Peace sells… but who’s buying?
18 years and 5 months ago, on a
Monday
The 20th of June 2005, to be precise
Yes, people, Megadeth has included this motha’ fuckin’ country into the tour supporting their latest album, “The System Has Failed”!
And of course I had to be there, although there were moments when it didn’t seem possible!
It all started for me back in 1990, when I had purchased my first cassette tape of their 1998 album called “So Far, So Good, …So What”. At the time I was in Poland with my athletics club, and I was convinced the tape I was buying was the genuine stuff. The following years I saw the “business” of forged tapes and CDs blooming in Romania as well, so I finally realized that not a dime from that tape (and many subsequent others, for that matter) ever reached Megadeth.
Well, maybe it was a forged copy, but the music was what it counted, and I was hooked forever. And I don’t believe the money of a little boy from one of the poorest country in Europe would have made a difference for them. Of course I’d have loved to support one of my all time favorite bands, but it just wasn’t possible. In fact, that’s exactly why I chose to buy a ticket this time, although I had been offered a press invitation.
So to cut a possible long story short: here I was, 15 years later and actually after listening to their music for half of my life, I finally got the chance to see them live. Man, it felt good!
They are professional musicians, and it shows. It was a very good show and they all sounded great together, despite a few sound engineering problems (the whole right side went mute at one point for a few seconds) for which they promptly apologised — take note, you Romanian ape-shit “music stars” who can’t even lipsynch to your own moronic lyrics.
Unfortunately the acoustics of the arena where it all took place are not great at all, I don’t know why the organizers chose that place. It is in the middle of a small park, a little bit away from the city center or other important places, but not really remote — a ten minutes walk from my place, actually, which was in fact nice.
But maybe the authorities feel better knowing the fans have a few minutes to chill off with a stroll in the park after the concert and before hitting the “civilized” world , who knows? Sepultura played in the exact same spot a few months ago (I missed that one, damn it!), so I feel there has to be some sort of motivation, and if I know anything about the people leading this country probably all the wrong one, of course.
But I’m off again, let’s get back to Megadeth. So I’m very happy to show you a few of my favorite pictures from the show, taken by my friend Irina, also known as “Wicked Witch” with her new camera. Thanks, Irina!
And most of all, thank you Megadeth, for fifteen great years plus one hell of a night!
For a larger version of the pictures, please visit the dedicated set on Flickr.
