to meet Doug, Timothy and Marco, who are all warm and friendly people. We didn’t get to talk to Reb, as it was getting late and he was heading for the bus. A tad disappointing was Tommy Aldridge, who was less than hospitable to say the least.  Oh well… maybe he was having a bad night. The next day, I couldn't believe that all of it really happened… the show, the meetings, the autographs…. I was afraid that it was all a beautiful dream, but I have pics to prove it!  And I just have to add how wonderful it was to attend this show with two fabulous fellow boardmembers, Paulo and Mellon. Thanks to the BBS, I know I have made 2 lifelong friends!
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Post by Pina on Jun 11, 2003 1:08:38 GMT
My backstage recollections... Many people are asking... how did we get backstage?How did we manage to meet David? First, I have to say that the venue was relatively small so it was probably easier to meet David. I tried in Montreal and it was impossible! It was thanks to Jana and her persistence.. plus it helped to speak Czech! ;D We wandered around before and after the show, asking questions.... we got exhausted! After the show, we made our way to another entrance for VIPs. We asked everyone where we could find David. No one knew. Jana repeatedly asked this woman with a walkie-talkie how we could get backstage. I think she wanted to kill us! ;D We wandered around some more and Jana asked members/entourage of the opening act Votchi where we could find David. Thanks to them, they pointed us in the right direction. We saw Tommy Aldridge in the arena, posing for some pics with some fans so Paulo introduced himself and politely asked where the backstage area was, but he didn't even stop walking while Paulo was talking to him, forcing him to walk backwards. That was awkward and disappointing. A bad night, I suppose? Finally, we spoke to someone from David's entourage who brought us to a room (it was a room where they had refreshments) and told us to wait there. In the meantime, Doug and Timothy wandered in there... so we got to meet them. Doug was adorable and very courteous... he had a mouth full of ice cream but he acknowledged us and politely told us that he would be right back... and he was! He signed my program, posed for pics, and kissed me! And he even recognized me from his message board! We talked about Brighton, where Jimmy Page carved his initials on his guitar. Timothy was also very friendly and laid back and kissed me too. These guys have no airs of pretention. They are fabulous! Then the tour manager spoke to us and we explained who we were and gave him our t-shirts so he could show them to David. We waited a bit more and then we told that David was looking forward to meeting us!!! There were a bunch of fans hanging around also hoping to meet David but the tour manager escorted us past the crowd and let us in through the cordoned off area... David saw me coming and held out his arms and said something like "So nice to see you at last!!" and he hugged and kissed me! He asked me and Paulo how our flight was, and told Jana that he tried to make a Lord of the Rings reference on stage but couldn't think of one! ;D He then asked me if I had anything for him to sign... I was carrying a program, a poster, a t-shirt and the Into the Light CD cover! ;D He signed my CD cover, Ash's poster and when it came to signing my program, he joked if he should make it out to "Pina". And I said, "Will you sign it as Dave?" The smart-ass that I am almost thought I really put my foot in my mouth but David knew I was joking and signed it as "Dave? I think not! David Coverdale". ;D (I will post pics of my signed memorabilia soon). When he signed the poster with the pic that Ash took, he mentioned to me that the pic was taken by another BBSer. I said "I know! Ash!" And I didn't even make a flatulence joke! Then I politely asked if it was ok to take some pics and he said of course! I was still holding the unrolled posters in front of me and David looked down and said I looked like I was wearing a Victorian dress so I put them behind me! ;D I have to add that David made the 3 of us feel very special and gave us particular attention, amid all the fans around him. It was so funny when one fan asked him to sign a video... and David joked "A bootleg? How wonderful!". ;D I have to thank him for giving us the time and attention and making us feel very very special and appreciated! We then said our goodbyes, hugged and kissed again. Marco happened to be passing by so I said to him "Hola" (Hi). When he noticed that I spoke Spanish, he stopped and conversed with me in perfect Spanish and even signed my program in Spanish! He was very friendly and kissed me too! After that experience, the 3 of us retreated back to the refreshments room to catch our breaths and that's when we saw Reb, but he looked like he was on his way out to catch the bus, so he didn't stop to chat. On the way out, I noticed a bathroom so Jana and I made a pit stop. Thanks to my small bladder, we got to see David one more time! ;D Paulo was waiting outside and I joined him to wait for Jana. David and his assistant walked by at that moment and Paulo said to David, "Rock and roll, baby!!" David laughed and told us to be safe... and walked off to the bus. The 3 of us walked around in a daze after that! I think Paulo has a pic of me and Jana crashed out and exhausted in the hotel lobby! ;D The next morning, Jana went to get the photos developed and we were able to look at them that afternoon. I couldn't believe it when I saw the pics of me, Jana and David! I still can't believe that it all happened, even one week later! It was truly a dream come true, and I couldn't have shared it with nicer people! Thank you Jana and Paulo. We are indeed the Three Musketeers! Cheers, Pina |
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Post by GmanOhio on Jun 11, 2003 2:44:17 GMT
Pina - great pictures and an amazing story, those memories will surely last a lifetime and bring many smiles. The "backstage" mission is really a hard one to "complete" so a BIG congrates on making some dreams come true!! See ya in the board
Geoff - aka Snake Fan N Ohio
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Post by Miss Melissa on Jun 11, 2003 2:52:28 GMT
Now those are the stories of a great rock concert! How cool!!! I'll bet the three of you were walking on air. Do you remember how you got back to your hotel?  Wonderful story! Thanks for telling us, almost felt like I was there! |
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Post by Pina on Jun 11, 2003 2:52:45 GMT
Do you remember how you got back to your hotel? Funny you should ask... even though we were exhausted and it was very late by the time we left (remember, we spent a considerable amount of time looking for David -- I still can't believe we managed to find him in time), we were wired from the experience but we couldn't find any cafes or pubs that were still open! So we took a taxi back to our hotel and Jana, Paulo and I hung around the lobby, exhausted, in shock but too excited by the evening's events to go to sleep! I have to get Paulo/Jana to post that pic! ;D |
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The "a cappella" version of Soldier of Fortune was a real treat and brought tears to many people's eyes! David had so much energy, passion and he really connected with the audience. Doug's solo for "Crying in the Rain" was mindblowing, even better than I remember from the Montreal show in March. Perhaps it was because I was positioned right in front of him and not only could I see him clearly, I could also feel his passion! Tommy’s drum solo was pure energy! After he threw his drumsticks into the audience, he surprised us by banging on the drums with his fists! I also tremendously enjoyed listening to Marco’s solo, with his funky, jazz take on WS, using his guitar and voice. And Timothy and Reb were also great! This band really clicks! I did not want the show to end! Even when the band went off stage and the lights came on, the crowd was still dancing to Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”! ;D And as if David noticing me in the audience, asking me for a request and singing “Gimme All Your Love Tonight” to me wasn’t enough… I had the absolute honour of meeting him after the show!!! It was also wonderful to meet Doug, Timothy and Marco, who are all warm and friendly people. We didn’t get to talk to Reb, as it was getting late and he was heading for the bus. A tad disappointing was Tommy Aldridge, who was less than hospitable to say the least. 
Oh well… maybe he was having a bad night. The next day, I couldn't believe that all of it really happened… the show, the meetings, the autographs…. I was afraid that it was all a beautiful dream, but I have pics to prove it! 
And I just have to add how wonderful it was to attend this show with two fabulous fellow boardmembers, Paulo and Mellon. Thanks to the BBS, I know I have made 2 lifelong friends! 
Wonderful story! Thanks for telling us, almost felt like I was there!